MCSE - Business Intelligence Thread

A little background.

Failed 70-461 2 times already however I strictly went with the book the first 2 times, not a good idea, at least for me.

See below my history so far on studying for the 3rd time.

I am using CBT Nuggets and the book, more Nuggets.

I've been back at it for 3 days and I am through chapter 5, not all chapters align with the training kit, but I look at the training kit more as a knowledge filler. Hopefully I can deliver the full MCSE BI. I am feeling it this time and have full buy in from my family.

I'll keep this thread updated and I will bring home a passing score for 70-461.

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DatabaseHead

I went ahead and went back through Nugget 4 again on 1.6X speed. Great review, didn't help me solve my work problem but it was a good certification review.

At this point in my career I can only do certifications that bump against my real world task. Obviously some gray area is fine, but if the cert is learning a completely new concept I am not going to do that.

DatabaseHead

Knocked out 2 modules this evening while sipping on some Rum....

Chapter 8 and 9. Script tasking using VB or C# within the VSTA environment to build executable task to further push the capability of SSIS. 9 was control flow using containers such as for loops and for each loops, along with sequence grouping. It was a strong two modules, I felt 8 will need to be revised 9 was pretty much 101 SSIS.

DatabaseHead

Felt like I have been spamming this forum thread so I wanted to pull back a little.

Complete all the modules twice and completed a SSIS project at work, a very large one involving SSAS, OH SOOOOO MUCH fun, thankfully that won't be on the exam.... Starting to review the practice exam, I look to schedule this exam shortly.

70-462 has me freaked out, but this journey is one step at a time.

DatabaseHead

70-463 has been scheduled for the 21st. This hopefully will be enough time. Very excited the booster back is going through september.

ghma

This thread is very helpful, what a great idea. I'm going the same route you are as I plan to take 70-463 after I take 70-461. Actually I'm more excited about studying for the DW exam since I use SSIS quite a bit. Just need to get 70-461 out of the way once and for all.

How do you like CBT nuggets for 70-463? I'm trying out the free trial for 70-461. I really like the instructor but the subscription is killing me. Might be worth it though but I'd definitely have to cancel Pluralsight and SafariBooks if I decide to stay with CBT.

DatabaseHead

I cancelled my subscription on the 19th (Sept), two months at ~84 a month is enough. For 462 no clue yet I'll cross that road when I get there. I've gone through 463 twice so far in regards to the nuggets. I like it quite a bit, but the information all at once can be a little overwhelming. Overall I dig it.
I am completely focused on the practice test at this time. They seem to help, they did last time so I am sticking to the same strategy. Booster pack was extended through the month of september so take advantage of that even if it's just for 461. I'll keep you all posted. The psychology behind the booster back is hilarous. The mindset you are in, knowing you have 4 other retakes in priceless.

Truth be told, I might stop at the MCSA this has been a HUGE investment of my time and I just don't know if I have enough for the full BI MCSE. I've spent HOURS studying for 463 and haven't even touched 462. It literally took me 3 years to pass 461, that is borderline insanity. Thankfully I have built several packages (dozens) in SSIS including the use of SSAS etc....... The one thing that I keep thinking is the SSAS exam (Dont know the exam name of the exam) shouldnt be to bad either, meaning I could probably power through in a month or so, but I am not sure.

Right now laser focus on 463.

One last thing...... I am potentially putting my bonus at work at risk. Before picking back up on this goal, I had quite a bit bandwidth to work on projects at work on the weekends off hours etc, now I don't. This could cost me 5-10% of my gross potentially if I miss stretch. "Hope it's worth it"!

ghma

I've only been at 70-461 the last four years, literally... noticed when I joined this forum? lol

I've never taken it though. I scheduled it a couple of years ago but chickened out in the end. I read about so many people failing it, and these were seasoned developers. People who have worked with sql for years and still failed it. So I didn't think I had a chance, but now I feel a little more confident about it. The unfortunate thing is that no matter how much I prepare for the exam, the bottom line is that I'm a terrible test taker. So because of that I absolutely have to take advantage of the retakes in the booster pack.

Good luck with 463, I'm going to continue to follow this thread. Might start my own to keep me on track. I agree, this is very time consuming but hopefully it's worth it in the end.

DatabaseHead

Stick with it my friend you'll get it. I agree though I have ~4 years of SQL and it killed me when I was at year 1. I literally had no chance I was laughing out loud at the testing center while taking the test. I finally just starting picking C.

Think I score a 390 or something pathetic second time was a 590 ish maybe 550 dont remember last time was 713 barely.

I can believe seasoned developers bombing this thing....... It's a TOUGH exam. Hoping 463 isn't quite as tough! Thanks again for the well wishes

On a side note, I did review the Kaplan practice exams provided by Nuggets today, ~ 40 questions. Making progress! I'm off tomorrow, I plan on either running a mile with my son or going on a massive hike early on and then getting back into the practice exams. Hopefully another 40 - 50 questions. I am capping myself on the practice test I am going for the quality over quantity.

Peace!

DatabaseHead

Took a break this week sort of..........

Been working on a stored procedure for work, for fun. Weird I know......

Finishing up in ~ 20 minutes then going to run through some practice exam questions.

Side Note - Learning more and more about CDC, pretty nice to implement once you get the hang of it. Trying to keep everything straight while visioning how this can be applied to my own environment. Good times!

DatabaseHead

Just a heads up additional test questions, from Kaplan. I'm giving myself an hour on this then it's back to my SSIS project, which is what I am studying!

Just a side note, I could never ever cert in something I wasn't working with that would be BRUTAL.

DatabaseHead

I actually went through 20 questions on the practice exam, got bored and actually started watching the first nugget again ~21 minutes long. Hit it on 1.6 x to speed up the viewing. Back to the question then work. Fun......

DatabaseHead

Last night I had an opportunity to go through the Kaplan (Transender) exam for ~ 40 more questions. Tonight I'll focus on going through dimension and fact modules, chapter 2 and 3, ~1.5 hours. This will be 3rd time I think....... Ha losing count, but anyway staying with it.

Since I am working on several SSIS packages I find myself swinging around the material aligning with my current work effort.

DatabaseHead

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Last night I had an opportunity to go through the Kaplan (Transender) exam for ~ 40 more questions. Tonight I'll focus on going through dimension and fact modules, chapter 2 and 3, ~1.5 hours. This will be 3rd time I think....... Ha losing count, but anyway staying with it.

Since I am working on several SSIS packages I find myself swinging around the material aligning with my current work effort.

Not certification related, but........ Just got my SSIS package working, only took 2 weeks. It goes out to our Master Data view and stages the data temp table, then the magic begins. I have my template and query in a foreach loop, it goes through the database and based off of variables to pulls the data into a template and kicks it out into a folder. In other words our invoice process for 140+ vendors has been automated. I can't take all the credit my good friend and co worker helped me build the script task using C#, we need methods to call the data and push SSIS beyond's it' threshold.

DatabaseHead

Failed to mention one last thing..... This is extracting data from a mining structure using MDX, which presents a whole BUNCH of challenges. The amount of data flow changes just to get this data into a relational table is crazy. What's great is that this will drive all of our forecasting for usage and volume.

DatabaseHead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQqW70EPbbg

Worth watching, pretty interesting preview for 463. Just finished watching back to the nuggets.......

DatabaseHead

Cranked through another round of practice exams through Kaplan / Transcender from CBT Nuggets.

One thing I noticed about this exam, at least these practice exams is that a series of questions just come to me and then there are some that I don't know at all (very few) and then there are some where I kind of know but not 100%. 461 I felt like I was always behind the whole time grinding except for working with data, which I usually knew the answer. Consequently enough I scored almost 100% working with data for 461 and ~50% for the other 3.

Anyway obviously the chance for a fail is there, but with the Booster pack I am good to go. I believe the booster runs through the end of the month, so if I one and done this exam I will be buying another booster pack for 462. However, I fully anticipant a MUCH longer study time for this one since it's my weakest.

If you watch the video above they mention that you should do the exam you are the most comfortable first to build up momentum, makes sense. If that was the case I would of done 463, 461 then 462. A little out of order but not too bad.

DatabaseHead

Well it's a wrap I am done with this track for the foreseeable future. I've been given a lot more responsibilities and now I am completely drained from these work efforts. I won't be coming back, still VERY proud to have passed 461, I list it on my resume and get A LOT more hits. Good times!

I won't post in this thread any more. All done.

abyssinica

Congrats!

Ertaz

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Well it's a wrap I am done with this track for the foreseeable future. I've been given a lot more responsibilities and now I am completely drained from these work efforts. I won't be coming back, still VERY proud to have passed 461, I list it on my resume and get A LOT more hits. Good times!

I won't post in this thread any more. All done.

Man, I hate to see you step away. You were killing it. I completely understand though. I was hell bent on getting my CCNA after the CASP, but work has been killing me. Now they've cancelled my vacation for next week, but I am still on for GPEN training the week after. Maybe after Christmas things will settle down a bit.

DatabaseHead

Ertaz wrote: »

Man, I hate to see you step away. You were killing it. I completely understand though. I was hell bent on getting my CCNA after the CASP, but work has been killing me. Now they've cancelled my vacation for next week, but I am still on for GPEN training the week after. Maybe after Christmas things will settle down a bit.

Your words inspired me I am back on. I'll keep you posted. 70-463 moving forward, reupped my cbt nugget subscription. Test scheduled in 4 weeks.

DatabaseHead

Another piece that has inspired me.

https://borntolearn.mslearn.net/cfs-file/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-00-08/certpath.gif

Get the MCSA 2012/2014 and take one more exam you get the Data Management and Analysis MCSE, which IMO is just fine. I like the BI title but the other is fine as well. And it's for 2016!

In short grinding through 463 while taking breaks and wrapping up some mining structures.

Exam is set for the 13th for 463 then 462. This should give me some breathing room to stop for a while until the electives are posted for MCSE 2016.

Back to labs........

PS sorry for the delay but work got overwhelming I really am the only BA at work who can perform these types of task most of the others are on the business side, focusing on financials etc.

nachodba

You are making great progress man. Feel free to add me on LinkedIn and I will definitely endorse you for SQL Server.

DatabaseHead

Thanks Nacho

Just assigned 2 more tabular projects and data mining projects. Two more time series forecast then I move onto new product launches, a totally different type of mining structure will be required. Pretty stoked.

DatabaseHead

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/mcse-data-management-analytics.aspx

Upon completion of the MCSA 2012/2014 I think this is the one I will take.

Implementing Data Models and Reports with Microsoft SQL Server

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/exam-70-466.aspx

467 is another options as well, I just think the first one would be a better one for me to take, it aligns with my experiences more.

DatabaseHead

Working strictly through the Kaplan exams right now and watching youtube videos. I really have had enough from CBT Nuggets training. Two times through with a few additional watches on certain modules I am official done with that....... 13th @ 9am central is the big date. I'll follow up once completed.

DatabaseHead

9 am cst Thursday is my exam for 70-463. Deep breath and back to pre testing.

DatabaseHead

failed ~518 tossed the results immediately lol. Re-evaluating my options at this point. Always have to do that....... I really need to ramp up on my machine learning more so than my tech skills, even though I enjoy the tech component, I am really a analyst/data resource. Not an IT person......

J043

Hi. I started my story with SQL Server in july this year for 70-462 exam. I track this forum and you topic. IT also is not do 100% at my work Good luck for you!

Chev Chellios

Just wanted to say thanks for this inspiring thread and good work on the pass- are you attempting the other exam again? Really interesting for me as I've worked in server and network admin for ages but need to step into the SQL world properly soon, keen to learn and looks like a lot to learn too