News
Windows, SBS OEMs Get Competency Exam
Competency exam for Microsoft partners tasked with building Windows-based systems officially debuts Wednesday.
Partner competency exams continue marching out of Redmond, this time with the release of an exam targeting original equipment manufacturers who build Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Small Business Server-based systems. Exam 74-134, Pre-installing Microsoft Products using the OEM Pre-installation Kit, was released Wednesday, January 26.
According to the exam objective guide, the requirements are simple: Candidates should have experience installing Microsoft operating systems and applications using the OEM Pre-installation Kit. The guide points to several sources to assessing those skills, including an online "Pre-installation Specialist" exam.
Partner competency exams "validate that individuals in a partner environment are efficient and capable of deploying multifaceted IT solutions to their customer with skills across multiple Microsoft products and technologies," according to the objective guide. These exams also do not qualify test takers as Microsoft Certified Professionals.
To view the exam objective guide for 74-134, click here. (As this report was being posted, the guide is erroneously entitled and contains information on the BizTalk competency exam.)
To find out more about partner competency exams, see "New Exams Target Competencies," at http://mcpmag.com/news/article.asp?editorialsid=755.
To find out more about the Microsoft Certified Partner program, click here (Microsoft Passport registration is required for access); for Microsoft Competencies, click here.
About the Author
Michael Domingo has held several positions at 1105 Media, and is currently the editor in chief of Visual Studio Magazine.