MCSM: SharePoint delivery is well underway - we're nearly halfway through the first RTM delivery of the training - but there's still quite a bit of activity going on with SharePoint 2010 MCM candidates completing their certifications. I'd like to extend my congratulations to the following three MCMs...

The newest MCSM Knowledge exam was released to Prometric yesterday and you can begin scheduling your exams at any time. If you are a current MCM SQL Server 2008, we are still trying to get the adminstration tasks accomplished to grant you the MCSM: Charter Data Platform certification. You will...

It's been an eventful several months for SharePoint MCM/MCSM/MCA since our last program webcast: Completed initial development - training content, labs, knowledge exam, lab exam - for MCSM: SharePoint Delivered MCSM:SharePoint Beta training & exams Opened MCSM:SharePoint registration...

As Jimmy May (@aspiringgeek) alluded to yesterday there is big news in the MCM / MCSM world for SQL Server. In the early days (i.e. when I went through the SQL Ranger program) there was on campus, required training in order to obtain the MCM certification. At some point in the distant past, the...

All current SQL 2008 MCMs to receive MCSM: Data Platform certification (Grandfathering) The implementation of this policy will allow MCMs to hold both an MCM and an MCSM – it will be an additional certification and will not replace the current certification on their transcripts or elsewhere...

We wrapped up our final SharePoint 2010 MCM rotation ("R13") at the end of August, marking a delivery hiatus until our first MCSM: SharePoint rotations (stay tuned to the MCSM page , this blog, and our program webcasts for more info on the what/where/when/how/why of that as it becomes available). It...

It's a true privilege of the MCM PM role that on a regular basis, you get to make someone's day/week/month when you share the news that they've qualified for the MCM certification. Every time, it takes me back to when I got the news that I first achieved the cert (April 17, 2009, Cube 5727, Microsoft...

We just entered the exam period for the second "hybrid" rotation of SharePoint 2010 MCM, and R12 candidates are working away at final studies and exams. I wish them well and hope to post many of their names here in the coming weeks! Over the past month, we've also been busy with retakes, so I'd like...

We recently completed the first round of exams for our first "hybrid rotation" - our alternate delivery model where we do one week onsite in Redmond followed by ten weeks of Lync-based remote training delivery - and we've had outstanding results with the new model on many fronts. I'm very happy to say...

We wrapped up our first "hybrid rotation" last week, and R11 candidates are busy completing their exams - I look forward to more announcements for newly-minted MCMs in the near future. During the second half of R11, two candidates from past rotations completed their retakes and achieved the SharePoint...

We held our most recent SharePoint MCA boards just a few weeks ago, from February 29-March 1 at the Microsoft Technology Center in Reston, VA. Please extend your congratulations to one of our candidates who successfully achieved the Microsoft Certified Architect: SharePoint 2010 certification - Wictor...

It's mid-winter and also the midpoint of our first hybrid rotation delivery, with the "R11" candidates working hard at attending remote instructor-led training, remote office hours, and doing LOTS of lab work and study. Six weeks down, six to go... While R11 has been underway, we've had the great...

Please join me once again in congratulating Benjamin Wright-Jones ( blog| @superlatch ). Benjamin was already a double SQL Server MCM (2005 and 2008) and is now the newest SQL Server Certified Architect (MCA). Here is a brief bio of Ben has worked at Microsoft (UK) for nine years specialising in...

We wrapped up SharePoint 2010 MCM R10 (AKA R1010 for all you binary folks out there) a little over a week ago in not-so-sunny Redmond, and I'm very pleased to announce a number of additions to our community and new certifications for current community members. We have four new SharePoint 2010 MCMs...

SharePoint MCM instructors, candidates, and community members have been going at a fever pitch through late summer and early fall. We made a number of updates to our content, labs, and exams following the release of SharePoint 2010 MCM Service Pack 1, and are halfway through a marathon of training and...

With Rotation 11 of Lync MCM done and dusted I'm pleased to welcome four new Lync MCMs to the ever expanding community. Lars Harbeck Sørensen who comes from Denmark and works for Atea A/S Timothy White who works for Dimension Data in Australia Abi Maggu who upgraded is OCS 2007 MCM...

Today at the SharePoint Conference in Anaheim, California, Microsoft is excited to announce a new addition to the suite of Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA) certifications: MCA: Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. Joining MCA Exchange Server, SQL Server and Windows Server: Directory, this new certification...

Greetings everyone. Springtime in Redmond was exceptionally busy for the SharePoint MCM instructor team, with lots of globetrotting from our 11-member internationally-based instructor team, who delivered 5 weeks of training in an 8-week span! The hotels and restaurants in and around Redmond Town Center...

It's springtime in Redmond, and SharePoint MCM Rotation 8 is underway here in Building 40. We're hosting our largest rotation to date - an intense, great group of MVPs, Partner consultants and architects, MCS consultants and architects, and Premier field engineers. Please wish them the best for the coming...

Over the past few months we have been working through the alpha and beta deliveries of the Lync MCM program. After these two highly successful rotations it gives me great pleasure to announce the following names as the first certified Lync Server 2010 Masters. So firstly – congratulations to...

Today's a dual anniversay - it's been exactly one year since I finished my first SharePoint MCM rotation as Program Manager, and it's also the official end of retakes for the SharePoint 2007 MCM program. So that's it - at a final count of exactly 50, we have all the SharePoint 2007 MCMs we'll ever have...

The time between rotations is a busy one on the program management side of things - we update the course based on the rich feedback we get from candidates, we screen a whole new group of applicants for the next rotation, we deal with the nuts & bolts of rotation logistics, and proctor a lot of retakes...

The past few months have been an absolute rush for the SharePoint MCM program. We delivered two "firsts" just 6 weeks apart - our very first upgrade rotation for the program at the end of May, followed by our very first full rotation for the new program in July. That's 32 days of SharePoint 2010 MCM...

Between March 1st and March 20th 2010 we delivered (very successfuly I might add) the first ever Exchange 2010 MCM rotation. From a class of 13 we ended up with 5 fully qualified and shiny new MCM's. Only 5 you might say? Well, it's not many, I agree, but there are several more who just need to pass...

So I gave the Exchange community until the end of February to upgrade their MCM's to 2007. So as usual they all left it to the last minute... :-) Here however is a list of those that passed an exam or two to first join the community, well done to them! Tyler Jin - Tyler works for Microsoft in...