The Value of Microsoft Certification
(+ The
Real Reason Developers Should Get Certified)
Microsoft Certification Overview
Over the last 20 years, 4.5 million IT professionals, developers and office
professionals have earned a Microsoft certification, including over 24,000
Microsoft employees.
Microsoft has invested heavily in certification and training because it
is known, from third party and Microsoft's own research, that the
certification process drives satisfaction for individuals as well as
business owners. In fact, Microsoft is so committed to certification,
that each new training course is designed as a preparation tool for a
specific exam and certification.
Microsoft Certification Benefits the Employer
Microsoft certification reflects and validates real-world skills and
experiences while improving the performance of IT professionals, developers
and information workers. It adds value across all stages of an
individual's career path, so it is valuable for job seekers, new and
advanced skill building and upward career growth.
Certified individuals are more valuable team members, they can
troubleshoot better, are more effective and more productive. In the
IDC white paper, overall, individuals with certification were more valuable
to organisations.
Microsoft certification is continually updated and measured for relevance
in the market place, so it remains an effective tool for job satisfaction
and career growth. There is a myth that IT professionals who earn
certification leave the organisation quickly thereafter for better jobs.
In fact, certification leads to higher job satisfaction and better employee
retention, especially in the current economic climate.
Certification training provides skills that professionals can immediately
apply in a work situation. It also improves staff stability, which is
a good criterion for companies to evaluate the return on investment of their
training spend.
Microsoft Certification Benefits the Employee
As individuals advance in their careers, certification develops into a
tool that adds value across all stages of an individual's career path.
Certification is the key driver for staying current on the latest
technologies and being eligible for pay rises and promotions.
A Microsoft study found that nothing replaces experience to prospective
employers - and the best validation is Microsoft certification.
Certified professionals stand to gain more pay as well as being viewed as
more productive and valuable.
One of the key benefits of Microsoft certification for individuals is
access to a professional community of peers. This community enables
the IT professional to take advantage of networking and professional growth
opportunities enjoyed by being a member of a community spawned by Microsoft.
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The Increased Demand for IT Certification
The IT Industry Challenge
Globally, IT is facing some challenges. The aging workforce is a
key trend worrying employers worldwide. As experience leaves a
company, retaining or replacing knowledge will be critical. The effect
of the lack of skilled IT professionals is already being felt.
According to a Gartner study, 40% of operational downtime is due to operator
error - attributable to a significant lack of training on core systems.
A recent study commissioned by the Computing Technology Industry
Association that surveyed more than 3,500 IT Managers in 14 countries, found
that there are gaps in several critical technical areas. There is a wide
gap between the IT security skills that organisations want and the
corresponding skills that workers bring to the job.
The Increased Demand for IT Certification
Today, the demand for IT certification has increased dramatically, with
Microsoft alone experiencing a 24% growth over the last year. There
are several studies that suggest there will be a significant gap in the next
five to ten years between the demand for and supply of IT developers and professionals with
the right technical skills. According to Certification Magazine, and
IDC study places that gap at 40%.
IDC forecasts increased global spending on the IT education and training
market through 2012 and increasing demand for IT skills that will drive the
need for more certification.
There is a growing body of research that confirms the positive impact
certification has on IT organisations. A study by IDC looked at 1,200
IT teams, examining the relationship of team performance to the percentage
of the team certified by Microsoft on a variety of technologies. The
study concluded that certification correlated positively to organisational
performance improvements.
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Microsoft Certification Program Overview
|
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Q - What is the recertification requirement?
A. In order to ensure that our certifications are meaningful and
valuable indicators of candidates’ skills, Microsoft has implemented a
recertification requirement for the MCSE and MCSD certifications. MCSE
candidates will be required to recertify every three years, while
MCSD candidates will recertify every two years. Initially, recertification
requires passing one or two exams.
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Why You Should Use F1 for Microsoft Certification
IT professionals and their managers perceive certification to be
confirmation of successful training. They also value the access to
authentic training materials that certification through a Microsoft
Certified Partner for Learning Solutions (CPLS) provides. In a
customer branding survey of 550 IT professionals in 10 countries, when asked
if it were important that a training company be a CPLS, 76% of the
respondents said it was important.
F1 Computing, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, has been a training
company for over 20 years and uses this expertise to ensure that its
training clients have both the theoretical knowledge supplied by Microsoft
Official Curriculum and the practical knowledge that its certified trainers
can give.
F1 Computing Systems Ltd participated in a review and audit by the
Microsoft Quality Assessment Program in 2013 and was found to have met the
requirements for courseware utilization, trainer certification, hardware,
facilities, and customer satisfaction.
When purchasing Microsoft certification packages, we agree that you
should 'shop around' to get the best deal. But, don't just look at the
published price... you should compare the package as well. At F1, we
believe that it's hard enough to get a large training spend authorised in
the first place, without having to go back to the beginning for additional
costs such as exams, so we include everything you need to obtain your
certification in our stated price. All of our certification paths
include the following:
- Microsoft Official Curriculum manual for each course.
- Microsoft Exams stated in the route.
- Award-winning Transcender (Self Test Software) exam preparation
software for all of the exams on the route, where available.
- Ongoing Support from a Microsoft Certified Trainer.
- 18 months in which to complete your certification, so no 'boot camp'
style training.
- A discount of up to 50% of the retail cost.
- Other benefits such as eLearning may be included, depending on the
certification and route.
Does your training provider include ALL of that in their certification
route price? We will even tailor the route to suit your experience and
knowledge, giving you a price for your specific requirements.
Call us
on 0800 169 1890 or email
sales@f1comp.co.uk for more details.
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The Real Reason
Developers Should Get Certified
Below is a very good and clear explanation of why developers should get
certified even if they are not so interested in career development. When it
comes down to it, staying current with your certification means that you are
familiar with all of the new features and tools of the current release of
the Framework
"In my role as a MCT Regional Lead, I get asked a lot of questions. One
of the rapidly recurring questions is "I'm a developer. Why should I get
certified?" Most people expect me to respond with something about job
security or income increases. However, this is not the typical answer I
offer. The real reason you should get certified is to learn your framework.
The .NET framework has been in a state of rapid (r)evolution in recent
years. More companies, including Microsoft, are moving to a rapid release
schedule. As developers, we have a tendency to start a project with
a given framework and a given set of tools. We use these frameworks and
tools for months, even years, as the technological world marches forward.
I started a project in the later parts of .NET 2.0. By the time the project
ended, .NET 4.0 had been released. After 2 years on a project, I might as
well have changed my name to Rip Van Winkle.
When a developer stays on top of his or her certifications, he or she keeps
a mental inventory of tools that have become available. As developers, we
are often not able to keep on top of every advancement in our field.
However, the certification tests do two things. First, it proves to
your employer or contracting official at you have knowledge of the current
trends. I may not have written a Windows Store App that needed
Semantic Zoom, but I now have proof that I am familiar with it.
Second, and more importantly, it gives you the tools to quickly
merge into new areas. I have often joked that 2% of my brain lives
in my head. That 2% is the index terms into the other 98% of my brain, which
lives on the web.
For example, I was recently working on a side project that required me to
access a third-party RESTful service. All of my professional work has used
WCF. Since I have stayed current on my certifications, I had an academic
knowledge of what I needed to do. Using this knowledge, I was able to
effectively find the information I needed to consume this service in a
matter of minutes.
There are very few ways to quickly prove to yourself that you really have
touched the breadth of knowledge in a specific area.
Certification are a way to not only guide you through the roots of
emerging technologies, they offer you a way to measure your understanding of
these new technologies.
As a professional that lives or dies by my ability to stay current,
I find great value in spending a little time, money and effort keeping my
certifications current. While it does benefit my professional endeavours,
the satisfaction I get knowing I'm prepared for any challenge that may come
with my next project is priceless."
Chris Gardner (Regional Lead)
From
http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/btl/b/weblog/archive/2013/06/18/the-real-reason-developers-should-get-certified.aspx
Further Reading on Certification
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