We've been having a lot of questions regarding certification and what is the current state of affairs for existing and new individuals to the certification process. We had a couple of blog posts over the last while: Jennifer Waters posted on whether or not certification matters any more, while Graham Jones’s entry dealt with the value of certification.

Because of all the discussion and after talking with the Canadian User Group leads a while back - I got Jennifer Waters to agree to host a special Certification webcast just for us. It's a little short notice, but here are the details...Oh - and if you aren't from Canada - we won't tell anybody... ;-)

Date / Time:

Thursday April 26th, 2007 - 12:30 PM EST - 90 minutes

Agenda:

  • Overview of Certification
    • Brief history of MS certifications
    • Value of certification
      • Individual
      • Employer
      • Certification affects on downtown, deployment etc
    • New generation of certification
      • Difference between old and new
      • Technology Specialist
      • Professional (Developer and IT Pro)
      • Architect
      • Learning Consultant
      • Certification paths
    • Upgrading certifications – looking specifically at:
      • MCDBA -> TS and IT Pro (SQL Server 2005)
      • MCDST -> TS (Vista and Office 2007)
      • MCSE/A -> Longhorn certifications
      • MCAD/SD -> TS and Professional Developer (Visual Studio, .Net 2.0)
      • What happens to previous certifications such as MCSE etc?
      • Do certifications retire?
    • Q and A (lots of time)

View the Internet portion of the Event

Click the meeting URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/lmevents/join?id=msft042607jw&role=attend&pw=ATT3491
or
if you can’t click the above meeting URL, click the following link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/lmevents

When you click on either URL, the Join Meeting page appears. In the following fields, verify or enter this information:

  • Name: (Enter your first and last name)
  • Meeting ID: msft042607jw
  • Meeting Key: ATT3491

Come join us for a very informative event around new certifications and existing certification upgrade paths. I'll be there taking Q's with question manager.