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I have the priviledge of attending SharePoint Conferences and rubbing shoulders with some of the coolest people in the industry. This last week I was at SharePoint Connections and hung out with Dustin Miller (SharePoint Experts) at MGM. I peeked in on Bill English, at the preconf on Upgrade, later met up with his crew at the booth. One night Lawrence and the gang (a bunch of MVPs) all went to dinner. I sat next to Robert Bogue and we caught up. He filled me in on what he's been up to with workflow and governance. As I walked through the vendor area I stop and chatted with the SharePoint Solutions folk. Shane Young, one of my fans and I a fan of him, writes and teaches for those guys. Had a good chat with Nicola Young of SharePoint911.com, they had a presence at the SharePoint Solutions booth, Shane's wife and hung out with our group at MGM as well. Heather Solomon, SharePoint MVP, and designer extrordinaire was with us as well. ... Fun times with Mickey, Goofey and friends. In addition, I finally met Scott Jamison a Microsoft IW Architect on the east coast. He co-authored a SharePoint Essentials book soon to be available which includes a good couple pages from one of my posts on SharePoint and File Shares. He joked that one penny of ever dollar would be sent to me for my contribution. Maybe he wasn't joking?
I think they'd all agree in the training space there are the big 4. All 4 made up of SharePoint MVPs and top SharePoint people in their space. Each having separate niche's with some overlap all providing excellent training (based on who they have as trainers). When you go to SharePoint events, look for these guys. You'll either see them out on the floor, or on the stage. This post is very U.S. focused. No offense to Patrick (SharePoint MVP) and U2U in Europe. I'm sure he's got great things going on. He does really know SharePoint Dev. His Training could be considered in this group from a global perspective.
I don't include the New Horizons, SQL Soft, or Netcom. Although I'm sure they all teach the SharePoint MOC (Microsoft Official Curriculum), I don't know them on a personal level like I do the folks below. As well, I hope my friends below all realize I'm not favoring one over another. I've been to their sessions, but haven't attended any of their training courses. So that may sound funny. I vouch for them as trainers and experts, but haven't sat through a week of training. Great people though... In fact amazing people. Ironically, I have had 4 weeks of training at SQL Soft on NT 4 and SQL 2000 (resulting in my NT4 MCSE and later my W2K 2000 MCP.) It may be hard to believe that I was turned down for a job back in '97 at New Horizons for a 20K a year job, right after I graduated. Oh well, their loss.
So without further ado... In no particular order...
SharePoint Training by SharePoint Solutions
I'd say their niche is Information Worker and IT Pro. Shane of SharePoint911.com, SharePoint MVP and IT Pro also does some great IT Pro training on upgrade. He does an awesome job of making a complex topic very simple. He can really crack a tough nut.
SharePoint Experts - SharePoint Training - Training, Consulting ...
Dustin Miller and Todd Baginsky, good friends, both MVPs. Their bootcamp will really get you in *shape* and make you proud to be a member of the community. Niche I'd say is their SharePoint Designer, Dev, as well as Admin with focus on the web design work. Todd teaches a good developer course. I first saw Dustin training on FrontPage Dataviews. He makes that tool sing. The courses they do are either on site at your company or offsite. He did a session on SharePoint Designer at SharePoint Connections. Todd did one as well there.
MINDSHARP SHAREPOINT TRAINING. KNOW MORE. DO MORE.
Bill English, Todd Bleeker, are a killer team (both MVPs)... Add now with the likes of Ben Curry and Keith Richie, my good buddy previously of CSS (product support) and of SharePoint Utility fame. Todd's developer training is top of the line (if you can keep up). These guys have all been around for a while. Bill's newest book (shared with a number of authors), the MOSS 2007 Administrators Companion and the 2003 Admin Resource Kit I do recommend as great IT Pro resources for your SharePoint reference library. Andrew Connell signed my copy when he was walking by my desk after the SharePoint MVP summit (he's now out on his own). Bill's a great guy, good heart, really knows how to bring a group together. His knowledge is deep on upgrade and Admin (pick up his poster if you go by their booth). Todd as a dev is fast, deep, and really knows his stuff.
The Ted Pattison Group
Ted Pattison, knows his @#$%. He won't let you down. Top of the line developer training. Anyone I know that's been through his course. Mike Watson for example, came away saying it was worth every penny. Ted's got a great personality, very funny guy as well. I met him first at an internal event a couple of years ago presenting a case study on a financial institution setup as Acme corp. It was great to have him sit in on my session at Tech Ed last year and say nice things to Fitz about me. He even thinks I'm funny. :) Kudos for that.
Combined Knowledge (EMEA)
Steve Smith is someone I worked with on the Exams. Smart guy. I've been impressed with his attention to detail. I don't know much about their offering, but I do recommend Steve.
<update>
Pilot House pinged me about their SharePoint Training. They've been doing classes since 2003.
I also got a mail about information worker (end user) training videos on WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007 Portalogiks: http://portalogiks.com/TrainingCenter/SharePoint2007TrainingPackage/tabid/285/Default.aspx
Looks like a pretty good list of videos.
</update>
Nothing against your selections but why not simply call your blog "SharePoint Training - My TOP US 4"
As you write there are many good training companies outside the US you have no experience of most of which also have SharePoint MVPs.
Those include Patrick Tisseghem's U2U (which also includes Jan Tielens) and Steve Smith's Combined Knowledge not to mention at least one good training company in Australia.
Joel,
Think you blog is great the resources you share are invaluable.
I would really appreciate it if you would syndicate the entire article via RSS instead of just summarizing in your feed.
I find it more efficient to read the ariticles in the IE7 feed reader.
I think you're funny too. : )
We have finished the WSS v3 Object Model posters now. They can be requested from the Mindsharp Premium Content page.
<Todd />
This may be a good place to look at. HTH, Deepak.
Hey are you aware of any good person in Sharepoint in India???
Another thing what does it take to give a training.. is it hard .. looks exciting to me .. is it a great venture ?
ThomasInAZ
Posts 1
SharePoint Training
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Where is the best place to get SharePoint Admin training in Arizona?
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Yesterday, 4:35 AM UTC
StrykerLee
Posts 1 Re: SharePoint Training - Phoenix
I personally couldn't tell you but just read a blog from someone who could...
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=99505684&blogID=409847765 here is the URL to the blog. Her name is Kelli. She is incredibly friendly and nice I'm sure she wouldn't mind answering questions if you have them.
Her post:
I never thought it was possible BUT...
Current mood:
I just finished an entire week of SharePoint training at Interface Technical in downtown Phoenix. It was the second SharePoint class that I have attended there. I have to tell you…both times I walked away impressed. I have taken A LOT of training classes in my lifetime (AutoCAD, Novell, Web Classes, ITIL, COBIT…the list goes on and on). Each and every one of them was ***. I'm not saying the content was difficult or hard to understand. I just could never force myself to really get into what was being taught. Well I am here to tell you that I have found the secret to training. IT'S THE INSTRUCTOR! The content being delivered in the class is a minor part of the equation. Classroom environment, staff and students play an even bigger role. A good training class is an experience not just a knowledge transfer session. The instructor is the key. He/she sets the tone for the environment. Fortunately for me (and my company) I have met a man by the name of Simon Allardice. He is by far the best instructor that I have ever had. He was able to capture my attention and get me interested. This has never happened before. Simon doesn't read straight from a text book nor does he put you to sleep with slide ware. He SHOWS you how to stuff! He's great at demonstrating what he is teaching. In addition, he is always asking if you have questions and what information the students need for their environments. He knows the product and he knows it well. Notice I didn't say that he knows the content well. He does, but knowing the product is more helpful than knowing just the content. You can throw some crazy questions and scenarios at that man and he knows the answer, even when the question is outside the scope of the curriculum. It was a GREAT training experience. I got more out of that class than just the curriculum content. I got interested. I got into it. I am eager to find even more ways to modify and utilize SharePoint. Simon Allardice made the impossible happen….. He got me excited about SharePoint. I'm reading blogs, watching online videos, posting to forums. I am even considering joining a SharePoint user group. …. Wait, did I just say that? Wow! Guess what it all comes down to is…Simon Allardice has officially turned me into a Geek J hahaha!
Must have been the HOT Scottish accent
5:00 PM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment -
Yesterday, 6:58 AM UTC
The Mossman
Posts 207
Re: SharePoint Training
Check out Professional SharePoint Server 2007 Administration from the Ted Pattison Group, it is taught by Shane Young, SharePoint MVP. It is available online if you are unable to find a location close enough:
http://www.tedpattison.net/Courses/WC_SPA401.aspx
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-The Mossman (http://themossman.blogspot.com)
Yesterday, 12:32 PM UTC
Rick Kierner
Posts 11 Re: SharePoint Training
Both suggestions above are excellent recommendations. I'd like to add that if you are looking for a low cost, self taught solution, try www.itcourseware.com for their 4 day developer class. I am enjoying their materials on SharePoint. In addition, it's not location specific.
Rick
I'm looking for SharePoint training in Latin America in local languages, i.e. Spanish and Portugese, plus some development services. Training could be done remotely but in some instances it might be onsite. Can anyone give me a reference?
Thanks in advance - Melanie Sukh