Anyone that works with the Microsoft developer tools knows that learning is part of the job. Azure is no exception.
For those of you brand new to it, Azure is the umbrella for all the services that enable you to run your apps (or parts of your apps) in the cloud.
Some resources that I found helpful for shortening the learning curve were the MSDN virtual labs and some free ebooks.
When you use one of the virtual labs, you can step through the exercises yourself using the VM and the PDF. Note that the VM is timed and is only available for about 90 minutes. So I found it easier to run it locally and go at my own pace. Of course, you may not have the tools to do that, so that's why the VMs are so handy.
But they also have this cool thing called Hands-On Labs Online (HOLO). You register for the HOLO which takes place at a particular day/time. Then you can walk through the lab while it's being presented live. There are also experts online that can help you with the lab via chat.
And the free ebooks? Not much to be said except that they're an awesome resource. The two that I found particularly helpful for learning Azure were:
Hope you find this collection of Azure learning resources helpful!
