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Test Tales

The Trials and Tribulations of Taking a Microsoft BetaExam

By Rob Walling

I recently received an e-mail announcing a new Microsoftbeta exam, 70-528: Microsoft .NETFramework 2.0 - Web-based Client Development. Upon learning that the examwas limited to a small group of developers worldwide, and wanting to do my partto give feedback on the certification process, I promptly booked an eveningtime slot at my local testing facility.

As the day approached I made numerous attempts to carveout some study time. Although I?d read a dozen articles on ASP.NET 2.0 andworked with it for a few hours here and there, I felt far from a master of thesubject. To my dismay, the only preparation I was able to scrape together wasthree hours of review the night before the test. The day of the exam, as Imarched up the stairs of the testing facility, my mind was filled with imagesof the four-hour purgatory I was about to experience.

Why Certify?

Before I explore the details of the exam, I want to answerthe most frequently asked certification question: Is it worth it? This questionis the source of an ongoing debate among developers, recruiters, and hiringmanagers. The difficulty is that people want a definitive answer that coversall scenarios ? and that answer simply doesn?t exist.

To begin to determine whether it?s worth it to you, thinkabout the following questions:

• Why doyou want to get certified? Some people do it for an increase in salary,others as a personal challenge; both are perfectly valid reasons.
• Where areyou in your career path? An abundance of experience or education can helpovershadow the absence of certification, but the combination of all three isvery hard to find.
• How longwill it take? Some people pass exams after six hours of study time, whileothers require 30-40 hours of study time.

According to a 2005 survey by Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine, the top four reasons forcertification are: as a personal goal, to distinguish your skills from others,to obtain a better job, or to obtain a promotion or raise. Almost half of thesurvey respondents indicated their certification made a difference in theirsalary, and the same number indicated that obtaining a certification improvedor enhanced their chances of finding or keeping a job. You can read more aboutthe survey results at http://www.mcpmag.com/salarysurveys/.

Certification demonstrates your interest in the field andshows you have the motivation to study and pass the required tests. Althoughmore than 1.7 million people worldwide have achieved some sort of Microsoftcertification, less than 16,000 have become Microsoft Certified SolutionDevelopers for .NET (MCSD.NET). If you?re an experienced developer, you shouldbe able to pass all five MCSD.NET exams in a few months. At a cost of around$875 ($125 each, plus one $50 book per test), that?s a bargain for theopportunity to distinguish yourself from your competition.

However, certification is far from a magical solution. Becausehiring managers realize certifications can be earned rather quickly, it?sgenerally accepted that experience is the most important asset for a developer,with education and certification following. However, this doesn?t negate thefact that certification stands a good chance of increasing your salary,improving your hiring potential, earning you the respect of your colleagues,and differentiating you from the competition.

If the lapel pin, MCSD logo for yourbusiness cards, and free magazine subscription aren?t enough, thecertificate signed by Bill Gates may just push you over the edge.

Certification Details

On October 25, 2005 Microsoft announced a new generation of certifications forVisual Studio 2005/.NET 2.0. The exams will be available in early- to mid-2006,so Microsoft is encouraging developers to continue pursuing the VisualStudio.NET (VS.NET) track until new exams are available.

The tables in Figures 1 and 2 provide a brief overview ofMicrosoft?s certification requirements. For more detailed information aboutobtaining your certification, visit Microsoft?s certification Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/default.asp.For Visual Studio.NET (.NET Framework 1.0 and 1.1), Microsoft offers threetiers of developer certification; each one builds on the previous tier (seeFigure 1). For Visual Studio 2005 (.NET Framework 2.0), Microsoft offers threetiers of developer certifications (see Figure 2). As with VS.NET, each onebuilds on the previous tier.

Figure 1: VisualStudio.NET certifications.

Figure 2: VisualStudio 2005 certifications.

At the time of this writing, exams cost $125 each, areprimarily multiple choice, and run approximately twohours. Training courses are available for VS.NET exams, and will be availablefor VS 2005 exams beginning mid-2006. If you?re a professional developer, Irecommend saving yourself a few thousand dollars by purchasing certificationprep books and studying on your own. Plan to spend between six and 30 hourspreparing for each exam, depending on your familiarity with the topic and yourskill at taking standardized tests. Microsoft provides a list of trainingcourses and books on the requirements page for each certification. I?ve foundthe Microsoft Press exam prep guides to be well-written, and they include theabsolutely necessary sample tests on their accompanying CDs.

Because Visual Studio.NET will be around for severalyears, obtaining your VS.NET certification now and upgrading to VS 2005 islikely the optimal approach. However, if you?re lucky enough to work with VS2005 right away, then by all means take that plunge. The only drawback is youhave to wait until mid-2006 to complete your certification.

There is an additional developer-related certificationcalled the Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA). To obtain an MCA, a candidatemust have at least 10 years of experience in the IT field, and at least threeyears of verifiable experience as a practicing architect. The process consistsof an initial screening, submission of an architectural portfolio, and anin-person presentation of one of his or her architectural solutions to a ReviewBoard. For more information about becoming a Microsoft Certified Architect,visit http://www.microsoft.com/architecture/default.aspx?pid=share.certification.

Back to Our Story

Being accustomed to two-hour exams, I was wary of thefour-hour duration listed on my confirmation sheet. When I arrived at thetesting center I was relieved to find out they allotted 25 minutes at thebeginning and end of the test for administrative issues, such as reading theexam licensing agreement and making comments. Because it was a beta exam, theyencouraged us to make comments about any questions we thought were toodifficult or confusing; I wound up commenting on a half-dozen questions.

The exam consisted of 71 questions; the time allotted was threehours and 10 minutes. This is considerably longer than the other Microsofttests I?ve taken, but it?s because it was a beta exam, which means they includea good chunk of new questions they?re taking out for a test drive. I washalfway done after the first hour, and finished by the 90 minute mark. So thegrueling four hours I imagined quickly turned into a more palatable hour and ahalf.

I was surprised by the abundance of questions covering XMLand custom controls; each of those areas received more than 10% of the totalquestions. Half of the exam was on 2.0 concepts, such as personalization,themes, pre-compilation, Web parts, master pages, login controls, and the newoptions for deployment. The largest 2.0 areas were personalization anddeployment options, each receiving almost 10% of the total questions.

Surprisingly, there was only one question using the newanswer interface I had heard about, where I was asked to build a classdefinition by dragging and dropping several pre-written code snippets. It was afun question, if only for the novelty (and because I?m pretty sure I got itright).

The Payoff

I won?t receive my results for three months, but my gutfeeling is that I did well. Having passed the five VS.NET exams necessary toobtain my MCSD.NET helped me, as the ability to take these tests improves withrepetition. Lucky for me the questions touched on the specific areas describedin Microsoft?s exam preparation guide located at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-528.asp,so I was able to make good use of my two-three hours of study time byconcentrating on the areas where I lacked experience.

Although I won?t receive certification credit if I passthe exam, I should receive a voucher to take the real exam in early 2006. Besides,how could I turn down a chance to improve the certification process? And maybe,just maybe, I?ll receive another signed certificate from Bill G. himself.

Rob Walling is aMicrosoft Certified Solution Developer for .NET with six years of experience. He blogs about the human side of software development at http://www.softwarebyrob.com andauthors technical articles for a number of .NET-related Web sites andpublications. You can contact him at mailto:rwalling@thenumagroup.com.