Benefits of being a MCPD [modified]

[Marco Turrini]

My boss is thinking about us getting certs even though he does know perfectly our skill (I have been here for 4 years, the "most recent" colleague has been here for 2); there are two main reasons for this: 1) There's always something you can learn from anything, even from an exam :) 2) We can tell our customers we are certified in this and that; maybe, this could be the most imprtant reason. I recognize this is a psychological more than technical reason, but if it helps to gain a customer... Anyway, once you plan with your boss the time to dedicate to your training (obviously you will have to delay your normal activities in order to study and practice), I cannot see what harm can this do to you.

Marco Turrini

[Oshtri Deka]

Just get it done, it won't hurt. I've done it for myself, not for my employer. I've learned few new "tricks" and cemented previous knowledge. Some people are suckers for certifications, and some people aren't sure how much do they know, and some people (like me) went to colleges which don't have many things in common with CS or CE colleges. I believe these are most common reasons for certification in my area. It seams you don't have much choice either way.

[V 0]

Jerry Hammond wrote:

I am Borg of Certified...

You do mean "We are Borg of Certified", right? :-D

V.
Stop smoking so you can: Enjoy longer the money you save. Moviereview Archive

[smcnulty2000]

Sorry if this looks like a jumble but my thoughts went all over with this question. Suggestions for stopping it: (edit: moved this header.) One argument you could use to counter-sell this is that it will make you more marketable. It doesn't matter if it is or isn't true. If he agrees that it makes you more marketable and wants you to take it anyway then I'd probably throw in the towel and just take it. If they're paying for the privilege. Maybe you should suggest that your company send you to a boot camp? Feel like some travel on the company's dime? Just tell them you are a very busy professional and the only way you'll be able to get the time to work through this is with a boot camp. Otherwise it will take waaaay too long. Maybe they'll back off with that. How difficult: My cert wasn't a microsoft cert so I can't speak about MCPD directly. My OCP has gotten me money, but another reason I took it was that it was a great test of intelligence. Another was to increase my confidence in myself. Another was to validate my experience to the hiring authorities. I can say cert tests can be gruelling. Mine were. And they should be to be worth a damn. I can also say if you are testing on something you are actually able to work on you can cut the time on the testing process way down. And although Microsoft claimed they'd phase out MCSEs who didn't keep their certs up but they had to back off of that because the threat wasn't working after Y2K when the IT labor market dropped. I don't know if they're back on it. Valuable?: It gets you by the HR people who have it on their checklist. It won't suffice in lieu of experience with any manager but without the right items on your resume you often don't get to talk to that manager. The bigger the company you apply at the more likely it will matter to HR. I can also say that some companies like to see things on the resume that they then don't have to pay for. This would qualify. Again, the bigger the company the more likely that they think this way. Other thoughts: Scout all the tests out some before you start. Keep in mind that these tend to be pass/fail. How well you do doesn't matter. So the lower percentage you have to hit to succeed the harder the test. You can scout the tests ahead of time and choose to take them in an order that makes you most comfortable. In retrospect I'd take my hardest test as the middle test of the set (we had 5, I had to retake 2). When I work with gu

[rastaVnuce]

No, resistance is the ratio of voltage to current :)

Where it seems there are only borderlines, Where others turn and sigh, You shall rise!

[Hunuman]

My experience of MS Certification has been very positive to my contract rate. I am a dual MCAD.Net and dual MCSD.Net with scores of over 95% in all the vb.net exams and 100% in all of the C# exams. It took me 8 weeks fulltime, to achieve this with Koenig, and I paid for it out of my own pocket. http://www.koenig-solutions.com/training/featured-student-puneet.htm[^] I managed to recoup my costs very quickly because certification immediatly enabled me to increase my daily rate by over 20%. I particular I have found most hiring managers more willing to pay better rates, and more likely to hire/renew. (I plan to take the MCPD in 2010).

if (ToErr == Human.Nature) { Forgive = Divine; }

[Lost User]

TREKKIE! ;P

Visit http://www.notreadytogiveup.com/[^] and do something special today.

[Bob1000]

I'm sure there must be some sort of oxymoron meaning in MCPD. The idea of Microsoft actually offering exams so that others can reach their own level of incompetence always amazes me. Get a decent University degree in engineering or science (media studies don't count!)- once you have leant to learn, you have all you need! Having said that - it won't do any harm, but what a waste of money and time!

[smcnulty2000]

I thought Resistance was Feudal. Okay, that clarifies a lot of those Borg episodes.

_____________________________ Give a man a mug, he drinks for a day Teach a man to mug... -Scott M.

[Russell Jones]

and you will be ass laminated

[Simon P Stevens]

I have an MCPD in .net. It took 3 exams. 2 to get the MCTS, then 1 more to get the MCPD. I did no formal course or lectures for any of them. My employer brought the self paced learning guide for each exam, I read the book and passed with no problems. If you are experienced with .net, you should have no trouble. As far as value is concerned - No, I don't think having these has directly furthered my career or helped me get jobs or anything like that. From a practical point of view though, I did learn some stuff that I didn't know while reading the books. 70-526 - Basics[^] 70-536 - App development[^] 70-548 - Designing and developing[^] [Edit: These are .net2.0 books, I think 3.5 exams/books might be out now] If your employer is prepared to pay for the books/exam (and training if you feel you need it) then it can barely hurt. Like others have said perhaps just get him to delay it a bit if you feel you are too busy now. (One small note. In my personally opinion, the books are rather badly written, have seem to have a few glaring mistakes - They do however cover exactly what you need to know so as far as that is concerned they worked fine for me) Having certified people on your dev team does give you points towards Microsoft partner status, so it can occasionally be desirable for an employer to take someone with a cert over someone who doesn't have the cert if they need the points.

Simon

[JHubSharp]

I hate cert tests because they do extra time and the certs themselves have an artificial value thanks to the large number of developers that are certified in everything but can't sit down at a computer and write code to save their lives (which leads me to why I hhate outsourcing, but a topic for another day...) I have MCTS Web 2.0 and MCTS WCF. Studying materials are accessible via the MS Press books (which comes with a practice test if you buy the hardcopy, and the practice test questions are sometimes duplicated on the actual exam (!!!)) and if you really wanna be certain, Transcender or something similar. As long as MS is doing the second-shot promotion, this is a perfect time to get it out of the way. I can say begrudgingly that the WCF studying gave me the knowledge I needed to successfully convert our ASMX web service over to POX/REST for a specific client. Lot less googling and trial/error to build. And yes, if you are doing it I would request reimbursement on your expenses (book, exam fee, maybe Transcender?) Good luck!

[Bob DeGol]

I would agree with a lot of the people that have already replied, it's not everything but it's not nothing either. Right now I have a MCTS in Web Applications 2.0. I did learn somethings that I used the next day at work and I've learned things I'll probably never use again. If you go into it with a positive attitude you'll get something out of it. As for the future job prospects, some replies said it doesn't matter but I disagree. While I wouldn't hire someone based on cert or no cert, seeing anything on a resume that shows you have some commitment to your field isn't a bad idea. Whether it's a certification, user group, advanced degree, etc. your willingness to be more then a clock puncher improves your standing. My recommendations: 1. Take the first test before discussing the negatives with your boss. It will help your arguments to say "I got a 95% on the test but it doesn't cover anything practical". That way he can see you know your stuff, both from the test and critical thinking about the test. Plus you might be suprised by the test, like it, and want to take more. The best argument is one you don't have. 2. Get it on the project plan now. The impact to you and your boss will be quickly apparent. Even if you still need to work 40 hours per week on the project and the study time is "overtime", getting your boss to see what you are doing will help with seeing the effort you are putting in. Saying go take a few tests sounds trivial, but seeing 10 hours per week studying for 6 months (just and example, your mileage may vary) looks like a sub-project.

[Dave Parker]

It gets your company partner points, and most employers seem to be after these so I'll probably get certified at some point just for that reason.

[Oakman]

smcnulty2000 wrote:

Okay, that clarifies a lot of those Borg episodes.

But it still doesn't explain those guys in berets shooting Germans from ambush in WWII.

Jon Soap Box 1.0: the first, the original, reborn troll-less

[Ed Leighton Dick]

I have my MCITP in database administration. It's similar to a MCPD in terms of requirements - two MCTS exams and then the MCITP exam.

BRShroyer wrote:

How long does it take?

For me, about a year of late nights to do the three exams. My employer paid for them but did not give me work time to study.

BRShroyer wrote:

Is it worth it? How much will it help my career as a developer?

Yes, I think it was worth it. I have a development background, so I used the studying to fill in the gaps in my SQL Server knowledge; I used the exams primarily as incentive to finish the studying. The certifications themselves haven't gained me anything yet (and may never), but I'm fine with that because that wasn't the point. One more thing: Don't kid yourself about how much you'll learn from this. Studying for a certification can give you a good foundation, but it definitely doesn't teach you everything there is to know about something. I'm constantly finding new things about SQL Server that I wonder why they didn't include in the material for the exams. However, it did show me that there are a lot of options I wasn't aware existed, and I now know much better what questions to ask to get the answers I need. Ed

[Jerry Hammond]

No, the singular is correct 'cause certification makes me stand out form the crowd :::rim shot:::

"My interest is in the future because I'm going to spend the rest of my life there." - Charles F. Kettering

[Naturality]

if(Ω < 1) *resistance = futile;

"Sir, I protest. I am NOT a merry man!"

[webatxcent]

As a business owner as well as a certified developer (MCAD) having certified people is necessary to maintain Microsoft Certified Partner status for the organization. For those of you that don't know being more than a registered partner requires at least two certified personnel on staff (which certifications depend on which "competency" recognition you seek from Microsoft). Because of this Certified Partner requirement, myself and one of my lead developers went through the cert process despite believing in the general concensus voiced here that experience will generally trump certifications on a CV. Why you might ask is that of value? We didn't want it for validating ourselves to our customers--they already know we are good at what we do--we did it for the boatload of use licenses and support you get from Microsoft on just about every product they publish including all of the betas and RCs which we need to stay "good". Bill. www.xcent.com

[webatxcent]

I crammed in three for MCAD in 6 weeks, mainly because we were encroaching on the exam retirement dates.