MCSA

SQL2012 Certification – Personal goal for 2012

Posted by Jens Vestergaard on in Programming 1 Comment

There is a lot of talk around the block about the now not so new certification plan from Microsoft, in regards to SQL2012. The new tracks MCSA, MCSE and MCSM looks real nice in their flashy gift wrappings 🙂

I will, like many others, take the full monty, so to speak. Maybe its just a trick of the mind, but when you keep upgrading certifications, you get the feeling you’re not quite tested in all the corners of the material. Another thing about it is, that the new path includes a track of DBA stuff, not previously encountered on the MCITP:BI program. So my plan for the rest of the year, is to take a new certification at least every two months, which means that by the end of this year, I should be able to achieve the SQL2012 MCSA level. See diagram for clarification of levels:

As I earlier blogged about here, I have been attending the beta exams for 70-461, 70-466 & 70-467. Best case scenario would obviously be that I just need to take the two remaining certifications 70-462 & 70-463, but I doubt my skills in the tabular model will prove adequate for the level required, but at least I now know the scope of the exams.

Other excellent resources for the SQL Server 2012 certifications:
James Serra (blog|twitter): Upgrade info
Alex Rosa (blog|fb): Certification path

Update:
Looks like I passed alle three betas and I’m off to a great start

Today I passed the 70-463 certification, so now I need to face the toughest of them all IMO

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SQL Server 2012 Beta Exams

Posted by Jens Vestergaard on in Programming 1 Comment

I’ve signed up for three (3) of the five (5) available beta exams on the new SQL Server 2012 Business Intelligence certification program which Kendra Little (blog|twitter) has written a great post about here.

Since there are numbered seats on these beta exams, I went straight for the BI specific tests. So at friday the 23rd of March I took on [70-467] Designing Business Intelligence Solutions with Microsoft SQL Server 2012, followed by a short break of SQLBits, then on to [70-466] Implementing Data Models and Reports with Microsoft SQL Server 2012 on the 3rd of April.

Tomorrow I’m up for [70-461] Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012

First of all I’m taking the tests in order to identify my weak spots in regards to the new version of the stack. Secondly it’s a great, and not to forget free, opportunity to achieve the certifications that looks nice on the resume (before the peers @ work).

My first impression with the tests so far, is that Microsoft Learning (blog|twitter) has done a really good job at re-designing the tests. IMHO the tests will go deeper and further than their respective prequels. And maybe it’s just me, but it seems as if there is a more real-world-feel about the questions in the test than I’ve previous expreienced. Good job MSLearning!

 

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