Hello All,

I'm in the process of trying to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can about development on the Force.com platform.  I've found a number of resources to look at on the Force.com site, including the incredibly intimidating 2400+ page "How to be Successful with Salesforce" eBook.  There is a huge amount of documentation, and I've found it difficult to tell where to start really, since there are so many eBooks they have available for download, each of which is anywhere from 200 to 600 pages in length

If cost were no object, I'd be signing up for the developer courses offered by Salesforce.com:

1. Dev 401 ($4,000)
2. Dev 501 ($4,000)
3. Dev 502 ($2,400)
4. Dev 531 ($4,000)

That is so far beyond my training budget as an independent developer that it's just not even an option.  I got all excited when I saw that perhaps the 401 & 501 classes could be downloaded (for free, no less) as a podcast from the iTunes Music store... but it became quickly apparent that significant chunks of the hands-on coding part of the class are not there, making things difficult to really follow along with from a very early point in the series.  They're still a great source of information, but they seem more like a preview/teaser to the class than a suitable substitute.  I would gladly pay for some sort of online version of the course that was (a lot) less expensive than the in-person class, but no such thing seems to exist.  I would sign up for 3rd party training if it seemed to be of sufficient quality, and again, was affordable... but so far, I've not found anything useful.

Can anyone recommend or point me in the direction of some resources I can use to gain the equivalent experience one might get from the courses Salesforce.com provides, without the accompanying bankruptcy forms I'd probably have to fill out if I took those courses?

Thanks in advance for any tips, hints or pointers!

Cheers,

Jon