MCAD Certification

[dj4uk]

I'm thinking of going for MCAD certfication - how do I go about doing this?

DJ

[Hack]

MCAD Certification

[dj4uk]

Thanks for that but I was meaning more about how people went about getting certified. Did you just sit the exam or did you attend a course first?

DJ

[Hack]

Thanks for that but I was meaning more about how people went about getting certified. Did you just sit the exam or did you attend a course first?

DJ

If I can squirrel money out of my company, I'll take the course, but more often than not, that doesn't happen. What I always do, however, is purchase practice exams. My personal perference are Transcender's, but there are other, less expensive ones. Practice exams are something you really should look into, and consider the money you will spend on them as an investment in yourself.

[dj4uk]

Do you know if the courses are run online or locally (I'm in Birmingham, UK) - trying to work out how much it'll be and if my company will stump up the cash!

DJ

[Hack]

Do you know if the courses are run online or locally (I'm in Birmingham, UK) - trying to work out how much it'll be and if my company will stump up the cash!

DJ

I really don't know. We have training centers that run various courses in my area, but these training centers are independent of any company and tend to be pretty expensive. You could do some Googling to see if you can find either a CBT (computer based training - usually a training course on CD/DVD. Companies like these because more then one employee can benefit from them), or an on-line course which, of course, would require registration and an accompanying fee.

[RobDog888]

The tests are $125 USD each one pass or fail. If you fail you can retake the test after the standard waiting period of 1 day
after the first attempt and 14 days for each retake after that.

You can register and locate a testing center through Ceteified testing centers like prometric - http://securereg3.prometric.com/Welcome.aspx
MS recommends at least 2 years of hands on experience.

[Hack]

[color=navy]The tests are $125 USD each one pass or fail.

What????? The last time I took a certication test it was only $100. When did they go up?

[techgnome]

What????? The last time I took a certication test it was only $100. When did they go up?

About a year or two ago.... it's been a while.... It was after 2002... that's when I took my last exam....

Tg

[RobDog888]

I took my tests (70-175 & 70-176) June of 2004 and thats what they were up to.

I was also reading that there will be different certs for VS.NET 2005. I guess like how you can be a MCSD in VB6 and also in .NET 2003.

[dee-u]

There's still MCSD for VB6.0?

[dglienna]

Nope. Rob said it ended, and that was a few months ago.

[dj4uk]

Ah it might be worth me waiting for the 2005 version then!

DJ

[RobDog888]

VB6 certs have been retired since last June 30, 2004.

Go for 2003 since they will not come out with the 2005 until some time after its released. Not to mention that you will still need
experience with 05 for the recommended 2 years.

[mendhak]

I went the self-study route. There are books by MS for this

[dj4uk]

Cheers mendhak I'll have a look.

[mendhak]

Sorry, forgot the link:

http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/6716.asp

[dj4uk]

I've found these books on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...570330-0743828
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...570330-0743828

The first I'm a little worried about as a review says it isn't written well for C# developers and I'll be using C#. I'm never sure if to trust reviews!

The second I believe would cover the elective exam: Exam 70–229: Designing and Implementing Databases with Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000 Enterprise Edition. Any experience of this book?

DJ