Visual Studio Team System Activists
SgDotNet councillor Aaron Seet (aka icelava) is forming a focus group committed to the mission of learning how to use the entire VSTS suite to enhance development life. He is looking for motivated individuals who are interested in gaining the same areas of knowledge, and form a collaboration network of active participants.
What does this group do?
Perpetual series of practical sessions. It is all about practical activity, to give ourselves practical experience. No theoretical debates. Just do and witness. Some general activities include
· Start from scratch and install operating system and TFS. Plenty of system administration.
· Deploy to multi-server environment; splitting application, database, build servers, etc.
· Collaborate on TFS Sharepoint project sites, and run mock projects.
· Utilise Visual Studio Architect, Tester, and Database editions.
· Work with Team Explorer, assign and complete Tasks in Visual Studio.
· Apply Check-in policies.
· Continuous Integration - automate build, deployment, and tests.
· Version control practices; branching and merging.
· Project progress monitoring and reporting.
There are plenty of things to learn, and those are achieved only by doing. Nobody will be a bystander or spectator. All in the group will roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. If you do not like practical participation, this group is not for you. This is peer-to-peer learning, not instructor-led classroom.
Where will we find the resources to setup the environment?
Aaron already has a Dell server operating Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V to host all the virtual machines necessary to experiment with whatever scenario we need to. Remote access configurations are planned so that physical presence at his home won't be necessary. He is also looking to purchase more RAM and disks soon. Donations are welcome!
What are the pre-requisites to joining the group?
You just need to be an existing .NET developer with working experience with Visual Studio and Microsoft Windows operating systems.
More importantly, you must possess the attribute of keen investigation and experimentation.
Do I have to participate in all sessions?
100% attendance is not mandatory. All of us are paid to work elsewhere; it highly unlikely for any individual to be free all the time. Not even Aaron himself will be able to participate in all. But, you learn first-hand as much as you put into it and witness for your own eyes. You decide how many things you want to learn. Some activities may even be done alone. The key thing is to report and share with the rest your findings. There can also be split sub-groups exploring different issues simultaneously and updating one another of their progress.
Who do I contact to indicate my interest and participation?
Write to icelava (at) sgdotnet.org to register your interest. Please describe your past experiences (if any) that may be helpful in this area. Aaron will consolidate the list and contact you to plan some gatherings for kick-start discussions.