There's a Silverlight user group in Melbourne (and Sydney, Perth). http://sddn.org.au/ should get you some details on where they meet. There's also a couple of .Net ones but being a Perth guy I don't know anything other than maybe check http://www.victoriadotnet.com.au. I think there's another one around too?
I can see the issue with talking to your employer, if they catch wind you are changing careers you might freak em out and affect your short term relationship with them. Myself, I went and did a degree part time - Bachelor of Science (Internet Computing) at ECU, which might be something you've not considered. It took six years but helped my career change (was working full time as a developer after 2 years of starting the degree). Charles Sturt University also claim to be the best in distance education ( http://www.csu.edu.au/) so might be another option, study at home online. (Which was how i did a large chunk of my degree - at home via online portals + books etc) On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 1:05 PM, Simon Kuldin <sim...@prism-solutions.com.au > wrote: > Any particular user groups that you would recommend? > > > > As much as I would like to talk to my current employer about it, I find it > very unlikely that they would be flexible. Especially considering the small > size of the company. > > > > *From:* ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com [mailto: > ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com] *On Behalf Of *Stephen Price > *Sent:* Wednesday, 12 January 2011 4:01 PM > > *To:* ozDotNet > *Subject:* Re: Skilling Up > > > > I agree with Mike on the point of talking to your current employer. I did > this 6 years ago when I was in infrastructure, and I scored myself a whole > month seconded to the dev team. They were busy in a testing phase so I > basically sat there for a month teaching myself VB.Net (one of those learn > VB.Net in 24 hours books. Its a lie it took me more than 24 hours). The > upside was I got paid while doing it and if I got stuck with anything I > could ask the developers there (which, interestingly they usually couldn't > help me much with my questions as they were VB6 developers and hadn't > learned .Net yet) > > > > Also user groups are essential, its essentially free training, mixed in > with socialising/networking with like minded people. I also highly recommend > doing a presentation at a user group, there's nothing more motivating than > having to present on something. > > > > Good luck! > > > > On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 12:52 PM, Michael Minutillo < > michael.minuti...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi Simon, > > > > Firstly, it's probably worth talking to your current employer to see if > this is something they can help you with. Sometimes this kind of sideways > change can be beneficial for both parties (especially if it means that the > business can hold on to a valuable resource). > > > > Personally I don't think I'd bother with a C# course or specific > certification. A copy of C# in a Nutshell (or some other title of equal > awesomeness) will probably teach you as much and be more useful in the > future (as you can keep referring back to it). For potential employers, I'd > guess that a C# certification on your CV might not be enough to get an > interview. You're far better off participating in open source projects / > local community groups in my opinion. > > > > As far as the technology choices to look at, I'd consider WPF/Silverlight. > Admittedly I have no idea whether or not there is a ton of work out there > for these (I'm stuck in WinForms land) but they both rely on XAML (slightly > different versions) and so does Windows Phone 7 so you get a toe in the web, > desktop and phone development camps all at once. Given you have SQL > experience I'd probably look at Entity Framework 4 as well. You might end up > working on a project where you don't actually touch the UI. > > > > Hope that helps and good luck with your transition! > > > > -- > Michael M. Minutillo > Indiscriminate Information Sponge > Blog: http://wolfbyte-net.blogspot.com > > > > On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 11:44 AM, Simon Kuldin < > sim...@prism-solutions.com.au> wrote: > > Good afternoon everyone, > > > > I’m looking at expanding my technical skill-set for future career > opportunities. My real desire is to learn Dot Net programming (as I’m a > programmer by heart). > > > > My current experience is 10+ years as a Developer/Consultant for Microsoft > Dynamics NAV, and I also am getting a fair bit of experience in > administrating SQL Server. > > > > I want to move my career sideways to be less ERP focussed, and more overall > development focussed. > > > > Any recommendations on how I would go about it? > > > > Is it worth me doing a course to get official C# certification? Would I > be better off focusing on just Windows development (since that is where my > skill set is mainly set around), or due to demand should I try Web > development? Any good websites that provide information and little tasks > for you to try to test your knowledge? > > > > I’m sorry if this is not the appropriate avenue to ask.. but I really feel > like I need a change in my career, and I think I need to be more proactive > in making it happen. > > > > Cheers for your help! > > > > > > *Simon Kuldin* | Senior Technical Consultant | *PRISM* > > Suite 3, 214 Bay St Brighton, VIC 3186, Australia > > *P:* +61 3 9596 8633 *M:* 0408 310 957 *W:* www.prism-solutions.com.au > > > > [image: prism-v5.jpg] > > *People. Responsive. Innovative. Simple. Methodical.* > > > > > > >
