You’ve got questions? We’ve got answers…

What is a Learning Program exactly?

We offer high-end training for .NET developers and software teams. A Learning Program is a collection of self-paced coding challenges that cover a particular aspect of .NET development, like Object Oriented Programming or ASP.NET Web Development. Each Learning Program focuses on a specific set of development skills that can be learned through practice, with the goal of working towards a well rounded understanding of the subject at hand. The challenges in each Learning Program are designed to build upon one another to improve your overall programming skills. We call our methodology ‘structured practice’ and it works like a charm.

What do I get when I buy a Learning Program?

Each Learning Program comes bundled with the following features:

• Immediate access to up to 36 hours of hands-on .NET training.
• Tight integration with Visual Studio using our Add-In.
• Automated code judging and instant feedback on every challenge.
• Large collection of rigorously tested code solutions.
• Full search with filters for code, content, language, and framework.
• Up to 3 electronic reference books from Safari Books Online per challenge.
• Hand-picked reference links from MSDN, popular blogs, and articles.
• Ability to set personal goals and earn certificates of achievement.
• Access to individual and team coding competitions.
• Technical support to get you up and running right away.

How long do I have to complete a Learning Program?

When you buy a Learning Program, you have full access to it for one full year from the date of purchase. You can submit your code to our judging engine as many times as you need, until you have solved the challenge. After you have solved each coding challenge, the solution becomes part of your programming resources which you can access for reference or re-use forever. Now that’s not a bad deal, is it?

Can I buy Learning Programs for my development team?

Glad you asked – yes, it’s possible to buy Learning Programs for up to 15 members of your software team from our website. Simply select the number of developers in your software team from the drop-down list on our shopping cart. After you checkout, each developer listed in your team will receive a setup email from us explaining who purchased their .NET training and how to access their InnerWorkings learning account right away. It’s that simple!

If your software team has more than 15 .NET developers, we can offer some enterprise discounts that may be more appealing to you. In this case, simply contact sales@innerworkings.com and our sales team will prepare a custom quote for your business. Either way, we’ve got you covered...

Do you offer developers any form of recognition?

We do indeed. You can participate in public coding competitions at the individual or team level to win valuable bragging rights. It’s also possible to set personal learning goals and win medals in your own virtual trophy case. In addition, we issue certificates of achievement when you successfully complete coding challenges with key milestones at 10, 25, 50, 75, 100 tasks, and beyond. Go on, knock yourself out!

Can I work on my Learning Programs offline?

Yes, we know that you’re a busy, multi-tasking developer on the move. So our smart client application works in both online and offline mode. When you’re working offline, you won’t be able to access our online reference material from Safari Books Online or MSDN. But we do store all the user activity on your coding challenges while you’re working offline. The next time you login with a stable internet connection, we’ll synchronize your Visual Studio solution files, coding progress, and scores.

Am I coding against the clock?

No, we’ve specified ‘estimated coding time’ as a guideline for completing each challenge within a Learning Program – this duration is calculated using the average amount of time required to complete a challenge across our entire developer population. This does not include time spent researching a topic with our embedded reference links, or planning your best problem-solving strategy for a given challenge. You’re not working against the clock or trying to complete challenges in a given timeframe. We all learn at our own pace and the outcome is what really matters.

What is Safari?

Safari Books Online is an online library of technical books from noted publishers such as O'Reilly Media, Peachpit Press, Microsoft Press, Que, Sams, and Addison-Wesley. Safari is one of our longest standing partners and their extensive library of programming books gets consistently high marks from our developer community.

Is Safari included with my purchase?

Yes, Safari Books Online is bundled with every Learning Program you purchase from InnerWorkings. You receive a personal Safari bookshelf that contains up to 3 online books from the Safari library for each coding challenge. We hand-pick the associated Safari books to match the learning objectives covered, so you’ll enjoy a liberal sprinkling of Safari links to relevant reference material from renowned authors. It’s a formidable knowledge base.

Do I need Visual Studio?

Yes, you will need a working version of Visual Studio installed to complete any InnerWorkings coding challenge. We support all the following versions of Visual Studio, but some versions of Visual Studio do not support all technologies. So you should always check the Learning Program description page to confirm that your version of Visual Studio is supported:

• Visual Studio 2010 (Ultimate, Professional, Standard, Team System, or Express)
• Visual Studio 2008 (Professional, Standard, Team System, or Express)
• Visual Studio 2005 (Professional, Standard, Team System, or Express)

Will I need to install anything else?

You might, depending on the Learning Programs you decide to purchase. For example, if you buy Learning Programs that include AJAX, you must have Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 installed. Similarly, if you buy our WPF Learning Program, you need to have Extensions for .NET Framework 3.0 (WCF & WPF) installed. Microsoft offers most additional bits for free and they’re pretty fast to install, so it’s no big deal.

SQL Server is required for some of our Learning Programs that include coding challenges with a database or data access component. We support all the main releases of SQL Server 2005, including the free SQL Server 2005 Express edition where applicable.

What programming languages do you support?

All our coding challenges are available in both Visual Basic and Visual C#. Due to popular demand, we usually release our C# Learning Programs first, followed shortly thereafter by Visual Basic versions.

What technologies do you cover?

Well, the list is long and getter longer – in effect, we cover all the main .NET technologies. Our policy is to stay in lock-step with Microsoft’s endless stream of Visual Studio and .NET Framework releases, so check our catalog early and often to see the latest Drill releases on new technologies.

Why learn by doing?

Because it’s a highly effective and enjoyable way to pick up new skills and improve your on-the-job performance. Plus, the benefits are long-lasting. For one, you’ll recall techniques you actively used far longer than those you simply read about. For two, since we’re always with you in Visual Studio, you’ll have all your hard-won knowledge at your fingertips for future reference. Check out our Product Tour for more details on the product and learning methodology.

Do I jump right into a project without any guidance?

No. To put you in the right track, you receive a detailed description of the required solution, all the reference material you need, and, most importantly, a powerful code judging engine that automatically examines your solution and gives you corrective feedback to improve your code.

Am I learning or being tested?

You’re 100% learning. It’s your code that’s being tested. Stringently. This way, you’ll verify how well you’re picking up new techniques, and receive the detailed feedback that everyone needs to improve. With InnerWorkings, you don’t require grades from anybody to measure your progress. You’re in total control of your own learning.

Do you have a difficulty rating for your training?

We do offer developers a difficulty rating system. Each coding challenge is allocated a rating that indicates the technical level of the topics covered, level 1 being easiest, and level 3 being hardest. Some knowledge of object-oriented programming is a pre-requisite. Our rating scheme works like this:

Level 1	Suitable for beginners and above. This level addresses introductory programming concepts.
Level 2	Suitable for programmers with basic (or higher) programming skills. This level develops essential skills and experience in the basic programming framework.
Level 3	Suitable for programmers with intermediate (or higher) programming skills. This level explores more advanced topics, or probes more deeply into level 2 frameworks.

What’s your privacy policy?

InnerWorkings respects your privacy and takes it very seriously. In fact, we view your right to privacy as one of the company’s most important priorities. Our full, legally verified privacy policy is available for review at any time, so we encourage you to take a closer look.

Do you have a money-back guarantee?

Yes, we offer a 30 day money back guarantee if you’re not completely satisfied with your purchase. Simply contact us within 30 days and we will refund your money in full or give you equivalent credit towards our other learning challenges.

I can’t find what I’m looking for…

That’s not a question! You can simply contact us with your query or any request for .NET learning content and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Happy coding.