Here's a quick shout out to my friend, former MCPmag'er Torrence Davis (he worked in the very somber, droll customer service department back in the Middle Ages). He's Editor in Chief of the gaming site, www.TheBitBag.com. Here's a video of him when he made a trip to L.A. last week for the E3 show. In the clip, he offers a bit of testimony on Windows 7 at the Microsoft pavilion.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 06/05/2009 at 11:59 AM0 comments
Microsoft Learning's blog is making the virtual move and will no longer be cross-posting after Friday. All official cert information via blog can only be found here. You've been alerted.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 06/04/2009 at 11:59 AM0 comments
We told you about the Microsoft Learning Group's effort to green up its MCP program. In green-speak, it meant that Microsoft would be saving some trees -- and, in a timely manner, money -- making wallet cards, certificates, books and other odd, assorted benefits available online. Microsoft has finally cut bait, so to speak, and put certificates online. The group does offer the option to get a printed, official certificate mailed to you, for a nominal shipping and handling fee (which, I guess in green-speak, could be called a carbon offset).
I suspect most readers won't miss the paper certificates, right? Besides, most of you probably link to your online transcript in most cases, if there's ever a need to prove your MCP-ness.
On a side note: New certificates will bear Ballmer's, not Gates', signature. Hmmm ... it's truly a changing of the guard at Microsoft.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 06/01/2009 at 11:59 AM0 comments
Speaking of exam development, the secrets of Microsoft's exam development process have been divulged in a series of articles starting here (part 2 is here) from psychometrician Liberty Munson. Far as we can tell, Microsoft exam development doesn't call for the addition of mystery meat.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 05/28/2009 at 11:59 AM0 comments
Brace yourselves, developers! Microsoft is in the early development stage on exams for Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4.0. Even so, it's not too early that Microsoft Learning's Gerry O'Brien has been able to divulge a little bit of news on what the group expects to release on the exam front.
The list sounds a lot like the old list: MCTS exams for Windows and Web developers, plus the Pro-level exams, and MCTS exams for WCF and ADO.NET. Gerry blogs that they're not completely sold on the idea of exams for an Enterprise-level MCPD, or an MCTS Workflow exam. If there's ever a reason to chirp back your feedback that these certs would be worthwhile, now is the time.
One interesting tidbit among the many from his post: Expect some Silverlight questions to come up in those new Web exam refreshes. (Yep, this is the one that stuck out for me; you might see something else of immensely more interest.)
Posted by Michael Domingo on 05/28/2009 at 11:59 AM2 comments
Doing a quick and dirty search of jobs using my favorite IT job search engine, Dice.com, for certification terms that matter and I get 55 for MCITP, 47 for MCPD and 87 for MCTS. Yes, underwhelming. Microsoft's messaging, it seems, needs to be pounded into the heads of hiring managers that the new-generation certifications are where it's at (I won't even get into what the subtext is here; let's just say that Vista is not a hot OS).
I bring this up because David Binning at ComputerWeekly.com blogs a survey from IT Job Board showing that MCSE (by the way, on Dice it had well over 900 job postings), combined with MCSA and MCT, continue to be highly regarded among 43 percent of respondents who said certifications would improve one's hiring chances. IT certification has been getting a boost as the economy goes south and jobs in other industries become more scarce.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 05/21/2009 at 11:59 AM0 comments
If cats have nine lives, Microsoft's Exam Retake offer has a feline nature as it's been revived countless times in the past. But that may change. Right now, the Microsoft Learning folks continue to remind us that those chances are running out soon. Microsoft's Exam Retake offer, need we remind you, concludes at the end of June. What this means to you right now is this:
- You must be registered into the program before May 31 if you're planning on taking an exam and then taking Microsoft up on their offer to retake (if you fail the first time, of course).
- If you have an exam retake voucher that you've yet to use, schedule that exam quick! All is lost after June 30.
- Your local testing center may be booked up, due to overwhelming demand. It happens and remember that it's your fault for waiting, not the testing center's problem. (I got your back, Prometric.)
Here's the kicker, though: Just because Microsoft has run this campaign in the past doesn't necessarily mean they'll do it again. Microsoft is feeling the economic pinch, so they're scrutinizing all internal decisions. Who knows if Exam Retake might finally get put to sleep forever? Really, it's anyone's guess.
If you need a subtle reminder to schedule your exam, watch this video. But let me warn you -- you may need some eye bleach. (I won't mention names, but thanks to the mysterious kr for the link.)
Posted by Michael Domingo on 05/19/2009 at 11:59 AM1 comments
With such dismal news the last few holiday seasons (from a PC sales perspective, anyway), Microsoft is targeting Windows 7's release in time for this upcoming holiday season. That, according to
this report from Redmondmag.com's Online News Editor Kurt Mackie (from Tech-Ed, no less). Never mind that there's this little thing called a recession that can put a damper on that strategy...
Posted by Michael Domingo on 05/14/2009 at 11:59 AM1 comments
Microsoft's exam technology is finally catching up to the real world, now that the company has introduced its first performance-based exam that takes place in a virtual space. Exam
70-640 TS: Windows Server 2008, Active Directory now has a performance-based twin in
Exam 83-640. If you decide you just have to take this exam to see what's different, be sure to note the 83 prefix at registration time.
Microsoft's press release said that the exam allows test takers to perform tasks as in a virtualized lab environment that really is the Windows Server 2008 computing environment. It's not news that they're able to do this (we told you it was coming), just news that Microsoft Learning has finally released a live version of a performance-based exam. Finally.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 05/14/2009 at 11:59 AM0 comments
Microsoft Learning's community evangelism honcho, Ken Rosen, was kind enough to chat with me about the Career Express a few weeks ago; I promised to get that interview into last week's Redmond Radio podcast, but had some issues getting it edited. Well, the Career Express took off last Friday and they're floating around somewhere in middle America. You might
check them out if your city is among their planned stops. They'll be giving away some Microsoft swag and learn something in the process.
Ken explains what the group plans to learn from its trip across the country. My interview with Ken is tacked onto the end of this week's Redmond Radio podcast, right before the 12-minute mark. You can check it out here.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 05/06/2009 at 11:59 AM0 comments
It takes some imagination to take dry technology topics and turn them into manga. Imagine telling someone you got your MCTS: SQL Server by reading a manga. That's not quite the goal of
The Manga Guide to Databases by Mana Takahashi, which is among several titles on various topics from O'Reilly. Various other topics include calculus, physics, and electricity. It's a "How Things Work" for the comic nerd.
A Slashdotter posted a review here, but I'd certainly be up for a review for MCPmag.com that critiques the book's usefulness as a resource for passing the MCTS: SQL Server exams. E-mail me if interested.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 05/06/2009 at 11:59 AM0 comments
So, ever wonder why you can't write a book when you text? The L.A. Times
has an interview with communications researcher Friedhelm Hillebrand, who played a major part in setting the standard 160-character length standard. He's the one to thank for our modern-day haikus.
Texting is one mobile feature that I'd never grasped as far as its importance as a communication tool -- until recently. Texting seemed like a step backward, when you can just as easily dial a number and get direct voice access. My texting days started experimentally at first. About five years ago, I was at a party and a friend called; I couldn't hear over the chatter and the blaring DJ music, so I texted back. Simple enough and worked for the moment, but the work to peck out "I can't hear u" was laborious, so I didn't do much after that.
A phone upgrade later (still no iPhone or Android -- too expensive), one with predictive typing, and I find myself in situations where texting seems more practical (I was at the local casino; let's leave it at that). Now, it's even easier to get the message out that "I'm down a C note" or "I'm 10 minutes away on the I-15." And now Twitter has given me another good excuse to upgrade my text package with my phone service. I'm at http://twitter.com/domingophoto.
Posted by Michael Domingo on 05/04/2009 at 11:59 AM0 comments