Windows 8 Exams and Certifications Retiring November 30th, 2015

Microsoft recently announced the date of retirement of several certifications and exams. All Windows 8/8.1 exams are going to be retired with their respective certs. Windows 7 exams will continue to be offered, but the MCSA: Windows 7 certification is going to be retired as well. There have been no announcements to retire any Windows Server 2008 or 2012 exams/certs at this point.
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Exams retiring July 31st, 2016:

70-687: Configuring Windows 8.1
70-688: Supporting Windows 8.1
70-689: Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows 8
70-692: Upgrading Your Windows XP Skills to MCSA Windows 8.1
70-415: Implementing a Desktop Infrastructure (Retiring "early" 2016)
70-416: Implementing Desktop Application Environments (Retiring "early" 2016)

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Certifications Retiring:

All Microsoft Specialist (formerly MCP/MCTS) certifications for Windows 8/8.1
MCSA: Windows 8 (Retiring July 31st, 2016)
MCSE: Desktop Infrastructure (Retiring "early" 2016)

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So... Now What?
As of right now, there haven't been any announcements about a replacement MCSA certification, but there is a Windows 10 stand-alone exam in the works. There is also a new expert-level offering in the form of the MCSE: Enterprise Devices and Apps certification that currently tracks with Windows 8.1, but will be updated to reflect Windows 10 exams as they are released. Presumably, there will eventually be a Windows 10 based MCSA path, along with other exams and training; this thread will be updated to reflect those announcements.

** EDIT **
Updated the post with new dates, as per Microsoft. Original cutoff date for most exams was January 31st, 2016. That has been pushed back to July 31st, 2016.

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Comments

ssnyderu2

Talk about short notice! I was planning on doing this since my company decided to switch over to 8.1. Guess its best to focus on 2012 at this point.

TheFORCE

That's why I have avoided so far getting any Microsft certs. It's better to learn the Micrososft products and solutions they offer without actually taking the certs since you can really demonstrate your knowledge of those products without having the certs. Take AD for example, I use it on a daily basis since the Helpdesk days, I'm getting better at it now since I have access to powershell as well and i am able to run few command. However all i have to do is put sufficient AD knowledge and powershell on my resume and no one will question it.

culpano

ssnyderu2 wrote: »

Talk about short notice! I was planning on doing this since my company decided to switch over to 8.1. Guess its best to focus on 2012 at this point.

Not happy

Spiegel

Why would Microsoft retire two exams at the same time? It'll be a while before companies decide to move away from Win7. I'm sure a lot of companies would benefit from hiring an MCSA Win7 certified person. I'm just curious about their thought process in this because it doesn't make sense to me.

srabiee

Thanks for letting us know. I overlooked this thread before and didn't know that Microsoft was retired the Windows 8/8.1 stuff. That seems to go against their policy of keeping the newest two technologies active. I guess they are all but admitting that Windows 8 was a complete failure in the enterprise, and are completely jumping ship to Windows 10. I'm most certainly glad to hear that the Server 2008 and Server 2012 exams are remaining though.

I had actually planned on studying for and taking the MCSE|DI at some point in 2016. Guess I will need to look into the MCSE:ED&A more closely, or skip it altogether. I usually wait until the Sybex study guide releases before I begin studying, so hopefully they cover that one at some point.

Strange things are afoot at Microsoft.

someperson49

Microsoft has made more changes....

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/mcsa-windows-8-certification.aspx

Note The MCSA: Windows 8 certification is retiring in July 2016. See the lists of retired exams and retired certifications for more information.

[TH][/TH]
[TH]Exam[/TH]

Retiring on July 31, 2016

70-687: Configuring Windows 8.1
70-688: Supporting Windows 8.1
70-689: Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows 8
70-692: Upgrading Your Windows XP Skills to MCSA Windows 8

Commguy23

Hi guys,
I passed the 70-415 a couple months ago and was ready to take the 70-416 this month. I just found out it is retired? Is there a grace period, I see some are staying valid until July. Is this the case with the 70-416 as well? Or am I out of luck and worked towards preparing for an exam that no longer exists?