Vlad Catrinescu's Blog, page 5

Microsoft Releases a new Microsoft Teams Certification – Teams Support Engineer Associate

While browsing the Microsoft Learn site today I noticed a brand new Microsoft Teams Certification has been silently released – Microsoft 365 Certified: Teams Support Engineer Associate – and it will be released (in beta) on July 8th, 2021! Let’s take a look at what details are available today! (PS: I also did a YouTube Video you can watch in the header of this blog post!)

In order to achieve the Teams Support Engineer Associate title – you need to pass one single exam, Exam MS-740: Troubleshooting Microsoft Teams . The audience for this exam needs to master quite a lot of things, from the description we have: Candidates should have significant exposure to unified communications and hands-on experience with Microsoft Teams. In addition, candidates should have networking knowledge of Azure fundamentals, telephony, PowerShell, data storage technologies, APIs, app security, authentication and authorization, security, and compliance information, debugging, performance tuning, and monitoring. Definitely not an exam to try if you haven’t taken previous associate level exams before. I also have to say from the start – I think this is the only Certification focused solely on troubleshooting a Microsoft Cloud Service.

We have six main Skills Measured in this exam:

Troubleshoot Microsoft Teams voice issues (15-20%)Troubleshoot issues with Microsoft Teams meetings and live events (20-25%)Troubleshoot federation issues (10-15%)Troubleshoot issues signing into Microsoft Teams (15-20%)Troubleshoot teams and channels (10-15%)Troubleshoot issues with files (15-20%)

You can also check out the detailed skills outline to find out the full skills measured! For more information:

About the Certification here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/m365-teams-support-engineer-associate/About the exam here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/ms-740What are your thoughts on this certification?

How do you feel about this certification? Is it something you plan to go take? Let me know in the comments!

The post Microsoft Releases a new Microsoft Teams Certification – Teams Support Engineer Associate appeared first on Vlad Talks Tech.

Pluralsight is Free for the entire month of April 2021

Pluralsight is free to individuals for the entire month of April—now is the perfect time to improve your tech skills or learn something for the first time! This will give you access to all 7,000 courses, no credit card required!

The only thing you must do is register, no credit card required, and then start learning! Here is the link >  https://spvlad.com/PS-FreeApril-2021

Here are some of the learning paths or courses that you might be interested in!

Microsoft 365 Fundamentals (MS-900) Certification Path (3 courses – 3h30) > https://spvlad.com/MS-900Path

This skill is intended to be a foundational basic entry into Microsoft’s M365 offering. It covers the basics concerning the products that come with a Microsoft 365 subscription. Essentially this is for those looking to get started in IT, and specifically those looking to get started working with and administering Microsoft 365 environments and deployments. This is the entry level knowledge required to pursue a role in M365 administration and prepares viewers for any of the four branches of M365 administration (Modern Desktop Admin, Teamwork Admin, Messaging Admin, and Security Admin). These courses also can help you prepare for the Microsoft MS-900: Microsoft 365 Fundamentals exam.

Managing Microsoft Teams (MS-700) Certification Path ( 6 courses – 19h) > https://spvlad.com/MS-700-Path

The courses in this path take you through all you need to know to be an excellent Microsoft Teams administrator. You’ll learn about configuration and management from an administrator’s perspective including managing chat and collaboration, planning and configuring network settings, deploying and managing endpoints, and more. By the end of this path, you’ll have everything you need to create a set up Microsoft Teams and perform daily management tasks. Additionally, the courses in this path cover the objectives in the Microsoft MS-700: Managing Microsoft Teams exam and can help you prepare for the certification.

Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals (PL-900) Certification Path (6 courses – 9h) > https://spvlad.com/PL900-PSPath

This path covers certification objectives for the Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals (PL-900). Candidates for this exam are users who aspire to improve productivity by automating business processes, analyzing data to produce business insights, and acting more effectively by creating simple app experiences.

Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) Certification Path > https://spvlad.com/AZ-900Path

This skill is intended to cover the foundational knowledge needed to understand Microsoft’s Azure offering. The courses in this path cover the basics when it comes to the products and services a Microsoft Azure subscription provides. This is an excellent starting point for those looking to get started in working with cloud services and solutions in the Azure space.

If you’re aiming for a certification – you can also check out all of my free Microsoft Certification Study Guides !

What courses do you plan to listen to during #FreeApril?

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Free Microsoft Certification and Discounts – March 2021

Previously, I have been doing a different blog post for every single offer Microsoft did regarding certification exams. As there are more and more opportunities to get discounted certifications, I will now just have a single blog post per month that highlights all the different options in an easier to consume blog post! If you want to save $$$ on Microsoft Certifications, you are at the right spot!

Microsoft Ignite Cloud Skills Challenge – Free Voucher

The Microsoft Ignite Cloud Skills challenge is a limited time challenge in which you can get a free certification. The challenge starts at March 2, 2021 at 4:00 PM UTC and ends on March 30, 2021 at 4:00 PM UTC. Similar to previous Ignite Cloud Skills Challenges, you need to finish a Microsoft Learn Path in order to get the exam voucher for free, however, this time Microsoft really shrunk down the list of available exams. This exam offer is exam-specific and only redeemable for select Microsoft exams. Eligible exams are:

AZ-104: Microsoft Azure AdministratorDP-100: Designing and Implementing a Data Science Solution on AzureMS-700: Managing Microsoft TeamsMS-100: Microsoft 365 Identity and ServicesMS-101: Microsoft 365 Mobility and SecurityDA-100: Analyzing Data with Microsoft Power BISC-200: Microsoft Security Operations AnalystSC-300: Microsoft Identity and Access AdministratorSC-400: Microsoft Information Protection Administrator

Links

Official Page / Sign up for the challenge: https://csc.docs.microsoft.com/ignite/registration/March2021Rules: https://csc.docs.microsoft.com/ignite/OfficialRules/March2021Microsoft Cloud Skills Challenge – Free Voucher

Yes, this is confusing from a naming perspective versus the one before, but it is a different one! This article was originally posted on the Microsoft US Partners Blog, however I do not see a “US Only” country restriction in the terms and conditions. This offer gives you access to the following exams.

FundamentalsMicrosoft Certified: DevOps Engineer ExpertMicrosoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist AssociateMicrosoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator AssociateBuilding applications and solutions with Microsoft 365 Core ServicesMicrosoft 365 Security AdministrationMicrosoft Dynamics 365 Customer ServiceMicrosoft Dynamics 365 Finance

Links

Official Page / Sign up for the challenge: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/us-partner-blog/2020/10/05/sharpen-your-teams-technical-skills-with-the-cloud-skills-challenge/Rules: https://learncloudchallengeapp.blob.core.windows.net/sharedfiles/updated_tcs_us_ocp_dec_2020_final.pdfMicrosoft Virtual Training Days – Free Voucher & Training

Microsoft Virtual Training Days don’t only give you a free certification voucher – they also give you free training . This opportunity is really centered around Fundamentals exams, mainly the AZ-900 / AI-900/ DP-900 / PL-900 / Dynamics 365! They keep adding new dates so make sure you check often!

Links

Microsoft Virtual Training Days Landing Page: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ie/training-daysI have also blogged more details around this in September 2020 over here: https://vladtalkstech.com/2020/09/get-free-training-and-a-free-certification-voucher-with-microsoft-virtual-training-days.html[Canada Only] Data & AI Academy – Free Voucher & Training

This one is for Canada only – so as a Canadian I have to say Sorry to everyone else. Here’s the description: Now there’s a more rewarding approach to hands-on learning that helps you learn, get certified, and achieve your goals faster. #InvestInYourself with free certifications and virtual courses for Canadian professionals. This Academy allows you to get either the Training, Voucher, or both Training and Voucher for most DP- / AI- certifications for free!

Data & AI Academy Landing Page: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/sites/dataAIAcademy/30 Days to Learn It Cloud Skills Challenge – 50% Off

30 Days to Learn It can help you build skills and start your preparation for Microsoft Certifications for AI, DevOps, Microsoft 365, low code, IoT, data science, cloud development, and more. Select your challenge, work through learning modules, and exchange ideas with peers through a global community forum. You can be eligible for 50 percent off the cost of a Microsoft Certification exam by completing your challenge within 30 days.

Links

Official Page / Sign up: https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/offers/30-days-to-learn-itTerms and conditions: https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/offers/30-days-to-learn-it/official-rules#terms-and-conditionsMCT & MVP Discounts

If you are a Microsoft MCT or MVP, remember you can get 75% or 50% off respectively for your Microsoft Certifications. You can learn more about this either on MCT Central or on the MVP site. As an MVP you need to request the code, so make sure you do it before you schedule your exam!

Did I miss any offers? Let me know in the comments! Remember to also check my Microsoft Certification Study Guides to get ready for your exams! If this blog post saved you some money, please do leave a comment, I always enjoy reading them and knowing my content helped you out!

Leave a comment and don’t forget to like the Vlad Talks Tech Page   on Facebook and to follow me on Twitter here  for the latest news and technical articles on SharePoint.  I am also a Pluralsight author, and you can view all the courses I created on my author page.

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New Pluralsight Course: SharePoint Online Administration Playbook

Over the holidays, Pluralsight released my 32nd Course, and this one is focused purely on SharePoint Online Administration! After a few Teams courses, I am excited to go back to “my roots” and do a course dedicated to SharePoint!

Here is the official description from the site:

Microsoft 365 is the most popular productivity cloud in the world and one of the core products is SharePoint Online. SharePoint Online administrators are in charge of managing files and communication portals and are involved in the multiple services that use SharePoint Online such as Microsoft Teams. In this course, SharePoint Online Administration Playbook, you’ll learn to manage SharePoint Online by looking at multiple real-life examples of common administration tasks. First, you’ll explore how to manage sites. Next, you’ll discover how to create an asset library. Finally, you’ll learn how to create home and organization news sites. When you’re finished with this course, you’ll have the skills and knowledge of SharePoint Online needed to manage it effectively.

The course is 1 hour and 45 minutes and you can find it on Pluralsight over here: https://spvlad.com/2Xt9ckE !

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Microsoft 365 and Azure Learning and Certification Black Friday Offers

This year has definitely been an unusual one in so many ways, however something that I have seen throughout my network is that a lot of people used this year to move forward, learn new skills, and even get a Microsoft Certification! In this blog post, I want to share the top offers for different learning providers, whether you want to get certified or simply up your skills, you cannot go wrong with the options in here!

Pluralsight

As a Pluralsight author, I might be a bit biased when I say it, but I think that for the price, there is no better value than a Pluralsight subscription. With over 8,000 courses in the library and more coming out each day, you will be able to keep busy for a full year and never run out of content to watch. Pluralsight has a partnership with Microsoft Azure for always creating new content, and they also have a ton of Microsoft 365 content, from beginner (MS-900) to advanced certifications such as the MS-700 and MS-100/101 series, and let’s not forget the Power Platform! One of the awesome things about Pluralsight is that there is so much content that Is outside our technical specialization that can help push forward your career, for example, over 200 hours of content towards the Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification! During Black Friday, they have a 40% off bringing the annual subscription down to 179$ USD! The Premium Subscription (at 269$ USD) also gives you access to Certification Practice exams, Interactive Courses, and Projects!

https://spvlad.com/PSBlackFriday2020

Voitanos

Voitanos is an on-demand learning company created by longtime Microsoft MVP Andrew Connell. Unlike other libraries which have content about everything, Voitanos focuses on one single audience: The Microsoft 365 Developer! There are advantages to focusing on only one audience… they’re the best at it! If you want to become a Microsoft 365 Developer, or want to upgrade your skills from SharePoint Dev to the full Microsoft 365 Platform, there is no better way to do it than with Voitanos. During the Black Friday sale, they have a 30% off offer on the Mastering the SharePoint Framework Bundles (both Fundamentals and Ultimate) as well as 50$ off the brand new MS-600 (Microsoft 365 Developer) Certification Prep Course!

https://courses.voitanos.io/a/33176/7VMv62NQ

Udemy

With over 130,000 online courses, Udemy is probably one of the biggest learning libraries in the world! Udemy is different than Pluralsight as you do not pay for a full library but rather for individual courses that you want. Prices vary from 10$ to over 50 , but during Black Friday, most courses that are usually 50+ are down to 9.99 USD (or 13.99 CAD) so it can be a great opportunity for you to stock up on courses that you want to learn on. Since you buy them once and have Lifetime access, you can learn on your own schedule!

https://spvlad.com/UdemyBF

Whizlabs

I will be honest; I haven’t heard about Whizlabs either until earlier this year! I heard about them trough different Facebook groups, and what everyone was praising them for is their Azure Certification practice exams! Whizlabs has a lot of content outside of Microsoft, but if we focus on the Microsoft side of things, their focus is really Azure and they have nothing on Microsoft 365 and Power Platform. But, with their Black Friday special can you really say no to a under-10$ AZ-104 or AZ-900 practice test? Check out their practice exams and courses, and use code BLACKFRIDAY50 to save 50% off SiteWide or BLACKFRIDAY20 for 20% off subscriptions.

https://spvlad.com/WhizLabsBF

Which training provider is your favorite? Let me know in the comments!

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Pluralsight Black Friday Deal: 40% Off Annual Subscriptions

Is your Pluralsight subscription up for renewal soon or have you been waiting for a promotion to become a Pluralsight subscriber? Pluralsight, one of the best on-demand online training companies with over 6000 courses is currently having a promotion between now and November 30th at 11:59 pm Mountain time to save 40% on a Pluralsight Subscription, and it even works on renewals!

Both the Annual and Premium are 40% off, and here is the difference between the plans!

Whether you’re interested in learning SharePoint, Office 365, PowerShell, Angular or even Ethical Hacking and Security, 179$ for a year of unlimited learning is an amazing deal! Get the promotion now, click on the banner above or at the following link: https://spvlad.com/PSBlackFriday2020 ! Don’t wait too long as the deal ends on December 1st, and it might not come back until the end of 2019!

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Save 33% off your Pluralsight Subscription – October 2020

Is your Pluralsight subscription up for renewal soon or have you been waiting for a promotion to become a Pluralsight subscriber? Pluralsight, one of the best on-demand online training companies with over 7500 courses is currently having a promotion between now and October 22nd , 2020 to save 33% on a Pluralsight Subscription, and it even works on renewals! You can also offer it as a gift to someone you care about!

The premium subscription gives you access to Certification Practice Exams, Interactive Courses, as well as projects! You will see those at the bottom right of a Certification Path, similar to the screenshot below!

Whether you’re interested in learning Microsoft 365, Azure, Power Platform, PowerShell, Angular or even Ethical Hacking and Security, 199$ for a year of unlimited learning is an amazing deal! Get the promotion now, click on the banner above or at the following link: http://spvlad.com/Q4-PS-33off ! Don’t wait too long as the deal ends on October 22nd , 2020!

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The Big September Swag Giveaway

One of the cool parts of attending Microsoft Ignite is being able to collect all of the latest pieces of swag and goodies from Microsoft and from the different vendors across the big Microsoft ecosystem! With Ignite going virtual this year, we will unfortunately miss collecting goodies and stickers this year in person. This is why I am organizing a big September Swag Giveaway!

Since I usually travel to over 20 in-person conferences every year, I always try and collect extra goodies from big conferences such as Microsoft Ignite, and then give them away to smaller conferences and user groups such as SharePoint Saturdays! Since all in-person events have been cancelled this year, I want to use this opportunity to share all of this with the community across the globe!

The Prizes

The prizes are split in between individual items and five grand prizes! The individual prizes are:

137 SharePoint Shoelaces27 OneDrive Shoelaces175 SharePoint logo stickers247 Yammer Logo Stickers150 OneDrive Logo Stickers50+ “Mystery” Stickers (from other Microsoft products)

And here are some pictures of the Five Grand Prizes!

How the Giveaway Works

Embedded at the end of this blog post, you will find a Raffle embed which allows you to get multiple entries! Here’s how prizes will be distributed based on entries:

3+ Entries = Pick one Shoelace or Sticker2 Entries = Pick between a SharePoint/Yammer/OneDrive sticker (Or you can also choose a mystery sticker)1 Entry = Receive a Mystery sticker

There is also another option in the raffle for those who have watched any of my 29 Pluralsight courses! Simply upload a proof that you have finished one of the courses and you will be entered to win one of the Grand Prizes!

The giveaway using the Raffle embed will be open starting today (September 17th) until September 25th, 2020 at midnight (ET Time). Everyone who entered and has at least one entry will receive an e-mail on September 28th with a link to a Microsoft Forms form in which you can select your preferences for the shoelaces / stickers, as well as your mailing address. You will have one week to fill the form after which everything will be mailed out in standard envelopes using the normal post service! It will all be shipped to you for free, so there are no costs involved!

If we have more entries than prizes available (and I mean we have over 800 prizes), priority will be given based on number of Entries. (So 4 > 3 > 2 >1). If there is a specific prize you want, make sure you get as many entries as possible to lock in your chances to get it!

After all of the goodies have been mailed, the Microsoft Forms form and all its data will be deleted from the tenant.

Enter the September Swag Giveaway

Make sure you get as many entries as possible before the September Swag Giveaway giveaway closes on September 25th!

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Get a FREE Microsoft Certification Voucher with the Ignite 2020 Cloud Skills Challenge

During Microsoft Ignite 2020, Microsoft will relaunch the successful Cloud Skill Challenge, allowing you to get free training AND a free Microsoft Certification Voucher! If you didn’t hear it by now, Microsoft Ignite 2020 is free , so if you haven’t registered yet, first thing you must do is to register now at https://myignite.microsoft.com/home

The skill challenge will open up on September 22nd at 12 AM PDT, but you can already sign up to get notified as soon as registration is open at the following page: Microsoft Ignite Cloud Skills Challenge!

Participate in the Microsoft Ignite Cloud Skills Challenge to earn a free Microsoft Certification exam and a chance to win prizes! Choose up to six different challenges to complete on Microsoft Learn. After you’ve completed your first challenge, you’ll earn a free Microsoft Certification exam. For each challenge you complete, you’ll earn five entries into a sweepstakes. One grand prize winner will receive a chance to meet with a Microsoft leader and invite up to four friends.

Now, what exams can you take with your free voucher? Almost all of the current general available exams are included, but you can also find the full list on the official Eligible exams list!

I will update this blog post with specific details once the challenge goes live, but you can expect it to be very similar to the Microsoft Build Skills Challenge!

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Excited to be a part of Microsoft Ignite 2020

Can you believe Microsoft Ignite 2020 is next week? While we won’t get to see each other in person, Microsoft Ignite will be a 48 hour free digital event!

As part of Microsoft Ignite, I am excited to be the co-host of a table talk called: Is it the end of Traditional Learning as you know it? ! Here is the description:

The traditional classroom is now virtual and there are new resources and methods to help you stay current. Connect with the community to discover the new ways to deliver training. No presentations here! Join this Table Talk to discuss how to stay current with Microsoft Learn, certification exam prep, and other useful tips. Join the Learning Community Table (https://aka.ms/TableTopic/Learning ) ahead of time so we can address your questions. Be prepared for a fun interactive discussion!

I will be joined by five other moderators in what promises to be a very interesting Table Talk! You can sign up for it at the following link: https://myignite.microsoft.com/sessions/5a245e42-cac9-414e-9015-b0cea9f58529

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