If you do a little scouring on the Internet, you can come across snippets of information about new Microsoft tests that are in development or in the beta process. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, taking a beta exam can be a boon, yet frustrating, as the exam developers are still working out all the kinks with the test. So what you see for a beta test is still a work in progress and could be aggravating to the test taker – but still well worth the experience.

There is a new beta test running which demonstrates an interesting pattern at Microsoft for exams and exam subjects. The new exam is (or will be when released) 70-660: TS Windows Internals. What this exam tests is the “deep technical skills in the area of Windows Internals. Including troubleshooting operating systems that are not performing as expected or applications that are not working correctly, identifying code defects and developing and debugging applications that run unmanaged code or that are tightly integrated with the operating system, such as Microsoft SQL Server, third party applications, antivirus software, and device drivers.” *

This exam is not intended for the great networker masses, it is aimed at high level engineers who have extensive and in-depth knowledge of windows and the windows architecture. These are the folks who find the deep errors and faults that the rest of us can’t. From the Microsoft website, the preparation for this test involves a thorough knowledge of the PSTools developed by Mark Russinovich (you might remember him from Sony’s root-kit debacle a few years back). These tools enable you to delve deeper into the operating system than you are able using the built-in tools.

I think this is going to be a very interesting exam as it will definitely separate the geek from the uber-geek. I hope that this is the start of more tests in this same genre (maybe not just on networking) - pushing the level of knowledge (and having a certification to prove this knowledge) and perhaps encouraging others to push themselves as well.

*http://blogs.msdn.com/ntdebugging/pages/exam-preparation-information-for-exam-71-660.aspx