Benefits of being a MCPD [modified]

[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.

[Yusubov E]

Well, being a certified programmer does not hurt once you really studied for this exams and have years of experience in .NET development. It just add a value in your soft. However, value and/or credibility of this certified professional goes down whenever lack of practical experience became evident. Thus, getting this certificates just for fancy title or BIG BUCKS does not work. You should prove your compitance with accurate decisions and solutions in your company/community.

[xExTxCx]

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[Ashley van Gerven]

Same here... I passed 2nd & 3rd mcad exams in March since they were retiring them. The bonus is that MCAD doesn't expire like the newer certs. Plus they had free re-take if you didn't pass ;)

"For fifty bucks I'd put my face in their soup and blow." - George Costanza

CP article: SmartPager - a Flickr-style pager control with go-to-page popup layer.

[James Lonero]

Brad, it seems weird that your boss wants you to be certified and also wants you to rewrite the software. If he didn't have the confidence that you could do the job, why is he asking you to do it. If he has the confidence you can do the job, then why is he asking you to get certified. If your experience and work does not speak for itself, then your boss is not a good manager. If it is upper management pushing for the certification (saber rattling), and if you are good enough to be trusted with the rewrite, then your boss should be batting for you to upper management. He should find a way to either make it easy for you to get into and pass the test or push back to upper management informing them of the importance of this project. But, from your writing, it seems that your boss is weak and just a puppet in the hands of his manager. He cannot stand up for his people, but bend to the wind to assure that his projects fail. If your boss cannot stand up for you and the challenge you have ahead (as well as clear the road for you), then get out of that company. Find another company where your boss will let you do your job without the non-essential interruptions. Also, the certification is a bunch of BS. What happens in two years when all have moved on to Windows Developer 4.0? Will your certification be valid? (There should be a grandfather clause in the certification process that allows for valid certification over all [the same product line] for at least five years.) If your boss want certification, he should look into more software engineering/architecting certification tests like OO design, software testing, design patterns, etc. To base a certificate on a particular operating system, library, IDE, program, or one specific framework. Just a waste.