How to Activate Your MSDN Pluralsight Benefit

Sam Rueby.NET Tips, Software Development 4 Comments

Update 5/25/17

It’s a bit easier to activate the benefit now. As John Henckel pointed out in comments, all you need to do now is go to https://my.visualstudio.com and click on the Pluralsight logo. Done!

 

I found it pretty un-Googleable to figure out how to get your recently-announced Pluralsight subscription through your MSDN subscription. (I had to watch a video to get the details). My mistake was going to Pluralsight’s site first, expecting a link here, or on MSDN’s home page.

Here’s what there’s actually to know.

  • It’s not a free subscription (I thought it was). What you get is dependent on your MSDN subscription level.
    • VS Pro
    • VS Test Pro
      • 10 courses
      • 3 months
    • VS Premium
      • 20 courses
      • 12 months
    • VS Ultimate
      • 30 courses
      • 12 months
  • 15% discount on full Pluralsight subscription

Not free but anything is awesome. I have VS Pro, here’s the 10 “hand-picked” courses I have access to:

  • Visual Studio
    • Introduction to Visual Studio 2013 Part 1 and 2
    • Visual Studio LightSwitch 2012 and 2013
  • Azure
    • Windows Azure Infrastructure as a Service Essentials
  • Desktop development
    • Enterprise WPF with XAML and C# from Scratch
  • Languages
    • Visual Studio Data Tools for Developers
    • VB.NET Fundamentals
    • Asynchronous C# 5.0
  • Web Development
    • Build a Site with Bootstrap, AngularJS, ASP.NET, EF and Azure
    • ASP.NET MVC 5 Fundamentals

So there’s a few courses I’m interested in. Anyway, here’s the steps to get started.

Log into your MSDN account

http://aka.ms/mymsdnbenefits

MSDN benefits screen

After logging in, you’re able to click on ‘Active your Pluralsight benefit’.

Pluralsight's site for singing up through MSDN subscription

You’re taken to a site that allows you to sign up. No credit card required.

Pluralsight's MSDN signup page

 

And that’s all! Happy learning.