Get a head start on 2021 with these technical learning resources

By Chris Walden, Editor for TechNet UK

17/12/2020

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TechNet UK

An illustration of a school, next to an illustration of Bit the Raccoon.

A new year is on the horizon. Many of us will be glad to leave 2020 behind us, but 2021 is likely to provide its own challenges, too. At the end of each year, it’s worth preparing for the year ahead, whether that means learning something new, or refining the skills you already know.

There are many, many resources out there to help you with this, but we’ve collected many of them here so you can choose a learning method that works best for you.

Free eBooks and Whitepapers

With almost 200 free eBooks available to download, it’s always worth having a browse to see which topics might take your fancy. Here are a handful we recommend:

New eBooks are being added all the time, so be sure to bookmark the eBook resource page to stay on top of the latest releases.

Similarly, there are hundreds of whitepapers also available that deep-dive into various technical topics. These include:

New whitepapers are added regularly, and you can track new additions on the whitepaper resource page.

Upcoming and On-Demand Webinars

The UK is fortunate to have hundreds upon hundreds of community groups. Right now, with the majority of these events operating online-only, it’s possible to attend meetups that were traditionally being held on the other side of the country.

Thanks to the hard work of many tech communities, meetups are continuing in an online-only capacity. The majority of these meetups are welcoming new participants too, so whether you want to check-in on a technology you’re already familiar with, or you want to try something new without worrying about hard-committing to transport and time, it’s absolutely worth seeing what’s out there. Here are a few places you can find upcoming webinars and events:

Microsoft Docs, Microsoft Learn and Learn TV

Both Microsoft Docs and Microsoft Learn are great resources to use that cover a wide variety of topics – and best of all, they’re free to use. Docs is jam-packed full of technical documentation, so it’s great for getting stuck into the nitty-gritty of particular topics. As the overview pages are written by multiple contributors, you can get both terrific overviews as well as deep-dives on the specifics.

Microsoft Learn is great for taking free courses on particular subjects. Courses are available on a variety of different subjects, and you’ll be able to dip in and out as you find the time to complete them. They’re great by themselves, but it’s also a perfect way to prepare yourself for certification, if that’s something you wish to pursue once the Covid-19 situation has improved.

You can also join us on Learn TV where you can find live streams, shows, and videos from people around the world for everyone to watch, interact, and learn from for free. It runs 24/7, with short intermissions between sessions, so be sure to check the session guide to the right of the video player which displays all of the upcoming talks and when they start.

Monthly newsletters

Every month, the Microsoft UK team sends out newsletters full of technical articles and learning materials. Signing up to these newsletters will give you a new selection of resources each month to look through, which is a good, low-effort way to get another stream of content coming through that’ll help you with skilling up. You can sign up for them here.

Social Media

Not only are the developer and IT Pro UK Twitter accounts great ways to get the latest news and resources, but Twitter in general is a good way to get a constant feed of content for skilling up – by following the right people. This can be a bit trial and error, but fortunately you’ll be able to find more people sharing good resources via retweets, so it’s easy to keep following (or unfollowing) accounts to tailor your social feeds to suit the interests you want to improve in.

The Microsoft accounts are a good place to start though, as you’ll get everything from technical articles to how-to videos, and event notifications to eBook downloads. Give it a go!