Microsoft is in the middle of a major drive to renovate click its certification program. Last year, they announced the new Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA) accreditation, which can be not just a written exam but instead a practical exam that may be scored by a board of examiners. Just applying for the certification will require 10 years' experience in IT together with three years of practical experience as a network builder.
For those folks not exactly prepared for that, Microsoft has announced that it is also planning to revise other qualifications. The MCSE that people have all come to understand and love will probably be described as a issue of the past. In its place is a group of focus checks and Ip Address Professional certification paths.
If you're presently an or working it, don't worry, you have sufficient time to adjust to the new paths. Microsoft's standard term is that the new accreditation construction will soon be implemented if the next Windows server/client version is introduced. For those holding MCDBAs, your current certification will remain good and you'll have opportunity to improve to the new certification with SQL Server 2005.
Those of us who've been on the certification course for a while recall the outcry when Microsoft planned to phase-out the much-maligned NT 4.0 certification in-the move to Windows 2000. There was rather an outcry from many qualified individuals who felt MS was being unreasonable in their time-table and in the pipeline lack of support for that accreditation. Whether you agree with Microsoft's planned changes, I encourage you to go to Microsoft's certification site regularly to keep up with these changes.
Whether you choose to follow these new tracks is your choice, but you owe it to yourself and your career to learn about the new tracks. Change is inevitable in IT and the IT certification world, and you have to be aware of these changes!
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