Ignite Your Career

When I was in university, I made a vow to myself that if I was going to spend 8+ hours a day at a job then I wanted to enjoy what I was doing. If I ever found myself not having fun, then it was time to move on. Keeping that promise has meant that I've moved around a bit but so far, I have to say that I've been successful. I look forward to my work. However, as satisfied as I am with my current job, it's just a fact of life that eventually it'll be time for a change, whether it's a move within the company I'm currently working for, a change to a job at another company or an opportunity to start my own venture.

You may feel the same way. Perhaps you're looking to make a change or maybe you just want to know what options might have. You could be a manager who's looking to give career guidance to your team, to keep them interested in their jobs and make sure they progress within your company.What skills should you be looking to develop or get training for your team on? What's the economy looking like? Is this a good time to take the plunge and start a new business, or should you hold on to the security of full time employment for the time being? 

The MSDN team here at Microsoft Canada started a webcast series called Ignite Your Career, specifically focused for developers and we on the TechNet side have picked up from there and are offering a similar series for IT professionals. Our first webcast was last Thursday where we had a panel of industry experts talking about the IT industry and where it's heading. The panel was made up of all non-Microsoft people who talked opening and honestly about their thoughts, opinions and experiences. There was even mention of Linux and open source software! We had a tremendous response with over 250 people connecting live. Our next session is this coming Thursday, November 22 at noon, when we'll have a different panel discussing how to best build and grow your experiences. If you register and connect with us live, you'll have the opportunity to ask questions during the 90 minute webcast which will be answered by the panel as you listen. If you can't join us as the designated time, we will be posting the recordings plus resources, links, books and highlights from the webcast.