Sharepoint beginner

Question

I'm a Sharepoint beginner, just getting into it. Please suggest me some best way to learn sharepoint and best books available in the market.

We are using SharePoint 2013.

Answer 1

Just some thoughts:

Websites: sharepoint-tutorial.net http://www.fastsharepoint.com/

Book: Plain & Simple SharePoint 2010 (also available in 2013) -I own this and I have found it helpful.

I am sure there are more out there, I just don't know them. I was lucky enough to have my company's senior analyst teach me and made himself available to instant message or WebEx when I was stuck or had questions. I do know that the best way everyone has told me is to just jump in and tinker around (obviously not on your companies sites). However if you do already work somewhere that SharePoint is used, find out who the administrator is and buddy up to him/her. More often than not, as long as it isn't a spitfire of illogical questions they would be at minimum more than likely to point you in the right direction in terms of learning and or may teach you themselves on the side. Ask said person if they could set up a sandbox, test, or practice page for you to get hands on experience. The best part is if you goof or mess up they can just fix the page (Sandbox - not likely) or delete it and set up a new one for you.

Best of luck in your searching and please let me know of any others you find out!

Meg Experience: MOSS 2007/2010

Answer 2

• Set up your own VM and go crazy (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/12449686/setting-up-a-sharepoint-developer-virtual-machine). Best way to learn is by doing. Set up your VM using one or more of the plentiful guides out there. Once you have a solid build, make a backup of your VM to use when you screw something up beyond repair, and start exploring.
• Social networking: Members of the SharePoint community are some of the friendliest, most helpful IT geeks I've ever had the pleasure of coming across. Add some SharePoint related circles to your Google+ feed, or just add individuals (http://www.sharepointjoel.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=0cd1a63d-183c-4fc2-8320-ba5369008acb&ID=459). They're also rampant on Twitter (http://www.topsharepoint.com/50-must-follow-tweeters-for-sharepoint-enthusiasts). Tons of folks spread their valuable knowledge by tweeting links to their latest articles, as with anything else.
• Convince your company to send you to a SharePoint conference! VEGAS!
• Attend your local SPUG (SharePoint User Group) meetings, if available. Great networking opportunity, and a chance to talk to other folks with a range of SharePoint experience in various situations.
• SharePint events are great for uninhibited, engaging discussions that are rarely topic-related, but still critical to your SharePoint education ;)

That should give you a good start. Happy SharePointing!

Answer 3

Additional Websites:

IT Pro - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ee518660 Developer - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ee513147