MCPD Web vs. Windows

Gundamtdk

I don't know which certification I should attempt first.

MCPD Windows Developer 3.5 or ASP.NET Developer 3.5?

Which certification has more practical applications?

MCPWannabe

Gundamtdk wrote:

I don't know which certification I should attempt first.

MCPD Windows Developer 3.5 or ASP.NET Developer 3.5?

Which certification has more practical applications?

Web is more marketable but also adds some extra layers of difficulty as you must master session state, user validation, deal with an extra layer of programming in html, and a host of other things.

Windows is a little simpler in that you get to leave a lot of the web stuff out, which may not be so bad starting.

I got my MCAD before starting all of this. Jobs starting calling pretty quickly, but I did notice that a great deal of them asked for web design. Still, it wasn't hard for me to take the concepts that I learned as an object-oriented windows developer and adopt them as a web developer.

If you are new, I recommend Windows first if you have the time. If you are needing a job quickly, then you should take the plunge, and do the web developer first. The Microsoft e-learning collections are excellent for teaching this and they include some very nice virtual labs. However, the press books are also good.

After you do your microsoft projects save all of them. Then, list them on your resume under a 'special projects' section. I did this, and a ton of firms waived the 5 year experience requirement on my resume. Also, be prepared to send the firms your project files if they ask, so be thorough in your labs and don't skip anything.

The tests.. Fortunately, the Microsoft Programming tests are very straight foward. They don't try to trick you and you will learn that if you do everything in the Microsoft Press Book and take a Transcender test you will be fine.

I started back in September with only the knowledge of how to code in VB. Now, I can write full-blown data driven applications and can put together a fairly mean portal. You will be surprised at how fast you will come along if you do the labs and don't take shortcuts.

MCPWannabe

Here is a good link for examining various code and getting a feel for what you like:

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/