Not only Microsoft might be the very first exposure of IT to any student
with Windows OS and MS Office, it contributes tremendously to IT students and
the whole field further as well. It might be the only tech giant who works so
much solely to nurture the tech-talent in students. If I gather from my
experience, this is how Microsoft impacted my life.
Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) offers online Microsoft
training delivered by experts to help technologists continually learn, with
hundreds of courses, in 11 different languages. Our mission is to help
developers, knowledgeable IT professionals and advanced students learn the
latest technology, build their skills, and advance their careers. MVA is free
of charge, and the entire service is hosted on Windows Azure.
It helped
me learn a lot of things in a very simple and effective way which otherwise
might have been quite tedious. I even got to attend Microsoft Power Orientation Day by completing a course on it.
Microsoft Research India is running
this program to understand how online educational systems might be used to
improve learning for Indian college students. Indian tertiary education is
nearing the breaking point: there are millions of students demanding the best
education from too few teachers who are stretched very thin. We think that
online education tools (such as MEC) might be able to help, and we want to
understand what works and what doesn’t. The demand of Computer Science
education is particularly huge, so we thought that a great place to start with
fundamental CS.
I did a course
on Design and Analysis of Algorithms at MEC and I can tell you, it was great.
You just don’t have to put any stress on understanding. They started from
scratch and explained everything with simple yet conceptual examples.
Microsoft
Certifications are for all levels and to complete even one of the beginner’s
level is a real boost-up as it had been for me when I passed MTA.
I
remember this one time I was really curious about cloud computing but the more
I read about it the more I got confused until I came upon this video by
Microsoft which explained it in a very simple, sweet and friendly way as Microsoft
always does! In case you're curious too, here it is.
Microsoft offers many awesome free e-books which have benefited me
to a great extent.
Now
Microsoft is here with yet another innovative idea for students: Microsoft Student Associates Program.
Microsoft Student Associates represent their
local campus as technology enthusiasts and social media/marketing evangelists.
It is an initiative that focuses towards developing the leadership attributes
of students in their community.
As a Microsoft Student Associate,
- I truly, genuinely believe in Microsoft, their goals as they have stated for MVA and MEC. I really admire and respect them for it. I would more than love to be a part of it.
- I would bring as many as possible students to participate in the Microsoft courses and events as possible. My city having about 13 engineering colleges, that shouldn’t be much of a problem.
- I keep myself very up-to-date about all Microsoft events and have a general idea about the course of each.
- I would like to work sometime in collaboration with the National Service Scheme of our college to bring the unprivileged children to attend a workshop on a basic subject. After all, the youngest person to be Microsoft Certified was of age 8.
So do avail all these resources and keep loving Microsoft!
