New dev MCTS & changes to existing ones

Ginger

Hi folks

Well, with the release of .NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008, there will be some upcoming changes in the MCPD certs and requirements and also there will be possibly 5 new MCTS certifications for Developers.

Also for those of you starting on the dev tracks, this can be a bit annoying. But they will continue as normal with upgrades from the 2.0 track to 3.5 tracks.

Also it looks like the 70-536 exam will be rebranded and 2.0 removed from its name

The new MCTS ones that are due are .NET 3.5. Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Workflow, ADO.NET and ASP.NET. The two latter certs being the later released of the five.

So this will change some of the MCPD stuff I think further on done the line. I am just waiting to see what I have to do now to keep my ones up to date

Static M.e.

MS are really pushing this new wave of certs arcoss all their platforms! before the big push in Feb/March of Visual Studio, Server and SQL 2008.

I have 5 Core exams to do between now and then, I've been talking to alot of other people in the same situation.

Ginger

Big time, and the whole MCPD/MCITP stuff will get more complex I think.

As for the MCSE/MCSD type stuff, they are moving away from generic certification and into specialist stuff so that people can show what systems they are certified in, rather than a catch all certification.

A good blog on all this, is the following one

One thing that worries me, is that you will get people with certs in x,y,z tech and the employers wont have a clue what that means. What happened to guys just having MCSE's etc.

Within the dev sphere where you can have now MCAD/MCSD/MCPD*3/MCITP DB Dev/MCITP BI Dev/MCTS SPS App Dev etc etc And soon there will be a new branch of the MCPD for the .NET 3.5 stuff. But the 3 year validity period in this case makes sense because the stuff is moving so fast.

Should be interesting to see the upgrade path for SQL 2005 to SQL 2008 as well

Static M.e.

yeah I know what you mean, I have little faith in the run of the mill recruitment companies most of which don't have a clue about Certs, let alone the different types.

Ive started putting my Certs down in plain English just to help them.

I.e.
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Security (MCSE: Security)
Microsoft Certified Technology Specialists (MCTS) Vista

But with the new wave I think it will be a 6 to 18 months before they are recognized by the market, not thats a bad thing for me. My plan is to get in early so I can catch the initial contracts looking for people with 2008 skills, the more work you get early, the more experience you get, the better contacts you get. So while the rest of the masses are studying for the 2008 I will have the certs and be rolling out the technology, which will give me more time to concentrate on additional specialized certs. (That's the plan anyway.. )

On SQL 2008 did you see the new Technet forums?
http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/default.aspx?SiteID=17
Check out how big the SQL parts are... I think MS are really going to be pushing it hard. On saying that though I had serious difficulties getting my DB's moved to 2005 and I still have some on 2000 that aren't supported on 2005 at all. SQL 2005 is still very new tech to me so I cant see me moving to it any time in 2008 unless a specific project needs it..

Ginger

I remember saying in 2006 that SQL 2005 was an interim release and that possibly 2007/8 would be the main release for SQL (Katmai)

Looks like I would be right for once.. now if I could only do the lotto like that