Microsoft certification ?

[Brit Abroad]

About a year ago, I gave up my IT job to set up an ecommerce site / business.

Now that my site is up and running I'm thinking about returning to full-time employment and continuing with my e-commerce site evenings and weekends.

I'm looking to do some Microsoft certification training to "confirm" the IT/web skills I've already got and also to fine tune a little bit.

My main skills are the following:

ASP -good level, (shopping cart system, interface with back-end database with view, edit and add functions etc)
HTML - Good level
Relational databases - Good level (Designed and developed 10-table access database with forms, queries etc. Good knowledge of SQL)
Javascript - Basic level.

What I'm interested in doing is getting some training which would help me to hit the ground running in a web development job using these sort of skills in a team environment. In other words, so far I have been developing in single-user mode using a text editor, MS personal web server (for local testing), cuteftp (for uploading to web host), and a locally installed version of MS Access.

I imagine that in a company environment, some kind of development software suite is used. I've heard of Visual Interdev and Visual Studio. Is it worth me getting some training in these 2 ?

I'm also thinking of getting some training in Visual Basic as I seem to see this a lot in the job ads for ASP jobs. Also perhaps some training in SQL Server as I have only really developed in MS Access...

Does anyone have any experience with these MS certification programmes ? Are they hard ? Worth it ? Well valued by employers ?

Any advice ?

Cheers

[rob_frost]

I have heard MS certified people are in demand, cause MS systems break down all the time.

[Icarus]

MCSD

I have been pursuing the MCSD for the last 9 months or so which covers most of what you are talking about.
VB6 (or .NET is now available) and SQL 2000 are my electives as they seem the most 'in demand'.
I have done the MOC courses for VB (desktop & distributed applications) and SQL (administration & programming) but they are not enough to get you through the exams. They cover only between 40-50% of what you really need to know, the remainder will only really come form 'hands-on' experience.
They vary in price, the UK is expensive, I actually found it cheaper for me to go to Singapore for 2 weeks at a time and do the courses cheaper than I could do them in UK!.

You can buy the MS Press books that cover the courseware in good book-shops and on the 'net' and do it in your spare time, but I found that did not work for me.

What I have found though is a great site to purchase very good training videos on CD-ROM from.

http//:www.cbtnuggets.com

The SQL courses are not due out until July/August but the VB one's are great! They are at good prices too, go for the VB combo pack as it is great value and you will not be disappointed.
They also have a seperate web-site with 'Challenges' on so you can test yourself and download the solutions to check against. Very good videos, good tests to check yourself out against, and good support. I can really recommend a good look.

Good exam-pack preparation guides on CD with 'trial' exams are available from a number of sources, I use Transcender.

Good luck, the exams are not easy!! That is why they are worth having so far as potential employers are concerned!

[Brit Abroad]

Icarus

Many thanks for your post. I've been looking into the options over the last few days and was amazed at the expense of attending the "live" courses in the M$ approved centres. - Here in France, they are charging 2500 Euros (approx £1500) for a 5-day course !!!! Too expensive for me !

The cbtnuggets solution looks good and more in line with my budget. Like you, I'm looking to build my skills in VB and SQL server. Would you say the cbtnuggets courses are enough to get through the exams or would I need to purchase additional material ? (not counting the exam practise material you mention)

The only thing that is worrying me slightly is whether VB6 will soon be obsolete or not and whether the .net stuff will completely replace it. Is it worth waiting or not I wonder.....

Once again, thanks for all the info

[Icarus]

VB6 is still the requirement .NET has not made it to be a part of the standard MCSD yet, there is an MCSD .NET certification now though ( http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/m...quirements.asp ).

Resources (books) can be found at:

http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/certification/mcsd.asp

However these are essentially the same as the MOC literature given at the courses if you attend any but of course the book is a lot cheaper!.

I have found them to be OK but again, these only cover what is basically required to get you started; they do not give you enough to sit and expect to pass the exams.

There is no substitue for hands-on experience and only that will get you through in the end!

VB and SQL Server are probably highest in demand, I recommend the videos above to start with and do the challenges ( http://www.nuggetlab.com/nugget_challenges.htm ), once you get through that lot then look at the MS Press books on VB.

I imagine it will be the same for SQL Server, although you should have a good knowledge of Transact-SQL before you start that.

You could try an MCSD Boot-Camp which is usually 10 days and covers everything that you need to get through the exams and the course will usually include the exams (and one re-sit for free if you fail) but I would leave that until you are more familiar with the products.

Boot-Camps are around GBP2-3K.

I suggest: (Using the next 9-12 months to give yourself the best opportunity!)

Videos/CD-ROM as shown above for VB and SQL.

Use the MS Press books next.

Go to Boot-Camp for two weeks.

But don't forget the MCSD is the pinnacle! Do one exam at a time if you don't fancy the boot-camp. They are the same price all over the world (just about) US$100.

If you only want the programming stuff, then do the VB6 desktop (70-176) and the SQL 2000 (70-229) MCP exams, you will get a (good) job with those, then do the rest in your spare time over 12-18 months and capitalise on the hands-on you get whilst employed.

The distributed stuff really concentrates on the 'Enterprise' solutions/aspects of the business(es) and is quite tough if you are not already in that kind of environment.

[Brit Abroad]

Icarus

Thanks again for your help.

I've ordered the VB6 combo pack and am currently installing VB6 on my PC in readiness.

I'm actually quite looking forward to learning it all, so I suppose that's half the battle.

I'm looking for a foot in the door really. - After that, I'll enrol on the actual MOC classes and let the company pick up the tab

Good luck with it.

[Fly-By-Wireless]

Don't forget that .NET Server is due out soon. This will unlock much of the VB.NET functionality, so expect a big rise in demand for .net-capable programmers shortly afterwards.