Mcad/mcsd

[Arkhos]

I was curious if there are any MCAD or MCSD certified people out there. If so, how would you rate the subject matter of the exams with real life work?

And has it gotten you a job, or better pay?


I'm studying for my first exam (probably 70-305 - ASP .NET), and I have to wonder how much of this stuff is really used... (like modifying assemblies)

Thanks!

[brad jones]

I know of a couple of companies that give their employees a raise (of several thousand dollars) when they get certified. This is an investment the company makes in their employees in order to get the employees to invest in learning and studying technology.

I also know of people who have gotten certified to simply make their resume look better when they start looking for a new job.

Finally, last week at Microsoft's Tech Ed conference I overheard a conversation where someone said they were giving up taking certification tests because they were tired of always having to take more tests to renew the certification.

More specific to your question -- what you use from the topics within the certifications is totally dependent upon the projects you will do.

Brad!

[Arkhos]

Let me ask you this then, how often (if ever) have you modified an assembly? I ask because I'm currently reading 3 chapters on this, and yet I don't see it being something that I'll need to do. And if I do it's probably only once a year if that.

To be honest I'm worried about changing careers. I've been with my current job for 8 years in telecommunications. Over the years I've taught myself Access, VB, some SQL, and ASP, and all the general stuff like HTML. I hate my job, and have for 71/2 years. I think I would like to program applications and web development, as it's how I spend my spare time here at work. I like it, but studying for the exams, I wonder if I have a realistic view of what the job would really entail. I also wonder if I'm good enough to do this on my own, as my job. Am I gonna show up to a new job, and stare at people in a dazed confused look, as they describe my duties? I know this isn't something you can answer, but it's what I'm worried about. I'd hate to leave 8 years of seniority to end up in a job that I either hate or get fired from for not knowing enough. I can't afford to start off as an intern either, as I'm already making $50,000 a year in my current job. So I'd have to jump in as a full time developer.

This is why I'm asking these questions, I'm hoping to get some kind of idea of what it's really like to program full time. I'm looking at VB .Net and ASP .Net languages, leaning towards web development with a backend database.

I don't even know if it's possible for people to provide the information I'm looking for as everyone has different kinds of jobs, but any kind of insight would be appreciated.

[brad jones]

There are a number of things that you won't use all that much and which a number of developers may never use. Messing with the guts of assemblies is probably one of these.

Database access, forms development, business logic - regardless of tool/technology/language - these are what most development time is spent messing with.

Brad!

[Arkhos]

Thanks Brad! Makes me feel a lot better! :p

[big_k105]

I beleive you you are having fun messing around with programming you will probably like to do it as a job. i know that i love what im doing as a vb 5 programming. it is jst so much fun. but i am jst an intern so money wise i am starting at the bottom but i need the internship to graduate so what i can say about that. most jobs will help train and keep you up to date so its not so bad and most ppl are nice enough that if you need help jst ask ya know what i mean. and then again if you need help there is always the forums. i guess im not really answering your question but hope it makes you feel better.

[crpietschmann]

I have MCSD with VB6. I am will be taking my last exam for MCAD with .NET tomarrow.

I haven't gotten a job yet, but I have done some contract work.

I took two college VB programming class's before I pursued Certification, and I thought that they were great. I thought that almost everything that you could do with VB. When I pursued certification, I found out that I didn't really learn much in those two class. I think those two classes only covered one tenth of what you can do with VB, where as the exams covered it all.

The exams make sure you know pretty much everything that can be done with the language. By knowing all of the different things you can do, it allows you to pick the best solution for the problem.

You may not think that you'll need to know how to mess with an assembly, and you may not ever need to. But in the event that you need to, you may not remember how, but at least you will remember that you can. And if that is the best solution to your current problem, wont you be glad that you needed to learn it in order to pass the exam?