Anyone done Microsoft MCSD or similar recently

[Durbs]

The last time I did any formal MS certification was around 2000 (MCSE) which doesn't look too good on the CV any more so i'm wanting to take some more up to date .NET/SQL MS certs to go on there.

Fancy booking and taking the Microsoft MCSD exams or similar but looking at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en...mcsd.aspx#tab2 all the exams seem to say "Note, this exam is retired" - Anyone done one recently and what exams did they actually do?

Ta

[kandr]

The last time I did any formal MS certification was around 2000 (MCSE) which doesn't look too good on the CV any more so i'm wanting to take some more up to date .NET/SQL MS certs to go on there.

Fancy booking and taking the Microsoft MCSD exams or similar but looking at Microsoft Learning: Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD) all the exams seem to say "Note, this exam is retired" - Anyone done one recently and what exams did they actually do?

Ta

I think its called a MPD or something now.

[thunderlizard]

I'm in a similar situation - I've got the MCSD from .NET v1 but nothing since, and looking to upgrade to the latest set.

What you probably want is called MCPD (closest to the old MCSD I think):
Certified Developer | MCPD | Microsoft Certified Professional Developer

Visual Studio Certification | .NET Framework | Applications Development

[Durbs]

I think its called a MPD or something now.

MCPD looks like.

Christ, their certification site is about as much fun to find info on as their partner.microsoft.com website, who designs the bleedin' things.

[Durbs]

What you probably want is called MCPD (closest to the old MCSD I think):
Certified Developer | MCPD | Microsoft Certified Professional Developer

Aye, that's the puppy, i'll have one of those.

[thunderlizard]

I gave up on the website in the end and emailed Microsoft. Their support people are actually pretty helpful and don't talk exclusively in marketing buzzwords.

[fullyautomatix]

For Visual Studio and related development technologies this PDF is useful

http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...0_CertPath.pdf

[ShandyDrinker]

Likewise I have the MCSD.Net for the .Net framework 1.1 (along with the MCDBA). While I know I learned something from the certifications, I question the longer term return on investment. I'd love to hear from anyone who actually believes these certifications are a worthwhile investment these days?

I haven't sat any MS Certs for about 5 years now and wonder whether it's worthwhile spending the time and money updating them...

[HairyArsedBloke]

Please excuse me for drifting a bit off topic.

For a business plan I have an entry about funding the certification of staff to get MC<whatever>. This is for another country who are a bit more open about their feelings regarding foreigners taking 'their' jobs. I am saying I'll provide experience and pay for the training required to bring local lads/lasses to a standard that can be useful for other local companies.

My question is: Are these certifications of any substantial use to the individual when applying for jobs, or is the benefit only marginal?

[jmo21]

I did a whole shed of these in my first few years working in permiedom.

All things being equal, they *may* get you a permie job over someone else at a MS gold partner as numbers help them keep gold status, which is apparently good for their business.

That being said, I would make a guess that there are more hiring managers (and I'm talking about dev here, not sure about infrastructure) who would be sceptical of someone with a load of these certs.

Experience is key, and should trump all.

If you are just starting out, then yes, maybe passing some will be useful in showing keenness to learn in the absence of years of experience.