There are two major differences between SCD1 and SCD2:
1) SCD1 includes substantial instructor-led discussion and step-by-step labs. SCD2, by contrast, focuses almost entirely on labs that challenge students to solve programming challenges using their own mettle.
2) SCD2 leans heavily on the student's ASP.NET background. If you aren't experienced with ASP.NET, the class simply isn't for you.
Does this mean that the class is a good match for experienced ASP.NET developers? Perhaps. Most of the significant topics in SCD2 are covered on the SDN site (SDN access required):
http://sdn5.sitecore.net/Reference/Field%20Reference.aspx
http://sdn5.sitecore.net/Snippets/Item%20Handling/Adding%20Items/Adding%20a%20new%20Item.aspx
http://sdn5.sitecore.net/Developer/Common%20API%20Classes.aspx
http://sdn5.sitecore.net/Articles/API/Using%20Events.aspx
If you are accustomed to learning through online documentation, the above references will familiarize you with the most important topics in the class.
If you are new to CMS, I recommend attending the SCD1 training and -- instead of SCD2 -- attending the Sitecore Day of Prototyping class. This class spends a day building a section of a basic website. The goals of the class are to revisit and reinforce the topics of SCD1 and provide useful code samples for common scenarios.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Getting Ready for Training
Developers come to Sitecore Certified Developer training with varying levels of experience. In general, we recommend the following guidelines for attendees:
1) At least 12 months’ experience with ASP.NET.
2) Be able to reference at least one in-production ASP.NET project.
3) Work with ASP.NET on a regular basis.
While the training itself doesn't include a deep discussion of Sitecore and ASP.NET, confidence with ASP.NET development practices is always a significant predictor of success.
There are exceptions to this rule. Many experienced Java developers have shown success in the training. A commonality between their experience and that of ASP.NET developers can be distilled into the following attributes:
1) Experience with OO concepts
2) Knowledge of web application architectures
3) Production-level experience with web application development and deployment
One other category of students have shown great success in SCD1: developers with experience implementing CMS systems. If you already have worked with other CMS's (and not just home-grown site administration tools), the Sitecore training will likely be easy for you.
What if you are new to .NET and/or new to CMS? The class will be a (hopefully fun) challenge. The key predictor of success in this case is the availability of time to practice using the CMS before and after the training. Sitecore has a steep, but short learning curve. The initial training may be challenging; but, with practice, the concepts will sink in and become obvious over time.
For those new to .NET and CMS, make sure your first project is either a prototype or a "phase I" implementation. Don't take on too much complexity out of the gate. Experience your growing pains in small-scale, low-stakes projects. If that is not an option, seek out professional services from an experienced partner or Sitecore to help you through your first implementation.
You may also be interested in "project review" services. Sitecore can provide architectural feedback on your initial architecture design. Talk to your sales person if you are interested in this option, as it is well worth it. Experienced partners can also offer this service.
1) At least 12 months’ experience with ASP.NET.
2) Be able to reference at least one in-production ASP.NET project.
3) Work with ASP.NET on a regular basis.
While the training itself doesn't include a deep discussion of Sitecore and ASP.NET, confidence with ASP.NET development practices is always a significant predictor of success.
There are exceptions to this rule. Many experienced Java developers have shown success in the training. A commonality between their experience and that of ASP.NET developers can be distilled into the following attributes:
1) Experience with OO concepts
2) Knowledge of web application architectures
3) Production-level experience with web application development and deployment
One other category of students have shown great success in SCD1: developers with experience implementing CMS systems. If you already have worked with other CMS's (and not just home-grown site administration tools), the Sitecore training will likely be easy for you.
What if you are new to .NET and/or new to CMS? The class will be a (hopefully fun) challenge. The key predictor of success in this case is the availability of time to practice using the CMS before and after the training. Sitecore has a steep, but short learning curve. The initial training may be challenging; but, with practice, the concepts will sink in and become obvious over time.
For those new to .NET and CMS, make sure your first project is either a prototype or a "phase I" implementation. Don't take on too much complexity out of the gate. Experience your growing pains in small-scale, low-stakes projects. If that is not an option, seek out professional services from an experienced partner or Sitecore to help you through your first implementation.
You may also be interested in "project review" services. Sitecore can provide architectural feedback on your initial architecture design. Talk to your sales person if you are interested in this option, as it is well worth it. Experienced partners can also offer this service.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Post-Training Resources
A little-known item on the Sitecore Developer Network is called "Post-Training Resources." We scoured the SDN site for some documentation that would be useful for recently certified developers. Find out information on creating a Visual Studio project, learning about the Sitecore API, multi-site management and much more. Enjoy!
Welcome!
Welcome to my blog on Sitecore training. The goal of this blog is to provide hints and tips to developers who are about to attend Sitecore training or who have just completed training.
Many of the links on this site will require access to the Sitecore Developer Network (SDN). If you've attended training, you should have access to all of the information on the SDN.
Many of the links on this site will require access to the Sitecore Developer Network (SDN). If you've attended training, you should have access to all of the information on the SDN.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)