What are your references/recommendation on .NET DVDs, books and online training?

Question

There are lots of training methods from different vendors to learn .NET technologies (i.e. books, DVDs, online training, etc.).

All of them claim the same thing: that they are the best, their content is 100% guaranteed, makes their customers professional in no time, etc.

It’s confusing and sometimes frustrating as well. I especially want a training resource (i.e. a course) to provide valuable content in short time. More importantly I feel they should do their job properly so as to avoid the customer feeling they've wasted time or money.

• What I should do when I evaluating training methods and resources to help further software development skills?
• What are your training sources?
• Do you have any recommendations?

Answer 1

• MSDN Channel 9

There are loads of video clips about Microsoft technology (past, present, and future). I have recently watched a clip about ASP.NET MVC which was very useful (yes, the one by Mr Haack whop uses HaackOverflow as a project example). There is nothing to show from watching these clips as it is just for personal interest and development.

• Microsoft Learning

There are also loads of Microsoft self education books. They are pretty extensive though and you wouldn't want to study from them unless you are willing to take the certification test afterwards.

• ASP.NET

If you are into web technology, pretty much everything ASP related can be found on this site.

• Microsoft Events and Webcasts

As the title suggests, Microsoft often publish webcasts (even podcasts) which are published to their web site. You will have to take a peek to see if there is anything relevant to what you would like to see.

• Google

Obviously this isnt a very constructive bit of the answer, but google is your friend. If you would like to learn about a specific piece of technology, google it and find domain specific information. There is no point answering with a site (even if it is a great one) if it doesnt meet the needs of the type of technology you would like to learn.

Answer 2

I would suggest checking out MSDN webcasts.

You can attend them live. Also you can view their archive (http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/SearchDisplay.aspx?culture=en-US&evtTypHero=3#eventType=3;culture=en-US;searchcontrol=yes;advanced=mnp;pageNumber=1;sortKey=;sortOrder=;pageEvent=false) and even download webcasts.

So along with the books and other reference material these webcasts will give you demonstrations of how things are done.

cheers

Answer 3

It has to be said:

http://stackoverflow.com

Tags like best-practices, design-patterns, abstraction and design for example, can give you a wealth of information about the best way to design and build programs and solutions. You can search for them by bracketing them, like [best-practices] and you can search for more than one tag at once.

Also, pay attention to users like Jon Skeet, Marc Gravell, Mehrdad and Eric Lippert. They and others put a lot of time and effort into finding and providing the best answer. Good luck!

Answer 4

You can try http://www.innerworkings.com/ . Basically you will be given specific tasks with clear objective and guidance, according to your level.

With the clear objective, you will code directly inside the Visual Studio, and after you have finished it, you can submit to the innerworkings and they will mark/assess your codes whether it's correct or not.

You can try their trial package https://www.innerworkings.com/trial to get a feel regarding their learning method.

Answer 5

http://www.learnvisualstudio.net They have video tutorials on almost all topics and source code of the training as well

Answer 6

I've worked in the software development industry training and career development of Microsoft developers since 1995. There are a few good services out there and some just average services. It all depends on what you want to learn

Tools or Programming techniques

Tools Training - Most Authorized Training Centers offer content from the software maker (Example Microsoft MOC content) and they hire decent and good instructors to teach. Example NewHorizons You can ask questions, get answers and cover an "OK" amount of topics and get certified. Most offer instructor led and some on-line versions. See this link http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/default.aspx for a list MS learning resources.

Out side of traditional training companies are the custom training companies. They typically offer more in depth content in a wide variety of mediums (instructor lead, CD, DVD, online, live...) Good sources include learndevnow.com, Developmentor, AppDev.com, Intertech, Wintellect All of this content and instruction is top quality. Honestly I have a bias to the AppDev content myself.

If you are into programming techniques / skill - Then the best bet is to go to a college and take the classed directly. Really no substitute for that.

Hope you make something work out. Best of luck to you.

Answer 7

You should check out Pluralsight - you can get a taste for the quality of the training content and the delivery method by reviewing the .NET/C# tutorial here:

http://www.pluralsight.com/main/olt/Course.aspx?n=dotnet-csharp-tutorial

I've yet to see someone disappointed with any of the Pluralsight training, i.e., classroom, custom or online. Instructors are well-known in the industry too. Very high-quality.

http://www.pluralsight.com/main/instructors.aspx

Answer 8

There is not substitute for long-term hard training to get rewarded. That means that there are no real trainings of any kind to help you become professional in no time. If you are really into app dev, either traditional college classrooms, books, video training, or self-taught can help - it depends on your style of learning.

I would recommend you, if you have time - come to college classroom. If you don't, buy a book, sitting in front of a computer and start coding.