Numbers of Bloggers in Microsoft

From a recent Wired magazine article about Microsoft:"In fact, the 71,000-employee company now has more than 4,800 bloggers posting on every imaginable tech topic, from startups to SQL." http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/wired40_microsoft_pr.html

PS: Thanks to my colleague Gus who provided the pointer to this article...

Disclaimer: This is probably a very conservative estimate coz there might be many many more employees who might have blogs on other private blog site and also on live spaces etc... I guess the above number is TechNet and MSDN blogs (exludes me too :-))...

Upgrade News For MCSD .Net

MCSD.Nets can upgrade to all three MCPD (i.e. Web Dev, Windows Dev and Enterprise Apps Dev) using only 3 Upgrade Exams instead of 4... So here is the quick FAQ...

Q: Can exam 554 be taken without 553 having already being taken and passed?
A: YES, 554 CAN BE TAKEN WITHOUT 553 (BUT ONLY MCSDs WILL GET CREDIT FOR 553 OR 554).
Q: If so would that mean that an MCSD.NET can obtain all MCTS and MCPD certs by passing just three exams 551, 552 & 554?
A: YES, AFTER AN MCSD EARNS THE MCPD: WEB AND MCPD: WINDOWS WITH EXAMS 551 AND 552 (AND IN DOING SO, BOTH MCTS WEB AND WINDOWS), HE OR SHE CAN TAKE 554 TO EARN MCPD: ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS (AND MCTS: DISTRIBUTED).

You can also see the rationale behind this on one of my previous posts... Click Here

We will upgrade the microsoft.com pages soon for more updates on this thread check Trika's blog too...

PDC 2007 Announced

Professional Developers Conference (PDC) is announced and is planned to be in Los Angeles from Oct 2-5 2007

Click Here for updates... You can also subscribe to RSS feeds here...

Registrations will open in first half of 2007...

News about Vista, Exchange and Office Exams

With release of Vista, Exchange and Office new certifications associated with them are also announced... Check out few of the press releases for details...

Vista, Office, Exchange Certs on Track

Upcoming releases spur new certification exams

New Exchange exams likely to emphasize roles, security

Microsoft certification program to get a makeover

Also I would encourage interested people to attend the live meeting planned on December 6th 2007... To register Click Here

Microsoft Official Distance Learning (MODL) Announced

A cool new way of learning Microsoft Technologies has been announced recently... I have personally seen the experience and it is pretty exciting... A real world environment is created remotely and a student is tought as if he/she was working on that problem in his/her office...
All of this is done remotely so you do not need to travel far away to learn from the best Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) in the world...

Check out these links

Lutz Ziob's video on MODL

Europe Annoucement

On IT News Online

On Playful's.com

On ManufactingTalk.com

25% Off On VS 2005 Upgrade Exams

To get more info Click Here

VS 2005 Upgrade Questions V1

A Colleague sent a few interesting questions on VS 2005 Upgrades am answering them here for everyone...

Q. Can exam 554 be taken without 553 having already being taken and passed?
A. Yes, it can be… Order of taking the exam is recommended not enforced... Although you will not get the complete credential till you pass all the required exams...

Q. After 551 and 552 an MCAD requries the Distributed TS (529) and the Enterprise PRO certification (549) but these two are obtained when passing 554 are they not?
A.Yes they are covered in 554 but 554 is built considering MCSD curriculum so MCAD will not receive any credit for 554…

Microsoft announces certification for Project 2007

Long awaited certification on "Microsoft Project" is announced... We have heard multiple times from Project Managers using Project as their primary tool that there needs to be a certification on this topic so finally it has been announced...

Check out some of the press releases when you find time...

Microsoft to Unveil New Certification Program for Office Project 2007

Microsoft Adds New Certification for Project Managers


Microsoft to Release New Certification

Introducing Howard Dierking's Blog

Howard Dierking has succeded me as a Technical Product Planner for Database and Developer certifications... He too will be bring Certification News to you along with me... Hope you enjoy his blog too...

Cost of New Generation Exams

The cost of new generation exams is the same as earlier MCP exams... So basically whether you are appearing any of the below categories of exams you should be paying the same amount (ofcouse if you have some promotions then you may be paying a different amount)

MCSD, MCSE or MCDBA exams
Upgrade to New Gen exams
New Gen exams

The DLL Hell Song

Really funny and catchy composition on DLL Hell by Spike Xavier & Dan Wahlin...

Click Here

Keep Checking Certification NewsGroups

If you are preparing for certifications, you should keep an eye on the respective news groups where people have pretty interesting discussions...

Click here to check out Microsoft News Groups for Certifications

Also check out the newsgroup rules and explore many other newsgroups on specific technologies by Clicking Here

Use Outlook Express to browse through the newsgroups with ease... Below are some articles that may help you in getting acquainted with Outlook Express and subscriptions...
Outlook Express newsgroups 101

Got a tough problem? Become a newsgroupie

Mobility Exams - Beta Notification

We recently launched Developer as well as ITPRO Mobility Exams in Beta format... The live exam will be released within the next couple of months but till then you can start preping...:-)

Mobility Exams for ITPROs
Exam 70-500

Mobility Exams for Developers
Exam 70-540

Preparation Guide for Exam 70-536 - UPDATED

Based on MCP feedbacks MS has updated the preparation guides for exams. The pilot updated prep-guide is for 70-536 & can be checked out at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-536.asp

So what's new??
1.) Notice the "Exam Topics Covered" section... This section now tells you how the major areas of the exams are distributed across the exam. It will give you an opportunity to understand the coverage of the exam content and will guide you how to focus while you prepare.

2.) Also notice the "Practice questions" link... This gives you some of the sample questions to warm you up for the exam preparation. You can find more such questions in Microsoft Training Kits for the exam...

Btw, Microsoft Official Training Kit (MSPRESS Book) and E-Learning course on 70-536 will be available soon...

We would love to hear your feedback about the Prep Guide changes that our team has introduced... Do write back if you like it or even if you have any further feedback that we can take and implement... :-)

MSDN Resources for 70-536

Michael composes cool resources for 70-536 exam at the below location. A very useful compilation check it out...

http://www.dotnetfun.com/articles/certifications/Passing70536Certification.aspx

Case Study in SQL 2005 PRO Exams

I would like to get feedback from people who have appeared SQL Server 2005 Case Study Exams...

Case Study exams for SQL Server 2005 PRO level certs were introduced to test a professionals ability to synthesize a given situation and make educated judgment on the correct choice... These kind of PRO Case Study exams may not have a clear choice to make and might seem like having more than one correct answers or probably no correct answers... Although, a person who very carefully reads through will realize that there is infact distinct correct answer to the questions...

Many a times when you find multiple correct answer - take a moment and read through the case study carefully, there will be something in the case study which will drive you to the correct answer. If you find nothing to be correct try to go through again and you might find something that will tell you the correct answer...

Many may argue that such questions are trick questions and more of word mangling than actual problem OR why can't MS people be frank, precise and ask what you want? But folks that is the definition of a Technology Specialist (TS) exam... The exams focusing on How To? areas will have a clear cut answer, they will be to the point, there will be not much confusion over there BUT in case of PRO exams they are suppose to get you closer to the REAL WORLD PROBLEM... In real world you do not resolve bugs by someone telling you what the problem is... You also troubleshoot, there are various different factors that play while you trouble shoot but finally you find the problem and resolve the bug... When you design a solution there is never a clear cut best design, there are trade-offs like performance, maintainability, security, extensibility etc... You would try to design with all these factors in consideration but when you are asked that security is a higher priority over performance then your choices change; that is how PRO exams work...

In PRO exams you have to make those hard choices and those become even more reflective in CASE STUDY EXAMS, hence be prepared for Case Study Exams... I am positive that if you go with this kind of expectation, you will not be confused or frustrated, you will probably look at the exam from the right perspective and perhaps apply your professional experience to the situation and do much better than you may expect...

If you have experiences with SQL Server 2005 Case Study Exams write a comment, let us know what you feel, let me know what can be made better and I will passionately take your advise and work on it...

New Electives for MCAD, MCSD & MCDBA Certs

To encourage candidates to finish their MCADs, MCSDs and MCDBAs Microsoft has now included some of the new MCTS exams to be electives for MCAD, MCSD .Net and MCDBA certs...

Summary
Technology Specialist Exam 70-431 will now be accepted as an elective towards your MCAD or MCSD .Net credential...

Technology Specialist Exam 70-526 OR Exam 70-528 OR Exam 70-529 will now be accepted as an elective towards your MCDBA credential...


References
You can check the updates to MCAD requirements @ MCAD Requirements Page

You can check the updates to MCSD .Net requirements @ MCSD .Net Requirements Page

You can check the updates to MCDBA requirements @... MCDBA Requirements Page

What happens to MCAD, MCSD, MCDBA?

Again this is one of the common queries which I keep getting... Please DO NOT be worried about MCAD, MCSD, MCDBA going away or their exams not being available... They are not going away...

If you are working on .Net 1.X or SQL 2000 you should still plan on pursuing MCAD, MCSD and/or MCDBA... Microsoft does not plan on retiring these certifications anytime soon... I mean to say that the certifications will not only be supported but also be available to take in parallel to MCTS, MCPD and MCITP...

Both these series of certifications will co-exist till .Net 1.X or SQL 2000 product's premium support is retired and as you all know MS will not retire the support for this products for years to come...

Although there is a likely possibility that our industry itself would start demanding more MCTS, MCPD and MCITP in time to come but then if your company works on .Net 1.X and SQL 2000 then MCAD, MCSD and MCDBA is still the right thing for you right!!...

Again boils down to your choice and reasons for taking cert but MS will support, value and keep both the series for now...

MCPD options for MCSD .Net

I was asked by one of our MCTs on what are the options for a MCSD .Net to become MCPD:Web Developer & MCPD:Windows Developer IF he/she has already taken 553 & 554 to get MCPD: Enterprise Application Developer

The answer is:
1.) Either take 551 & 552 to become MCPD in Web and Windows Development respectively
OR
2.)Take 547 & 548 to achieve the same...

551 & 552 will cover TS as well as PRO contents of their respective track, where as 547 & 548 will cover only PRO content...

Which option to select depends upon your choice... Make a choice after looking at the Prep Guides of the exams on Exam Prep Guides

Dynamics of VS 2005 Upgrade Exams - Simplified

My good colleague suggested me to put the Upgrade exams story in simple words rather than my complex math, so if you do not care about all the complexity around the last post here is a simplified version:

MCPD:Web Dev = MCTS:Web + 547 = 551
MCPD:Win Dev = MCTS:Win + 548 = 552
MCPD:EA Dev = MCTS:Web + MCTS:Win + MCTS:DA + 549 = 553 + 554
(subset 1) MCTS: Web + MCTS: Win = 553
(subset 2) 529 + 549 = 554