MCPD
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Boukh wrote:
How much is the MCPD important for us the developers in order to have good job?
My client (and I concur) who is hiring, feel that any Microsoft Certificate is worthless in determining the candidate's qualifications. Marc
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Totally unimportant. You can pass it just by cramming, so it is devalued. I'd rather see experience than a meaningless qualification any day.
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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Marc Clifton wrote:
Microsoft Certificate is worthless
so how can i show my bossin the future that i know and i'm qualified?
Boukh wrote:
so how can i show my bossin the future that i know and i'm qualified?
Point this out from the Microsoft MCPD site: If you are developing .NET Framework 2.0 applications that use Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Talk about outdated framework and IDE. You can easily tell your boss that you are trained experienced (a better word) in Microsoft's latest framework (3.5) and tools (VS 2008) and that the MCPD hasn't been updated to reflect your skills. Of course, I'd be truthful about your skills, so if you haven't used the latest framework and tools, then don't make that statement. Marc
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What's that? Microsoft Certified Police Department?
We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
blog: TDD - the Aha! | Linkify!| FoldWithUs! | sighist -
What's that? Microsoft Certified Police Department?
We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
blog: TDD - the Aha! | Linkify!| FoldWithUs! | sighist -
Marc Clifton wrote:
Microsoft Certificate is worthless
so how can i show my bossin the future that i know and i'm qualified?
Live it. Seriously. If you really want to impress someone and make sure they know what you know, then you gotta make it such an embedded source of knowledge that you don't even have to think about what you're saying, you can just spew intelligent thoughts as soon as you're asked a question. These certs are equivalent to getting a good grade on a multiple choice exam. It means nothing compared to a good grade on an essay exam. When you can speak in depth about a subject and really have a thorough understanding, that's when someone knows that you really know what you're talking about.
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What's that? Microsoft Certified Police Department?
We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
blog: TDD - the Aha! | Linkify!| FoldWithUs! | sighistpeterchen wrote:
What's that? Microsoft Certified Police Department?
I thought at first it was Marin County Police Department[^] ;) Marc
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Live it. Seriously. If you really want to impress someone and make sure they know what you know, then you gotta make it such an embedded source of knowledge that you don't even have to think about what you're saying, you can just spew intelligent thoughts as soon as you're asked a question. These certs are equivalent to getting a good grade on a multiple choice exam. It means nothing compared to a good grade on an essay exam. When you can speak in depth about a subject and really have a thorough understanding, that's when someone knows that you really know what you're talking about.
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Good. I'm glad I could help. :) For what it's worth, everybody else is saying the same thing. They just aren't wording it as eloquently. ;)
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It's a catch 22 I'm afraid. If you have a track record in the industry, can point to successful projects you've worked on, have a large(ish) portfolio of work you can showcase, have a string of people singing your praises then the whole thing is pointless. However, if you are just starting out consider it as at least a part of a foot in the door. The bigger the company you apply to, the more divorced you are from the technical people (like Marc or Pete) who might appreciate your talents and the more at the whim you are of some HR person who knows nothing about programming but who has been told to look for professional certifications. But you must be good. You must know your stuff. Do not - and this goes for any field of endeavour and any qualification - trade on that certificate. It is nothing more than that part of a foot in the door to get past HR administrators and you need to provide serious backing. And if you're doing this off your own back, if you are funding the qualification yourself and putting your own time and effort into building the backing, then that puts you at the top of the application pile.
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In a perfect world it's unimportant. In the real world some places list certifications as an application requirement so they can weed out applicants. So although the certification itself is nearly meaningless, it can be worthwhile as a job application tool. Cheers, Drew.
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It's a catch 22 I'm afraid. If you have a track record in the industry, can point to successful projects you've worked on, have a large(ish) portfolio of work you can showcase, have a string of people singing your praises then the whole thing is pointless. However, if you are just starting out consider it as at least a part of a foot in the door. The bigger the company you apply to, the more divorced you are from the technical people (like Marc or Pete) who might appreciate your talents and the more at the whim you are of some HR person who knows nothing about programming but who has been told to look for professional certifications. But you must be good. You must know your stuff. Do not - and this goes for any field of endeavour and any qualification - trade on that certificate. It is nothing more than that part of a foot in the door to get past HR administrators and you need to provide serious backing. And if you're doing this off your own back, if you are funding the qualification yourself and putting your own time and effort into building the backing, then that puts you at the top of the application pile.
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In a perfect world it's unimportant. In the real world some places list certifications as an application requirement so they can weed out applicants. So although the certification itself is nearly meaningless, it can be worthwhile as a job application tool. Cheers, Drew.
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Zero. Nada. Waste of time and money. First of all, there are so many cheat sites that the whole thing proves nothing but the ability to memorise a cheat sheet. Second, a closed book exam is not a real world test. If I have wide knowledge of how a windows app works, but use MSDN to remember specifics, I'm more productive in real life than I am in a test. Finally, if I showed good knowledge and a company didn't want me because someone else had MCPD, or any other exam, I would be glad not to work for them.
Christian Graus Please read this if you don't understand the answer I've given you "also I don't think "TranslateOneToTwoBillion OneHundredAndFortySevenMillion FourHundredAndEightyThreeThousand SixHundredAndFortySeven()" is a very good choice for a function name" - SpacixOne ( offering help to someone who really needed it ) ( spaces added for the benefit of people running at < 1280x1024 )
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Boukh wrote:
so how can i show my bossin the future that i know and i'm qualified?
Point this out from the Microsoft MCPD site: If you are developing .NET Framework 2.0 applications that use Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Talk about outdated framework and IDE. You can easily tell your boss that you are trained experienced (a better word) in Microsoft's latest framework (3.5) and tools (VS 2008) and that the MCPD hasn't been updated to reflect your skills. Of course, I'd be truthful about your skills, so if you haven't used the latest framework and tools, then don't make that statement. Marc
Marc Clifton wrote:
Talk about outdated framework and IDE.
How many people even here are still using VS2005 and .NET 2.0? Some are still using .NET 1.1. The exams for the 3.0/3.5 are being released soon. Takes time to construct and test and validate them.
only two letters away from being an asset
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The worth comes from the knowledge and skills you obtain by studying and using the tools/technology. That you can demonstrate to your boss regardless of the cert. On the other hand, if you just memorize the answers to pass the exam, then it is worthless. These types of people will be found out on the job when they can't apply anything.
only two letters away from being an asset
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Microsoft certs, outside a few drowning-in-Kool-Aid[^] shops, are almost as valuable as re-rolled used toilet paper. (If the latter is helpful to you, seek professional help now.) This appears to have two likely candidates for root cause: 1) the rapidly-increasing cost and complexity of maintaining Microsoft-specific infrastructure and skills without attributable and proportional increases in business value delivered; and 2) the flooding of the market worldwide by individuals possessing or claiming Microsoft certification who are in fact less competent to manage your complex SQL Server installation than would be your great-grandmother from The Old Country. (I've heard people make similar comparisons using "bin Laden" or "your Starbucks barista" as the straw men; that doesn't work for me because, for instance, Osama bin Laden holds a degree in civil engineering from King Abdul Aziz University, Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, and thus could reasonably be expected, as could any competent engineer, to learn whatever required technical information he was not already familiar with...as he previously has in less beneficial areas.) What would be far more useful in my opinion than, say, an MCSE cert? If you're in a market where a paper trail is an ironclad requirement, then get a CISSP[^] or other industrywide certification; certs relevant to your professional interests from Cisco[^], Red Hat[^] or HP[^], or other certificates relevant to the positions which you have held or wish to move into. But the single best thing you can do to improve your career? Beco
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Most people gave you good replies - it's not their fault that it opposed your "world view". If you want to impress your boss, then write quality articles and get them posted on CP. Help out in the forums (here and/or MSDN) and give talks to user groups. These are far more impressive than an MCP/MCSD/...
Deja View - the feeling that you've seen this post before.
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It's a catch 22 I'm afraid. If you have a track record in the industry, can point to successful projects you've worked on, have a large(ish) portfolio of work you can showcase, have a string of people singing your praises then the whole thing is pointless. However, if you are just starting out consider it as at least a part of a foot in the door. The bigger the company you apply to, the more divorced you are from the technical people (like Marc or Pete) who might appreciate your talents and the more at the whim you are of some HR person who knows nothing about programming but who has been told to look for professional certifications. But you must be good. You must know your stuff. Do not - and this goes for any field of endeavour and any qualification - trade on that certificate. It is nothing more than that part of a foot in the door to get past HR administrators and you need to provide serious backing. And if you're doing this off your own back, if you are funding the qualification yourself and putting your own time and effort into building the backing, then that puts you at the top of the application pile.
I have to agree with you Martin, but I have to state for the record that in many cases, all software companies (particularly partners to the big boys) usually (always really) require a certain number of certified personnel to advance to another level or whatever number of other rules that exist just to make life for the enterprise harder. I'm in that situation right now where I need to hire people who are technically excellent but have some sort of MS certification. However, if push comes to shove I'll be hiring the technically competent person; I can easily pay for their examinations.
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