Carving out the .NET Certification Path

I know its a bit early, but in North America we have an autumn holiday tenderly
called "Turkey Day." This is a time where friends and family put aside
differences and distances to share a large feast together in the pretense of
harmony. The event usually revolves around the traditional meat of turkey, and
the carving ceremony in my family has always been a moment of great anticipation
and even greater contention.



So, sitting down at the .NET certification table, you might be wondering what
happened to the big MCSD/MCAD turkey. Back in the day, the MCSD/MCAD
certification represented a master developer, a jack-of-all-trades. So if you
wanted a developer certification beyond the MCP, you had to eat the whole MCSD/MCAD
turkey, even if you were just a Windows developer or only developed ASP Web
sites; you had to eat both dark and white meat, leg and drumstick - everything.



With the introduction of the .NET Framework, the situation became even more
complicated. Developing a Windows application became very similar to harnessing
Web power, but you had to know everything about both to get the MCSD. The MCAD
certification attempted to alleviate the pressure, but it was never as
successful a certification as the MCSD.



So for the last few years Microsoft Learning has been busy carving the
certification turkey, trying to spread the slices across a much wider spectrum
of Microsoft technologies. Weve entered a new age of smaller, more
technology-specific certifications, so that theres a little bit of
certification for everyone to share. Rather than the MCSD and MCAD designation,
there are now the TS (Technology Specialist) and PD (Professional Developer)
designations.



So how is the certification table currently laid out? Something like this (click
the image for a larger version):



NETCertification



The TS exams represent a basic proficiency in specific technology domains. Each
exam comes in at least two flavors: VB.NET or C#. Before you go too far over to
the dark meat, all candidates for Microsoft .NET certification must pass the
070-536 exam. If you use ASP.NET 2.0, you would also take the 070-528 exam (.NET
Framework 2.0 Web applications). If you use ASP.NET 3.5, you would also take the
070-562 exam (.NET Framework 3.5 ASP.NET Applications). There are also TS exams
for BizTalk, Windows SharePoint Services, and most other Microsoft products.



Once you clear the preliminaries, then you can put it all together by taking PD
exams. These certifications focus on applying the technologies to real-world
scenarios. You might know code, but do you understand the team environment and
the phases of software development? There are only three exams in this category:
Windows Developer, Web Developer, and Enterprise Application Developer, each for
.NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005.



The exams themselves contain a lot more code, more best practices from the
Microsoft Solution and Agile Frameworks, and have a lot less configuration and
property trivia. So, the exam you take will be honed in on the technology you
use with the language you know. Seems a lot more digestible, doesnt it?



So, seriously, no MCSD anymore? Well... not by name, per se. The MCPD: Enterprise
Application Developer is now the jack-of-all-trades certification, much like the
old MCSD. To get this certification, you need to get through all the .NET 2.0 TS
certifications and then pass the 070-549 exams.



Of course, if you have your MCSD/MCAD certification, then you could take an
upgrade path, but that may be a longer meal than most can handle. And I think
the tryptophan is kicking in, so I may need to sleep before posting on that
topic anytime soon. (But if you want an appetizer, heres an hors doeuvre from
the horses mouth.)



But before I doze off, remember this: The new .NET certification isnt for
marathon competitive eaters anymore. Take your time and savor the certification
in each bite.

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