Are you in the position where you are currently certified with “Windows 2000” or older credentials?   I was a “charter member” of MCSE Windows 2000 certification (one of the first 2000 in North America) and it’s in the process of lapsing, due to outdated exams. I am a firm believer of certification and I plan on keeping current this year by upgrading my cert to a 2003 and eventually Microsoft Vista / Longhorn Server when available.  I thought it would be a cool blog post category to share with others on my blog, since a large number of you are in a similar situation.  What do you think? Is this some interesting content? Care to start some sort of community training “book club”?

So far, I am focusing on an upgrade exam, but I have to see if I am even still current and able to take some sort of Upgrade Exam.  I’m using the external Microsoft.com training website for reference information at this point, and focusing in on the IT Professional certification paths (http://www.microsoft.com/learning/itpro/default.asp) with the obvious emphasis on MCSE certification (http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/mcse/Default.asp).  But wait a second – what’s this I see? An “as of yet to be released” Architect program? I’ve heard of it, but haven’t looked into the details as of yet (it’s on my ever increasing to-do list). After doing some additional reading, you might want to check into this program if you are working with MS Architecture and looking for ways to differentiate yourself from the MCSE crowd.  Here’s some preliminary information about the soon to be released Microsoft Certified Architect program (http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/architect/default.asp) … Man, have things changed since I was banging away at my certifications in the past. I’ve always been a fan of certification, before it became the defacto minimum requirements for job applicants and the churn of MCSE bootcamps.

I’ll be creating a new category on Certification and starting some posts on how I am approaching the process and posting useful information and training/reading plans. Are you interested in participating? Post a comment / subscribe to the feed and join in.