Mcp

Magic_Roundabou

Thought I'd throw this one out there ...

I am currently working on getting my Microsoft MCSD in visual basic and have 3 MCPs so far.

Does anyone know if an MCP/MCSD makes any difference to employers at all, especially when picking contractors ???

Cheers.

pebble

I have never contracted, but I would always go with experience if I were to hire.

RicardoSmith

Generally contractors go through the agencies. They prefer someone with experience obviously. But the certs would give you the edge if competing with people who have the same level of experience. Otherwise someone with the most experience will get it. Increasingly lots of places seem to be do a technical exam aswell as an interview. These seem to be very similar to the MS cert type of questions so the experience of doing the certs will help you with that.

The MS certs do not reflect real life situations very well and lots of places of wary of someone who has only the certs and no experience. Personally I think the certs give you a broader understanding of the subject, and material. But obviously you need the experience of applying the theory in real situations.

I'm studying some myself and have asked a few places what they thought of having a few certs. Usually the response is, nice to have, but not need to have. I thought they'd take the place of some gaps in my skillset, in terms of experience in specific areas. But unfortunately they don't.

Magic_Roundabou

I agree that the exams don't reflect real-life situations. In fact, on some of them, you have to have to give answers that would never work in the real world but are "the microsoft answer" and only that will do.

I have found that if you have studied enough to pass a language exam, you've got enough covered to see what the language is capable of. After that, it's working on the experience.

Anyway, the main reason I'm doing this is so I have something that may give me an advantage, like you say.

Any idea how the contractor market is for VB6 at the moment ?? I really am desperate to get out of my permie job at the moment and make some decent money. Maybe being over optimisitic here but you gotta hope.

RicardoSmith

Yeah I know what you mean. Thats the problem with those certs. Even the best programmer in the world, would fail them unless he knows the MS Certification method of questions. "How many icons in the toolbar contain the color blue" etc.

If you can do it all in VB6, database, web, ASP, you'll get a contract. But theres lots of people competing for most roles. An agency guy told me he gets about 200 CV's for every VB role. So if you can stand out from 200 other VB guys I guess you'll do ok. If you have another skillset like C++, Java thats better again. They are keen on people with .net experience too.

Be aware that when contracting you can wait a while for your money and you can have breaks between contracts. So you'll have to plan your finances around that. Personally I'm not getting more money contracting than I did in my last permanent job. But then I'm a bit light on experience to be contracting.

Magic_Roundabou

Was talking to an agency today and what they said was that to get into the contracting lark, you have to be ready to start practically yesterday. This is fair enough but it makes me wonder how someone on 1 months notive is supposed to join in. Just quit the job and hope for the best, I suppose.

She also said that there are plenty of VB6 contract jobs out there at the moment but a lot of contractors are trying to get into permies again to get .NET experience but the employers are wary.

RicardoSmith

While some contracts I've had have been on short notice. The majority of them take a fair few weeks to get organised, and they usually have fixed starting and ending date. My current one I have to give a weeks notice only so I could leave at any time really. That said I heard about it on a Thurs, did the interview on a friday and started on the monday. But I had been off the previous 3 weeks so thats the downside of contracting.

seamus

At the very least I would think that a modern or up-to-date certification would show that you're interested in ongoing training, i.e. interested in the industry. Why not tbh? At the end of the day, it's an extra "qualification" on your CV, and could mean the difference between you and the next pleb getting the job.

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by seamus
At the very least I would think that a modern or up-to-date certification would show that you're interested in ongoing training, i.e. interested in the industry. Why not tbh? At the end of the day, it's an extra "qualification" on your CV, and could mean the difference between you and the next pleb getting the job.

Most people hire contractors to do a specific job. Outside of that they could care less what your goals and long term objectives are. Though I think certs are a good idea, for your own personal development, and they do differenciate you from someone with the same experience without a cert.