Microsoft Certifications: I'm Already Certified as an MCPD and I Want to Upgrade. Where do I start?
For those of you who have already acquired an MCPD in either Windows, Web or Enterprise for .NET 2.0, I have some good news and some bad news.
First the good news. You are only one exam away from upgrading your skills to .NET 3.5 MCPD, (almost). The almost means that for Web and Windows, there will be one upgrade exam but for Enterprise, there will be two, similar to .NET 2.0. There is just too much stuff to cover for one upgrade exam.
That's right, we have kept the same pillars for the MCPD track that you are already familiar with in 2.0. We will have MCPD Web, Windows and Enterprise for .NET 3.5.
Obviously some of the material will be different such as needing to know WCF, ADO etc. for MCPD Enterprise Developer and of course MCPD Web will be renamed to MCPD ASP.NET, official names to follow.
So, what is the bad news? Well, you won't be able to upgrade until the exams become available. At this time, I don't have an ETA on that availability. One of the reasons is that upgrade exams are comprised of multiple other exams from the TS and Pro tracks. At this time, only our TS level exams are nearing completion and the Pro level exams are still a way out.
This of course provides you the ability to get up to speed on the new technologies in .NET 3.5 before the exams launch.
These delays are a direct result of the issues we faced with the Pro level exam retirement decision and we couldn't create these exams until we had a solid decision and game plan in place. Please ensure you watch the MCP web site and your MCP Flash newsletters for the announcements around those decisions and to better help you understand why the Pro certifications were delayed. I won't go into the specifics here as Trika and team have done a much better job at explaining this than I could possibly provide.
These upgrade paths have been a long time coming and we appreciate your patience in waiting for this information, well, most of you were patient. ;-)
I hope it is good news and that you will be satisfied with the decisions we have made. They were done with your best interests in mind.
As always, opinions, comments and questions welcome.
Gerry
Comments
Anonymous
March 04, 2008
For those of you who have already acquired an MCPD in either Windows, Web or Enterprise for .NET 2.0Anonymous
March 04, 2008
Hi Gerry, If I'm a MCPD in Web, Windows and Enterprise, is there any requirements/benefits (other than preparation) of doing any of the new TS exams? Also, the way I see it is there are 5 new TS exams (WCF, WPF, WF, ADO.NET, ASP.NET) - which of the MCPD upgrade exams will cover material from which of these new TS exams? Cheers, RobAnonymous
March 04, 2008
Aggiornare le certificazioni MCPD a .NET 3.5Anonymous
March 05, 2008
Hello Gerry, I have only one comment: If you can get the upgrade exams ready at least at the same time you get the full MCPD 3.5 ready, that would be great. I wouldn't want to be last just because of the upgrade...Anonymous
March 05, 2008
Hi Rob. No reason to do the TS exams unless they are not included as part of the MCPD. For example, the Workflow exam will not be a part of any of the MCPD exams so if you want to show a credential in that, you will need to take the 70-504 exam seperately. As to what will be included, for Web, ASP.NET and ADO.NET, for Windows it will be the as-yet announced Windows Forms and for Enterprise, it will cover Windows, ASP.NET, ADO.NET and WCF. WPF and WF are the standalone TS exams. GerryAnonymous
March 05, 2008
Giggio, The upgrade exams are formed from the TS and Pro exams. You won't see the upgrade exams in beta form but the Pro exams will be in beta. Once the beta finishes and the items are selected, the upgrade exams are created. They are typically released around the same time. GerryAnonymous
March 05, 2008
Hi Gerry, I have a question, but not sure if you're the person who can answer, but what the heck. I sat for WCF beta exam last year Decemember, I still have not received my results in the mail yet (supposed to be 8 weeks). You have any idea what's happening?Anonymous
March 05, 2008
Hi Edwin, I am all knowing. :-) Actually, the beta period for this exam was extended along with those for WPF and WF. As a result, the exam won't go live until April 14. You should see results around that time. GerryAnonymous
March 05, 2008
Hi Ben Worshipping thanks for the info. I'm getting quite impatient waiting for my results!!!! :)Anonymous
March 05, 2008
Great to see some updates on this! Now...can we avoid exams where you fail the entire exam if you fail one section (ala 70-553/554)?Anonymous
March 07, 2008
I know you said 'no ETA', but can you give a ballpark (Q2/Q3/Q4, etc)? The reason I ask is that my employer reimburses for the exams and there is a 'use it or lose it' yearly allowance. If the upgrade exams aren't expected this year, I would begin studying for a TS exam like WPF or WF in order to take full advantage of my employers allowance. Knowing an estimate would allow me to plan accordingly.Anonymous
March 07, 2008
Hi Shawn. A ballpark for the upgrade exams at this time would be end of year. So that means a Q4 calendar year 2008. That assumes we get development kicked off before the end of Q1 calendar year 2008, which as you know, is almost over now. That is the best I can offer at this time and it comes with the caveat that they may or may not be available in that time frame. I'm sorry I can't offer anymore than that but I won't commit to something that I can't commit to based on factual evidence. GerryAnonymous
March 07, 2008
Thanks Gerry, I appreciate the effort at trying to pin down a moving target. This is enough information for me to plan my year. I will focus on the standalone WPF and WF TS exams this year and then focus on the upgrade at the end of the year.Anonymous
April 20, 2008
As Gerry mentioned in his blog, WPF , WCF and WF exams went live on Monday last week. As you may alreadyAnonymous
May 12, 2008
Hi Gerry, Out of interest, if I'm an MCPD 2.0 and take all the individual 3.5 exams (as opposed to the upgrade exams), will I gain an MCPD 3.5? Cheers, RobAnonymous
May 13, 2008
Hi Rob, Unfortunately no. The reason is simply that the Pro level exams are designed to test your ability to understand the why, where and when of choosing a specific technology or area of technology to use in an application. The TS exams are designed to test your ability to actually implement the technology. Because the two exams are designed to test different aspects, you need to either take them both or take an upgrade exam. The upgrade exam is designed such that it pulls from the MCTS exam(s) and the Pro exam so that both areas are covered. GerryAnonymous
June 24, 2008
I have MCTS web applications 2.0, is it better to get MCPD 2.0 web developer certification, then upgrade to MCPD 3.5 or just focus on the 3.5 exams directly_Anonymous
June 25, 2008
The comment has been removedAnonymous
August 30, 2008
I'm already certified as MCPD: Web Application Developer 2.0 and I plan to get MCPD: Enterprise Application Developer 3.5. Which exams should I take?Anonymous
September 03, 2008
Hi Yap, If you already have MCPD Enterprise Developer for .NET 2.0, then you would need to take two exams to upgrade to 3.5. 70-568 and 70-569. These are not available yet nor are the prep guides but they will be up soon. GerryAnonymous
September 06, 2008
Hi Gerry, I am not yet MCPD Enterprise Developer for .NET 2.0, but I am MCPD Web Application Developer for .NET 2.0.Anonymous
September 08, 2008
Hi Yap, If you want the benefit of the upgrade, then you should look at completing the MCPD Enterprise exam for .NET 2.0. GerryAnonymous
November 08, 2008
Hi Gerry, any news about upgrade exams?Anonymous
November 09, 2008
Hi Nodirbek, They are coming, but not until the first of next year. GerryAnonymous
December 28, 2008
Hi Gerry, "They are coming, but not until the first of next year." "First" what? Week? Month? Quarter? :) Thanks, Caio ProieteAnonymous
December 28, 2008
Caio, I am being vague for a reason. :-) The reason is that I have dates currently that set them for January, February and March of which I am not satisfied and I am trying to bring the dates in closer to January for all the upgrade exams. Until I have more concrete dates, I don't wish to commit to anything. GerryAnonymous
March 11, 2009
Any news about the release date of the .NET 3.5 MCPD upgrade exams? Thanks, BartAnonymous
March 11, 2009
Hi Bart, 70-566 and 70-567 are in market now. 568 and 569 are set for March 26. GerryAnonymous
March 30, 2009
Following two exams are supposed to release on 26 Mar 2009. But I haven't got any information regarding the exams release. Still it is showing coming soon in the web site. Exam 70-568: UPGRADE: Transition your MCPD Enterprise Application Developer Skills to MCPD Enterprise Application Developer 3.5, Part 1 Exam 70-569: UPGRADE: Transition your MCPD Enterprise Application Developer Skills to MCPD Enterprise Application Developer 3.5, Part 2Anonymous
March 30, 2009
Pradeep, I'm not sure what you mean by you haven't got any information regarding the exam release. Did you sign up for some announcement mailing list that I'm not aware of? Our Web sites are going through a major update process and some pages are getting updated earlier than others. If you see a date that has passed on the web site, then check Prometric's site to see if they are available. GerryAnonymous
April 26, 2009
Hi Gerry, I am very happy to hear the 568 and 569 exams are now available. Can you disclose anything about the accompaning training materials? In particular, will there be self-paced training kits for these exams and do you have an inkling as to when they will be available? Thanks bunches, ErikAnonymous
April 26, 2009
Hi Erik, I'm sorry to say that MS Press will not be creating training kits for these exams. GerryAnonymous
April 26, 2009
Hi Gerry, Thanks for your more-than-quick reply. That's very sad news indeed. I am kind of loath to 'just wing it' with an exam like this but I noticed that e-learning materials are not available yet either. Will they be? Thanks again, ErikAnonymous
April 26, 2009
Hi again Erik, At this point in time, all of our development efforts will focus on Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4.0. I'd have to check and determine if any courses are still in flight but at this time, I doubt there are. I know there are a lot of people that rely on the training kits or eLearning for self-paced exam prep and it makes it harder to prepare when these materials are not available. However, one thing I always recommend is to see if there is a training kit or course for the equivalent exam on VS 2005 or .NET 2.0 and to use that for a starter and rely on MSDN and online resources to fill in the gaps for the new content. Hope that helps a bit. GerryAnonymous
April 26, 2009
Hi again Gerry, Yes, that does help a lot, thanks :-) I passed my MCPD: Enterprise Apps Dev quite recently so I think I'll focus on the new ADO.NET, WPF and WCF and see how I'll fly at the exams. Thanks again, ErikAnonymous
June 23, 2009
Well as of today June24,2009 i saw a post at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?ID=70-567&locale=en-us.And from all indication i guess the upgrae exam for MCPD Web Developer upgrade is now ready the post dated the Publishing date as March31,2009.I am going to try and register to find outAnonymous
February 12, 2010
Hi Gerry, I had MCAD and wanted to get to MCPD Enterprise App Dev 3.5. Looking through learning site the upgrade path would be MCAD to MCPD Enterprise App Dev by passing (70-551, 70-552, 70-529, 70-549) and then MCPD Enterprise App Developer 2.0 to MCPD Enterprise App Dev by passing ( 70-568, 70-569) thats a total of 6 exams. referred url: http://goo.gl/PJFq Where as through non upgrade path, to be MCPD Enterprise App Dev 3.5 one needs to pass (70-536, 70-561, 70-562, 70-503, 70-565) thats a total of 5 exams. referred url: http://goo.gl/NqCK It looks like one needs to pass more exams if upgrade path is chosen than non-upgrade path to get to MCPD Enterprise App Dev 3.5 Could you please let me know if I am missing something.Anonymous
February 12, 2010
Hi Raj, You are correct and you are not missing anything. The reason it takes one more exam for the upgrade is simply in how the requirements map out. These are based on the required upgrade paths that existed between MCAD and MCPD. We do not provide direct upgrade paths across two versions of the Framework due to technology changes. It is better in the long run for MCAD certified candidates to take the .NET 3.5 certs from scratch in my opinion. Gerry