MCSD or MCPD

I have a lot of experience in ASP and VB , COM etc and recently started
working on ASP.NEt
We will move towards Visual Studio 2005 soon . I feel a little out of place
when working on .NET as i have started on it recently and i want to be able
to design and architect applications . I have no problems working on .NET ,
but i feel i need to be a little more advanced .Will a certification help me
, if so which one should i take MCSD or MCPD.

 

As with most of these course the certification is bound to give you a good
grounding in the basics. From an architects point of you it will at least
give you a good introduction to each feature contained in the .net framework.
However from personal experiece nothings beats good hands on commercial
experience. But to answer your question specifically. I've been using the
..net framework for 3 years now and was about to sit the MCSD as I am already
very familiar with most of the content. Now I read there are new exams coming
out I have decided to wait until these are introduced, the main reason being
that I want a certifcate that shows my proficiency in the new version of the
..net framework (c#/ASP.Net 2.0).

 

OK, first a little of my background, I have been MCSD.NET for a little
over two years, had worked with .NET pre-Beta on and off and also have
Java certs. Additionally, I am planning on taking 70-553 and 70-554
(trying to get into the beta exams cause the release version isn't
available until May).

Now on to my 2cents. While I believe certifications have their merits
I believe that the MCAD/MCSD.NET exams (at least) are not difficult at
all and most people with a decent understanding of .NET would pass all
the core exams and then depending on the elective (I took the SQL
Server elective first which was the only somewhat difficult exam, then
took the beta of the Security for .NET elective, only because it was
free and I wanted to check it out, which was just a recap of questions
from the core exams and a couple new questions) you could have a float
through in the exams. Certifications don't really test how good of a
programmer you are (especially since there are so many practice exams
out there that are identical to the actual exams) just how well you
study for a multiple choice (for the most part) test. I'll post more
once I've taken the MCPD on those exams. As far as MCSD vs MCPD, it
depends on what you plan on doing... If you're never going to have to
prove you're proficient at 1.x then just go with the MCPD otherwise it
can't hurt to do your MCSD then take the two additional upgrade exams
(553 and 554) to get your MCPD as well. There are no practice exams
out there for the MCPD exams (Transcender says they are going to have
them in April 06) so that removes the slam dunk factor from the MCPD.
There are a million practice exams/brain dumps for the MCSD out there
already. So that may be another factor. The one place that I have
really found the certs to be useful is when trying to get a job with a
company that wants to get their MS partner status since this is one of
the deciding factors.

The MS Certs have their merit but I wouldn't too much weight on them.
One of my former coworkers who was a VB 6 developer and was kind of in
a project management/developer limbo (he didn't really do any developer
work but was classified as a developer) took all the MCSD.NET exams and
passed without ever actually being a developer on a .NET project. Just
using brain dumps. He didn't really absorb all the material and have
all the pieces fit together like someone who has been using the
technology would have but he passed with flying colors.

 

Hi Yoga,

Could you keep us updated and let us know when practise questions for the
New Microsft exams are released.

Thanks

Jim