Microsoft introduces Performance Based exams – at last …

SQL Server

For many years now, I have been an advocate of “skill-based” or “performance-based” certifications which involve actually performing the tasks of the job in order to prove you are qualified. A simple concept. Now Microsoft have joined the bandwagon, which is great…

We developed a series of exams that were performance based, based on Microsoft technology over 8 years ago. The idea was to put a candidate in a room with 4 servers that had predetermined problems. Four hours later, if the servers were up and running correctly the candidate had proved their skills and was certified in that discipline. We used ghost to re-image the machines back to their original states for a consistent starting point.

When we approached Microsoft in 2001 regarding the concept of Performance Based exams, the answer came back that it was not scalable to support worldwide testing at literally thousands of sites. It would involve too much human intervention and would drive the price up for exams. Of course, this did not stop Cisco and Red Hat from delivering effective performance based exams.

Microsoft’s solution at that time was to introduce “simulations” into their exams. This was a half-baked effort at simulating the user interfaces of the technical products being tested. The implementation was woefully lacking and typically would only allow one path to the correct solution – unlike reality which shows many paths to a successful completion.

Now that Virtualization is available, Microsoft is back on board. It has developed its Virtual Lab environment, to support on-demand learning. And it has now taken the extra step to incorporate that technology into its exams. This allows candidates to “do the job” in the controlled environment of a Virtual Machine that is accessed remotely.

It doesn’t matter how you complete the tasks, the end result is what counts. An early example is exam 83-640 for Active Directory where the exam requires you to perform some tasks related to setting up Group Policy. There are several ways to achieve the objectives and the virtual machine allows you to use the method you think best because you are evaluated on the end result. You are using the real software albeit on a remote server in a virtual shell.

And Microsoft has worked out a way of automating it with a centralized set of servers. Very nice. This addresses the scalability concerns and opens the door to more performance based testing in the future.

Here’s a demo that’s on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cxz_iBvluU&feature=player_embedded

Cheers
Brian

• Microsoft
• certification
• DBA
• exams
• MCITP
• MCITP-DBA
• SQL Server
• SQL Server 2005
• SQL Server 2008