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In the last little while as we have started to deliver the IT Virtualization Boot Camps as well as go out to various user groups and talk about the Microsoft Virtualization and Private Cloud offerings, I have often been asked where IT Pros can find resources to learn about how our products work, especially by those individuals who are familiar with VMware but not so much with Hyper-V and System Center. Here are some that I would recommend: Microsoft Virtual Academy  Microsoft Virtual Academy is a great place to learn all about our offerings as well as get points for completing courses, and also asses your knowledge through online assessments. Best of all, it is FREE and continues to offer new courses on a regular basis. It has many courses including those to help VMware professionals get a better handle on Microsoft Private Cloud technologies, as well as allowing those that have begun to work with Hyper-V and System Center to dive deeper and gain a better understanding of how to get even more out of their infrastructure. Courses that I would recommend are
- Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals - The Platform – This course provides IT Pros familiar with VMware with foundational understanding of how Hyper-V works as well as helps to clarify some of the changes in terminology between the two platforms.
- Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals – Management – In this course you will learn how the System Center suite of products can be leveraged to provide an overall management solution that incorporates the physical infrastructure, virtual machines, as well as applications running within your virtual environments. You will also learn how to leverage System Center to manage your entire virtualization platform including Hyper-V and VMware.
- Configuring and Deploying Microsoft’s Private Cloud – This is a new course providing a soup to nuts roadmap on how to deploy all the elements that make up Microsoft’s Private Cloud technologies from Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V to System Center 2012 components including Virtual Machine Manager, Operations Manager, Orchestrator and more. If you want to get the complete picture, this is for you!
There are also many other courses available at Microsoft Virtual Academy on such topics as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), high-availability, Windows Azure, and more. Check out the complete list and start your learning. Free 2-Day Online Course: Creating and Managing a Private Cloud with System Center 2012 Jump Start (Feb 21 & 22)  It’s not very often that you get a chance to learn from experts on a topic for two whole days absolutely free! This is why I was really happy to learn that you can register and attend a free two-day online course on Microsoft’s Private Cloud technologies taking place Feb 21 & 22. The course is a “Jump Start”, which means it covers a lot of ground quickly but definitely worth the time investment.
The course is designed to provide a fast-paced and technical understanding of how and why Microsoft’s approach to the private cloud delivers scalability, security, flexibility and control. Here are few unique benefits of this course: - Students have the opportunity to learn from and interact with the industry’s best cloud technologists!
- This high-energy, demo-rich learning experience will help IT Professionals understand why Microsoft private cloud solutions are making a splash in the industry.
- Students will see with their own eyes how Windows Server 2008 R2 and System Center 2012 work together to provide the best combination of security and scale.
- Information-packed agenda! Day one of this two-day online course will focus on designing and deploying the right solutions for your organization, while day two will provide an in-depth look at the tools available to help monitor, secure and control the operational aspects of a private cloud.
I encourage you to register for the course and invest in your future.  Play with the Bits in Your Own Lab
One of the best ways to learn about a technology is to actually get your hands on it. Thankfully, all of the pieces of the Microsoft Virtualization Platform and Private Cloud can be downloaded from a single location (no wondering where to find each piece). Here you can get Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 as well as the System Center 2012 RC builds, including a unified installer to make the whole process of getting things up and running easier. No need for a TechNet subscription – just get the bits to start evaluating Microsoft’s Private Cloud technologies in your own lab. Don’t Forget About Free Online Resources on TechNet As always, TechNet remains a great place to find videos, articles as well as links to blogs and whitepapers on virtualization and Private Cloud. If you have not already done so, bookmark the TechNet page and visit often for the most recent technical resources to help you grow in your career. 
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Hello folks,
Today my daughters helped me realize something. they convinced me to stop watching videos and reading “howto” articles and actually strap on the snow board and go to the hills with them. You see… I’ve been contemplating learning to Snowboard. I went out I bought a board, boots, a helmet, the whole kit and kaboodle. (I don’t know where this expression comes from but this is something my dad used to say all the time…) Then to prepare, I read articles, I watched videos. I thought I was learning. WRONG!!!! I was definitely fooling myself.
I thought I would look like this picture after my research.
I was so far from learning to snowboard. in fact it looked like I was learning to snowplow down the hill, with my face. I looked a lot more like this…
I then realized that this translate very well to my professional life. I’ve never been a book learner. I need to do it. As my wife the grade 6 teacher tells me I’m a tactile learner. I need to put my hands on the stuff I’m trying to learn to get it. That’s why when trying to rap my head around new products like the new System Center 2012 Suite that just got it’s RC release I need to download it put it up in my lab and start playing with it. As I run in to situations, I then go to blogs and TechNet to figure out the details. there is nothing like getting your hands on the goods.
that why I always go to the Microsoft Evaluation Center and download the evaluation copies that I need.
Evaluation Steps
.jpg "Select a product.") Select a product from the list below
Review system requirements
Register for evaluation
Download and install software
Receive emails to access expert resources
Use blogs & forums to share tips
I’m telling you I spent more time reading and watching about Snowboarding then I did actually going down the mountain. but I can tell you that the last run of the day was the best. I stayed mostly upright, did not break anything and learned a little. but a lot more than just reading about it. I love the last run of the day, because it leads to the chalet. but whether its learning to snowboard or learning to take advantage of the System Center 2012 suite somehow I always end up here!
Now, get going! go the the evaluation center, and download something. Never stop learning. Whether it learning new IT skills, or learning not to break your neck. They both can bring you satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment that only that kind of personal growth can bring you.
Pierre Roman, MCITP, ITIL | Senior Technical Account Manager | Directeur de Compte Technique Senior
IT Pro blog | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn 
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 You can attend all the conferences, seminars, and training courses that you want, but just watching and listening will only allow you to retain about 10% of the information given to you. A measly 10%. That’s a pretty low return on your investment. Luckily, we’ve designed TechDays to help participants remember and recall a whole lot more than that.
For those attending the conference in person (there is still time to register for Vancouver and Montreal!) there are the Instructor-Led Labs where you can bring your notebook and get your hand dirty on the cool technology that you’ve been learning about. You can also review the materials – session recordings and access to the labs will go live on the TechDays site after the conference is finished, in December. But in addition there are resources that you can use to supplement your learning. The complete list of session resources will be coming out soon as my colleagues pull together information for each of their areas. But for now, I’ll list the ones for the sessions that I’ve been working on organizing – the Security, Identity and Management sessions. These sessions cover a wide range of topics – everything from securing your wireless network to how the latest innovation in System Center, called Orchestrator, helps you build a flexible private cloud infrastructure by creating automated process workflows from numerous vendor products. Whether you’re able to join us in-person at TechDays or not, below are some great resources for diving in and learning more about securing and managing your infrastructure. Happy Learning! Securing your infrastructure: General systems management using System Center products: Information on System Center Orchestrator: Information on System Center Operations Manager: Learning more about PowerShell: Software Asset Management: 
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 As many of you know I work for Microsoft Enterprise Services as a Senior Technical Account Manager. I've been here for 6 years and I constantly get the question “what is it like to work for Microsoft?”. I always answer the same thing. “it’s fantastic!”. You get to work with really smart, interesting people, on challenging engagements. and the environment and culture is second to none.
 While we’re on the subject of places to work. Microsoft Canada has earned the coveted “Best Workplaces in Canada” and we’re very proud of that.
The list was published as a Special National Report in The Globe and Mail on April 12, 2011
Anyway,back to the point of this post. We’re growing. This is a year of growth for us and we are constantly looking for additional talents to join our Services family.
To that end we will be hosting our own Microsoft Canada Career Webinar on On Wednesday, April 20th, at 6:30pm.
By attending you could discover new and exciting career opportunities in the following areas:
- Technical Consulting
- Support Engineering
- Service Delivery Management
By being part of this event and have a chance to interact with leading professionals in the industry. so go. Visit www.microsoft-webinars.com and register for the Webinar.
The webinar will highlight:
- An introduction to Enterprise Services
- Current open opportunities and future growth opportunities
- Testimonials from our technical professionals
you won’t regret it. such an easy thing to do in order to get a glimpse of what’s possible for you.
Cheers!
Pierre Roman, MCITP, ITIL | Senior Technical Account Manager | Directeur de Compte Technique Senior
IT Pro blog | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn 
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The other day Rick posted an entry on cloud computing and asked “As IT Pros who save the world every day at work – what do you think about all this “cloud” stuff?” It led to a lot of comments and questions. Our colleagues over at TechNet Edge have started to answer the questions around cloud computing specifically aimed at the IT Pro. It is a four part series which will cover the IT Pro aspect of cloud computing. Part 1 is available and in it IT Pro Technical Evangelist Joey Snow invites Senior Architect Evangelist Brian Prince to Redmond to begin unravelling the mystery around Cloud Computing in this first video in the four part, Real World Azure series. Joey and Brian keep it light as they fill in the vocabulary for you. They describe what SaaS, Software plus Services and cloud computing are, and point out types of applications which are best-suited for the cloud. Brian is happy to reveal how IT professionals move up the value food chain and do more of what they aspire to as they begin to leverage cloud computing. The discussion rounds out with a white board chat about the spectrum of applications that might run on-premises, hosted, or in the cloud for an enterprise.  Take a look, let us know what your thoughts are and stay tuned for the rest of the series. 
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![3436495785_7653964d1a_o[1]](http://blogs.technet.com/blogfiles/canitpro/WindowsLiveWriter/WhathaveyoubeenuptolatelyHowstheITdepart_14CD0/3436495785_7653964d1a_o%5B1%5D_thumb.jpg "3436495785_7653964d1a_o[1]") Picture yourself walking into an elevator and having a senior executive standing in there. After the pleasant head nod, you press your floor button and stand to the side. After the doors close - the executive finally recognizes you and remembers you’re in IT. Because it’s a long ride up – she asks you a small talk type question like “So Bob, what projects have you been up to lately? How’s life in the IT Department?”.
Are you ready for this question? How would you answer?
Remember - You’ve got one minute to promote your personal brand and make an impression. Are you ready for that?
This is a serious topic that comes up in conversation when my team is out at events and talking with people. It’s mostly around the issue of looking for a job or trying to break into he industry as they are newly out and seeking employment. Kudos to the ones that are asking – most are seeking advice on what to say and how to promote. What about all the OTHER people in the room who are not doing a good job of connecting and self promoting? Sure – maybe they are gainfully employed now or have not had to look for a new job in a while – but what about if something changed?
Self Promotion / personal brand awareness / pride in projects completed AND being able to clearly communicate them in the proper depth and manner that matches the situation is something that is hard to do. Are you someone like me (believe it or not) who’s a little introverted when one finds oneself in a crowd of strangers, nervous to be the one who does the approaching - but more then happy to talk once approached by someone in a crowd to talk. Maybe you are a bit more extreme – someone who shies away from getting out there at all, making connections and selling yourself. Being confident and taking the time to build and nurture your “public” brand may not seem important to you now – but what about when it really counts?
- when you find yourself being passed over for a new role with more responsibility.
- when you feel it’s time to move on down a slightly different career path.
- when it’s time to strike out into new territory all together and look for a new employer
- when it’s time to get into your first career or into your next career change.
How do you stand out from the crowd – even if it’s not your style? Can you summarize your accomplishments from past projects clearly and succinctly? When is the last time you updated your resume or maintained your “project portfolio”?
My team and I have committed to do whatever we can do to support your career growth as an ICT professional both on the traditional “technical skills” side as well as on the “personal/professional skills” side. With this episode of the Ignite Your Career webcast series - I figured it was time to focus a little energy towards this very important topic. When I reached out to the team to see who they would suggest would be good panel members – WOW. I was impressed with who wanted to talk on this topic.
We’re coming at it from all angles here: A brand and image savvy developer, an IT manager looking to hire, a headhunter who can help locate the right candidate or give you an edge and finally an HR professional who knows all about recruiting and staffing processes. Check out this line-up!
 Scott Hanselman – Principal Program Manager at Microsoft. You can find him on the web at http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ or listen to his podcast HansleMinutes. Trust me – if you are a developer – you’ve heard of Hanselman.
 Andrew Dillane is the Group CIO for the Randstad Canada Group of Companies. He’s the national president for the CIO Association of Canada and is actively involved in the Program Advisory Council for Ryerson University’s Information Technology Management degree program.
 Nick Crocodilos is no stranger to the Ignite Your Career webcast series. He’s provided colourful insight and valuable information on how to work with HeadHunters. His latest book How to Work with Headhunters is a great read and his previous book Ask The Headhunter: Reinventing The Interview to Win The Job was the #1 selling interview guide on Amazon for 26 months. You can reach Nick over on his AskTheHeadHunter blog. Note: Nick is making a SPECIAL OFFER for webcast attendees – Save $10 on his new book How to Work with Headhunters by using discount code = ignite
 Heather Hamilton – manages Microsoft’s Global Competitive Programs Team which is responsible for monitoring competitive talent landscape and leverage opportunities to recruit the best technical talent possible. She’s a well known blogger over on her site called One Louder and is a requested speaker on topics related to candidate outreach and community building.
I honestly can’t wait for Thursday the 24th. This will be an episode you will NOT want to miss! Register today to attend this free webcast series.
IT Pro Team Blog | IT Managers Blog |Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
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Are you a Microsoft professional looking for a better career opportunity or to expand your skills? MSEmploy Canada (http://www.msemploy.ca ) - Canada's only job and training portal serving the Microsoft community - is conducting a Career Fair at the Microsoft Canada Mississauga office. When: May 6, 2009, 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Where: Microsoft Canada Head Office; 1950 Meadowvale Blvd., Mississauga, ON L5N 8L9 Interview on site with companies looking for candidates now and visit with training companies about special training packages designed with the soft economy in mind.
MSEmploy Career Fairs feature technology speakers throughout the event. These speakers will provide an overview of popular, hot Microsoft technologies, highlighting the career opportunities available. These technologies include: SharePoint, .Net, and Hyper-V. To register for the Career Fair visit http://www.msemploy.ca/EventList.aspx . If you are not in the GTA you can always visit www.msemploy.ca to find opportunities in your area! 
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So you were at TechDays and you went home with your 6 month subscription to TechNet Plus and wonder what else there is besides software you can download? How about some free virtualization training and some free exam vouchers? You see there is a lot more to TechNet than just software you can download for your lab, there is a whole bunch of e-learning opportunities as well. I actually took some of the courses below in February to try them out as I prepped for my 70-652 exam. There is some great information there to help you get some hands on prep time and get ready to write the exam. In case you missed the email I’ve pasted it below, and if you are looking to get a subscription you can find out how on the TechNet subscription page. ------------------------- Businesses today are already achieving additional cost savings by consolidating their server environment through virtualization. Due to the unique way that Microsoft builds virtualization into server, desktop, and management platforms, as well as through innovative pricing and licensing, Microsoft customers have the opportunity to lower both acquisition and ongoing ownership costs. As the premier provider of evaluation, deployment, and support resources for Microsoft customers, we are pleased to offer our TechNet Plus Subscribers the opportunity to be among the first certified in Virtualization, with your chance to receive up to $250 value in preparation and exam costs. - FREE ONLINE COURSE OFFER FOR ALL TECHNET PLUS SUBSCRIBERS: Take the five eLearning courses needed to prepare for the Windows Server Virtualization, Configuring exam. (Valued at $160) – see offer details below
- FREE EXAM VOUCHERS FOR THE FIRST 200 QUALIFIED RESPONDENTS: We’re giving away 200 vouchers for exam #70-562 TS (valued at $125) so you can take what you’ve learned and get your certification. – see offer details below
Both the free online course offer and the Windows Server exam voucher offer are valid until May 15th, 2009. Take advantage of this special offer today! Send questions to tnprod@microsoft.com Below is an overview of this exclusive offer for TechNet Plus Subscribers: OFFER REDEMPTION INSTRUCTIONS: To access your free online courses* 1. CLICK - http://www.microsoft.com/learning/access 2. Enter Access Code:9350-Y2W6-3676, and the collection will be added to your “My Learning” page To receive your free exam voucher* Follow these instructions 1. Complete your online training 2. Take a screenshot of your my Learning Page showing status complete for Collection 6319: Configuring Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008 3. Send your screenshot in email to tnvouch@microsoft.com. Include in the subject line “Virtualization Exam Voucher Request” The first 200 respondents will receive a certification voucher in email. 
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No… I’m not the guy with the trench coat asking if you want to buy the letter C, but I do want to make sure you’re in the know. Talking with head-hunters / recruiters / IT Managers out there and there’s one thing they’ve told me again and again. They look to hire professionals with personal skills when ranking candidates with equal knowledge and experience. Your personal skills and the time you take to invest in your career development pays off big time – it gives you the edge over your competition. It doesn’t matter if you’re lookin’ for the next gig, or just looking for some extra confidence in the job you are currently at – it just works. Take the time – make the investment in yourself and in your career. My team is committed to YOUR success. We’re running our “Ignite Your Career” webcast series starting in March, running every Tuesday until April 7th. This series was extremely popular last time around and we’ve listened to your feedback asking us to bring it back again! We’ve designed this series specifically for technical professionals that are interested in developing their career. We’re once again partnered with CIPS to help ensure we’re bringing together experts from across the country from all walks of the ICT industry – developers, IT professionals and managers – in order to answer YOUR questions and share their insights. This is the third Ignite Your Career series I’ve worked on and I have to say I love putting it together. We’re using the “radio talk show” format once again – nice and easy to listen to, no “death by PowerPoint” and interactive with the audience asking questions using the question manager. In fact – this year we’re taking it up a notch or two: - You can E-Mail your questions in advance to iyc@microsoft.com.
- During the webcast you can join the Backchannel conversation on Twitter by using the #IYC2009 hash tag.
- Simply tweet your comments, chatter or questions and include to #IYC2009 hashtag to have them bubble up for all to see.
Main landing page can be found at http://www.microsoft.ca/ignite. You can check out the full details, schedule and episode topics from there. As we get closer – I’ll post some interesting tidbits about each episode on the blog. I’ve also extracted the titles, dates and registration links below if you want to register right now! 
| Series Line-up | Date | Time |
| | Industry Insights and Trends | Tuesday, March 3rd | 12PM-1PM EST | REGISTER NOW | | Discovering Your Trusted Resources | Tuesday, March 10th | 12PM-1PM EST | REGISTER NOW | | How to Establish and Maintain a Healthy Work/Life Balance | Tuesday, March 17th | 12PM-1PM EST | REGISTER NOW | | How to Become a Great Leader | Tuesday, March 24th | 12PM-1PM EST | REGISTER NOW | | Building, Managing and Strengthening Your Team | Tuesday, March 31st | 12PM-1PM EST | REGISTER NOW | | Women in IT Panel Discussion | Tuesday, April 7th | 12PM-1PM EST | REGISTER NOW | I can’t wait to get this started once again. I look forward to hearing from you on each episode. Don’t forget to register early! 
IT Pro Team Blog | IT Managers Blog | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn My Shared Bookmarks
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I was catching up on my RSS feeds while recovering from the first day of TechDays Calgary and came across this post on the MS Blogs blog. MS Blogs is a blog that aggregates the product team blogs and is a nice one to add to your feeds to keep you up to date on what’s going on in areas you don’t normally have time to look into. As we are close to finishing up TechDays in Vancouver at the end of January there are a lot of other opportunities to invest in your future and this post highlights a few of them. Definitely worth the read… ------------------------- 
It's important to invest in your professional development both to keep your skills up-to-date and to further your career. Have you set your personal Learning objectives for the year ahead? Microsoft products and technologies are constantly evolving with new releases all the time - are you keeping pace? The last thing you want is to find yourself out in the cold. You may be an expert in supporting Windows 3.1, Windows NT4 Server or Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM). However that's no good if you need to find a new job or want a change in direction and you don't have the knowledge and experience of the latest Microsoft products such as Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Systems Center Operations Manager 2007. If you are looking to build your knowledge as an IT Professional or IT Developer - there are many options and you can find details of the following on the Microsoft Learning Website: Don't forget the Microsoft Events Website. You can find details In-person events, Live webcasts, On-demand webcasts, Podcasts, and access to the latest information on free TechNet and MSDN Virtual Labs. Virtual Labs are a good way to enhance your knowledge - and the best thing is that they are free! If you are looking to really distance yourself and demonstrate you are the best of the best - then Microsoft Certifications may be for you. Learn More.. -
Technology Series: Specialist certifications train IT professionals in implementation, building, troubleshooting, and debugging of a specific Microsoft technology. -
Professional Series: Professional credentials validate the skill set required for a particular job. -
Master Series: Master certifications identify individuals with the deepest technical skills available on a particular Microsoft product. -
Architect Series: The Certified Architect program makes it easy for companies to identify experienced IT architects who have completed a rigorous peer review process. Three things to consider when you develop your career development plan: If you are employed by a company that purchases Microsoft products with Software Assurance are you taking advantage of the free benefits of that program?
Check out the Microsoft Software Assurance - E-Learning Benefits Are you taking advantage of all the FREE training?
Check out the Microsoft Events Website, or leverage the resources on the TechNet and MSDN portals. On the Events site you can find details of In-person events, Live webcasts, On-demand webcasts, Podcasts, and access to the latest information on free TechNet and MSDN Virtual Labs. When training budgets are tight - do you need to pay the full price, or is there a special offer that will save you or your company money?
Check out the Microsoft Learning Special Offers. 
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I was walking my 3 kids to school this morning - it was blowing snow and cold. Somehow the conversation turned to my work and I was explaining to them (6.75 son and twin 4.5 year olds) what it is that I do (connect with ICT Professionals, share stories of their success, help them develop skills etc). I mentioned that one way that I share stories or retell stories is not through sitting down and reading to each and every one in the ICT Community, but through things called Blogs, Podcasts, VideoCasts and MicroBlogging (Twitter). It was rather amusing to "translate" this into terms they understand - I should share that sometime, but I'll save that for another post. When we were in the schoolyard, their bags in the various lines that represent their classes, they went off to play. I huddled in the corner, out of the wind and since they were off for 10 minutes of freedom before the bell rang, I took a sip of coffee from the travel mug and pulled out my SmartPhone to check out my mail and see what was going on in the twitterverse. It's amazing to see what people can say when they only have 140 characters to say it in. This one "tweet" from my boss got me thinking... 
Not bad for 140 characters, eh? it caught my attention. As ICT Professionals - what are you / can you do to have a positive impact on your company or customers? This is a good starting point for a conversation... What do you think? Are you worried about projects that have to be cancelled / delayed because of economic concerns or improper/unclear alignment to cost savings or business drivers? Do you have to do more work, because contractors / PS consultants are not being brought in to help bolster the ranks or share their expertise? what's your strategy to make yourself or your IT department stand out positively with all that is going on?
IT Pro Team Blog | IT Managers Blog |Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
My Shared Bookmarks 
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Being the guy who told his team mates and manager that we had to get into blogging 4 years ago, I guess you can say that I am a "bleek". You can see my twitter links, facebook and LinkedIN information as well. I'm a big fan of social media in an online world - its a natural extension of what I do (and love to do) - connecting with IT Professionals across Canada - regardless of their technology passions. I am glad to see that Graham decided to extend his boundaries to look into what's taking place in the Bleekosphere. I am constantly searching out different ways to connect and share stories with people. I took in a PodCasting conference (Podcasters Across Boarders 2008) over the summer and regularly participate in meetUps and *camps. Heck, one of the organizers of PAB recently had a very poignant post about the importance of getting involved in some capacity with social media and moving beyond your local stomping ground in order to encourage growth. Get connected! Start Communicating! Start Sharing!
Team Blog | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn --------------------------------------------------------------  | | Graham Jones (Surrey, BC) | Recently I got an email from my neighbour/friend (Mike Nielsen) inviting me to an evening event on blogging using Wordpress (partially sponsored by them). It turns out that Mike’s employer Express Computers was also one of the sponsors. I thought that it might be interesting so I went along. Mike was our chauffer and our first port of call was to pick up another of Mike’s friends and a couple of teenagers. As we travelled to the event I was conscious of the fact that Mike’s friend and the two teenagers were having a conversation about blogging in the back seat. I was equally conscious of the fact that they were using a “language” that I barely understood; clearly the lingua franca of the “Bleek”. This made me wonder what was in store at the event. As it turned out we were to be “treated” to a series of talks about using Wordpress and the benefits of blogging. I was expecting the audience (~100) to consist entirely of “bleeks” but it turned out that there were people everywhere from extreme “bleeks”, who clearly don’t have a life, to people who were there to find out “what is this blogging thing about?”. The talks that stuck in my mind were as follows: 1. The business benefits of blogging. This was given by the owner of an ISP called BlueFur (no clue about the name) who claimed that it had made a huge difference to his business. He said that he spends about 2 hours per day blogging which has led to a “connect” with his customers that he never had before and a steady stream of new business. It had also led him to provide managed blog hosting, ie. host the blog plus provide expert help on such things as “theme” customization, etc.. BlueFur was also an event sponsor. They provided the draw prize which as an eeeASUS notebook, which as per normal I didn’t win! 2. A talk on Wordpress blog site customization using PHP. The point of the talk was to illustrate the benefit of making yourself looking a little less “me too” (ie. not using out of the box themes) and that you don’t need to be a PHP/CSS expert to make simple but effective changes. The talk was given by Miss604 who is quite well known locally. I chatted with her at the “comfort break” and she told me that she had very recently made blogging her full time employment. I suggested that was a very “brave” move on her part! 3. Having just mentioned making a living from blogging the most interesting talk of the evening was by John Chow. John runs a blog/website which helps people learn how to make money out of blogging and, of course, in turn makes money for him. Around October 2006 he said to his friends that he thought that he could find ways to make money out of blogging which resulted in a large amount of skepticism, and a challenge to prove it. In his first month he made ~$300 (typical Google ads stuff). Last month he reached $40K (yes, that is $40,000) for the first time. He well surpassed the value of simple Google ads a long time ago. Some of the schemes that he has devised are very ingenious; some might say slightly unethical. He even admitted that he is definitely not on the Google Xmas Card list!! All in all it was quite an interesting evening. What did I learn? First and foremost I am definitely not smart or energetic enough to make money out of blogging J. I am very happy to have the privilege of blogging here as a guest as and when the spirit moves me to discuss something that interests me and hopefully is of value to others. I still don’t have a clue what the “bleeks” are talking about most of the time and probably never will. I am equally sure that life will go on without that knowledge. Like most things that achieve a large measure of popularity a sub-culture with its own social structure and language has developed around blogging. When you see people in the room from ages 10 to 70 you know that there must be an appeal somewhere. What is hard to picture, such as with online social networking, is how it will evolve. Sites like Twitter are something of a combination of the two. Graham Jones 
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When you talk to many folks in the industry about the role of an architect in an organization, very often the conversation switches to a development focus. Things like "architects are the folks that design the applications our developers write" or "architects ensure the developed applications meet company standards", and so on. The reality is that there are many different types of architects out there - enterprise architects, solutions architects, infrastructure architects and many more. In fact, Microsoft has recognized architects as a category of individuals within the ICT industry and has certifications available for messaging architects, solutions architects, database architects, and also infrastructure architects.
As technical professionals you may be interested in looking into what it means to be an architect and if this is a growth path for you and your career. Last year another team within Microsoft Canada that we work very closely with held a Web Cast series for aspiring architects that was attended by over 1200 individuals and covered a number of strategies that can help developers and IT professionals to transition to the architect roles. The Aspiring Architect Series 2008 builds on last year’s content and covers a number of topics that are important for architects to understand.
Check out in the 2007 Aspiring Architect Webcast Series to see what was covered, and then plan to attend one or more of the sessions of the 2008 Aspiring Architect Webcast Series:
June 16th, 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Introduction to the aspiring architect Web Cast series
June 17th, 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Services Oriented Architecture and Enterprise Service Bus – Beyond the hype
June 18th, 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – TOGAF and Zachman, a real-world perspective
June 19th, 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Services Oriented Architecture (Web Cast in French)
June 20th, 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Interoperability (Web Cast in French)
June 23rd , 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Realizing dynamic systems
June 24th, 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Web 2.0, beyond the hype
June 25th, 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Architecting for the user experience
June 26th, 2008 – 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. – Conclusion and next steps
We are hopeful that you will find the upcoming series to be a very useful investment of your time. 
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As an IT Professional who has worked in the industry collecting a salary for over 17 years (man I am dating myself) I am psyched to have a job where I have an opportunity to connect with students who have already made a commitment to train and work within IT or are on the fence and contemplating "jumping in". By connect - I mean start a dialogue with them - listening to what they have to say and answering questions they might have on almost any topic they want to talk about. One of the things my team wanted to do this year was start to engage with the academic community a bit more - like our Developer advisor team mates do. Planning started a while ago on which colleges and universities we had prior relationships with and we reached out to the Deans of IT and the ACCC to see if they were interested in having us stop in while we were on the road and talk with their faculty and students when we are in town. We don't necessarily talk about "product" - we're talking about working in the ICT industry, what they can do to better prepare for entering the workforce and trying to dispel any myths that might have been engrained in their minds about working in IT. Oh yeah - we leave as much time as possible for questions during the short time we have, but at the end, there are always people who want to talk further or get contact information shared out. Once in a while there's even an interest to go out and connect in a more informal setting (coffee / pizza / pints) later to continue the conversation. I was approached by Algonquin College to talk with students in March as part of a discussion panel on the ICT community. It happened to be taking place the day after I returned from the Vancouver Launch stop - I was beat, but jumped at the chance to connect with over 100 students and faculty. As a result of the short talk I ended up re-connecting with Richard - one of the CS Professors who I met last time I was there and continue to interact with in the online community. Richard followed up with me the following week to see if I was available for an informal chat - I suggested we meet up at a local establishment (the Clocktower Pub) which hosts a lot of "tech" meetups, *camps / after *camps. Hey - it was St. Patricks day - I couldn't resist. :) It was great! I got to meet some members of the first class of students about to graduate from Algonquin's Computer Systems Technology program (an additional year of study on top of their two year Computer Systems Technician Diploma program.) Cool program - gets them additional skills around IT Project Management, how to run a small business, wired and wireless network setup, security analysis to name a few - plus the opportunity to double up on "General Education electives" in the fields of personal and social development or cultural understanding. I want to shout out to Gemen, Chris, Harri, Drew, Dave and Scott - Awesome meeting with you. Study up for those finals, eh? I'll connect back up with you a little later when things settle down! I love going out to talk with Students. I believe as an IT Pro and working in the ICT field - it's one way I can help out the industry as well as excite people coming into the biz. Heck - maybe we should start talking in HighSchools - BEFORE people make up their mind to get into a program.... hummm.... I'm scheduled to connect with students at the HEC in Montreal on the 7th and NSCC in Halifax on the 16th. Are you interested in having one of us come out to your college or University to chat? Drop us an email with the EMAIL button at the top to connect up and see what's possible! 
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