One of the most frequently asked questions I receive is “How do I become a SharePoint developer?” and the answer I usually give is “One unknown error at a time”. After almost 4 years of SharePoint development I still do not know everything there is to know. SharePoint is a huge product and it is hard to know where to start.
Webcasts and Podcasts
The way I began to learn about SharePoint was watching online presentations and listening to podcasts. As you watch or listen to the presenter you want to get an overview of the subject, understand the terminology and concepts, and watch the demos to see where the presenter goes to find certain functionality. Below are links to video and audio resources you can watch to bring yourself up to speed about SharePoint 2010:
- Microsoft Showcase Videos
- Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Website Videos
- Getting Started with SharePoint 2010 (Beta)
- SharePoint 2010 Learning Snacks
- Micosoft Webcasts
- Microsoft Podcasts
- Microsoft Align IT
- YouTube
- Channel 9
- TechNet On Demand
- SharePoint Developer Center Videos
- TechNet SharePoint 2010 video demos and training
Events and User Groups
Attending Microsoft events or going to user group meetings is another wonderful way to learn a wide variety of topics. The benefit of going to events and meetings is you get to meet other people who share your interest, you can ask questions to experts (They love that. Specially the hard ones.), and you get the latest news sometimes even before it is made public. Below are links you may be interested in for SharePoint events and user groups:
- SharePoint Conference
- TechDays
- TechEd
- Engerize IT
- MSDN Events
- User Groups
- Halifax Users Group For SharePoint
- Canadian SharePoint User Groups
- Live Microsoft Webcasts
- Microsoft In Person Events
- Microsoft Virtual Events
Books and Whitepapers
Books and whitepapers are great ways to build a solid foundation of knowledge to help begin developing in SharePoint. Below are links to whitepapers and books to help prepare you for Microsoft SharePoint 2010:
- SharePoint 2010 Overview Evaluation Guide
- SharePoint 2010 Professional Developers Evaluation Guide
- SharePoint Server 2010 Evaluation Guide for IT Professionals
- SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010 Scenarios
- SharePoint Server 2010 as an Application Development Platform
- SharePoint 2010 Developer Platform
- WROX SharePoint Books
- SharePoint Developer Books
- SharePoint Website Books
Don’t forget to check out the “Books” and “Training & Exams” tabs on the right side of the screen for an up to date list of SharePoint 2010 books.
Blogs and Forums
Blogs and forums are the most practical ways to learn. There are a lot of SharePoint blogs and forums out there supplying developers with all the latest information, tips, and tricks of the trade. The wonderful thing about blogs and forums is that they are written by people who work everyday in the trenches of SharePoint using their own blood, sweat, and tears to supply you with simple answers. Blogs and forums have certainly saved my butt when I have run into trouble. The following are some links to my favourite blogs and forums:
- SharePoint Team Blogs
- SharePoint Designer Blog
- Microsoft SharePoint Developer Documentation Team Blog
- Microsoft SharePoint IT Pro Documentation Team Blog
- Arpan Shah
- Gary Lapointe
- Andrew Connell
- Joel Oleson
- Heather Solomon
- Eli Robillard
- AllTop
- Official Microsoft SharePoint Forum
- SharePoint 2010 – General Questions and Answers Forum
- SharePoint 2010 – Setup, Upgrade, Administration and Operation Forum
- SharePoint 2010 – Using SharePoint Designer and other customization Forum
- SharePoint 2010 – Using Visual Studio with SharePoint and other programming Forum
- SharePoint Developer Center Forum
- Eggheadcafe
- SharePointDevWiki
Microsoft Documentation and Resources
SharePoint documentation over the years has been unfortunately sparse and developers largely had to rely on each other through blogs and forums. In the last year or so Microsoft pushed out a lot of content for the SharePoint community to read and explore. Documentation on the Microsoft sites are much more technical and goes into a lot of depth. When you are ready to the take the next step and want more detailed information you should check out the links below for great SharePoint 2010 information:
- Offical Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Website
- MSDN SharePoint 2010 Website
- TechNet SharePoint 2010 Website
- SharePoint Developer Center
- Update Center
- SharePoint Developer Platform Wall Poster
- SharePoint 2010 (Technical Preview) Developer Documentation
- Developer Platform White Paper
- Getting started with business intelligence in SharePoint Server 2010
- Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Evaluation Guide
- Hosting Environments for SharePoint 2010 Products
- Topologies for SharePoint Server 2010
- Search Technologies for SharePoint 2010 Products
- Design Search Architectures for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
- Cross-farm Services in SharePoint 2010 Products
- Search Architectures for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
- Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products Upgrade Approaches
- Planning and Architecture for FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint (Beta)
- Search Environment Planning for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
- SharePoint 2010: SharePoint Developer Platform Wall Poster
Tutorials and Virtual Labs
The best way I learn is from hands on experience. Virtual labs allow you to test drive Microsoft software in a virtual environment displayed through your web browser. You can run through tutorials, which are step-by-step guides, to learn certain functionality to use within SharePoint. Tutorials are a great way to start coding when you have no clue what to do. Unfortunately since SharePoint 2010 just started its public Beta their are no virtual labs and only a few tutorials. The following are links to Microsoft virtual labs and to few SharePoint 2010 tutorials:
- SharePoint 2010 Virutal Labs
- SharePoint 2010 VHD
- Micosoft Virtual Labs
- Virtual SharePoint Environment
- SharePoint Server 2010 Tutorials
- SharePoint Developer Center – Get Started Developing on SharePoint 2010
- YouTube – SharePoint 2010 Tutorials
- SharePoint-Videos.com
- Professional Developer Evaluation Guide and Walkthroughs
- Getting Started with Development on SharePoint 2010 Hands-on Labs in C# and Visual Basic
- Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Visual How-Tos
- Sharepoint 2010 Beta Developer Training Kit
- SharePoint 2010 End-User Training
Training and Certification
In June 2010, Microsoft be offering “70-667 TS: Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Configuring”, “70-668 PRO: SharePoint 2010 Administrator”, “70-573 TS: Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Development”, and “70-576 PRO: Designing and Developing Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Applications” exams for IT professionals and developers. I would suspect that Microsoft certified trainers will offering courses around May 2010. The following are links to training and certification information: