ms.p.d.f.a quest to MCPers

[xamman]

a bit off topic,but i think there must be a lot of people here who have
been through the MCP exam process for their dotnet exams

my question as a first time exam candidate is how to login to the MCP
site.i found some info below but am not sure if i will be receiving MCP
credentials by email or in my test result printout from the centre. i
would also like to know if i can try logging in to the MCP site
immediately after i pass, or did you wait a few days to see results
updated?

thx & seasons greetings

Enter your MCP ID and the access code that you received through
e-mail.....
....Access codes are now provided to you after you pass an initial MCP
exam and are good for a maximum of seven days.


http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/passport/instructions_a.asp

 

[Mark Rae]

a bit off topic,but i think there must be a lot of people here who have
been through the MCP exam process for their dotnet exams

I would doubt that... I think you'll find that quite a few people here,
myself included, consider the MCP exams a total and utter waste of time and
money...

 

[Damien]

I would doubt that... I think you'll find that quite a few people here,
myself included, consider the MCP exams a total and utter waste of time and
money...

I haven't done any MC* exams yet, but will be doing in the future. I'm
salaried, work are paying, and it's an afternoon away from the office -
why *wouldn't* I do it?

 

[Mark Rae]

I haven't done any MC* exams yet, but will be doing in the future. I'm
salaried, work are paying, and it's an afternoon away from the office -
why *wouldn't* I do it?

Because they are totally worthless. They don't prove that you know anything
about the subject they relate to - merely that you're capable of retaining a
buch of facts for a few hours.

 

[Damien]

Because they are totally worthless. They don't prove that you know anything
about the subject they relate to - merely that you're capable of retaining a
buch of facts for a few hours.

I never denied that. I just stated that it's a free afternoon off work.

 

[Mark Rae]

I never denied that. I just stated that it's a free afternoon off work.

Let's hope you never apply for a job where someone like me is interviewing
you...!

If you included your MCP qualification(s) on your CV, the first question I'd
ask you is to justify why you had wasted your time and your (or your current
/ previous employer's) money on such a worthless "qualification".

The interview would pretty much over there and then...

 

[Samuel R. Neff]

I'll agree with Mark Rae that MCP exams (and most other certification
exams) are pretty useless as tests of a person's programming ability.

HOWEVER, disqualifying them because they "wasted" their time taking a
certification exam is going a bit too far. A lot of companies do
value certification and as such it shouldn't be a negative for someone
to have them. If you've ever talked to an IT recruiter one of the
first things they usually mention is certifications (which if course
is partially why IT recruiters are often useless too).

Also it's very common, especially for consulting companies, to
encourage or require their employees to obtain certifications. A
previous employer paid me $1000 for every certification I received, so
I sure as heck was gonna get as many as possible during the short time
I worked there. Besides, for a company to be a MS partner they must
have a certain number of certified developers.

And besides, the OP didn't ask anything about value of certifications
or if he should take them or anything like that. He had a very
specific and valid question about the MCP website and certifications
he had already taken.

From what I recall, it took a few days for the updates to propagate
through their system and for results to show on your own site and on
your employer's site (if you're registered with a particular
employer).

Sam


btw, even more useless than MCP are Brainbench. They are really
ridiculous certifications but still shouldn't be a negative unless the
candidate puts too much stress on them.

 

[Mark Rae]

I'll agree with Mark Rae that MCP exams (and most other certification
exams) are pretty useless as tests of a person's programming ability.

HOWEVER, disqualifying them because they "wasted" their time taking a
certification exam is going a bit too far.

Did you read the Damian's first reply? He *specifically* said that his only
interest in taking an MCP exam was to get an afternoon off work... Would you
hire someone like that...? I sure as hell wouldn't...

A lot of companies do value certification

Lots of companies do lots of things - that doesn't make them right...

and as such it shouldn't be a negative for someone to have them.

I disagree totally. With a little effort and money, you could buy a
certificate, diploma, degree, even an MBa from some website - that doesn't
mean a thing... All it takes to pass any of the MCP exams is the ability to
retain information for a few hours... Each MCP has a finite set of questions
from which a subset are picked at random for the actual test - but you must
*surely* know that the entire set of questions for every single MCP is
available on the web if you know where to look...

If you've ever talked to an IT recruiter one of the first things they
usually
mention is certifications (which if course is partially why IT recruiters
are
often useless too).

I certainly agree with that.

Also it's very common, especially for consulting companies, to
encourage or require their employees to obtain certifications. A
previous employer paid me $1000 for every certification I received, so
I sure as heck was gonna get as many as possible during the short time
I worked there.

Again, if I saw that on your CV, you wouldn't even get to the interview
stage...

Besides, for a company to be a MS partner they must
have a certain number of certified developers.

That is, unfortunately, very true...