September 2024: Announcing New Opportunities to Build Your AI Skills with Microsoft Learn

Whether you're looking to advance your career, explore new technologies, or simply expand your knowledge base, Microsoft Learn has launched a variety of AI-focused resources to help you reach your learning goals. In this edition, we highlight the Microsoft AI Tour and AI Skills Challenge. These initiatives are designed to empower you with the tools and knowledge you need to thrive in the ever-evolving world of artificial intelligence. 

Take the Microsoft Learn AI Skills Challenge  

Dive into the latest AI technologies like Microsoft Copilot, GitHub, Microsoft Azure, and Microsoft Fabric. Explore six curated topics designed to elevate your skills, participate in interactive community events, and gain insights from expert-led sessions. Take your learning to the next level with a selection of the topics to earn a Microsoft Applied Skills Credential and showcase your expertise to potential employers. Start your AI journey today!

Join us for the Microsoft AI Tour 

The Microsoft AI Tour is coming to a city near you with 32 stops through early next year—and more being added daily—beginning with Mexico City, Sao Paolo, Paris, and Berlin. Microsoft Learn is excited to participate in the AI Tour, where experts and Microsoft Learn staff will be on hand to discuss key initiatives—including AI and Copilot skilling—Microsoft Credentials, and other skilling opportunities. And even if you can’t join us in person for these events, you can still continue to build your AI expertise by exploring the Microsoft Learn at AI Tour page featuring curated learning plans that are aligned to AI Tour sessions; the AI Skills Challenge; the Microsoft Learn Community; and additional resources. 

News and updates

New AI Skills blog series launched 

We’d like to welcome you to our exciting new blog series, “Get AI ready: Build skills with Microsoft Learn.” The series explores perspectives and opportunities to acquire critical AI skills and shares insights, learning experiences, and resources for individuals and organizations. Our inaugural post focused on accelerating business transformation with AI skill building for your entire organization while our most recent blog provides an overview of the Copilot learning hub on Microsoft Learn. We hope this series will inspire your AI learning journey.

Skill up for the next wave of AI—Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft recently announced its next wave of AI assistants to supercharge your productivity. These innovations—now available in Microsoft 365 Copilot—are designed to accelerate business value by helping you complete tasks faster, hold more purposeful meetings, collaborate more effectively, and streamline business processes. Visit the Copilot learning hub to ensure that you and your organization can get the most out of Copilot. In addition to skilling by role, the Copilot learning hub features curated training, documentation, videos, and other resources for technical audiences.

Empower your teams with comprehensive Azure skill-building tools

Want to keep up with the latest Azure learning resources for you and your team? Check out our curated guide to upskilling on Azure, which highlights current training opportunities to help elevate your cloud and AI skills. Learn what it takes to become an AI trailblazer with Azure Cosmos DB, uncover data-driven insights with Microsoft Fabric, and ignite developer efficiency by making the most of AI. Plus, get the details on migrating to the cloud and unlocking business value with Azure skills.

Microsoft Learn offers new Fabric Data Engineer Associate Certification 

These days, as organizations strive to harness the power of AI, data engineering skills are indispensable. Data engineers play a pivotal role in designing and implementing the foundational elements for any successful data and AI initiative. To support learners seeking to build and validate these skills, Microsoft Learn is pleased to announce the new Microsoft Certified: Fabric Data Engineer Associate Certification, along with its related Exam DP-700: Implementing data engineering solutions using Microsoft Fabric (beta), both of which will be available in late October 2024. Read all about this exciting news and explore other Microsoft Credentials for analytics and data science in our blog post Prove your data engineering skills, and be part of the AI transformation.

Find a 30 Day Plan on Microsoft Learn and accelerate your learning

Stay focused and achieve more with 30 Day Plans on Microsoft Learn. These Plans combine curated content, learning milestones, and achievement outcomes that help you get project-ready and improve your technical skills—all in 30 days or less! With topics that include AI, data science, security, DevOps, Microsoft Copilot, Fabric, Azure, and more, you can expand your portfolio of skills whenever, wherever, and however works best for you. 

Build critical skills to counter cyberthreats

Watch the on-demand Microsoft Security webinar that emphasizes monitoring, detecting threats, and accelerating remediation—all integral to keeping your organization safe against threats.

• Learn from experts. Hear from Microsoft Security experts, along with Microsoft Certified Trainers from our Training Services Partner NetCom Learning.
• Experience a red versus blue team demonstration. See Microsoft Security solutions, like Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, and Defender XDR, in action through real-world cyberattack scenarios.
• Discover skills to help secure your organization. Explore learning paths to upskill your team and protect against evolving cyberthreats.

Watch this on-demand webinar and gain the skills to build a more secure future! 

Global partner event spotlight

Elevate your security skills and drive compliance success

In today’s digital era, safeguarding your organization’s data and meeting compliance standards are critical. Join CloudThat's exclusive free webinar to unlock advanced strategies for leveraging Microsoft 365 and Azure tools to enhance security and ensure compliance. Learn from the experts about implementing robust security features, best practices for compliance and data loss prevention, and effective identity management. Equip yourself with the knowledge to protect your organization and stay ahead of evolving cyber threats.  Register now.

Free workshop: Optimizing Prompts for Microsoft Copilot 

Join experienced AI specialists from Fast Lane for a free, interactive workshop on how to create effective prompts in Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365. This 3-hour workshop is being offered on October 14, from 9am to noon CET and 2 to 5pm CET. The workshop combines theory with real-world data—such as your email history—to show you how precise input in applications such as Word, Excel, and Teams leads to better results. This workshop is ideal for users who want to optimize their communication skills in Microsoft 365.  Register now.

Virtual CyberSecurity Day with leading Training Services Partner network

Join us on October 17 for a virtual CyberSecurity Day, organized by the LLPA network. Top industry experts will walk you through the latest cybersecurity threats and strategies, including how attackers exploit vulnerabilities in home networks, methods used to compromise Active Directory, and a live demonstration of encryption weaknesses. This event is crucial for IT pros, CIOs, and anyone serious about fortifying their cybersecurity knowledge and staying ahead of evolving digital threats. Don’t miss out: register now to secure your spot today!

Free webinar: Copilot Unleashed—Turbocharge Your Business with AI Assistance 

Tired of tedious tasks bogging you down? Revolutionize the way you work with Microsoft 365 Copilot, the AI-powered assistant that's changing the game. In this free webinar, we’ll take a deep dive into Copilot and explore how it integrates with your favorite Microsoft applications like Outlook, Excel, and Word. With an intuitive interface and real-time suggestions, Copilot can help you unleash the power of AI in your everyday work.  Watch now.