Date: June 6, 2007
Microsoft Certification for Web Developers: MCAD to MCPD
Date: June 6, 2007
Following on from my previous articles on Microsoft certification this article is an update as not so long ago Microsoft moved the goal posts a fair distance! We'll focus on what will be the most common path for the web developer now: MCPD: web developer, where MCPD stands for Microsoft Certified Professional Developer. But first off we'll have a quick general discussion of the options for developers within the new world of Microsoft certification for developers.
The previous certification path was: MCP => MCAD => MCSD, i.e.
With the exams based on .NET 1.1 and in a target language of either VB or C#. Also note that you didn't need to pass 9 exams (!) to be an MCSD – you needed 5 in total (if you chose wisely) as each step subsumed the earlier.
Now in the new world of Microsoft certification for web developers we have three parallel tracts based on job role: web, windows and enterprise. Candidates start with the technology specialist exams then proceed to the professional developer exams:
Web
Windows
Distributed
Further, to get the Technology Specialist qualification requires two exams:
So, if we take web as the example most appropriate to dotnetjohn readers the full complement is:
The windows and enterprise development exams following a similar pattern. However, enterprise development exams number 5 as you must become a Technology Specialist in distributed applications which involves passing all four Technology specialist exams (web, windows, distributed plus the .NET 2.0 Foundation, then MCPD: Enterprise Applications Developer).
Clear? You'd think Microsoft had deliberately made it more complex than necessary wouldn't you?! So basically it's a similar hierarchy than before:
MCAD = MCPD: Web or MCPD Windows MCSD = MCPD: Enterprise
BUT unlike the old certification where if you were an MCSD you were automatically an MCAD because you will have completed all the qualifying exams, if you are MCPD: Enterprise you are not MCPD: Web and MCPD Windows as you will not have completed the PD exams for Web or Windows, only the TS exams.
Finally, the old MCSD included an architectural element, which is still the case in the Professional exams, but there is an overarching new qualification as well, which we won’t dwell on further.
As alluded to, Microsoft has made the certification more 'job role' related. I think the primary driver for this is an attempt to address the general ambivalence with which the industry has treated developer certification. Whereas qualifications like MCSE have generally been held in higher regard the weighting employers give to MCAD and MCSD when deciding on who will get their jobs seems to be a little more variable.
So, for example, whereas the MCTS exams focus on the technicalities of coding, the professional developer exams look more at the 'value adds' a developer should have if they are any good. The distinction is between a coder who might be efficient at churning out code without any great appreciation of the bigger picture and the developer, who does have that appreciation in terms of producing a better quality system via a wider knowledge of elements of the project lifecycle such as:
In summary, a laudable effort to make the certification more developer job role based rather than purely technical without getting too abstracted from the underlying technologies. In my opinion anyway based on the study materials I have encountered thus far. Maybe my opinion will have changed after taking the actual exam(s).
This is where it gets a bit more complicated as the certification model has changed considerably. Personally I'd argue that there is not sufficient difference between .NET 1.1 and 2.0 to warrant converting from MCAD to MCPD. There is also dubious value in doing so for ‘employability’ reasons as I suspect currently new and old certification paths are equally well regarded. How well regarded these qualifications are in reality and why is a whole separate topic!
However, there is one key driver forcing MCADs and MCSDs to update their qualifications – it is a mandatory requirement for Microsoft Partners of certain types (what Microsoft refers to as competencies). I would argue similarly to the last paragraph that this is a requirement of fairly dubious validity, particularly considering how little Microsoft Partners seem to get from Microsoft in return for their annual partnership fee (MSDN sub aside), but this is the Microsoft laid down law!
There are upgrade paths for both MCADs and MCSDs – MCAD to MCPD (Web) is one exam (70-551), and MCPD to MCPD (Enterprise) is two exams (70-553 and 70-554). Note, however, that if you gain your MCPD (Enterprise) by this path you do not, as suggested above, hold the Web and Windows qualifications. Breaking news, however - if an MCSD holds both MCPD: Web and MCPD: Windows (which can be earned with 70-551 and 70-552), then he or she can take exam 70-554 and be awarded the MCPD: Enterprise Applications. These don't have to be taken in any particular order. So this is the alternate path if it is important for whatever reason (e.g. Microsoft Partnership requirements) that you also hold the Professional Web and Windows qualifications as well as the enterprise.
Hope that is clear!?
I'll return shortly with a series of articles considering the requirements of some of the aforementioned exams in more detail.
http://www.vishaljoshi.blogspot.com/
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/upgrade/vs2005/default.mspx