Yesterday's Microsoft 20 Years in Ireland Student Webcast

Congratulations to Ciaran Usher of IT Tralee, winner of the trip to TechEd Europe!! And thanks to the many students who attended the webcast today.  As you could probably tell, I enjoyed the discussion and your many thoughtful questions.

The key takeaway message for students is that the demand for .NET skills in Ireland (and abroad) far exceeds supply, and that demand continues to rise.  

But, as per your responses to the surveys, while .NET inclusion on the curriculum may be growing, it's not keeping up with industry (34% of webcast participants had never worked with .NET before, even though 88% thought it should be formally included in the curriculum somewhere.)

So what can you do?

To the student who observed, “I have .NET skills, but not professional experience; how do I get a job?” – you’re not alone.  Remember that Visual Studio 2005 is in its beta phase for everyone! ;) 

With its imminent release, and the free resources we offer to you, this is your chance to leapfrog developers in industry, learn the skills that they’re learning, and land yourself exciting opportunities working with cutting-edge technologies.

Go to community events in Galway, Cork, Waterford, Belfast, Dublin (INDA and IrishDev), or wherever else you find yourself.  Explore job sites like jobs.irishdev.com.  Connect yourselves with potential employers and show them that you’re enthusiastic, and that you’ve differentiated yourself by going out of your way to build your .NET skills.

And meanwhile, take advantage of our academic and developer programs:

• The Beta 2 Experience program will connect you with the latest tools and training resources – and the Express Editions are available for download today.
• MSDN Connection Ireland will keep you informed of free events in Ireland and Northern Ireland that we host for developers.
• The .NET Academic Library will be arriving at your Universities and ITs in the next couple of weeks.

And for those of you particularly keen on working with Microsoft, the Microsoft Ireland Co-Op programme can provide you with valuable experience working on real-world projects, which might even lead to a future career.

Finally, speaking of Microsoft -- if you're interested in becoming a Microsoft Student Ambassador and working more closely with us to build community and bring events to your University or College - don't hesitate to contact me!

[Update: I've posted the slides from the webcast, more information , and summarized this post in an article .]

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• Anonymous
  June 30, 2005
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  July 03, 2005
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