Tag mcitp

Career Express Day 6 Johnson County Community College KCK

by Christopher Kusek (PKGuild) Baltimization, Blog, Career Express, Certification, Christopher Kusek, Microsoft, Windows 7

Welcome to Johnson County Community College, Microsoft’s newest Microsoft IT Academy!

We were welcomed heartily and had the attendance of students, faculty, community, IT Professionals, and those looking forward to a career in IT.    We visited them in the morning and in the evening, for another series of stops on our whirlwind adventure!   This provided an excellent opportunity to reach multiple audiences over these periods of times and the interaction was exciting.    We even were honored to deliver their ITA Plaque in person!

Ken shakes hands Everyone smiles and honors the plaque

 The center for entrepeneurship Brian Prince discusses the BizSpark program for enabling start-ups to take advantage of Microsoft Software for $100 for 3 years

While being given a tour of this absolutely beautiful facility we came across The Center for Entrepreneurship which offers assistance with Small Business and Start-ups.   Due to the Small Business and Start-up nature of this center, Brian Prince discussed with them the opportunities Microsoft can assist in that market with the BizSpark program which is designed to accelerate success by providing fast affordable access to current, full-featured Microsoft tools and technologies, plus production licensing for hosted solutions.    I’m familiar with the BizSpark program and quite honestly, it is quite cool and if you’re a startup you should check it out!

Meet Reed Porter, Kansas City IT Pro!

I had the opportunity to talk with IT Professional Reed Porter who has quite a diverse and expertise background in the technology industry with heavy focus on Microsoft.   His investment in Microsoft and the community is one to be honored, including contributions to SpringBoard in the form of content and community!   He’s a great asset to the community and an amazing resource to business, in fact I believe he is looking for a new direction in his career so if you’re interested in leveraging his expertise I’d suggest getting in touch with him! Turns out he’s also on Twitter! @reedracer

So, I don’t know about you, but I love community and I love to meet the people in the community even more.   Your stories are inspirational and make this this community exactly what it is, a hotbed of opportunity, growth and wonder.    I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible in our remaining 5 days before we get to TechEd, and especially while at TechEd in Los Angeles!   See you in Denver, Colorado in the morning!

Beta: 71-433: TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Database Development (F589G)

by Christopher Kusek (PKGuild) Baltimization, Certification, Christopher Kusek, Informational, Microsoft, SQL
Another verbatim theft from Beta Blog!
You are invited to take beta exam 71-433: TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Database Development. If you pass the beta exam, the exam credit will be added to your transcript and you will not need to take the exam in its released form. The results will not appear on your transcript until several weeks after the final form of the exam is released. The 71-xxx identifier is used for registering for beta versions of MCP exams, when the exam is released in its final form the 70-xxx identifier is used for registration.

71-433: TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Database Development counts as credit towards the following certification(s).

· Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: SQL Server 2008, Database Development (earned when passing 70-433)

· Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Database Developer 2008. In order to earn this certification you must also pass exam 70-451: PRO: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Designing and Optimizing Database Solutions.

Find exam preparation information: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-433.mspx

Availability

Registration begins: September 19, 2008

Beta exam period runs: September 22, 2008– October 10, 2008

Receiving this invitation does not guarantee you a seat in the beta; we recommend that you register immediately. Beta exams have limited availability and are operated under a first-come-first-served basis. Once all beta slots are filled, no additional seats will be offered.

Testing is held at Prometric testing centers worldwide, although this exam may not be available in all countries (see Regional Restrictions). All testing centers will have the capability to offer this exam in its live version.

Regional Restrictions: India, Pakistan, China

Registration Information

Please use the following promotional code when registering for the exam: F589G
You must register at least 24 hours prior to taking the exam.

To register in North America, please call:

· Prometric: (800) 755-EXAM (800-755-3926)

Outside the U.S./Canada, please contact:

· Prometric: http://www.register.prometric.com/ClientInformation.asp

Test Information and Support

You are invited to take this beta exam at no charge.
You will be given four hours to complete the beta exam. Please plan accordingly.

Retiring Exams, Get your Trika for 40% off!

by Christopher Kusek (PKGuild) Certification, Christopher Kusek, Informational, Microsoft, SQL, Trika!

You heard it here! A number of exams which are retiring (March 31, 2009) are being offered at a 40% reduction! by my math that looks to be $50.00 off!

All the details can be found here –

Price reduction on retiring exams (and VS/SQL upgrade exams)

But for those who don’t want to click and link off, I’ll copy the best bits!

Here are the exams with reduced price:

So, check it out especially if your certification happens to align with skill-set.

And if not – give a shout out to Trika over at her blog!

Do you have what it takes to be a Master?

by Christopher Kusek (PKGuild) Exchange, Informational, Microsoft, SQL, Windows Server

That’s right! New Mastery in the form of a “Master” Cert.
It is rumoured to be above the current MCITP, and equally above the old-school MCSE, yet below (and a pre-requisite) of the MCA (Architect).

It will be offered in 3 varieties.

  • Exchange Server 2007
  • SQL Server 2008
  • Windows Server 2008

    • It is covered at an EXTREMELY high-level here at Microsoft Certified Master Program
    And also is briefly mentioned here on Trika’s Blog

    There is a little bit of depth to be found here:
    http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/master/products/default.mspx

    However, outside of these high-level ideas of it, and its very narrow focus on a set of core technologies (Hey, where is my MOSS Mastery?!)

    It appears to be just another Certification to join the pile – definitely a precursor to the MCA with these requirements:

    To achieve Master certification, candidates must fulfill the following training requirements:

  • Attendance of required sessions
  • Successful completion of all in-class (written and lab) exams
  • Successful completion of qualification lab exam

    • And if history has shown us anything, when you have ‘class attendance requirements’ that usually translates into “This is going to cost you some serious $$$” Not only from ‘attendance’ but also from your inability to be producing revenue or working as you’re going to classes.

    Perhaps this is trying to go the way of the “Masters” programs available within the ‘Educational’ community, but today you can phone that in, and the technology and extreme depth this is looking to promote is not something earned in the classroom – It’s earned in the trenches.

    Who knows how this will be implemented, we’ll certainly find out as time moves on – Adoption is key though – Look at the CCIE Program for Cisco…

    Deja Vu – Microsoft removes expiration of MCTS, MCITP, and MCPD certifications

    by Christopher Kusek (PKGuild) Baltimization, Informational, Microsoft

    We all knew on the docket that after 3 years, there would be a need to re-certify in order to continue maintaining the “Certification” status for the new Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist, Microsoft Certified IT Professional and the Microsoft Certified Professional Developer.

    We accepted this as the MS Certs going the way the Cisco Certs, but then – The rules have changed again!

    Dear Microsoft Certified Professional,

    We are pleased to inform you about a recent Microsoft Certification policy change that affects your Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) or Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) credential.

    In response to customer feedback, Microsoft has eliminated the requirement to recertify, or refresh, your MCITP or MCPD certification every three years. This is good news for you; there is no action required to maintain the certifications you hold today.

    The certification lifecycle

    The Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS), MCITP, and MCPD credentials—Microsoft certifications for new technologies—are aligned with the Microsoft product lifecycle, and will retire when Microsoft discontinues mainstream support for the underlying technology. When a certification that you have earned retires, the record of your certification remains on your transcript, allowing you to retain documentation of your certification history.

    This is great news for those of us who want to upgrade our certs WHEN we want to, instead of by some cycle as if we’ve suddenly forgotten our skill-sets!

    So once again, thank you Microsoft for listening to the industry and providing an path of excellence for others to follow!