Jeff Nye who works for the MS Global Voice Practice and was a graduate of rotation 4 asked me about posting to a Linked In group that he belongs to which provides hints and tips on preparing for MCM. I liked what he had written and so Jeff expanded on the post a little and provided it for posting here. I like it's dark style as Jeff recounts his experience of the program :-) 

Adrian.

Looking at my calendar I realize another group of MCM candidates is about to embark on the road to certification.  I feel it incumbent upon those who came before (even if it was only just before), to impart our experience and set the stage for this newest group of candidates.  To this end I have chosen to give you a glimpse into what will surely be one of the most challenging, yet rewarding experiences of your professional career.

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I arrived 20 minutes early and found my seat, greeted the strangers and familiar faces and names around the room.  It was a fairly excited feeling as our event organizer Adrian took the opportunity to greet us, remind us to get those personal NDA’s to him.  Then Adrian explained what the agenda was for the next 3 weeks.  It was at that moment that a uneasy feeling began to grow… “are you sure you want to be here?”

Over the next few weeks we consumed outrageous amounts of candy, struggled with uncomfortable chairs, wracked our brains over technical details we had never before pondered.  The days blended into a feeling that we had never actually left this windowless room.  Each of the six classroom days consisted of roughly 10 hours of class time which was a mix between lecture and lab, followed by 2-4 hours of personal and group study.  

It was something like learning a foreign language, at some point you just start to dream it.  Dreams became review time for technical details, nightmares became protocols behaving in ways you knew they couldn’t. Suddenly we were laughing hysterically  about technical nuances that in retrospect were completely devoid of humor.

There was fun, there were times we would break to meet with PM’s working on the product who had become our source of self inflicted torment.  We had other fun activities to break things up, a go-cart race with the exchange MCM candidates which I am sad to say we lost.  Times we would go to dinner as a group and vent our frustrations, and attempt to regain some semblance of normality.

It came down to the last few days, the feeling of dread that I had felt on the first day had turned numb, I was unable to comprehend self doubt.  Worrying about the test was a waste of valuable study time.

The tests were difficult, they strained my brain power, patience, and to some degree my desire to continue in my current career path.  I managed to complete both and wait for my results with a feeling that pass or fail I was glad that was over. After it was all said and done we had one final party as a group to congratulate everyone on completing the course.  No one left, not all passed, everyone was better for having attended.

It has been several weeks since I was making the drive each morning to Masters, I have found myself in countless customer meetings, countless architecture design sessions.  Not once since  have I felt technically unsure of anything I was asked to speak about.  I am now able to attend the monthly calls with the my fellow “Microsoft Certified Masochists”, the content being shared now is amazing.  The group and support structure is phenomenal and the pain that was those three weeks of hard work all seems very worth it.

It turns out that Masters was exactly what I needed, it was difficult, time consuming, and at times exhausting.  Perhaps these things would intimidate some, they used to be the crutch I used to justify not getting this certification.  But in the final analysis I find that nothing worth having is easy, and what I got from this course is definitely worth having.

I've been running silent on the blog for a while. Mostly been busy with retakes and planning for the next release of the program. I'm very pleased to say that the retakes have been going well and I would like to welcome six new members to the OCS Masters community.

They are

• Raymond Thralls - Ray works for Aspect in the US
• Stephen Wong - Stephen is a PFE based out of Hong Kong
• John Liu (Peng) - John works for Dell and is based in China
• Brandon Bernier - Brandon is a PFE working in the US
• Giulio Vada - Giulio works for MCS in Italy
• Mattia Braga - Mattia also works for MCS in Italy

Well done to them all for all the hard work on their retakes.

Adrian

By now you can all probably tell that we've turned on the retake machine in a big way... a lot of folks have been whiling away the cold and dark (in the Northern Hemisphere, anyway) month of January with study and hands-on qual lab prep. It's been paying off with lots of exams being passed and a few more MCMs entering our community. Without further ado...

• Francesco Sodano (R3) is a Project Manager and Senior Consultant with Proge-Software S.r.l, a Microsoft Gold Partner in Rome, Italy.
• Paul Hefford (R4) is a web technology specialist at Fujitsu Technology Solutions, a leading IT infrastructure provider, and is based in Munich, Germany.

Congratulations guys... well done, and welcome!

I’ve been a casual jogger for about 14 years, and lately I’ve been debating whether or not I should get serious and sign up for a marathon.  In order to make my decision (still pending) I generated a list of some pros and cons.  During that process I realized some of my concerns sounded very familiar to what I’ve heard from potential SQL MCM candidates I’ve spoken to in the past. 

For example, marathons can be grueling, painful, humiliating, aggravating and risky.  Marathons demand planning, preparation, and practice.  After all of your training and preparation – you’re still subject to variables outside of your control (weather conditions, your health, and terrain).

In spite of these risks and challenges – people still run marathons.  Motivating factors vary.  You could be running for your favorite charity, trying to lose some weight, get fit, or celebrate your recovery from an illness.  A few of my friends run marathons just because they can.  Basically they are motivated by the achievement itself – the “I did this” factor. 

I realize too that like marathons, the SQL MCM program involves several risks and challenges.  There are plenty of “uncertified Masters” out in the field that may never pursue this certification due to any one of the following reasons:

·       It is expensive. 

o   Why so expensive?  Some of the cost is due to operational and infrastructure overhead (lab equipment, rooms, content, planning, exam retakes, admin time, community management) and also because we get some of the top SQL trainers in the world to spend three weeks with our candidates – trainers such as Paul Randal, Kimberly Tripp, Adam Machanic, and Greg Low.  There are also “opportunity costs” – the money you will not make when you’re attending the training (but ideally your certification will help bolster your earning potential on the back end).  There are also travel costs – as the training is conducted on the Microsoft, Redmond campus.

·       It is time consuming. 

o   Why is the training three weeks long?  The timeframe is mostly defined by the vast amount of information that must be covered.  We experimented with four weeks – but that was just too long (early rotations ran for four weeks).  Two weeks is too short to contain the required material.  Having one contiguous block of time also builds the “esprit de corps” – ideally leaving you with colleagues you can keep in touch with for years to come.

·       It is hard. 

o   Why so hard?  Successful candidates must pass three exams and one six hour qualification lab. This is the most advanced technical certification available at Microsoft – and we’re looking to validate and certify SQL Server professionals who can successfully design, deploy and implement solutions that meet the most complex business requirements.  We go deep on the product – and then expect you to come up for air and really understand how all the parts fit together.

So with all of these challenges – why would one “run” in the SQL MCM marathon? 

There are several benefits I can think of – but for now I’ll boil it down to three benefits that I personally think are most important:

·       The Experience

o   Three weeks of incredible training. When else would you get an excuse to completely submerge yourself in deep technical content for an extended period of time, in the heart of the Microsoft campus, surrounded with likeminded individuals?

·       The People

o   The networking opportunities and community building is absolutely incredible.  You’ll meet new friends, amazing trainers, and exposure to Microsoft product and dev team members. 

·       The Validation

o   Achieving SQL MCM means that you’ve successfully made it through an extraordinary challenge.  You’ve entered a small community (66 people as of January 21, 2010) that you can go to for support and advice. Most importantly, this certification will allow you to distinguish yourself in today’s job market.

So if you’re considering the SQL MCM challenge – be sure to explicitly define which factors will motivate you to cross the finish line. The ongoing value of this certification will continue to evolve – but earning this certification is an achievement that you can always be proud of and is one that can never be taken away from you. 

New week brings a new SQL 2008 MCM to announce... 

Margarita Naumova, Senior Consultant, Microsoft Consulting Services. Margarita Naumova has more than 15 years of experience in SQL Server, including project management of big scale projects and SQL trainings. She has been a Microsoft Certified Trainer since 1999. She is focused on Microsoft SQL Server Performance Tuning and Optimization, High Availability and Disaster Recovery, and BI. Margarita has a number of projects and trainings delivered for Enterprise Customers in UK, Finland, Germany and Bulgaria. She joined Microsoft four years ago as Senior Consultant in MCS. Magi is recognized as the best expert in SQL Server and BI Technologies in Bulgaria. She is founder and leader of Bulgarian SQL & BI User Group “Let’s SQL Together!” (http://bgsqlgroup.com) and is a preferred presenter of the largest IT events in Bulgaria, her presentations usually have highest rating in the events. Margarita Naumova is a member of Microsoft Worldwide Services Technical Leadership Team – a community that aspires to bring together the best technical leaders in Microsoft Services across the World. She likes skiing, painting and decorating.

A big congratulations to Margarita!

Aside from those I just blogged about who passed during the last rotation, over the last couple of months a few people completed their exams to also become new MCM's, and some upgrades were completed too.

So here they are, and apologies for being behind on these. Firstly those that are the new to the world of MCM.

• Peter Schmidt - Peter passed the Qual lab and therefore is awarded the MCM 2007 - Peter attended rotation 3 back in May last year. Peter works for EG A/S in Denmark as an Infrastructure Architect
• Geoff Beamer - Geoff also passed his Qual recently and also came through on Rotation 3. Geoff is a Senior Consulting Architect for IBM in Canada

Then we have two MCM 2003's who upgraded their MCM to Exchange 2007;

• Paolo Rescigno - Paolo works for MCS as a Consultant for Microsoft in Italy
• Torben Sørensen - Torben also works for MCS, as a Senior Consultant, and is based in Denmark. Torben was a fellow R15'er. Like me.

And finally, and by no means leastly, as this is a big one to get - Bernd Franzen, a Consultant III for Microsoft in Germany, upgraded his MCA is Exchange 2003 to 2007. So he now holds all 4 MCM and MCA certs in Exchange - Great work Bernd and very happy for you!

Now, for anyone that has been counting... or is interested, here are the latest MCM/MCA totals for Exchange

• MCM Exchange 2003 - 146
• MCM Exchange 2007 - 131
• MCA Exchange 2003 - 67
• MCA Exchange 2007 - 17

There are more scheduled in, and soon we finish 2007, so then I can start introducing 2010 MCM's. Let's see who's the first to get all 6 certs... there's only a few that can possibly achieve that. In fact, only 10 people in the world hold all 4 certs in Exchange at this time...

I was going to blog about how everyone else promises at New Year to blog more than they did last year blah blah blah, but I'd only be lying and so I won't. :-)

Still, I admit I was lax in not following up from the last rotation we ran in October, and announcing the new MCM's we have in Exchange. I shall blame it only on lack of time, the holiday season and spending two weeks in a room with my instructors and other invited guests, dreaming up all the exam questions for MCM Exchange 2010. It took two weeks, several dinners and a lot of lunch vouchers to create the questions we needed  - but we did, and they rock. I think so anyway. We'll see what the first candidates who see them in March think...  

Back to MCM Exchange 2007 R4 - the last 2007 rotation ever. It went great, we had a really good group and the pass rate first time round was higher than average. So, please join me in congratulating the following people who gained MCM Exchange 2007 whilst in Redmond;

• Casper Pieterse - Casper is a Principal Consultant for Dimension Data based in South Africa
• Chris Schrimsher - Chris is a Senior PFE working for Microsoft in the US
• Doug Gowans - Doug is a Senior Consultant working for MCS in the UK
• Gabor Kazup - Gabor is a PFE working for Microsoft and is based in Hungary
• Joshua Thiessen - Josh works for Compugen in Canada
• Michael Sexton - Michael is a PFE working for Microsoft in the US
• Rhoderick Milne - Rhoderick is a Scot who now lives in Canada and is working for a service provider up there
• Rogier Honselaar - Rogier works in the Partner Technical Support team for Microsoft in Germany
• Simon Geary - Simon works for the CCS Group in Bermuda
• Zoltan Harmath - Zoltan is an Architect for MCS in Hungary (and is also an MCM in 2008 Directory, and 2008 R2 Directory... that's 3 MCM's - count them)

Yes, 10 people from the class passed. That's great going. And I know that a few more will pass over the next few months too, some have just the Qual to pass, some have an exam or two to re-take as well. But I'll be delighted to announce them too when they get them sorted out.

Well done to them all, R4 was a great success, we all had a good time, and for a matter of a few minutes the day after, I really missed them all. :-)

Greg

The past month has been packed with retakes from the past few rotations, and a number of folks completed their certification requirements during this time. Here are the new SharePoint MCMs to welcome into our growing community - now over 40 strong! 

• Donald Hessing (R3) is Lead SharePoint Architect at VX Company IT Services, a software company based in The Netherlands.
• Peter Loete (R4) is a Senior Consultant with Microsoft Consulting Services and is based in Brussels, Belgium.
• Elijah van Eenwyk (R4) is a Senior Consultant at Inergex, Inc., specializing in SharePoint and based in Buffalo, NY.
• Bryan Porter (R4) is a Consultant with Microsoft Services, and is based out of St. Louis, MO.
• Blair Bigger (R4) is a Senior Consultant with Microsoft working for the US Public Sector and is based in Charlotte, NC.

 Raise a glass - gezondheid, and cheers - and offer warm and hearty congratulations to all!

We have another SQL Server 2008 Microsoft Certified Master to announce – bringing our MCM count to 64 people in the world.  Jose also joins the small, but ever-growing group of MCMs outside of Microsoft (I hope to keep growing this number over the next two training rotations):

Jose Gomez, Microsoft Business Intelligence and SQL Server Consultant, Calumo Australia. Jose delivers SQL Server and Business Intelligence consulting to a variety of customers. He engages with users in management as well as in technical roles, gathers their business requirements and transforms them into effective Business intelligence solutions that enable businesses to make effective decisions and gain insight of their own business. All solutions implemented by Jose are mostly based on Microsoft SQL Server and related products and technologies, including SQL, SSRS, SSAS, SSIS, SharePoint, .NET, and Windows Server. In addition to Business Intelligence, Jose has over 10 years experience in Software Development, Networking, and SQL Server technologies, including SQL Development, Clustering, Log shipping, Replication, Performance Tuning and query optimization, disaster recovery, Software design and Development based on the .NET framework (C#, VB .NET).  Jose holds a Computer Science Engineering degree from Universidad de Medellin (University Of Medellin) in Colombia and holds several other Microsoft Certifications. Besides having a passion for technology, Jose loves riding his motorcycle every day, watching movies, competing in taekwondo (Australia national champion in 2005), and spending time with his girlfriend Yvonne.

Congratulations Jose!

2010 brings us a new SQL Server 2008 Microsoft Certified Master to announce (he is already a SQL 2005 MCM and MCA).  And before I hear comments, please note that the case of his first name is not a typo J:

boB Taylor, Principal PFE, Microsoft. Mr. Taylor is a Dedicated Support Engineer and Database Architect with 38 years of programming experience. Mr. Taylor has extensive experience with SQL Server, C++ and Microsoft .NET languages. Prior to joining Microsoft, Mr. Taylor was the Director of Database Technologies for Avanade. Prior to joining Avanade, Mr. Taylor was the Vice President of Product Development at Shared Healthcare Systems. Additionally Mr. Taylor is a semi-professional magician and mentalist. He performs for corporate customers all around the world.

A big congratulations to boB - great work joining the even smaller group of people with multiple advanced certifications!

Greetings everyone. SharePoint MCM Rotation 4 wrapped up a little over two weeks ago, and the final results are in.

R4 was my first rotation as PM, and it was an enormously rewarding experience to work with our phenomenal instructor team and a talented, driven, and fun group of candidates. Our candidates represented 3 continents, 5 countries, and 8 companies and demonstrated impressive dedication, enthusiasm, and esprit-de-corps for 20 consecutive (and very long) days in November. We've also been busy with retakes for candidates from previous rotations and have a few folks who've completed their certification requirements in the past few months.

I'm pleased and honored to introduce the latest Microsoft Certified Masters for SharePoint 2007!

• Chris Beckett (R2): Chris is an Information Worker Solutions Architect with SharePoint Bits based in Seattle, WA.
• Gurpreet Singh (R2): Gurpreet is a Senior Consultant with Microsoft Global Services based out of Hyderabad, India.
• Jerry Orman (R4): Jerry is a Senior Premier Field Engineer with Microsoft based out of Southern California.
• Morten Schioldan (R4): Morten is a Senior Consultant with Microsoft Consulting Services and is based in Denmark.
• Ram Yadav (R4): Ram Yadav is a Senior Consultant with Microsoft Consulting Services based in Las Colinas, TX.
• Russ Houberg (R2): Russ is a Senior Technical Architect with KnowledgeLake based in St. Louis, MO.
• Sven Seeger (R4): Sven Seeger is a Senior Consultant with Logica in Germany.

Please join me in congratulating the new Masters and welcoming them to the MCM Community!

We have quite a few folks scheduled for retakes in the next month or two, so I look forward to more announcements in the new year. Well done all!

David Ikeda and I have updated the SQL Server 2008 MCM Pre-reading list based on the last training rotation we conducted last October.  You can download the PDF here. 

As a seasoned SQL Server professional, ideally you'll already have read some, if not most of the material listed in this document.  If not, you'll find that there is quite a bit of material you’ll need to read.  Nonetheless I strongly recommend that anyone planning on attending the SQL MCM program review all of the material.  Doing so will help prepare you for the three week whirlwind of information and testing. 

** Also as a tip - we've noticed (and heard from previous rotations) that students tend to avoid pre-reading material for the XML, SQL Client, SQL CLR, and Service Broker topics. My recommendation is to not avoid reviewing this material. If this is not your comfort area, I suggest you hit these topics first, and make sure you have reviewed it thoroughly prior to training.  If you do, you'll thank us once Week 2 of the training rolls around... **

Two more SQL MCM announcements to announce! Please meet Frans van der Geer (new SQL 2008 MCM) and Christian Bolton (existing SQL 2005 MCM/MCA and now a SQL 2008 MCM):

Frans van der Geer, software architect at VX Company in the Netherlands. Frans has been working on custom software development projects targeting the Microsoft platform for over 13 years. Frans’ main focus is on the design of backend applications, practicing service orientation and object oriented design. But he likes to keep his hands dirty and is helping developers on his team to realize systems based on .Net, SQL Server and Biztalk Server. His favorite SQL Server feature is Service Broker. His favorite way of transportation is using his race bike. According to Frans, keeping the body fit is the secret to being able to stay ahead of fast moving technology.

Christian Bolton, Technical Director for Coeo Ltd, blogging at http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/christian. Christian Bolton is the Technical Director for Coeo Ltd, a leading provider of SQL Server consulting and managed support services in the UK and Europe. Prior to this Christian worked for Microsoft, leading the SQL Server Premier Field Engineering team in the UK. He is a Microsoft Certified Architect, Master and MVP for SQL Server, and the lead author of Professional SQL Server 2008 Internals and Troubleshooting. He works out of London and lives in the south of England with his wife and children. He can be contacted at christian@coeo.com.

Congratulations to you both!

We have another new SQL MCM I'd like to announce!  Please meet Pam Lahoud:

Pam Lahoud, Senior Premier Field Engineer at Microsoft. Pam Lahoud is specializes in SQL Server Performance Tuning and optimization in the New York City area.  She has been with Microsoft for 4 years and is currently serving as the SQL Server Technology Lead for US East Premier Field Engineering.  Pam has been working with SQL Server for over 12 years, starting her career as a consultant for Digital Equipment Corporation.  Prior to her time at Microsoft, she spent 3 years as the primary SQL Server DBA and ASP.NET developer with a small startup company in Manhattan.  Pam's background as a .NET application developer and database administrator gives her a broad range of experience which she is passionate about sharing with customers in the field through reactive troubleshooting, proactive services and workshops.

Congratulations to Pam – very glad to have you in the SQL MCM community!

New SQL Server 2008 MCMs keep rolling in (I expect to announce a few more over the next month or two). Please meet our latest SQL 2008 MCM, Illés Eszterhás:

Illés Eszterhás, Architect at Microsoft. Illés has worked for Microsoft for 11 years, starting off in the Microsoft Product Support Services group.  For the last 8 years he was worked in Microsoft Services as a Senior Consultant and Architect. He usually works in .Net development projects for Banks and Telco companies. He has a wife and two girls and lives near the Hungarian capital Budapest. In his free time he plays poker, skis in the winter, and white water kayaks in the summer.

Congratulations to Illés – welcome to the MCM community!