Microsoft Certification for Developers

Today I was talking to my buddies from work, Ryan and Michael, about Microsoft certification. We discussed about the MCPD and the SharePoint certifications and I decided to post some information here.

MCPD Enterprise Application Developer 3.5

The MCPD Enterprise Application Developer 3.5 certification is the current top developer certification and it requires you to pass in 6 exams. The following table contains all the exams and links to the official training books. Some of books have not been published yet, but they are expected sometime during the first quarter of 2009.


70-536 TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 - Application Development Foundation

• Official Training Book (CAD48.50)

70-562 TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, ASP.NET Application Development

• Official Training Book (CAD48.50). Not published, expected on April 15 2009.

70-505 TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Forms Application Development

• Official Training Book (CAD52.91). Not published, expected on Feb 25 2009. Since there is not so much difference between the .NET 3.5 and .NET 2.0 versions, you could use this book (I used this book for the beta exam).

70-561 TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, ADO.NET Application Development

• Official Training Book (CAD52.91). Not published, expected on Mar 25 2009.

70-503 TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 – Windows Communication Foundation Application Development

• Official Training Book (CAD48.50)

70-565 Pro: Designing and Developing Enterprise Applications Using the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5

• No current Official Training Book. However, there is the .NET 2.0 version here (CAD48.50).

The exams don't have to be completed in a specific order, but I recommend starting with the 70-536 exam first for two reasons:

• The 70-536 exam contains the foundations of .NET framework (types, collections, threading, app domains, configuration, serialization, encryption, code access security, reflection, interoperability, globalization, and drawing). This will provide a very good foundation before jumping into the specific types of applications.
• The 70-536 exam is a prerequisite for all the developer MCTS certifications. To acquire your first .NET MCTS certification, you need to pass in two exams : the 70-536 and the desired MCTS exam (WCF, Windows Form, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, WF, WPF). By taking 70-536 first, you will acquire a new MCTS certification for every subsequent MCTS exam you pass.

Another recommendation is to take the 70-565 exam at last. This is the professional exam that will cover designing .NET enterprise applications and choosing the proper technologies. It is better to finish all the specific applications first before taking this one, for obvious reasons.
For the other exams, you should choose first a exam that you are most familiar with. This will make your life easier, and you will progressively advance to other exams of unknown areas.

Some Tips when preparing for the exams above:

• One of the most important things is to practice all the material. You should try all the code samples you find in the study guide, make modifications, improve the code, apply real scenarios and examples from your day job, etc. Also, try using different methods overloads, different constructors, etc. Sometimes the training book shows how to use some set of classes, and then on the exam you see them used with different methods and constructors and do not know if it is right or wrong. So, go beyond the examples of the book.
• Check it out the material in the MSDN online. If the book is showing you how to use the a certain class, check it out the documentation at MSDN to see this class methods, properties and the usage examples on MSDN.
• Although the books are great resources, read all the topics of the preparation guides to make sure you know all of them. Supplement book information with MSDN library information.
  
• Make sure to get the book correction from Microsoft Support. When I was studying with the .NET 2.0 training books, I found lots of minor mistakes in the books. To get the book correction, just go to the Microsoft Help and Support and search for the book ISBN. For more information, see here.
  
• Usually these books come with practice tests from MeasureUp. It is recommended to practice these tests to get used to the format of the exam, type of questions, etc.
• Take advantage of the Microsoft Second Shot. You get an exam voucher to be used when registering to your exam. If you fail the exam, you can register for a free retake exam using this voucher. It is a good investment just in case something bad happen during your first attempt.
  

Additional Resources:

• Prometric: this is the exam provider where you can schedule a Microsoft certification exam. You will be able to choose the test site where you can take your exam. The .NET 3.5 exams usually cost USD 125. Do not forget to use a exam voucher from Microsoft Second Shot when registering, just in case you need to retake the exam.
  
• Gerry O'Brien's Blog: This is the official blog about Microsoft certifications for developer and SQL Server. You will find information about upcoming exams, new certifications, beta exams, etc. Also, pay attention to announcements for Visual Studio 2010 exams, that should bring a new MCPD .NET 4.0. Gerry and his team are still planning the new certifications, but as you can see from his comments, there will be upgrade exams from MCPD 3.5 to 4.0 (2 upgrade exams, I think), see his comments on this post.
  
• Beta Exams Announcements: This blog contains announcements about beta exams. What is a beta exam? Well, it works like a beta software. Before opening a new exam for the general public, Microsoft first releases it as beta exam (71-### instead of 70-###) to evaluate the exam, get feedback and error reports from test takers. You can register for these beta exams for free (normal cost is 125 USD), and if you pass on the beta exam, the exam credit will be added to your transcript and you will not need to take the exam in its released form. I took 4 beta exams of .NET 3.5 and passed on them without paying anything!! When taking beta exams, make sure to leave some feedback because they are expecting our input to improve the exam experience.

SharePoint Certification

I started working with SharePoint (WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007) recently and I am planning to get certified on it as well. For developers, there are two SharePoint MCTS:


70-541 TS: Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 – Application Development

• No official training book, but there is the Microsoft Press book (CAD34.64).
• There are no practice tests from MeasureUp for this exam.

70-542 TS: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 – Application Development

• No official training book, but there is the Microsoft Press book (CAD31.49).
• You might consider buying the practice tests from MeasureUp.

MCPD Certification and Next

I finally got my MCPD certification by upgrading my MCSD certification!! My last exam was 70-551 which took about 3 1/2 hours to complete. This upgrade exam includes content from three regular exams: 70-536 (.NET Foundation), 70-526 (Windows Apps) and 70-528 (Web Apps). So, the scope of the upgrade exam is too big, and it was probably one of the hardest I ever had to prepare (3 books).

In the 70-551 exam, the Windows Application part had many questions about ClickOnce technology, and I regret not spending more time when studying it. The Web Applications part also had a topic which I should have spent more time studying, the Web Part controls. But, at the end, I was able to pass on it. Note that in upgrade exams like this, you need to achieve at least 700 points in each part, and the final exam score is the minimum score on each part, not the average. So, it means if you do very well in two parts, but get only 690 on the third part, you will fail the whole upgrade exam, and you will have to take all the three parts again when retaking the exam.

I started my certification path back in 2005, but only completed two exams towards MCAD. After passing on these two exams, Microsoft announced the new certifications for Visual Studio 2005. At the same time, I got a new job in California and did not have enough time to dedicate to .NET certifications. Only last year I decided to continue my certification path. I thought about starting from the scratch, but decided to follow the upgrade path. The results can be seen on the picture with the pile of books I had to study. The XBox 360 just happen to be on my desk, it is not related with .NET certification. It actually represents a threat to my whole certification path!!

Some developers think that certifications are useless. I agree that certification is not everything, it shows that you pass on the exam, and there are many other things to consider such as your work experience. On the other hand, I see these certifications as an structured way to learn. The goal is not to pass, but it is to study and learn the content of the exam. They expose you to a wide view of the .NET framework, rather than a specific view. You will get the detailed knowledge by working on a project on a daily basis, but this wide view is important to expose you to different areas that you might not touch when working on your projects. So, I am still continuing my certification path and I highly recommend my fellow developers to work on it.

Well, what is next now? I got the MCPD EAD (Enterprise Application Developer) for the VS 2005 (.NET 2.0), and now I want to upgrade it to MCPD EAD .NET 3.5. There are two upgrade exams: 70-568 and 70-569. These exams are not available yet, and they should be available soon. At the same time, I participated on the Beta exams of the .NET 3.5 certifications. Note that beta exams are free, but they expect you to know the area and provide feedback about it (see beta exams announcement here). I took 3 beta exams of the new .NET 3.5 track (70-561, 70-505, and 70-565), and received so far the result of only one (which I passed!!). The other ones, I do not know the results yet. Beta exam results are only sent after 8 weeks (or more!!) after the end of the beta period. If I end up passing on the other ones, then I will just to two regular exams (70-503 and 70-562), instead of two upgrade exams. The following diagram shows some upgrade paths to MCPD EAD .NET 3.5:

Beta Exam 71-505: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Forms Application Development

As mentioned on this post, some exams of the Microsoft Certified Professional Developer certification, aka MCPD for .NET 3.5, are on beta. The new Windows Form exam (70-505) will have a beta version available for registration as of 11/21/2008. See the information at:

• Beta Exam 71-505: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Forms Application Development

You can register for this beta exam for free (normal cost is 125 USD), and if you pass on it, the exam credit will be added to your transcript and you will not need to take the exam in its released form.

So hurry up, because seats are limited. First-come, first-serve!

For more information about beta certification exams, see Beta Exams Announcements Blog, and also Gerry O'Brien Blog.

MCPD .NET 3.5 Beta Exams

If you are planning to get the certification Microsoft Certified Professional Developer - MCPD for .NET 3.5, there are some exams that are on beta. You can register for these beta exams for free (normal cost is 125 USD), and if you pass on the beta exam, the exam credit will be added to your transcript and you will not need to take the exam in its released form.

The following are the MCPD beta exams currently available:

• Register for Beta Exam 71-565: Pro: Designing and Developing Enterprise Applications Using the Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.5
• Register for Beta Exam 71-564: Pro: Designing and Developing ASP.NET Applications Using the Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.5

So hurry up, because seats are limited. First-come, first-serve!

For more information about beta certification exams, see Beta Exams Announcements Blog, and also Gerry O'Brien Blog.

Microsoft Exam 70-536

I passed on the Microsoft exam 70-536 yesterday and I would like to share my experiences on it. The test consisted of 40 questions. The format is similar to the practice exam of the text book.

The exam has some annoyances. For example, the UI is still from the 20th century: it looks like an old Win32 application and the mouse wheel does not work! There is a big delay when going from one question to the next one. This happens because the current answer is saved on the exam server, so that data can be recovered in the case of a power loss. It is good to save it to the server, but this delay takes from 30 seconds to one minute!! Not sure if this is a Prometric problem or just on that specific test center. Although there is this delay, the exam timer is paused when moving from one question to the other.

When I finished answering all questions, I still had about 25 minutes to review. This is when things started not going well. During the review mode, the exam timer does not pause while moving from one question to the next one. So, I was wasting about a minute by clicking on Next and waiting for the next question to show!! Also, when the exam prompts a message reminding you that you have 5 minutes left, the buttons at the bottom of the screen (Next, Previous and Review) disappear. So, I got stuck on that screen and couldn't move to another question or even finish my exam. I tried to get help from the staff there, but the exam timed out and it didn't show anything for me, the screen was blank for a few minutes and it moved directly to the customer satisfaction survey. I did not know if I pass or fail, and I was afraid that I lost everything. After some minutes of panic, the exam administrator came and told me that the score report was printed properly and I passed!!

I reported these problems, and they told me that the 5 minutes reminder bug is an old issue that was apparently over but came back in the last few weeks. My advice is to spend more time answering your questions during the first pass (exam timer pauses while saving) rather than spending time reviewing them (exam timer does not pause while saving).
Also, finish your exam before the 5 minutes reminder buggy message appears, just to make sure that it finishes properly by showing your score/result on the screen.

Second Shot Offer for Microsoft Certification Exams

The Microsoft exam Second Shot offer is available again. If you are planning to take a Microsoft certification exam, you should use this Second Shot Exam Offer. If you don't pass on your first attempt, then you can take a second attempt for free.

During the registration of your first attempt exam, you will need to apply the second shot voucher. You can get a second shot voucher from here. If you fail on your first attempt exam, then you can register for the same exam for free by using your second shot voucher.

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
  

.NET 3.5 Exams

Since Visual Studio 2008 is already available for MSDN subscribers, I am wondering when the current certifications will change due to this new release.

Currently, the MCPD certification is based on the exams related to VS2005 / .NET 2.0.
According to this blog, there are new exams for .NET 3.5. These exams are:

• 71-502 TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 - Windows Presentation Foundation
• 71-503 TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 - Windows Communication Foundation
• 71-504 TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 – Windows Workflow Foundation
  

Each exam gives you an MCTS certification in that specific area, but there is no mention if these exams will be incorporated into the MCPD certification. Hopefully, MS announces the new changes for MCPD. For now, I will wait a little bit until this happens since I do not want to waste time studying for obsolete exams.

Roadmap to MCPD Certification

I started working on my MCAD certification a couple of years ago, but didn't finish it. I have completed 70-316 and 70-315 so far. I think this is a good time to take the last exam, and move on to the upgrade to the new MCPD certification. Probably by the time I am done, Microsoft will create a new certification based on MS Visual Studio 2008.
This is my roadmap to get certified:

70-316 (MCP)

70-315

70-320 (MCAD)

70-551 (MCPD: Windows Web Developer)

70-526

70-529

70-549 (MCPD: Enterprise Applications Developer)