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Microsoft Career Express Kicks-Off for Tech Ed 2009!

Today, Microsoft Learning’s Career Express begins its 11-day cross-country odyssey from Atlanta, Georgia to Tech Ed 2009 in Los Angeles, California. Along the way, the Career Express will pick up six contestants who competed for a seat on the bus and admission to Tech Ed 2009. As they make their way across the country led by Ken Rosen of Microsoft Learning, the Career Express will visit Microsoft Certified Partners for Learning Solutions, Microsoft IT Academies and other communities interested in learning about the potential for skills development to get a job, keep a job, or grow within their current job in the IT profession.

You can follow the bus on the Born to Learn blog, Facebook or Twitter (http://twitter.com/MSLearning). If you’re interested in Twitter meet-ups, be sure to watch for the hashtag #tweetup.

Have You Taken a Microsoft Certification Test Lately?

As the economic climate continues to impact IT pros around the world, it’s vitally important for individuals to enrich their skills, differentiate themselves, and maximize their impact within their organizations.

For IT pros that have not taken a certification exam since January 1, 2007, Microsoft and Prometric are providing a limited offer to the first 4,000 individuals to help them gain their Microsoft Certified Professional status in the MCTS/MCPD/MCITP tracks. You can find more information and register at www.prometric.com/microsoft. The offer is available for customers who have taken their last certification exam prior to January 1, 2007.

So, come on back. Get certified again!

Microsoft Skills Week Launches Today!

Microsoft Skills Week kicks off today and runs through Friday. As part of Skills Week, there will be more than 175 partner-led events in North America designed to help IT professionals and developers develop and validate their skills, network with industry leaders and achieve Microsoft Certified Professional status.

Microsoft Skills Week events will include the following skills development and career assistance programs as part of its offerings:

•Access to Career Assist. An offering through Microsoft Learning’s Second Shot Program. Second Shot gives individuals the opportunity to retake a Microsoft Certified Professional exam for free should they fail. The Career Assist Package gives individuals who register for Second Shot by June 30 the opportunity to purchase a Microsoft E-Learning Collection for $35 (U.S.) — a 90 percent price discount in most cases. The online programs provide specific tools to help users develop technical skills and prepare for Microsoft Certified Professional exams. The discounted collection purchased with the Career Assist Package will be available for 90 days after activation.

•Exam Crams. Quick study sessions to prepare individuals for Microsoft Certification exams.

•Live Meetings. Sessions with Microsoft technical specialists and legendary Microsoft Certified Trainers who will demonstrate technologies to enhance training and answer questions to enable individuals to prepare for examinations.

•Exam discounts. Opportunities to get certified on-site at events while saving up to 40 percent on exam fees.

More information on Microsoft Skills Week and local events is available at http://www.certificationweek.com.

(Info taken from Microsoft Press Release: http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2009/mar09/03-09SkillsWeek09PR.mspx)

ComputerWorld’s Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference

If you have been following me on Twitter (which you will see on the bottom right of this page), you will know that I have been attending ComputerWorld’s Premier 100 IT Leaders Conference. (By the way, to see twitter posts relating to the conference, search on #p100)This has been a different kind of conference for me as the focus is the business of IT and not just the technology itself. The conference is in line with my studies, which is working toward a Master’s degree in Management Information Systems.

I have seen some great presentations from various CIO’s. The panel sessions yesterday were very valuable to me. The morning panel session focused on the economy and how it affecting doing IT. I especially like hearing from Viji Murali, Vice President for Information Services and Chief Information Officer, Washington State University and also one of this year’s Premier 100 IT Leaders. Since Ms. Murali is also from a public university, her comments had more relevance to my own environment. It seems that Washington and Florida (as well as most public universities) are all facing the same kind of budget crunch, as state funding dwindles in this economy.

The cloud computing panel yesterday afternoon will be helpful to me as I need to write a paper on the topic for one of my classes. I think the most important point that the panel agreed on was that cloud computing shows promise, but it is still in its embryonic stages. Cloud computing is good for projects that do not require much security.

My highlight from yesterday was a presentation by H. James Dallas. The presentation was entitled “The Need to Lead.” The presentation was Mr. Dallas’ advice to CIO’s based on his years of wisdom. His advice was good for anyone that wants to be a leader in IT.

I just wanted to post a blog update on the conference. I have taken a lot of notes and may try to post some of the ideas that I have recorded in my notes later. I will also publish a summary of today. But for now, back to the conference . . .

WARNING: Windows Live Team Phishing Scam

I just received the following phishing email message claiming to be from the Windows Live Team. If you receive this email, do not respond to it. Just delete the message.

Some of the indicators that this email is not legitimate include:

Email address of the sender is a plain hotmail address
Poor grammar, capitalization, and spacing.
Asks for too much personal information (Windows Live would not ask for your password, secret question, secret answer, and date of birth)

Here is the text of the message that I received:

Subject: Important Message Regarding Your Windows Live Account

From: Windows Live Team [zarjah@hotmail.com]

Dear Account User,
This Email is from Windows Live Team Customer Care and we are sending it to every Windows Live Team Email User Accounts Owner for safety. we are having congestions due to the anonymous registration of Windows Live Team accounts so we are shutting down some Windows Live Team accounts and your account was among those to be deleted.We are sending you this email to so that you can verify and let us know if you still want to use this account.If you are still interested please confirm your account by filling the space below.Your User name,password,secret question,secret answer,date of birth and your country information would be needed to verify your account.Due to the congestion in all Windows Live Team users and removal of all unused Accounts, Windows Live Team will be shutting down all unused Accounts, You will have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login Information below after clicking the reply button, or your account will be suspended within 24 hours for security reasons.
* YOUR NAME:
*USER NAME:
*E-MAIL ID:
*PASSWORD:
*VERIFY PASSWORD:
*ALTERNATE EMAIL ADDRESS:
*DATE OF BIRTH:
*COUNTRY/TERRITORY:
Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his/her account after two weeks of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently. We apologize.
Windows Live Team Account Service
Team Admin….

Access your email online and on the go with Windows Live Hotmail. Sign up today.