MCAD Certification and Next

I finally got the confirmation from Microsoft of my MCAD certification. I had some troubles with Prometric, the test provider, which erroneously reported that I did not show up for my 70-320 test. Ouch!
After a few emails/phone calls, having to fax my exam score report , and wait for two weeks, Microsoft confirmed my certification. Well, it is finally done!

My original plan was to get the MCAD certification done back in 2005. I passed on the first two exams (70-315 and 70-316) during that year. At that time, I started my graduation program MSc. in Information Systems at Athabasca University, and also moved from Edmonton to Mountain View - California for a new position at Intuit Inc. Well, I got pretty busy and had no time to study for the final exam, putting the MCAD on hold. In the meanwhile the new generation of MS certifications were released (MCTS and MCPD). My goal, of course, is to be certified in the new generation of certifications (MCPD: Enterprise Applications Developer 3.5), but I still want to finish what I started back in 2005, otherwise all the effort for the 2 first exams would be wasted.

What is next?

As I mentioned, I want to get the MCPD certification (MCPD: Enterprise Applications Developer 3.5). I have many choices:

• 2 upgrade exams to MCSD, then 2 upgrade exams to MCPD Ent. App. Dev. 2.0, and finally 2 upgrade exams to MCPD Ent. App. Dev. 3.5
• 1 upgrade exam to MCTS Web or Windows Developer 2.0, then 3 exams for .NET 2.0, and finally 2 upgrade exams to MCPD Ent. App. Dev. 3.5
• start from the scratch and take 70-536 exam (Application Development Foundation) plus all the 5 .NET 3.5 required exams.

No matter way I decide to go, I will have to take 6 exams. So, I decided to start from the scratch. I don't like upgrade exams because they are just subset of normal exams. For example, the exam 70-559 to upgrade to MCTS Web Development .NET 2.0, includes most of the content of the 70-536 plus the content of 70-528. In this case, the content of one upgrade exam is equivalent to almost two regular exams. Also, if you are using the training kits (books) from MS Press, there is no specific book for an upgrade exam, you will need to get the book of each regular exam that it covers. And the final reason to start from the scratch is that it is much more fun to study the latest technology (.NET 3.5) then going to the previous one before.

The following figure shows the possible paths to get to MCPD Enterprise App. Dev. 3.5. The path I am taking (.NET 3.5 from the scratch) starts from 70-536 and go to 70-562 and so on (right hand side).


For more information, see:

• Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD)
• Gerry O'Brien Blog
• Trika's Blog