The question now is how do you do it? Of course, I lean towards instructor led training but I am going to save that for the next post. In this one, let’s look at some of the alternative methods for getting the knowledge you need to get certified.
The first and probably most common way is work experience. For those of us lucky enough to have a job in the field, we pick up a lot of information just by doing our jobs. If you are an active and effective administrator, passing some if not all of the exams required shouldn’t be to that difficult. The same thing holds true for potential certified developers. If you write code for a living, you should have a good handle for what you may run into. I tend to suggest getting your hands on a few practice tests first to see if you have the breadth of knowledge you need but if you want to take a shot, go take an exam. Check the subjects being tested at Microsoft’s web site for the exams you are interested in and pick one. They aren’t cheap though so think first before you leap.
Another way that people prepare for the tests is through books. I am all for reading up on subjects that you feel a little weak on but I don’t think that someone can easily just read a book and get what they need to pass any certification exams. If you try this route, make sure that you spend time with the product in question doing whatever suggested exercises the author gives you.
A third route is “distance” or online learning. This can be done in a few ways, online classes that are reading materials and demos, videos of instructor presentations or video conferences of classes. These have one huge advantage; they are available when you want them, not just 9 to 5. My one caution to people that want to try this out is to make sure that you know what you are entitled to. Sometimes, there is a live instructor to ask questions of. There might also be an email address that you can send to for more info. This works fairly well for the independent type of person but some of us need someone living to push us to actually work. More about instructor led classes in the next post.
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