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ISV Lounge
    What Exams should I study?       Minimize  

The question is not really what exams you should be taking, but what certification you want to acheive (you don't get to put funny little intials after your name for just passing exams).

Microsoft Certification in General 
Microsoft's current certifications are organized into a three-tiered certification hierarchy, consisting of:

  • an (entry-level) Technology Series (towards a "Technology Specialist" credential),
  • a Professional Series (towards either an "IT Professional" or "Professional Developer" credential),
  • a Master Series (towards a "Master" credential).

The official pages for each series is as follows:

 

How many others have it? Good guestion. As of Sept 2008, the stats are:

MCTS:  
.NET Framework 2.0: Distributed Applications 7,500
.NET Framework 2.0: Web Applications 28,447
.NET Framework 2.0: Windows Applications 13,564
MCPD:  
Enterprise Application Developer 5,662
Web Developer 6,452

Windows Developer

 2,077

Src: Number of Microsoft Certified Professionals Worldwide  

             
    MCTS Certification       Minimize  

The first tier of proficiency is the MCTS level, which, as the Microsoft blurb states,

"...enable[s] professionals to target specific technologies and to distinguish themselves by demonstrating in-depth knowledge and expertise in their specialized technologies. An MCTS is consistently capable of implementing, building, troubleshooting, and debugging a particular Microsoft technology."

Many TS Certifications To Choose From
There are currently over 20 different MCTS certifications (full list here) that you can sit for, but as a developer, you'll probably be most interested in the following at first:

NET 2.0 (Visual Studio 2005):

.NET 3.5 (Visual Studio 2008):

Note that it's quickly getting more complicated with .NET 3.5, because they've added so much technology to the framework (as I'm sure you've noticed, its jumped from just over 20Mb to >100Mb!) that it is only natural that the number of certifications needed to cover it all has increased.

Probably, the natural instinct when you at first see the plethora of exams listed is to throw your hands up in the air, thinking you'll never get through them all.

Don't worry! It's not as bad as it first looks... 
What you have to remember is that you don't have to be a specialist in every field to optain an Technical Specialist Certification: you can just choose to be certified as a Technical Specialist just in ASP.NET, without killing yourself to learn WPF, WCF, etc. 
Later, if you do become a specialist at WPF, you can sit that exam and prove it -- but you don't have to do it all now. See why its a lot less daunting than it first looks?

 

             
    Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD)       Minimize  

The official blurb on the MCPD landing page is:

"When you earn the Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) credential, you demonstrate your ability to use Microsoft Visual Studio and the Microsoft .NET Framework to excel in a specific, real-world job role. An MCPD credential validates a comprehensive set of skills required to be successful on the job, and gives hiring managers and potential customers a reliable indicator of your job performance. This credential offers a simple, targeted framework that makes the certification paths easier to understand and allows you to stand out from the crowd."

Once again -- just like there are several MCTS certifications you can work towards -- there are several MCPD certifications you can aim towards getting, but at least this time there are far fewer than 20. In fact there are really only 3, but it will depend on the Framwork you want to be certified for:

 

             
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Copyright 2007 by Sky Sigal