I recently found myself on the bench. The bench is not usually where I like to be, because unless I keep busy, the day just drags on and on. Our company usually likes it if we use bench time for training, and many of us have been taking and passing MS certification exams lately. So, it seems like a good time to re-certify my MCSD (it's been a while) and take some TS exams for SharePoint and other stuff that I already know how to do but just haven't had the time to make it official.

 

Only one problem... I hate to study alone. Double that if I have to study the trivial details of something I already pretty well know how to use - at least for the most part.

 

Enter Eric, my oldest son. He's 11, and he's not very well known for his ability to pay attention for long periods of time. (No idea where he gets that from, seriously.) The way I figure it, if I can teach Eric SharePoint inside and out, then I've done something much harder than simply passing a Microsoft standardized test. And, as a plus, I will have proven that SharePoint is the great tool that I believe it is.

 

So, over the next 10 weeks or so, I will endevour to teach Eric the virtues and caveats of SharePoint - its use, its configuration and maintenance, and even how to develop code for it. And for your sadistic amusement, you can watch the saga unfold on our team blog, the SharePoint Apprentice Zoo.

 

We'll be watching enough webcasts to make our eyeballs bleed. We'll be working on labs too. I think it is important to point out that Eric has never even written any code outside of Phrogram and doesn't have any MS development stuff installed on his PC. This is going to be a hoot.

 

When we're done, Eric will take the Microsoft TS exams for SharePoint (and hopefully pass them). As a plus, I'll be able to farm off the maintenance on this server to someone else, and I'll gain a partner in crime. Come see if we succeed!

 

Oh, and I'll take a bunch of MS tests myself too. ;-)