Microsoft ending TechRewards Learning Program

 TechRewardsMicrosoft Killing TechRewards Learning Program

Microsoft will be ending its TechRewards learning program for developers and IT pros.  In the business world this is just reducing overhead or fat from the budget.  There are similar programs offered by Microsoft to all developers and IT staff.

Developers the Visual Studio Dev Essentials is a better path since it does provide countless software tools and webinars on how to use a particular Microsoft tool.

The Visual Studio Dev Essentials is a free program for anyone who wishes to join.  The TechRewards program was small and is easily replace by the other programs offered by Microsoft.

The TechRewards program formally will end on Jan. 6, 2017 and for the most part it is essentially defunct at the moment.  As of Oct. 6, 2016, it’s no longer possible to earn points under the program. Participants with accumulated points will be able to redeem them until the end date of the TechRewards program.

Microsoft has published a TechRewards Closure FAQ, which describes all of those details.

What and who are the loses the benefits ?

The TechRewards program rewarded participants with “badges” and experience points for completing certain learning tasks. The experience points bumped up the participant’s status on leader boards.  They also could be redeemed for gift certificates or even sessions with Microsoft experts.

As Microsoft described “Microsoft TechRewards aimed to help Developers and IT Professionals learn, experiment, and build projects with Microsoft technologies. We believe other Microsoft Programs more closely associated with products and services can best support users in their technical journey.”

Microsoft has always provided a huge warehouse of webinars, videos, documents and software that allow your company to make a decision on a feature they may wish to implement in the future.   Hopefully software developers and IT staff will be able to migrate over to the other solutions.