Learn New Skills in the New Year

New year’s resolution: Start writing better code faster in 2025.

Kick off the new year by learning new developer skills and elevate your career to the next level.

In this post, we explore learning resources and live events that will help you build critical skills and get started with cutting-edge technologies. Learn how to build custom agents, code intelligent apps with familiar tools, discover new possibilities in .NET 9, use Copilot for testing and debugging, and more. Plus, get details about using GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code—for free! 

New AI for Developers page
Check out the new AI for Developers page. It's packed with free GitHub courses on building apps, machine learning, and mastering GitHub Copilot for paired programming. Learn your way and skill up for what's next in AI.

Use GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code for free
Did you hear the news? You can now use GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code for free. Get details about the new Copilot Free plan and add Copilot to your developer toolbox.

What is Copilot Studio?
Have questions about Copilot Studio? This article from Microsoft Learn covers all the basics you need to know about Copilot Studio—the low-code tool for easily building agents and extending Microsoft 365 Copilot.

From C# to ChatGPT: Build Generative AI Solutions with Azure
Combine your C# skills with the cutting-edge power of ChatGPT and Azure OpenAI Service. This free learning path introduces you to building GenAI solutions, using REST APIs, SDKs, and Azure tools to create more intelligent applications.

Register for the Powerful Devs Conference + Hackathon
Register for the Powerful Devs Conference + Hackathon (February 12-28, 2025) and get more out of Power Platform. This one-day online conference is followed by a 2-week hackathon focused on building intelligent applications with less effort.

Code the future with Java and AI: RSVP for Microsoft JDConf 2025 today
Get ready for the JDConf 2025—Microsoft's annual event for Java developers. Taking place April 9-10, this year’s event will have three separate live streams to cover different regions. Join to explore tools and skills for building modern apps in the cloud and integrating AI.         

Build custom agents for Microsoft Teams
Learn how to build custom agents for Microsoft Teams. This free learning path will teach you about different copilot stacks, working with Azure OpenAI, building a custom engine agent. Start building intelligent Microsoft Teams apps using the LLMs and AI components.

Microsoft Learn: Debug your app with GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio
Debug more efficiently using GitHub Copilot. This Microsoft Learn article shows you how. Discover how Copilot will answer detailed questions about your code and provide bug fixes.  

Make Azure AI Real: Watch Season 2
Elevate your AI game with Make Azure AI Real on demand. Season 2 digs into the latest Azure AI advancements, with practical demos, code samples, and real-world use cases.

GitHub Copilot Bootcamp
Streamline your workflow with GitHub Copilot—craft more effective prompts and automate repetitive tasks like testing. This GitHub Copilot Bootcamp is a 4-part live streaming series that will help you master GitHub Copilot.

10 Days of GenAI – Gift Guide Edition
Start building your own Gen AI application. These short videos outline 10 steps for creating your app—choose a model, add functions, fine tune responses, and more.

Extend Microsoft 365 Copilot with declarative agents using Visual Studio Code
Check out this new learning path from Microsoft Learn to discover how you can extend Microsoft 365 Copilot with declarative agents using VS Code. Learn about declarative agents and how they work.   

Developer's guide to building your own agents
Want to build your own agents? Watch this Ignite session on demand for a look at the new agent development tools. Find out how to create agents built on Microsoft 365 Copilot or your custom AI engine.

Master distributed application development with .NET Aspire
Get started with .NET Aspire—an opinionated, cloud-ready stack for building distributed applications with .NET. This series covers everything from setup to deployment. Start your journey toward mastering distributed app development.

Learn: What's new in .NET 9
Discover what's new in .NET 9. Learn about new features for AI, improvements for building cloud-native apps, performance enhancements, updates to C#, and more. Read the overview and get started with .NET 9.

Become a .NET AI engineer using the OpenAI library for .NET
Use your .NET skills to become an AI engineer. With the OpenAI library, .NET developers can quickly master critical AI skills and apply them to real world apps. Read the blog to learn more about the OpenAI library for .NET.

Test like a pro with Playwright and GitHub Copilot
Supercharge your testing using Playwright and GitHub Copilot. Watch this in-depth demo and discover how you can easily create end-to-end tests using Playwright's powerful built-in code generator.