Microsoft SharePointMainly being inspired by other people's 30 days challenges, but also due to an upcoming task assignment in an active project I thought that I am able to do this, too.

The idea to setup my preparation phase as a personal challenge came only recently. Interestingly, it is very comparable to stints in Agile Development except that there is no (defined) backlog at the moment.

The challenge

So, here I am ready to take the battle against myself and to learn as much as possible about Microsoft SharePoint during the month of September - 30 days of reading online resources, watching educational videos and using hands-on-lab virtual machines to get along with the product. There's only one major catch: I can do it in my spare time only. My daily job in software development has priority and I have to deliver solutions for my customers.

Furthermore, I'm looking forward to summarize and note down my activities about Microsoft SharePoint on a daily(? - at least regular) base and would love to get your input on additional resources and learning material. So far I'm going to start with some online video material provided by Microsoft Virtual Academy and Pluralsight, and reading the Microsoft SharePoint dev blog and blogs by other MVPs. After the introductory phase into SharePoint I'm going to focus myself on the possibilities to develop software based on the APIs provided.

The reward

With this personal 30 days challenge I'm aiming at three specific achievements:

  • Being able to implement a client in an existing software to use Microsoft SharePoint as a document management system (DMS)
  • Sharing my experience online and at the meetups of the MSCC
  • Having the perseverance and to pass some Microsoft exams related to SharePoint and SQL Server

And last but not least I am going to be able to advise and discuss solutions with existing and future customers. Overall, a win-win situation for all of us - myself, the IT community in Mauritius, and my clients.

The Challenge Progress Report

This article is going to host the links to every single day of my challenge. And as a reminder to myself, I already set up all 30 bullet points in Challenge Progress Report (CPR):

The topics as well as the links will be added throughout the month of September.

May the Force be with you

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Do or Do not. There is no Try

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