Category: Certifications
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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…
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Gee thanks…
This is one of those situations I laugh at… because even great organizations like Microsoft Learning Experience is going to make the occasional mistake.. especially when it’s systems are all automated and unmonitored. I received the following e-mail today congratulating me on passing my exam yesterday: I was reasonably sure that I already had that…
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Certification Planning
I maintain a spreadsheet of every certification exam I take – pass or fail. Excluding the title line it currently consists of seventy (70) rows, dating back to my first failed exam in December of 2001. I don’t remember when I started maintaining it, but it goes back a while, and consists of the following…
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Another tough exam…
As a subject matter expert (SME) on virtualization, I was neither excited nor intimidated when Microsoft announced their new exam, 74-409: Server Virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center. Unlike many previous exams I did not rush out to be the first to take it, nor was I going to wait forever. I actually…
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I’m back in the (WServer) News :)
One of my favorite publications about the Windows Server ecosystem is WServerNews.com, which I get delivered to my Inbox every Monday morning. Several weeks ago the Editor of WServerNews (Mitch Tulloch, who refers to me as The Other Mitch), posted a question earlier this summer from a loyal reader asking about his career path. He…
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Certification Questions from a reader
I often get questions from readers and followers about different aspects of the IT Pro world. If the answer is a simple one- or two-liner then I answer directly, but when the question is complex and the answer could benefit others I like to share that with the blogosphere. This week I received this question:…
