David
mentioned that Microsoft is planning on launching a new certification program
called the Microsoft Certified Architect Program (MCAP). This new program was unveiled at
TechMentor earlier this month. According to Al Valvano, Lead Product Manager
with Microsoft Learning, the program will be on par with Cisco's
highly-respected CCIE program. I'm
extremely interested in how Microsoft launches this program and how it will
relate to the company's other certifications.
Working in the certification industry has been interesting over the past five
years. Even before I started my current job, I was preparing for and taking
certification exams and communicating with people about certifications. There
was an enormous amount of interest in certifications in general, and the MCSE in
particular. With the dot-bomb days behind us, that interest has waned somewhat
for various reasons. One of those reasons is that most people saw or knew of
people who simply crammed for the exams with no knowledge of the technology they
were supposedly learning. This led to the term "paper MCSE," which essentially
means someone who has passed the exams to obtain the certification, but has no
real knowledge of how to use the technology in the "real world." As a result,
the promise of easy money for certified individuals (which was never completely
true in the first case) went away, and so did some of the interest in
certifications. Microsoft is currently working to change this perception by
including performance-based simulation items in their exams, which require the
user to actually perform a sequence of actions instead of answering a
multiple-choice item. I see the Microsoft Certified Architect Program as a step
beyond that into really gaining the prestige in their certification program that
they once had. I rarely hear of people who are able to take a Cisco exam without
real knowledge of the products. As a result, the Cisco certification program has
a high level of respect in the industry. Will the MCAP provide Microsoft with
this level of prestige? It remains to be seen, but I'm interested in seeing what
happens. Not many details have been released at this point, but I hear rumors
that more information will be unveiled at TechEd this year.