The Microsoft Virtual Academy’s Know It – Prove It Challenge

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Note: The Microsoft Virtual Academy folks have provided me a clarification on the dates for these challenges. The Know It portion of this challenge will end on 28 Feb 2015 while the Prove It portion runs until 31 Mar 2015.

Original article…

Kick your technical skills up to the next level by using free resources from the Microsoft Virtual Academy.

There are tons of resources available online to help you to learn new skills or update those you have had for a while.

As I mentioned yesterday one way Microsoft is collecting feedback for their apps, services and the upcoming Windows 10 operating system is to ask users to complete challenges, quests or games. These methods send users out to try features in order to measure how they work and are interacted with. The users then provide some feedback and the team has some very specific info to work with.

This method can also challenge others to take on their own learning in an entirely different way and the Know It – Prove It challenge from the Microsoft Virtual Academy is doing just that.

The Know it. Prove it. Challenge is a learning binge to accelerate your skills on the tech topic of your choice. Join the community, commit to the challenge, share your progress, and make this the time you perfect your tech chops.

There are eight tracks available during this challenge which lasts until 31 March 2015:

• Cloud Development: Take this challenge to get skilled on developing applications, web sites, and services to host in the cloud using Microsoft Azure.


• Game Development: Take this challenge to learn Windows game development techniques using tools such as Construct2, GameMaker, and Unity to develop 2D and 3D games.


• Mobile Development: Take this challenge to learn mobile app development using C# and XAML and how to take you app cross-platform with Xamarin.


• Web Development: Take this challenge to learn the most current tools and techniques to build responsive, reliable web applications for yourself, your business, or your clients.


• Hybrid Cloud: Take the challenge to extend your datacenter to the cloud by combining on-premises and public cloud workloads to maximize efficiency, provide simpler management, and increase flexibility.


• Implement Identity & Access Management: Take the challenge to effectively implement identity and access management solutions across diverse devices and hybrid environments that require a strong foundation of skills from enabling single sign-on to extending your domain with Azure AD.


• Office 365 : Take this challenge to learn how to get the most out of Office 365 services, security, and performance at your small, medium, or large business.


• SharePoint: Take this challenge to learn how to develop and administer SharePoint sites to improve information sharing and organization at your company.

Each of these areas have learning modules, video tutorials and assessments which are accessible from anywhere and you will earn badges, points, compete against other challenges and can even share your learning experience.

No matter what happens, if you jump into the Know It – Prove It challenges you are going to learn in these areas and enhance your own skillset and that will be a win for you in any situation.

When you are ready to crank up the skills to an even higher focused level then be sure to check out the upcoming training opportunities at our sister site Windows IT Pro.

But, wait…there's probably more so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google+.