New York, NY

MCP Certification Rant

To get certified or not certified, that is the question. An attendee in my C# class on Tuesday at Advisor DevCon asked me as an employer how I feel about Microsoft certifications. In the past I poo-pooed certifications, but the more that I think about it, the more that I think that it is a benefit. Not that studying and passing a test impresses me, but the process of studying for the exams is a great experience. You have to put in a lot of time and effort studying and that says something to me.

So what route do you take? Do you get a lot of letters after you name like Patrick Hynds. As what point do you get no value from MC*.* as Scott Hanselman puts it?

Well I would suggest to developers to take the Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD) for Microsoft .NET route. It gives you exposure to WinForms, Web, Web Service and Requirements/Architecture exposure. Along with the elective (I suggest SQL Server), that is a great study course.