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Upgrading Your Career
87 posts, Page 1 of 9
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Upgrading Your Career
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Steve Jones - SSC Editor
Steve Jones - SSC Editor
Posted Saturday, February 11, 2012 8:49 PM
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Comments posted to this topic are about the item
Upgrading Your Career
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Post #1250829
tony.turner
tony.turner
Posted Sunday, February 12, 2012 6:45 AM
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Last Login: Sunday, May 05, 2013 1:48 PM
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Three comments come to mind, which do not invalidate your point, but does put it in perspective for some of us
MCM is not really open to us in the third-world, where I gather a fair portion of your readership comes from
Even were it to be available, the price (after currency conversion) relative to salary or contracting rates would make it way unattractive. Any potential increase in salary or rate would need to be written off over way too long a period
If I look down your list of MCMs, it is mainly big corporates, or Microsoft itself. Wake me up again once it becomes viable for people in their personal capacity; I could just become interested if I am still young enough
Post #1250890
James Stover
James Stover
Posted Sunday, February 12, 2012 4:19 PM
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Last Login: Tuesday, October 30, 2012 10:37 AM
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Certification isn't just a "nice to have" - it's a hard requirement for certain partner levels. For example, if you want to attain MS Gold Parter in BI, one of the options states:
Your organization must employ or contract with four unique MCP's who each hold at least one of the following certifications:
- MCITP: Business Intelligence Developer 2008
- MCM: Microsoft SQL Server 2008
Effective May 2012, certification requirements will be:
-Two of the four MCP's must each hold the MCITP: Business Intelligence Developer 2008 certification.
-The other two MCP's must each successfully complete one of the following:
--MCITP: Business Intelligence Developer 2008
--MCM: Microsoft SQL Server 2008
--Exam 70-576: PRO: Designing and Developing Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Applications
See how the MCM certification has been inserted as an option? I would not be surprised if this becomes a hard requirement in a future version of the Gold partner program.
Anyway, having a certification in no way qualifies you for anything but it
does
have tangible benefits and has value in certain circles. In this context, it's definitely a worthy career goal.
James Stover, McDBA
Post #1250967
codebyo
codebyo
Posted Sunday, February 12, 2012 6:53 PM
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tony.turner (2/12/2012)
MCM is not really open to us in the third-world (...) Even were it to be available, the price (after currency conversion) relative to salary or contracting rates would make it way unattractive.
Unfortunately I can't agree more. When I read about Brazilian MCMs I can't help but think that they must be rich guys or have a rich family to support them.
Best regards,
Andre Guerreiro Neto
Database Analyst
http://www.softplan.com.br
MCITPx1/MCTSx2
Post #1250975
James Stover
James Stover
Posted Sunday, February 12, 2012 8:49 PM
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Last Login: Tuesday, October 30, 2012 10:37 AM
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codebyo (2/12/2012)
tony.turner (2/12/2012)
MCM is not really open to us in the third-world (...) Even were it to be available, the price (after currency conversion) relative to salary or contracting rates would make it way unattractive.
Unfortunately I can't agree more. When I read about Brazilian MCMs I can't help but think that they must be rich guys or have a rich family to support them.
I have to say I'm a little perplexed by the MCM certification. The feedback from a big slice of the partner community has been....less than receptive. I can understand the MCA to an extent (for very big partners, MS Consulting or select MS Evangelists doing things like SQL Parallel DW w/Hadoop proof-of-concepts). But the MCM...meh. What's in it for me? I'd love to hear some thoughts on it.
James Stover, McDBA
Post #1250981
Mike Palecek
Mike Palecek
Posted Monday, February 13, 2012 6:23 AM
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I have always held that
having
certifications in general do not mean anything, however
NOT
having the certifications means a whole lot.
Having them: yeah...great...you took an exam... so what.
Not having them: You cannot even be bothered to take a silly exam and pass? Especially when the next three candidates have them.
Post #1251150
TravisDBA
TravisDBA
Posted Monday, February 13, 2012 7:49 AM
Ten Centuries
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Mike Palecek (2/13/2012)
I have always held that
having
certifications in general do not mean anything, however
NOT
having the certifications means a whole lot.
Having them: yeah...great...you took an exam... so what.
Not having them: You cannot even be bothered to take a silly exam and pass? Especially when the next three candidates have them.
Those two cancel each other out in my opinion. As long as braindumps are available to pass these exams, I give very little weight to them.
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...
"
Post #1251210
Steve Jones - SSC Editor
Steve Jones - SSC Editor
Posted Monday, February 13, 2012 10:00 AM
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Group: Administrators
Last Login: Today @ 11:20 AM
Points: 31,437,
Visits: 13,752
codebyo (2/12/2012)
tony.turner (2/12/2012)
MCM is not really open to us in the third-world (...) Even were it to be available, the price (after currency conversion) relative to salary or contracting rates would make it way unattractive.
Unfortunately I can't agree more. When I read about Brazilian MCMs I can't help but think that they must be rich guys or have a rich family to support them.
Perhaps, but in the US it isn't large companies that have all the MCMs. Simon Sabin and Denny Cherry are independent consultants. They either viewed this as a way to bill a higher rate, or perhaps just a milestone for their careers. Jonathan Kehayias worked for a hospital. Argenis works for Coinstar, not a huge company.
There are some that work for MS or large companies, but many haven't. Whether they view this similar to a degree, prep for more billing, an investment that pays back later, or a hobby/personal goal, it's up to them. If you think the $3k for the tests is an investment that needs to pay you back $3k this year, you're looking at it wrong.
Any certification you study for, or even any skill you practice on and learn, is an upgrade for your career and an investment in improving your skills. It doesn't necessarily pay back right away.
That being said, if you think it's not worth the certification in your country, that's fine. Don't sit for it, or lobby MS to change the pricing based on your economy.
The point of the piece was to get you to think about improving your career, not necessarily sitting for a certification.
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@way0utwest
Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help
Post #1251316
Peter Maloof
Peter Maloof
Posted Monday, February 13, 2012 10:52 AM
SSC Veteran
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Today @ 9:50 AM
Points: 295,
Visits: 1,243
Mike Palecek (2/13/2012)
I have always held that
having
certifications in general do not mean anything, however
NOT
having the certifications means a whole lot.
Having them: yeah...great...you took an exam... so what.
Not having them: You cannot even be bothered to take a silly exam and pass? Especially when the next three candidates have them.
That's an interesting way to look at it. I agree that the certificate itself shouldn't be the goal. I made the point
here
that what's important is being able to discuss what you did to learn the material en route to certification, and how well you know it. That's what sets you apart from the other 'certified but inexperienced' people.
Peter Maloof
Serving Data
Post #1251358
TravisDBA
TravisDBA
Posted Monday, February 13, 2012 11:49 AM
Ten Centuries
Group: General Forum Members
Last Login: Thursday, May 09, 2013 9:23 AM
Points: 1,288,
Visits: 2,996
Perhaps, but in the US it isn't large companies that have all the MCMs.
They have most of them though. Of the 47 current MCAs and MCMs in SQL Server in the US and Canada that are listed on their public directory site, 33 of them are Microsoft employees alone and I highly doubt they are paying the same prices for the MCM and MCA certifications everyone else is paying.
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...
"
Post #1251407
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