Category: Certifications
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Stackable Certifications
While I have been chasing Microsoft certifications for two decades, I never gave any real thought to CompTIA. I had nothing against them, I just never pursued them. And then a couple of years ago, a training broker reached out and asked me if I would deliver Network+ and Security+ courses for one of their…
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Another Exam Experience… a harrowing one!
Someone asked me recently why I used to prefer going into a testing centre to sit my certification exams. I told them that if anything went wrong, the staff had a direct line to get faster support, but that fewer things were likely to go wrong. This week I sat my third exam in the…
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Wouldn’t You Know It?
Last Tuesday I passed a certification exam that was quite valuable. It was a difficult exam, but in the end the system congratulated me. I was extremely happy… and then I had to wait. Minutes, hours… it was not until the next morning that I received the email from CompTIA congratulating me on my new…
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Certification Exams… At Home Again.
· I should go back and see just how many posts I have written about certifications… if I can count that high. It has long been a topic that I have been passionate about, and that has not changed. When I looked at my Microsoft Learning Transcript the other day I was surprised to see…
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Don’t Do It…
A few days ago, a former student emailed me the most unfortunate question. I have been an IT trainer for fifteen years. For much of that time, and with few exceptions, I have been giving out my personal contact information. I have always told my students that even though the class is over, I am…
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Touchdown!
I like to deliver the same message every time I teach a class, whether it be Microsoft, CompTIA, VMware, on-premises or cloud technologies. I have been teaching certification classes since 2006 and started attending them as a student several years before that. I know that there are good instructors and great instructors… and there are…
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The Exam Room: Welcome Home!
I have, over the years, written many articles about certification exams, and about the exam process. Some of what I was about the actual exam experience… including Time Tips for Certification Exams. So many of my exam experiences involved driving to a testing centre. Fortunately the last few exams that I have taken – and…
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The End of An Era… Again.
Around 2005-2006, when I was running the Montreal IT Professionals Community, Microsoft announced that due to a lawsuit from the Quebec Order of Engineers, Microsoft would be eliminating the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) designation in the province of Quebec. As a community leader I rallied against that; my position was that it would create…
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Microsoft 365 Certified
In mid-September, the recruiting department of my company introduced me to the man who would become my manager at my new client. He told me he reviewed my CV, and did not see Microsoft Office 365 listed on it. I told him honestly that while I have worked with the technologies before, I never felt…
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Azure Exams: Different?
Since I started working on Microsoft Azure certifications, I have noticed a lot of things that are quite different from what I am used to. for instance, the single, non-technical AZ-900 exam does give you a certification (Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals). Okay, I passed that exam… but when I went to start looking for courseware…
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Azure Fundamentals
Last week my company launched a certification challenge. Yes, they would be rewarding employees who passed certification exams, but they also asked if I would be able to teach a class. My pleasure… but before I teach it, I’d like to pass the exam. I decided that the best way to light a fire under…
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Golden Exam?
I have a spreadsheet that I keep in my OneDrive that tracks the certification exams I have taken. Over the years (starting in December, 2011) I have written a great many of them, Mostly for Microsoft but also a few VMware exams sprinkled in there. Much has changed since I wrote my first exam (which,…
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Microsoft Technology Roadshow
Tuesday morning I stood up in front of a great audience of IT Professionals at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa. The subject? Azure networking. One of the slides that Microsoft gave me for the ‘Curtain Warmer’ contained a list of links for further information. They are: Azure Training: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-ca/training Azure Certification: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/learning/certification-overview.aspx Windows Certifications: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/learning/windows-certification.aspx…
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To Recertify, or NOT to Recertify… THAT is the question.
I was definitely a proponent of expiring certifications when the topic came up. Why? Because my value as an MCSE was diminished by others who held the same title… from Windows NT. By making professionals renew their certifications we obtained the ability to differentiate between someone with current value and skills and knowledge and someone…
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The Harsh Realities of the Exam Room
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how tough I found Exam 74-409 was in my article Another Tough Exam. I also mentioned that Microsoft exams were meant to be tough, and going into an exam unprepared can (and usually will) come back to bite you. Last week I decided to bite the bullet…
The World According to Mitch 