Are you thinking about earning a Microsoft certification to help advance your career, build on your existing skills, or meet new requirements at work?  If so, you may already be wondering where to start. Which courses, labs, and hands-on exercises will help you prepare? How much time will it take to find the right resources, and how much wil...

What if you could experiment with a new Azure service without requesting additional budget, prepare for your next technical certification using learning resources you already have, or build a dashboard without creating every UI component from scratch?  If you're a Visual Studio subscriber, you may already have benefits that can help you do a...

What happens when developers who have spent decades working with Visual Studio start rethinking how they write code, learn new skills, and expand their access to development tools?  At VSLive! San Diego, we had an opportunity to find out as developers gathered for five days of technical sessions, hands-on learning, and conversations about Visual...

Maybe you’d deploy that .NET application you’ve been working on. Try a serverless architecture. Experiment with containers. Build a proof of concept. Or spend some time exploring an Azure service you haven’t used yet.  If you’re an eligible Visual Studio subscriber, you may already have a personal Azure sandbox waiting for you.  Many Visu...

AI is changing software development at a pace no one can ignore.  Developers now have powerful AI tools that can help us write code, understand unfamiliar codebases, troubleshoot problems, learn new frameworks, and get answers in seconds. That is an incredible opportunity. But as these tools become more capable, I believe something else is b...

VSLive! @ Microsoft HQ 2026 was one of the most energizing VSLive! events I’ve attended. What stood out was the level of engagement over five days of learning and conversation from July 27 through July 31. Developers came ready to dig into the future of Visual Studio, .NET, and AI-assisted software development, and many Microsoft engineers and ...

If you've been looking for a practical way to build Azure skills, Cloud Academy (a QA company) gives Visual Studio subscribers hands-on learning that fits into busy schedules.  Whether you're new to Azure, expanding your cloud expertise, working towards certifications or preparing for more advanced projects, this benefit helps you learn by d...

One of the best parts of a Visual Studio Subscription is discovering benefits that can make your day-to-day development work easier and more cost effective. One benefit that deserves more attention is Azure Dev/Test pricing. In fact, it's one of the most valuable benefits included with a Visual Studio Subscription.  If you're building cloud ...