Today was my first day as part of the DPE (Developer and Platform Evangelism) team at Microsoft NZ.  One of the cool things we do there is run lots of free training for developers and IT pros, as well as run regular competitions with awesome prizes up for grabs.

Right now, until 15th December, there is a competition running and an Xbox One, 20 mobile wedge keyboards, and 20 wireless desktop packages are up for grabs.  To qualify for the competition prize draw you simply need to complete some free developer training modules and let us know.  Even if you don't come away with a prize, you still come away a winner :)

Its pretty easy to enter, what you need to do is this: sign up for the Microsoft Virtual Academy site; log in and add a couple of developer training modules to your learning plan, and complete them; send in a screenshot of your learning plan showing the completed modules.

For the T&Cs and more detailed instructions, check out Thiago's blog post on MSDN.

Some of the courses on Microsoft Virtual Academy include:

Absolute Beginner Level:

 

• C# Fundamentals: Development for Absolute Beginners
• HTML5 & CSS3 Fundamentals: Development for Absolute Beginners
• Windows Phone 8 Development for Absolute Beginners
• Gaming Engines for Windows 8 Jump Start

Intermediate, Advanced Level

 

• Advanced Windows Store App Development with HTML5 Jump Start
• Programming in C# Jump Start
• Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications Jump Start

There are several more courses, and the catalog is being continuously developed so its worth keeping an eye out for new content.

Link: See Thiago's blog post on MSDN.
Questions?  Post here and I'll try to answer them, or hit up @NZThiago and/or myself @NZRegs on twitter