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Alan:
You are thinking about a
Microsoft application. It used to be that the first thing you picked out was a
platform; and then you picked out a language to program in like C, C++, or C#—but
those days are gone. Nowadays, you need so much information that you just
can’t work with one language, anymore. This is where you need a team of
experts behind you.
Our
guests today are Craig Jensen, President and CEO of AppDev, Martin Schaeferle,
Vice President of Product Development with AppDev, and Brian Ewoldt, Product
Manager with AppDev. Welcome to Let’s Talk Computers, guys.
Craig:
Thank you for having for
having us, Alan.
Alan:
It used to be we learned
Visual Basic and that’s all we needed to have.
But, if you start moving to the Web, which most businesses are, now you
need to learn ASP.NET, Visual Basic .NET, and the list just keeps going on and
on. This is where you really need a
team of experts to help you find our way, isn’t it?
Craig:
Yes, you are right, Alan.
I’ve been involved in training developers since 1994. Originally, in our
classroom training curriculum, one course would last for one week. Now we have
our All-inclusive Learning Library, which is self-study training. It can be
utilized by a developer across many different platforms; different technologies;
different languages. We cover everything from Visual Studio, to SQL Server, to
SharePoint, to Office and Windows. What that does is give somebody the ability
to write applications and learn what has to be done, and also know what has to
be done across different languages.
As
you mentioned, when you are writing applications, many times you have to know
how to write in C#; you have to know how to utilize ASP.NET, etc. Having a tool
like our All-inclusive Learning Library gives that benefit to a developer.
The
one thing that we have found over the past few years is that developers really
enjoy having the ability to talk with other developers and to talk to the
experts – things that you get when you are in an instructor-led training
class.
So,
what we have done is create a platform that allows our customers to be able to
do that online. That is the AppDev
Edge.
Alan:
Usually if you go to a
class and you have one instructor, you are not allowed to sneak out and go talk
to another instructor, even if you need the information the other instructor
could provide. On AppDev Edge, you have access to all of your instructors,
don’t you?
Craig:
You’re right. Our
experts, Ken Getz, Robert Green, Don Kiely and Doug Ware are online in the
forums. If people have questions across different technologies, there are people
there to help them. It really gives developers the best of everything—the
best of instructor-led training right at their desktops!
Alan:
Brian,
you are responsible for putting the AppDev Edge site together.
It’s a massive undertaking with all the connections that you have; all
the past tutorials and the training sessions.
How did all that come about?
Brian:
Well,
the site came about through Martin Schaeferle’s vision on what AppDev Edge
should be. Our customers told us that they liked the desktop training, and yet
missed the interaction between the instructors and other students. So, much of
the site was built off of these ideas.
Alan:
So
many times when you are taking an instructor-led class, you network with other
people that are taking the class with you. You have questions and bounce ideas
off each other…and you all come out winners.
But, when you are just taking home a CD or learning online, you don’t
get that benefit. But, with AppDev
Edge, you do get that benefit back, don’t you?
Martin:
That’s
a good point, Alan. As a classroom instructor in the ‘90’s, it was very
common that after a particular day ended or a particular session ended, we would
go through a Q&A session and that was really valuable for the students. They
asked questions of the instructor; the instructor might turn around and ask
questions back to the students. The students might bounce ideas back and fourth.
The instructor might act as a moderator to kind of coach the conversation
in a certain direction. A lot of the value in instructor-led training did come
at the end when you could have these discussions about technologies.
When
we were originally conceptualizing about the AppDev Edge site, this was a big
component. We wanted to create an
environment where once a student goes through a particular training course and
that leads to certain questions; there are ways to apply this technology – we
give them a means in which they can go out and post things that in our forum;
read and comment on blogs. They can create that same type of discussion that was
so valuable during the instructor-led training days.
Alan:
I
know the best part of the courses I’ve attended is being able to take the
instructor our for dinner or drinks afterward—because you learn so much more there
when it’s a relaxed type atmosphere. It’s a one-on-one. With the forums that
you have set up, it’s like that, isn’t it?
Craig:
Unfortunately,
we can’t take people out for drinks or dinner with the Edge, but we do have
the ability to really communicate with them, one-on-one.
Brian spends quite a bit of time moderating and being involved in the
forums with the authors.
Brian:
A lot of the questions
that we do see pertain to real-world problems and applications.
Somebody is trying to build a SharePoint site and there are details that
they may have missed that the instructor can then fill in on. That really helps
when people in the forums can help get their projects going and get them back on
track to where they were happy with them.
Alan:
You know, one of the
things I really enjoy about all of the AppDev training is that the lab sessions.
These are things where you not only take back real-world examples, they are like
real-world mini-applications that I can put into my own applications and make
them really shine and I then I get all kinds of kudos for them, don’t I?
Martin:
From
the beginning, AppDev has focused on providing of real-world application
knowledge. We use our labs to complement that. All of the labs that are created,
the students can go through them, and we walk them through in the text, exactly
how to build each of the projects that exemplifies a particular concept within
our course.
For
people just getting started with technologies, or perhaps they know a section of
technology really well, but they might not know another section well, the labs
are a great way to get your feet wet and actually experience building, perhaps
from start to finish, an application used in a certain technology.
Alan:
AppDev
Edge is a subscription service for members-only. You get to sign up and then
it’s like opening up a doorway to all kinds of training information and all
kinds of tutorials; all kinds of past tutorials and past training sessions.
Everything that you would ever need as a developer is right there.
Craig:
Yes,
our All-inclusive Learning Library is a subscription. For this subscription you
get the initial courses that we have in place – but then you also get, free,
all future courses that we launch within those technologies.
So,
if new versions come out, they get that, free.
By virtue of being a subscriber, the customer can then go out into the
AppDev Edge and get involved in talking with the authors; get involved with
taking “live learning”, which we do put on a few times per month - which is
like a live training session, online.
Alan:
Well,
talk a little about the live learning, because this is a new concept.
This is not just watching a recording that’s already been done.
This is live learning.
Martin:
Very
much so. We have the instructors whom we have worked with in the past.
They come on to do a 90-minute session—75
of those minutes is a presentation of course material, and then at the end, we
have an excellent time for a Q&A, where people can get their real-world
questions answered from items they may not have understood. Even if they have
not been able to attend the live learning event, we do keep the replay in an
area of the AppDev Edge site, and the forums are also there for people to post
their questions if we didn’t get a chance to get to their question during the
live learning event.
Alan:
Well,
if you are going to go to Web, as far as building an application, you are going
to have to learn the different type of applications and technologies and how
they connect together. You may not
really know what the question is that you’re going to need to ask during the
live session. But, now you can look
up information by topics, by examples, by just any way you want to find it.
You can go right into that particular lesson and that’s important.
Martin:
That
is important, Alan. AppDev Edge is organized based on individual technologies.
We have forum sections that break up discussion groups, based on whether
you’re doing Web development or application development; SharePoint
developments; SQL developments. We
also have media clips that are available that provide additional video clips for
students that want to look at other technologies. But, within a particular
category, the live learning events also fall into particular technologies.
Live
learning also provides a great way for students to not only get access to the
instructor, but also perhaps get access to new information that comes out. One
of the things that instructor-led training gives the student is typically the
instructor has up-to-the-minute information on what’s going on within a
particular technology or what is the latest and best practices.
Live
Learning events are a way to augment your existing training with the latest
information. A lot of what people ask of the instructor at the end, during the
Q&A session, are things related to “How are people using it today?
What is this new feature? How
does this interact with SharePoint or SQL? What’s
coming up in the future? What’s
coming around the corner with Visual Studio 2010? or the next version of SQL?”
And so live learning can also provide that benefit of instructor-led
training.
Alan:
One
of the really good features about the AppDev Edge is that you can browse either
by description or by tags. What do
mean by browse by tags?
Brian:
The
tags are the items that have most often been selected by people to look at.
These are the items that seem to be of the most interest to site visitors, and
using tags makes it easier for people to find – something pops up in the tags
that they have been looking for right off the bat, and they can easily get to
it. It is a simple navigation tool that works really well.
Alan:
When you are talking about
having these expert trainers online, who are some of these expert trainers that
we get a chance to interact with? I
know we have Ken Getz, of course, but who are some of the other ones and what do
they represent?
Martin:
We’ve got a number of experts that are available up on the AppDev Edge
site. Ken Getz is one of our premier instructors, and he covers ASP and
developing applications in VB and C#.
Robert
Green, who was a Project Manager at Microsoft and who also works with Ken,
provides a lot of information for the Edge site. Doug Ware is our SharePoint
expert. He runs the SharePoint user
group down in Atlanta and has been working with SharePoint literally since it
started. We are very fortunate to have him available for answering questions and
teaching our SharePoint live learning.
We
also have Don Kiely, who is a sought-after SQL instructor.
He’s a security expert and speaks at the PASS Conference, which is one
of the largest SQL conferences in the country. We are fortunate to have him
available to provide answers in the SQL arena.
We
also have Ann Webber, who is a recent addition to our expert list. She is a SQL
Server Business Intelligence expert that is taking on some of our new 2008
materials and she will be online. Paul Litwin, who is an instructor with
experience in SQL Server, Business Intelligence, and ASP, is also available on
AppDev Edge.
Craig:
The
one thing that really sets us apart is having all of the individuals that Marty
talked about. They are not just
people that know something about the technology or language; but they are
clearly experts within their field. We
are very fortunate to have them work with us.
For our customers, they get really the best from each of them.
Alan:
So
many companies that put out training courses – they have what they call
“talking heads”. These are
people that really don’t know what they heck they are talking about, but they
are reading a really good script. If
you don’t know what you’re looking at, you can get really confused. I
guarantee you there are no talking heads at AppDev.
Craig:
You’re right, Alan.
Our authors – we have worked with them for quite a number of years and
they are individuals that have written books; they work with Microsoft; they are
working on the product early on. They really have a deep understanding of the
technologies that they are involved in.
Alan:
How would I go about
getting started with AppDev Edge? What
is the process?
Craig:
The one thing is that
AppDev Edge comes free for any customer that has purchased an All-inclusive
Learning Library—so,
the best way to get involved is to utilize our library.
Also,
anyone who would like to try a live learning event can email us at info@appdev.com
and we can set them up with access to an upcoming event so they can see what
it’s all about.
The
best thing to do is to call our learning consultants and the number there is
800-578-2062, or come to our Web site at http://www.appdev.com.
Alan:
When you sign up and you
go into the AppDev Edge, you are going to see just hundreds upon hundreds of
back tutorials; getting started with different types of applications; how to
work with AJAX; you’ve got open XML code snippets; you’ve got things that
are about programmer; with programmers; “Are Netbooks taking over,” You talk
about Windows 7; you talk about anything that a developer would be looking for,
don’t you?
Craig:
We really do. We put the
site together in order to get the best out of instructor-led training, along
with our self-study training, which we believe is the best out there.
Alan:
I know you have so many
different types of training courses that we can buy.
But, what is the average price of getting started with the AppDev Edge?
Craig:
For one individual, they
can get started within a core learning suite for $495.00 and that includes some
core topics within that suite, so for example, on Visual Studio it would include
3-4 courses within Visual Studio.
If
someone wants to move up to have an All-inclusive Learning Library, which is
going to include Visual Studio, SQL Server, Business Intelligence, SharePoint,
Windows and Office. The price on that for one user is $1,495.00. For one
year’s subscription you get with that all future courses, free during the time
of your subscription. And if you have more than one developer you can buy
multiple user licenses and the price declines down to around $795 each. So it
becomes a very affordable and a very high value for the developer.
Alan:
Training is not an
expense. This is an investment. As a developer, you want to find the latest
knowledge. One of the things about
Microsoft applications, I can guarantee it – it’s going to change as we are
talking right now. Something about it is going to change. Having all this on the
Web, you don’t have to worry about it being obsolete or out of date.
It gets changed, automatically, doesn’t it?
Craig:
You’re right. As an
example, if a developer currently was working with SQL Server 2005, if they
purchased the All-inclusive Learning Library, they would have all of the courses
– everything from SQL Server 2005 Developer to Admin.
As we come out with 2008 courses, those would be there, free. Some could
then migrate on to the next version.
Alan:
If somebody would like to
find more information, where would they go?
Craig:
The best place to take a
look would be our Web site at http://www.appdev.com,
or they can call our learning consultants at 800-578-2062.
Alan:
Craig,
Marty, Brian, it’s been our pleasure to have you as our guests again on
Let’s Talk Computers, talking about how developers can get the training they
need by having the team of experts behind them. I look forward to talking to you
again, real soon.
Craig:
Thank you, Alan.
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