Vlad Catrinescu's Blog, page 6

Microsoft offers 15$ Certification Exams for Those Affected by COVID-19

This year has been a tough one for all of us, but some people in all fields have lost their jobs due to COVID-19. In order to help people across the globe show their technical skills and stand out, Microsoft is offering multiple certification exams for as low as 15$ USD. This is a very nice gesture from Microsoft, so I would like to highlight that this exam offer is available to job seekers who can attest that they have been unemployed or furloughed due to COVID-19. Please do not abuse the offer as this will probably cause Microsoft to not offer similar offers in the future. The exam must be scheduled before December 31st ,2020 and taken before March 31st, 2021

List of available certification exams at 15$

Not all of Microsoft’s exams are eligible for the offer, so here is the complete list!

Certification name

Certification exam

Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals

Exam AZ-900: Microsoft Azure Fundamentals

Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals

Exam DP-900: Microsoft Azure Data Fundamentals

Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals

Exam AI-900: Microsoft Azure AI Fundamentals

Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Fundamentals

Exam PL-900: Microsoft Power Platform Fundamentals

Microsoft 365 Certified: Fundamentals

Exam MS-900: Microsoft 365 Fundamentals

Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate

Exam AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator

Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate

Exam AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Certified: Azure Security Engineer Associate

Exam AZ-500: Microsoft Azure Security Technologies

Microsoft Certified: Power Platform App Maker Associate

Exam PL-100: Microsoft Power Platform App Maker

Microsoft 365 Certified: Teams Administrator Associate

Exam MS-700: Managing Microsoft Teams

Microsoft 365 Certified: Security Administrator Associate

Exam MS-500: Microsoft 365 Security Administration

Microsoft 365 Certified: Developer Associate

Exam MS-600: Building Applications and Solutions with Microsoft 365 Core Services

Microsoft Certified: Data Analyst Associate

Exam DA-100: Analyzing Data with Microsoft Power BI

Terms and conditions

Read all of the Terms and Conditions on the official Microsoft Docs Page called: Become Microsoft certified and build your resilience for today’s and tomorrow’s digital economy

How to schedule the exam

When you go on one of the exam pages, you will have two options. Either Schedule with Pearson VUE at normal price, or if you meet the requirements click on “Schedule for USD15”

Next up, you will have to validate that you have been personally impacted by COVID-19 as you can see in the following screenshot.

Next up, you will get redirected to the usual Microsoft Exam registration process with a confirmation that the $15 USD job seeker exam offer will be reflected at the end.

That’s it! Again, make sure you check out the official Microsoft page on the offer to get all of the details ,as well as terms and conditions: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/skillingoffer?WT.mc_id=M365-MVP-5000399

Where to find study material?

Microsoft offers quite a lot of study material on Microsoft Learn , and you can also check out my numerous Microsoft Certification Study Guides with specific links for each exam.

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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Get Free Training and a Free Certification Voucher with Microsoft Virtual Training Days

Microsoft is back again offering free training to users around the globe on Microsoft 365, Azure, Dynamics 365, as well as the Power Platform! What’s even better is that with some of the trainings, you can even get a free certification voucher! Let’s check out the details!

Microsoft Virtual Training Days

Here is Microsoft’s description of the Virtual Training Days

Whether you’re a cloud expert or a novice or looking for real-world strategies to customize your digital journey, our expert webinars will help you transform your business and achieve full potential using the Microsoft Cloud platform. Get started on your journey – explore our webinars below for Developers and IT professionals and register for the subjects best suited to you and your organization.

The most popular training is the Azure Virtual Training Days Fundamentals which has 9 available dates right now! Best thing is that after you join the free training, you will get a free voucher to take the AZ-900 Exam which is a USD$ 99 value!

There are other available topics such as Migrating Server Infrastructure and Modernizing Web Applications, which all have available dates in the future!

Microsoft Virtual Training days also seem to be ready for the Power Platform, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365 training, however at the time of writing this blog post there were no available dates!

You can go sign up for any Microsoft Virtual Training days training today at https://www.microsoft.com/en-ie/training-days ! Even if the dates in the pictures look to be in the past at the time you read this blog, they always add new dates!

If you want to get Microsoft Certified, make sure you check out the different Microsoft Certification Study Guides on my blog!

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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Free Webinar: Power Platform and Dynamics 365 Certifications Overview

Are you a Dynamics 365 or Power Platform professional that is thinking of getting certified in 2020? If yes, this webinar is for you! In this webinar, Microsoft MVP/MCT Nicolas Georgeault will introduce you to the available certifications for both Power Platform and Dynamics 365 and help you decide which one is the best for you!

Register today, and if you cannot attend live, the recording will be sent to you within 48h of the live event!

Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/4415972749840/WN_CBOApTxWTcStufyJBdZvGQ

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Free Webinar: Modernize records management in a new world of remote work with Microsoft 365

Join hosts & Microsoft MVPs Vlad Catrinescu & Drew Madelung along with special guests Roberto Yglesias and Tina Ying on August 25th at 1 PM ET (10 AM PT) for a free webinar covering the latest news in Microsoft 365 records management!

Information governance is necessary for enterprises. The management of content lifecycles is needed to be compliant and secure. Records management in M365 has many new features and capabilities that we will highlight in this webinar. We will also have real-world conversations on use cases of moving to modern records management in M365 and the challenges, opportunities, and overall guidance for this process. Bring your questions to this exciting webinar!

Register today, and if you cannot attend live, the recording will be sent to you within 48h of the live event!

Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/3615950187042/WN_1w8apRunTjG1rEQOcDBUWA

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Free Webinar: Build your first Microsoft Teams App without a single line of code!

Join your host Vlad Catrinescu along with special guest and Microsoft MVP Sébastien Levert on August 20th at 1PM ET to learn how to build a Microsoft Teams app without a single line of code!

Microsoft Teams offer an amazing ecosystem for developers to build applications that deliver high value to your organization, but if you are not a developer, this could seem like a tough challenge.

In this webinar, join Microsoft MVP Sébastien Levert to learn how you can leverage native tools like the App Studio and use your existing investments to magically transform them into Microsoft Teams Apps! We will also look at how Microsoft Flow can deliver great content to your Teams channel to keep you up to date with all the signals that happen around you. By the end of this session, not only you will be able to use those apps for yourself, but you will also learn how to distribute them across your entire organization!

In this webinar, attendees will learn how to use the App Studio, they will get a basic knowledge of Microsoft Power Automate adaptive cards action to bring content into Microsoft Teams and they will also learn the apps governance around Microsoft Teams.

Register today, and if you cannot attend live, the recording will be sent to you within 48h of the live event!

Registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/2415949340389/WN_3EnzYqNVRVie3xmAt9nsjg

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Save 33% off your Pluralsight Subscription – August 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 August 28th , 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!

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: https://spvlad.com/33-off-q3 ! Don’t wait too long as the deal ends on August 28th , 2020

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Free Webinar: Tips & Tricks from The Field – Migrating from SharePoint On-Premises to Microsoft 365

Migrating from On-Premises to the cloud will never be an overnight project, but don’t make it harder than it should be by falling into some common pitfalls. Join your host Vlad Catrinescu and special guest, Microsoft MVP Daniel Glenn on August 18th at 11 AM ET for a webinar that covers some best practices, tips and tricks, and things to avoid when you migrate your On-Premises data to SharePoint Online!

Register today at: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/3215949340199/WN_i0Y44Wo9TdWG1-7LGKBxwg !

Even if you cannot make it live, everyone who registers will receive the recording and slides by e-mail within 48 hours!

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Access all Pluralsight courses for free this weekend!

The Pluralsight Free Weekend is back! Starting right now (August 14th ) and until Sunday the 16th at 11:59 PM mountain time, you can have access to the complete Pluralsight Skills Library!

You can sign up for the free weekend offer here: https://spvlad.com/august-free-weekend

If you have some time this weekend, here are some of the content and courses I recommend:

Get Microsoft Teams Certified – 16h of Microsoft Teams IT Pro Content

16 hours is a lot of content for a weekend, but I have put together a channel with all the courses towards the MS-700 certification exam! Pluralsight is working on the official certification path, this channel can help you see all of the courses in one location! > https://app.pluralsight.com/channels/details/906bf67a-f6fb-4f06-95a3-74415995935b

Get your Fundamentals Certifications – Azure, Microsoft, or Power Platform!

Pluralsight has content for almost all of the Fundamentals level certifications!

MS-900: https://spvlad.com/MS-900PathPL-900: https://spvlad.com/PL900-PSPathAZ-900: https://spvlad.com/AZ-900PathBrush up your Teamwork Administrator Skills (and get certified before the Teamwork Certification Expires)

The MS-300 exam covers products every Microsoft 365 admin should know; SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, Teams, Microsoft 365 Groups, Stream, Yammer, and more! You can check out the Pluralsight Path with over 19 hours of content over here: https://spvlad.com/MS-300-Path

Learn a new skill!

There are over 6,500 courses on Pluralsight, so if you want to learn something new and out of your comfort zone, make sure you explore everything the library has to offer! Sign up today at https://spvlad.com/august-free-weekend

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New Pluralsight Course: Configuring Governance and Compliance for Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Groups

For those of you who have been following me for a while and been watching the MS-700 content you’re probably thinking “FINALLY”. It did take more time than expected, but my 29th Pluralsight course is now out! This course covers part of the MS-700 exam and it’s another big course at just under five hours. You can find the official description below!

Microsoft Teams is the fastest growing Microsoft 365 service of all time with over 75 million daily active users. In this course, Configuring Governance and Compliance for Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Groups, you will gain the ability to manage governance and compliance for Microsoft Teams, as well as its underlying membership service, Microsoft 365 Groups. First, you will learn about the different governance options for Microsoft 365 Groups and Microsoft Teams. Next, you will discover how to manage Microsoft Teams policies. Finally, you will explore the different compliance tools for Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Groups. When you are finished with this course, you will have the skills and knowledge needed to effectively manage governance and compliance for both Microsoft 365 Groups and Microsoft Teams. This course also covers different objectives from both the MS-300 and MS-700 Certifications Exams.

You can find the course over here: https://spvlad.com/TeamsGovernanceAndCompliance

The official MS-700 path on Pluralsight should be out soon, but meanwhile, those are the four Pluralsight courses that are already available for you! If you have an account you can view them in this Pluralsight Channel (you must be signed in to access it)

Looking forward to your feedback on it! Let me know what you would like to see next!

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Microsoft Releases Two New Power Platform Certifications (3 in 2020!)

On this date one year ago, Microsoft had zero certification for Power Platform professionals! Last year at Ignite, Microsoft announced the PL-900 certification, and earlier in 2020 Microsoft announced the Power Platform App Maker Certification. As the Power Platform keeps growing, so is the need for trained and certified professionals, and at Inspire 2020 Microsoft announced two new Power Platform Certifications!

Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate

The first certification is the Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate! By reading the Skills Measured, I really have a feeling that this is the logical evolution to the PL-900 exam and this role fits perfectly with the skills that I use in Power Apps! The detailed Skills Measured has not been shared, however we do have the main subjects:

Configure the Common Data ServiceBuild a Power AppCreate automations with Power AutomateConfigure Power Virtual AgentsCreate visualizations with Power BI

It does look like they will have to re-work a bit of the objective given that the Common Data Service got renamed to DataFlex Pro (and a few other technical changes inside) but from a Skills Measured perspective, it really fits with what I think most Power Platform consultants do. The beta of this exam will be out in September, and we will probably get a full release around November-December 2020!

There is only one exam needed for this certification, which is the PL-200 exam! You can learn more on the following links:

Exam PL-200: Microsoft Power Platform Functional ConsultantMicrosoft Certified: Power Platform Functional Consultant Associate

Microsoft Certified: Power Platform Developer Associate

The second Power Platform certification that was announced is the Power Platform Developer Associate! As the name says, this exam is really aimed at developers who create custom solutions on top of the Power Platform and extend the platform to the needs of their customers! Here are the high-level skills measured:

Create a technical designConfigure Common Data ServiceCreate and configure Power AppsConfigure business process automationExtend the user experienceExtend the platformDevelop integrations

For this certification, the detailed Skills Measured are also available!

I find that this certification definitely has it’s place in the Power Platform certification portfolio, even if it’s not one that I will personally go for as I am really in the “Functional Consultant” role above. I do believe that the Power Platform can be greatly extended for people with the skills and I do think that the skills measured in this certification do a good job in defining the skills needed to be a Power Platform developer. The beta of the exam will also be out in September, and the general availability around November – December 2020!

There is only one exam needed for this certification, which is the PL-400 exam! You can learn more on the following links:

Exam PL-400: Microsoft Power Platform DeveloperMicrosoft Certified: Power Platform Developer AssociateWhich exam are you most interested in?

Which exam are you most excited about? I will definitely take the PL-200 while in beta and that’s the one I am really excited about, but between PL-100/PL-200/PL-400 which exam will you go for? Let me know in the comments!

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