Help me to decide getting developer's certificate.

coding-toting*

Hi All,

I came across this forum when my brother told me about this. I really enjoyed viewing this forum .
I am in a delimma regarding following issues.

1-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]I am under a 4 year fulltime regular bachelor’s degree course (Bachelor of Technology – Information Technology). I want to do a Microsoft Certificaiton course (MCPD: Microsoft Certified Professional Developer). Will it be appropriate for me to do get this certificate now or after 4 years?



2-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]I have completed BlueJ(Java) , C and C++ as basic level already . The Languages that I need to study for this certificate (MCPD) are C#,VB and .NET. With which language I should start with ?



3-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]I actually want to take projects from Find Freelancers, Professionals, and Contract Workers for Hire - Guru.com , www.getafreelancer.com and Rent A Coder: How Software Gets Done -- Home of the worlds' largest number of completed software projects . Will this certificate be appropriate for me to get projects?



4-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]What is the Validity of this certificate? Will it expire after sometime ? If yes, how could I renew it.



5-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]What is this certificate’s stand alone value in market and what is its value with a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering-Information Technology ? Will it be profitable after 4 years i.e., when my bachelor’s degree course Is over?



Thanks in Advance.

JDMurray

1. Microsoft suggest having 2-3 years of Visual Studio experience with either C# or Visual Basic for .NET. before taking their MCPD course.

2. You will take the MCTS and MCPD exams in either C# or Visual Basic for .NET. You choose the language when you start the exam. I would go for C# because it is very popular and very similar to Java.

3. Only having a certification is no guarantee of getting contract job jobs. People who issue programming job contracts want to see examples of your prior work, projects you've built, references from your customers, and documentation (which is sometime more important than the code itself). Having certs or a degree is usually not so important for contractors--it's your work that counts.

4. Microsoft certs do not expire. Microsoft's certs are valid to anyone that thinks Microsoft itself is valid.

5. There is no accurate job market metrics for the value of most IT and programming certifications. Certs are usually extra things that may help a programmer get a job over other programmers who don't have certs. However, every employer has a differing opinion of certs, so having certs really doesn't guarantee anything except that you passed an exam. Certs are complementary to education and experience and do not replace either.

coding-toting*

JDMurray wrote: »

1. Microsoft suggest having 2-3 years of Visual Studio experience with either C# or Visual Basic for .NET. before taking their MCPD course.

2. You will take the MCTS and MCPD exams in either C# or Visual Basic for .NET. You choose the language when you start the exam. I would go for C# because it is very popular and very similar to Java.

3. Only having a certification is no guarantee of getting contract job jobs. People who issue programming job contracts want to see examples of your prior work, projects you've built, references from your customers, and documentation (which is sometime more important than the code itself). Having certs or a degree is usually not so important for contractors--it's your work that counts.

4. Microsoft certs do not expire. Microsoft's certs are valid to anyone that thinks Microsoft itself is valid.

5. There is no accurate job market metrics for the value of most IT and programming certifications. Certs are usually extra things that may help a programmer get a job over other programmers who don't have certs. However, every employer has a differing opinion of certs, so having certs really doesn't guarantee anything except that you passed an exam. Certs are complementary to education and experience and do not replace either.

Thank you very much. It was nice and detailed answer.

1. As you mentioned about 2-3 years of Visual Studio experience, I am eager to know- Is this experience a compulsory one ? Wont i be able to get certificate without this experience?

2.How to get your first contract job because you will be a fresher and you wont be having any ratings on any of these sites?

3. After the core exam, Should i take the other two papers in
Web development or Windows developr

4. Which has more scope in the present market and future growth

5. Also, what is difference between enterprise application exam and windows developer exam

6. Which has more scope in the present market and
future growth

I am referring to this link
MCPD certification - Free Practice test and Study Notes -uCertify

7. Which exams are the easiest to take, i.e, maintaining the C# route

Thanks in advance for your time and patience

JDMurray

First of all, you need to read the developers certification pages at Microsoft Web site. You will discover the prerequisites and recommendations for each certification. There are no work or educational requirements to take any Microsoft certification exam. And none of the exams are easy, but they will seem easy if you know the material very well.

You need to study the certification preparation materials to actually learn about .NET programming and the .NET Framework, and not just study to get a cert. It's your knowledge and experience that will keep you in a job, not a piece of paper hanging on your wall.

Currently in the .NET world, ASP.NET (Web) in C# is extremely hot. Here in Southern California, a good C#/ASP.NET programmer with five years of experience can find a $100K/year job or contract work. But, once again, it's knowledge and experience that gets you that kind of money. Studying for the certs just helps you get there.