Online .Net training courses

[jmo21]

Anyone used TekPub?

[jmo21]

Out of interest though, what's the provider you looked at? Reason I ask is i'd be interested in doing 'proper' online training for iPhone development as even though i've got an App in the store already, I'm still not proficient and could do with some structured training as want to try a game next.

It's Pluralsight I'm looking at but they only do MS stuff.

$99 for a months access to all their online training courses looks pretty good for ending a contract and spending a couple of weeks learning/revisiting.

[Durbs]

I've been on many courses where the instructors were either totally rubbish (just reading from the course folder/slides), or more commonly they'd just say can we take this offline/I'll get back to you via email on that point, as they needed to push on with the course.

Thats kind of my experience with classroom courses, I did quite a lot of them back in my MCSE system engineering days and never got much out of them. The bulk of the stuff I actually learnt was via going home and running through free online tutorials where I could go at my own pace and not be limited by the classroom course being too slow/fast.

Done .NET for 7+ years now but recently did a couple of .NET 4.0 MCTS exams which cover a few areas i've not had a lot of 'real' commercial experience in like MVC and found the freebie stuff out there more than covered everything i'd ever need to know about it. Stuff like dnrTV - Show Archives combined with the thousands of free tutorials meant i wouldn't have considered paying for 'real' training. Suppose it depeneds on your level of .NET experience, a total beginner would doubtless benefit from structured training as they wouldnt know what they should be learning in the first place but if you've got any substantial .NET under your belt then you should have an idea of whats actually worth learning and what to look for freebie-wise.

Suppose the benefit of paying for training is it gives you the incentive to actually learn it, you've paid £'s so are more likely to put that bit more time in. I used the exams as a carrot, booked one and then I know i've got to learn this stuff by Date x or i'm going to fail, lose my money and look a n0b.

Out of interest though, what's the provider you looked at? Reason I ask is i'd be interested in doing 'proper' online training for iPhone development as even though i've got an App in the store already, I'm still not proficient and could do with some structured training as want to try a game next.

[jmo21]

thanks AP.

I'm pretty fluent with .Net already, so happy that I can pick up things in that arena, this is for things like WPF that I haven't touched at all (whether or not I should is another matter!) and WCF which I have a decent understanding of, but want to learn more.

For asking questions, I'm hoping web can suplment anything else I need to know.

It's a good point though, back in my permie past I've been on many courses where the instructors were either totally rubbish (just reading from the course folder/slides), or more commonly they'd just say can we take this offline/I'll get back to you via email on that point, as they needed to push on with the course.

[alreadypacked]

I am looking for peoples experiences with paid for online .Net training courses.

* In your experience, are these an able replacement for in-person training?
* Are they better than the many free ones provided on MSDN and the like?
* Are there any specific ones you'd recommend?

I usually prefer general book/web research myself.

I have one specific provider in mind that looks really good, but I'll omit this for fear of advertising

Most courses are ok if you understand the material, if you have questions how quickly or how well will your questions be answered. What medium would this interaction take place.

As has been said before, if you are not working in .NET then anything you learn will be forgotten quickly.

[jmo21]

I am looking for peoples experiences with paid for online .Net training courses.

* In your experience, are these an able replacement for in-person training?
* Are they better than the many free ones provided on MSDN and the like?
* Are there any specific ones you'd recommend?

I usually prefer general book/web research myself.

I have one specific provider in mind that looks really good, but I'll omit this for fear of advertising