It's good to work on two things at one time with one effort.
- Learning Visual Studio Dot Net
- Getting Microsoft MCAD Certificate
That's better than learning seperatly and re-learning for the certificate.
But before that, what are the advantages of MCAD and does it worth the trouble?
Sure if you visit the Microsoft Website they'll list a lot of advantages. But I consider the most important one that MCAD is considered by many companies world wide and it's used to filter developers when hiring.
Also it's good to show the badge on your website. And MCP have a special website on Microsoft for sharing code and support. Breif, there are many reasons and there are no reason why you should not go for it.
If you can't affrod the courses prices that Microsoft offers or other companies present, so it's time to hit the books, which are available even by buying them or downloading from pirate sites.
But first you need to understand on which things consist the MCAD Certificate.
MCAD = Microsoft Certified Application Developer.
To get the certificate you must be either
- Windows Developer : In this case you choose Visual C# or Visual Basic
- Web Developer : Also in this case you choose a language.
The MCAD consists of two core exams and one elective.
And here's what the first exam is about. There are four exam. Two for Windows Developer and two for web one. Each language has an exam. You must choose your path.
I choose Visual C# and those I would recommend "MCAD/MCSD Training Kit—Developing Windows-Based Applications with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET and Microsoft Visual C# .NET"
This book include both languages.
The next exam is about Web services and server components. To know the needed books to complete and pass this exam, visit Microsoft MCAD requirement.
Microsoft will also list the available courses and also self-paced books. I do consider self-paced books important and must-read as they contain the exam objectives and wrotten by Microsoft MVP members.
Once you passed the two core exams, you have one elective. This can show your knowledge on Microsoft SQL, Biztalk, implementing security or if you know both Visual Basic and C# language, you can retake the first exam on the other language, showing your ability on both of them.
What if you passed and took the certificate?
Let's be realist, some people will tell you that you can earn up to $120K a year! This is not true, unless they are living not in earth sure! MCAD won't even grantue you a job, especialy that we are in a recession.
MCAD will just increase the propability of being hired, but you'll get interviewed as sure. MCAD and other Microsoft certificates are valuable when putting them in your CV paper. When hiring, a manager will prefer to interview an MCAD better than a Developer from I don't know where.
Look at the picture above
The following picture shows the hourly payrate for MCAD certified in the United States.
Yet, the prices are quite low this mean MCAD is not sufficient, so you may from now think on upgrading step by step your status. Here are the other titles
- Microsoft Certified Application Developer
- Microsoft Certified Solution Developer
- Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist
- Microsoft Certified Architect
Here's the pay per hour rate on some United States cities for IT Architect, the MCA or other certificates are not mentionned.
The pay has just doubled or even more! IT (Information Technology) Architect are the most valuable titles!
If you are sure you can, take the MCA directly. If you are not so go step by step and good luck!
Some useful links
- Certification Stuff : Information and opinions about Microsoft Certificates
- Microsoft Official MCAD Website
- Free MCAD Sample exam
If you have other links, don't hesitate to suggest them.
3 comments:
great post, but you didn't mention some e-learning ressources
need spellcheck :) ..."breif", "affrod"...
Not sure when, but the MCAD certification and tests have been retired for a while now. The replacement is the MCTS series, which targets .Net 2.0 and 3.5.
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