Win Free Training for Life with Firebrand

 By Edward Jones 

Firebrand is again giving one person free accelerated training for the rest of their life. This time it could be you.

The prize is worth more than £1million - considering the value of our all-inclusive courses and your potential future earnings.

Which courses are covered?

Join previous winners Mario Henkel and Joseph Guthrie who can now take every Firebrand course for free. You’ll get all of our Microsoft courses; from MCSA to MCSE, and Windows Server to Dynamics and SQL. Our other partners, including Cisco, Oracle and CompTIA, are covered too.

Project manager? PRINCE2 and PMP could be yours for free. Or if you're responsible for IT security, you could take any of our EC-Council and (ISC)2 courses.

How to win Free Training For Life

The competition is a raffle. One person will be picked at random, and they'll win Free Training For Life. It takes just two seconds to enter online.

Increase your chance of winning. After entering you'll get a unique URL, which you can share with your colleagues and anyone else who’d be interested in Free Training For Life. Each extra entry via your unique URL counts as another 10 for you in the draw.

What it's like to win Free Training for Life

Listen to Joseph Guthrie, as he talks about what it was like to win Free Training for Life and his future aspirations.

Full terms and conditions can be found at: www.firebrandtraining.co.uk/ftfl

Author Profile

As part of Firebrand's global marketing team, Edward actively works to serve the IT community with news, reviews and technical how to guides. Working in the Industry for almost 3 years, Edward has a wide variety of experience with Microsoft Technologies including SharePoint, Windows Server and Exchange Server. Edward is an active member of the IT community contributing to a variety of tech publications including Microsoft TechNet, Channel Pro and PC Advisor.

Retiring Microsoft exams – the latest update

By Sarah Morgan

Microsoft has announced the next batch of retiring examinations. This time, retirements concern 17 exams in 13 Microsoft certification courses.

The first exam to kick off the new batch of retirements is Exam 98-373: MTA Mobile Development Fundamentals of the MTA Gaming & Mobile Development Fundamentals course and it will do so on 30th June 2014.

The remaining 16 exams will retire on the same day, 31st July 2014. They are as follows:

Exam - Course

• Exam 70-595 - TS: Developing Business Process and Integration Solutions by Using Microsoft BizTalk Server 2010 – MCTS BizTalk Server 2010

• Exam 70-518 - PRO: Designing and Developing Windows Applications Using Microsoft .NET Framework 4– MCPD / MCTS .NET 4 Windows Developer

• Exam 70-519 - PRO: Designing and Developing Web Applications Using Microsoft .NET Framework 4 – MCPD / MCTS .NET 4 Web Developer

• Exam 70-671 TS: Volume Licensing Specialist, Small and Medium Organizations AND Exam 70-672 TS: Volume Licensing Specialist, Volume Licensing Specialist, Large Organizations – MCTS Volume Licensing Specialist

• Exam 70-583 - PRO: Designing and Developing Windows Azure Applications Using Microsoft .NET Framework 4 - MCPD / MCTS .NET 4 Windows Azure Developer

• Exam 70-513 - TS: Windows Communication Foundation Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4AND Exam 70-516 - TS: Accessing Data with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 - MCTS .NET 4 Services & Data

• Exam 70-177: MCTS Microsoft Project Server 2010, Configuring - MCTS Project Server 2010, Configuration

• Exam 70-433: TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Database Development AND Exam 70-451: PRO: Designing Database Solutions and Data Access Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 ­- MCTS / MCITP Database Developer 2008

• Exam 70-450 Pro: Designing, Optimizing and Maintaining a Database Server Infrastructure Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 - MCTS / MCITP Database Administrator 2008

• Exam 70-516 - TS: Accessing Data with Microsoft .NET Framework 4, Exam 70-511 - TS: Windows Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4, Exam 70-513 - TS: Windows Communication Foundation Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4AND Exam 70-515 - TS: Web Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4 - MCTS .NET 4 Data Access, Windows and Service Communication Applications, MCTS .NET 4 Data Access and Web Applications AND MCTS .NET 4 Data Access, Web and Service Communication Applications

For more information on all retiring examinations, visit Microsoft Learning. 

Feeling confused? Call our Microsoft specialists at 080 80 800 888 and they will answer your questions. 

About the Author:       
Sarah writes for Firebrand Training on a number of IT related topics. This includes exams, training, certification trends, project management, certification, careers advice and the industry itself. Sarah has 11 years of experience in the IT industry. 

‘Early Experts’ Challenge on Windows Server 2012

Want to quickly learn about the latest version of Windows Server? Then take the Windows Server 2012 ‘Early Experts’ Challenge.

The ‘Early Experts’ Challenge is a free online study group with exam preparation materials. The Challenge is based around Knowledge Quests which begin with the apprentice quest. After each quest is competed, you gain a certificate to boast your new found knowledge.

The video below by Keith Mayer from Microsoft gives you an in depth report on the challenge:

Source: https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=079591d1a1ef79fb&id=79591D1A1EF79FB%216993&sff=1

The challenge targets each of the exams needed in order to gain an MCSA on Windows Server 2012. The three exams are as follows:

• MOC 410: Installation and configuring exam
• MOC 411: Administering windows server 2012
• MOC 412: advanced configuring

Once the Quests have been completed, you will be prepared for Exam 70-410 – Windows Server 2012 Installing and Configuring.

Early Experts – Apprentice Quest

This is the first quest, were you will learn and discover the latest and most important technical functions of Windows Server 2012.  The main areas covered are Virtualization, Management, Networking and Storage.

How to complete the Installer Quest

There are seven modules in the Installer Quest, all covered through videos and whitepapers. As there are so many new features, it is only meant to be an introduction to Windows Server 2012. The platform this is done through is in the MVA website. The MVA stands for Microsoft Virtual Academy, and is where you can train online for free and gain points. So here’s how to begin your quest’s…

Step 1: Sign in

You will first have to be signed up for the MVA web-site (click here to sign up). If you already have an account, just sign in.

Step 2: Download Windows Server 2012

The best way to learn is to do it yourself and build your own lab environment. Microsoft offers the Windows Server 2012 installation bits herefor FREE.

Step 3: Build your Server 2012 study lab

Keith Mayer made another video giving a step by step guide of how to build your own study lab as a dual-boot environment.

For more information, click here: http://blogs.technet.com/b/keithmayer/p/earlyexpertlabsetup.aspx#.UH1cacXA-no

Step 4: Join the Study Group

Now join the Windows Server 2012 "Early Experts" Study Group on Linkdin and participate in the community. You can join here: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Windows-Server-2012-Early-Experts-4576007

Step 5: Gain your ‘Early Experts’ Apprentice Certificate

Once you have completed all the above steps, you will be eligible to gain an Apprentice certificate for the ‘Early Experts’ challenge. All you have to do is email them to request it. You can email them here: earlyexperts@microsoft.com

Now what?

The quests don’t end there. More Quests are soon to be released to give you further knowledge and help you towards your Windows Server 2012 MCSA.

• Installer Quest: Targeting the Install, Configure and Active Directory exam objectives on Exams 70-410 and 70-417.
• Explorer Quest: Coming Week of October 15th 2012
• Networker Quest: Coming In November 2012
• Virtualizer Quest: Coming in November 2012

Almost 1 Million IT professionals served!

Microsoft has managed to far exceed their original goal of delivering the Cloud Skills message to 300 thousand in 2012 to a massive 949 thousand IT professionals. The virtualization certification has also seen a huge success with over 17,000 exams delivered in the fiscal year.

Are you going to keep up with the cloud?

Read more here

Why exams are getting harder

Microsoft Learning explains through this vlog why the Microsoft exams are getting harder. Liberty Munson also explains what new question types test takers will encounter. For more information on Microsoft, go here.

How did you find your exams?

Thanks Microsoft!

Thank you Microsoft for the free MCSE mouse pads.

Video: Microsoft Certification Exam Demo

Here's a brief video to help you know what to expect in a Microsoft Exam:

For all Microsoft courses, visit: http://www.firebrandtraining.co.uk/courses/microsoft

Microsoft Course Update: 80313A - Development IV in Microsoft Dynamics® AX 2012

Microsoft has released a four-day instructor-led course that covers the programming architecture of Microsoft Dynamics® AX 2012 more extensively. It provides professionals with a hands-on approach to customizing the system, along with case studies. This course involves coding.

The course is for experienced systems consultants, ideally working for a Microsoft Dynamics partner that is selling, consulting, implementing, and supporting Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

You can find the Course curriculum here: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/Course.aspx?ID=80313A&Locale=en-us

Note: This course is available for download on PartnerSource, and will be available on the MCT Download Center 12 April 2012.