475 Exam Discounts Given Away, But The Clock Is Ticking!

I’m surprise at MS learning, they seems to want no one to get certified! I say that because of some of the strange things that MSL is doing. • Removing MCT awards discounts. • Stopping 2nd shot. • Adding HDI requirement for one of Win7 exams. • Stopping the advance notices for MCT & MVP about beta exams. • Lots of lower level Certs MCTS but not that many MCITP for example what happened to 70-402 exam and the MCITP for System Center? IMHO If MSL has a lower level cert for an SME area then they MUST also have a MCITP for that same SME area, otherwise what is the point. I really wonder what MSL long term goals are and why they are not promoting certification and even more promoting the value of the new MCTS / MCITP. In the contracting world, most headhunter still don’t understand what MCTS/MCITP are and they are still demanding MCSE. Even better, the other day I saw a demand for MCSE Win2k8! Ultimately, I think that MSL need to provide the community with their direction and why. Also think that MSL need to work with Headhunter and business to make then award of the new certs and the value of the new certs. (I personally can say I haven’t seen anything about the new certification from a business perspective.) For example, explain how 83-640 will be the new standard of exam testing and that paper certs are a thing of the past. Finally, I think that MSL need to work with local study group / user group to help increase “grass roots” certification process. BTW this also means that MSL need to talk to MSPress and make sure that there are exam prep books for each cert.

To give folks an idea of the scale of the "Gear To Get Your Butt In Gear" giveaways at chrisrue.com this month, here s a rough accounting (using MSRP)... Total value of exam discounts (so far) = $11,950 Total value of books (so far) = $600 HTC Touch = $300 Windows 7 Ultimate = $320 MS Office 2007 Pro = $500 SMB Nation passes = $2000 For a GRAND TOTAL of $15,670!! BTW: @Garth Wow, thanks for the comment so totally off-topic for this post. Appreciate it.

If I already have like 20-40 MCT vouchers allocated to me, are they still good for the 20% off past that date? since they are marked good til 6/30/2010? THis will only affect new vouchers being requested correct?

@Chad That s exactly correct. The cutoff of the 20 percent discount is tied to when the vouchers were GENERATED, not when they are used. And all current vouchers are good until June 30, 2010. Thanks for asking fore clarification on that! My post isn t quite as precisely worded as it could be, so I ll post a revision a little bit later.

I received mine and am very appreciative.

@ Steven You re most welcome, man. Good luck on your exams! And feel free to keep passing the word on the voucher giveaway to other IT Pros that you think could benefit from them, and I ll keep churning them out!

FYI: Just modified the post to include the clarifications discussed with Chad above.

err @Chris I think you need to re-read your post and my comments as it is nowhere near OT. What I was trying to point out is that MSL is exactly trying to prevent people from being certified by slowly eroding any incentive for people to get certified. Why drop the discount for 20 to 10%? NOW tell me why you (@Chris ) don’t think MSL is “dropping” the ball? BTW the only reason I saw your comments was I am looking in my history for any other blog post on merging VHDs, otherwise I would never have seen you comments. RSS is a poor choice for a two way conversation.

@ Garth Then it belongs on a post about MSL dropping the ball, not a post about someone who does NOT work for MSL or Microsoft trying to offer people free stuff to help them brush up their skills at a time when, all around the world, people are getting laid off, or nervous about getting laid off, and businesses are struggling. Seriously, it s way enough off-topic to be annoying. I won t go so far as to label it a troll, but sheesh. I honestly don t understand the attitude.

Chris, I m sure everyone appreciates you providing this giveaway, but please understand that many people have been frustrated/disappointed with some of MSL s actions/decisions over the past year or two, and there s a chance of this simmering frustration surfacing on any MSL-related posts (on the official MSL blog!) through no fault of your own. :-) i.e., people are grateful that you re giving away MCT vouchers while they re still worth 20%, but are frustrated/disappointed that new MCT vouchers are going to be worth half as much from now on.

@ Alice I can appreciate being frustrated with Microsoft over various things, because sometimes I am as well. And when I am, I let them know it. And my professional contacts at MS (not just MSL) know that I will let them know it. The difference is in the way I will let them know it. You see, simply venting to the point of trolling/spamming one of their sites, to me, isn t any productive way to go about it. If you want to effect real change with any vendor (not just MS) you need to engage with them in ways that allows both of you to come to the table with dignity and respect for each other intact, which allows them (the vendor) to elicit from productive feedback that is, above all else, actionable. What really peeves me personally about the off-topic comments and draconian approach to post ratings (all 1s no matter what) here is that, particularly in the case of this giveaway, it s kept this post from appearing in the HIGHEST RATED section, which would allow more people to see it, even after it s been pushed down off the main page. As a side effect of the giveaway, I ve been receiving an immense amount of feedback from people thanking me, which is nice and much appreciated but not at all the point of this giveaway. More importantly, people are saying how these vouchers have spurred them to brush up their skills, and finish some exams. THAT is actionable feedback, straight from their constituent mouths, which I intend to share (without revealing anyone s names, etc.), probably publicly on my blog, to say "Hey, these things truly make people take action and use your exams/courses/etc. Maybe you guys want to re-think stuff here and there." But you ll notice through all of this, I ve never called all of MSL "pathetic" or about a thousand other things I ve seen on various other posts, which besides being unfair, simply don t have a place in a professional business conversation. And I do appreciate your comment, which was beyond all else, both on-topic AND professional. :)