MCSD Certification

Hi,

I am looking to get MCSD certified and would like some advice.

I have 18 years experience in an real time/embedded environment. I have used
Visual Studio 6 and .Net 2003 mostly to write test software for our embedded
application. I fancy a slight career change and would like to do more
Windows development.

I am based in the UK and there seems to be lots of course available but I
would prefer to study at home with the relevant books.


Do I need to take accredited courses or can I home study and then the take
the exams?

Can anyone recommended a got set of texts for the MCSD?

Is it better to go for the MCAD then move on to the MCSD?

Also anybody know what the market is like ( in the UK) for windows based
programmers?



Cheers

Gary Coutts

Gary Coutts

I've recently completed MCSD and did not take any courses. I wish I could
recommend some books to you that I had found to be really complete and
thorough text books for what you need to know for all the exams - but I can't
honestly say I ever found anything like that.

I will say that I considered the four MS Press "Red Books" were a worthwhile
investment, since I got the soft-copy collection from Amazon for about $120
U.S. But I really don't think they're worth much more money than that. The
70-300 book was especially deceiving in terms of how its content only vaguely
reflects what the exam is about. It's a real shame, if not a sham.

If you read some of the other posts on this board, I think you will find
that a lot of folks who have gone through this mill like the Exam Cram books.
I used a couple of them and found them to be helpful.

I think the hardest thing is knowing what stuff you need to know really
well...what topics you only need a general understanding of, etc. That might
be where courses would help but, as I say, I didn't take any.

Possibly your best source of thorough information is going to be MSDN. What
I tried to do is use the books to sort of keep me focused on what topics to
work on - and then go to MSDN for more complete information on a given topic.

I think the hardest thing is knowing what stuff you need to know really
well, what topics you only need a general understanding of, etc.

Practice tests can help with that. But, from what I saw, the ones that come
with either the Exam Cram books or the MSPress books were really bad.

Good Luck





"Gary Coutts" wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I am looking to get MCSD certified and would like some advice.
>
> I have 18 years experience in an real time/embedded environment. I have used
> Visual Studio 6 and .Net 2003 mostly to write test software for our embedded
> application. I fancy a slight career change and would like to do more
> Windows development.
>
> I am based in the UK and there seems to be lots of course available but I
> would prefer to study at home with the relevant books.
>
>
> Do I need to take accredited courses or can I home study and then the take
> the exams?
>
> Can anyone recommended a got set of texts for the MCSD?
>
> Is it better to go for the MCAD then move on to the MCSD?
>
> Also anybody know what the market is like ( in the UK) for windows based
> programmers?
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Gary Coutts
>
>
>

=?Utf-8?B?UmljaA==?=

"Gary Coutts" <> wrote in message
news:cof0g3$3q4$...

Hi Gary,

> Do I need to take accredited courses or can I home study and then the
> take
> the exams?

There are no requirements as to how you learn the material. On-the-job
experience, books, and practice exams are enough for many people to pass the
exams.

> Can anyone recommended a got set of texts for the MCSD?

This is asked and answered here pretty often. Go to groups.google.com and
put in something like "70-305 good book" (substitute for each exam) and
you'll find lots of discussions.

> Is it better to go for the MCAD then move on to the MCSD?

MCAD is a subset of MCSD. You will probably want to take the exams that
count towards the MCAD so you'll gain that certification, and then take the
rest of the exams for MCSD.

> Also anybody know what the market is like ( in the UK) for windows based
> programmers?


I'd survey the job advertisements in your local newspaper.

--
Cindy Winegarden MCSD, Microsoft Visual FoxPro MVP
www.cindywinegarden.com

Cindy Winegarden

Hi Gary,

I am also in the UK and have been watching the job market recently so maybe
I can help.

Windows based programmers in an IT department style setting are not always
the best paid of jobs. Stay away from these if you can, but unfortunately
most of the jobs advertised seem to be these at around £20-30k. For rather
silly reasons, C# seems to be used more for commercial software (it
therefore pays better) and VB.NET for in house apps. With your embedded
knowledge though and your experience, you should easily be able to command a
higher paid salary should you wish, especially if you have specialised
applied knowledge and end up working in real engineering or in a software
house.

Most people here, swear by the Que Publishing set of books for both VB/C#
tracks. I used these AND also used msdn webcasts and have yet to fail an
exam.

Regards,

Nick

"Gary Coutts" <> wrote in message
news:cof0g3$3q4$...
> Hi,
>
> I am looking to get MCSD certified and would like some advice.
>
> I have 18 years experience in an real time/embedded environment. I have
> used
> Visual Studio 6 and .Net 2003 mostly to write test software for our
> embedded
> application. I fancy a slight career change and would like to do more
> Windows development.
>
> I am based in the UK and there seems to be lots of course available but I
> would prefer to study at home with the relevant books.
>
>
> Do I need to take accredited courses or can I home study and then the
> take
> the exams?
>
> Can anyone recommended a got set of texts for the MCSD?
>
> Is it better to go for the MCAD then move on to the MCSD?
>
> Also anybody know what the market is like ( in the UK) for windows based
> programmers?
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Gary Coutts
>
>


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.799 / Virus Database: 543 - Release Date: 19/11/2004

Nick

"Gary Coutts" <> wrote in message
news:cof0g3$3q4$...
> Hi,
>
> I am looking to get MCSD certified and would like some advice.
>
> I have 18 years experience in an real time/embedded environment. I have
> used
> Visual Studio 6 and .Net 2003 mostly to write test software for our
> embedded
> application. I fancy a slight career change and would like to do more
> Windows development.
>
> I am based in the UK and there seems to be lots of course available but I
> would prefer to study at home with the relevant books.
>
>
> Do I need to take accredited courses or can I home study and then the
> take
> the exams?
>
> Can anyone recommended a got set of texts for the MCSD?
>
> Is it better to go for the MCAD then move on to the MCSD?
>
> Also anybody know what the market is like ( in the UK) for windows based
> programmers?
>
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Gary Coutts
>
>

Microsoft News

Cheers Cindy

"Cindy Winegarden" <> wrote in message
news:...
> "Gary Coutts" <> wrote in message
> news:cof0g3$3q4$...
>
> Hi Gary,
>
> > Do I need to take accredited courses or can I home study and then the
> > take
> > the exams?
>
> There are no requirements as to how you learn the material. On-the-job
> experience, books, and practice exams are enough for many people to pass
the
> exams.
>
> > Can anyone recommended a got set of texts for the MCSD?
>
> This is asked and answered here pretty often. Go to groups.google.com and
> put in something like "70-305 good book" (substitute for each exam) and
> you'll find lots of discussions.
>
> > Is it better to go for the MCAD then move on to the MCSD?
>
> MCAD is a subset of MCSD. You will probably want to take the exams that
> count towards the MCAD so you'll gain that certification, and then take
the
> rest of the exams for MCSD.
>
> > Also anybody know what the market is like ( in the UK) for windows based
> > programmers?
>
>
> I'd survey the job advertisements in your local newspaper.
>
> --
> Cindy Winegarden MCSD, Microsoft Visual FoxPro MVP
> www.cindywinegarden.com
>
>
>

Gary Coutts

Cheers Nick

"Nick" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Hi Gary,
>
> I am also in the UK and have been watching the job market recently so
maybe
> I can help.
>
> Windows based programmers in an IT department style setting are not always
> the best paid of jobs. Stay away from these if you can, but unfortunately
> most of the jobs advertised seem to be these at around £20-30k. For rather
> silly reasons, C# seems to be used more for commercial software (it
> therefore pays better) and VB.NET for in house apps. With your embedded
> knowledge though and your experience, you should easily be able to command
a
> higher paid salary should you wish, especially if you have specialised
> applied knowledge and end up working in real engineering or in a software
> house.
>
> Most people here, swear by the Que Publishing set of books for both VB/C#
> tracks. I used these AND also used msdn webcasts and have yet to fail an
> exam.
>
> Regards,
>
> Nick
>
> "Gary Coutts" <> wrote in message
> news:cof0g3$3q4$...
> > Hi,
> >
> > I am looking to get MCSD certified and would like some advice.
> >
> > I have 18 years experience in an real time/embedded environment. I have
> > used
> > Visual Studio 6 and .Net 2003 mostly to write test software for our
> > embedded
> > application. I fancy a slight career change and would like to do more
> > Windows development.
> >
> > I am based in the UK and there seems to be lots of course available but
I
> > would prefer to study at home with the relevant books.
> >
> >
> > Do I need to take accredited courses or can I home study and then the
> > take
> > the exams?
> >
> > Can anyone recommended a got set of texts for the MCSD?
> >
> > Is it better to go for the MCAD then move on to the MCSD?
> >
> > Also anybody know what the market is like ( in the UK) for windows based
> > programmers?
> >
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Gary Coutts
> >
> >
>
>
> ---
> Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
> Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
> Version: 6.0.799 / Virus Database: 543 - Release Date: 19/11/2004
>
>

Gary Coutts