New Microsoft Certification for Students: Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) available today!

Interesting! Good to finally see the announcement. This MTA line seems like it should fill the 'true entry-level' gap well, if you can convince enough colleges to start offering it quickly with this model. I'm surprised it took this long for Microsoft to add something like this to the certification lineup, really; it's about time.

Colleges?  Seriously?  The MCTS certifications are more than easy and "entry-level" enough.  I can't imagine anything even more "entry level" than an MCTS being acceptable for anyone other than high school students.  And to be honest, there are many tech-centric high schools where students graduate with an MCSA, CCNA, or similar level of certification.

It's a shame CPLS's can't offer this.  It would tie in nicely with our apprenticship scheme.

I have to echo bsimms' post.

Hi Alice!

Glad to hear that you're excited about MTA! It has been a long time in the making and we are very pleased with the accolades it's already receiving! Read on for more…

Hello OtherKevin!

Thanks for your perspective on our newest technology cert! We created the MTA exams based on feedback from technology educators and industry experts around the world. Whether a school is just starting to offer technology courses or has an established program attracting job changers new to technology, we feel that MTA offers a broader variety so that schools can choose what works best for them.

There are over 60 institutions around the world already licensed for MTA and working to integrate these exams into their "101" technology courses!  We have received a tremendous amount of praise and support for now offering a bite sized onramp to our intermediate and advanced technology exams. MTA rounds out the Microsoft technology certification portfolio now providing opportunities for everyone from aspiring technologists to seasoned technology architects to validate their level of achievement and become a part of our MCP community.

MTA is also a great way for students who haven’t quite decided what they want to do when they grow up to explore a variety of technology career options without making a grand investment of time and money. We know that students have a lot of demands on their time, and for many the investment in MCTS is just too much of a monitary and time commitment for a path that they may not be sure is right for them. We feel that we now offering technology certifications for all levels of ability and experience and we will continue to build our MTA portfolio with exam topics covering the most broadly used and in demand technology topics out there!  

Hello to you, Bsimms and toasty0!

I appreciate your comments about offering MTA in the commercial space. Your sentiment is shared by others as well and it’s not lost on us!  Pablo, our MTA Product Manager and the master-mind behind MTA, created these exams specifically to fill a gap that he recognized in school curriculums around the world. It is important to us that we focus our immediate attention to MTA meeting the intended needs in the classroom.

We agree that MTA is a great compliment to programs such as Student to Business and Student Tech Clubs. Holding a Microsoft Technology Associate is going to help differentiate students applying for college admissions and internships.

Thank you all for your comments!

Please keep your questions and comments coming!

Hello Victoria,

So I have been going through all the information posted today.

I went through the Certiport Site, Microsoft.com/learning, Born 2 Learn and there are a couple of really big things missing in any of these locations

1. What will the cost of these exams be.  All that it does say is that they are priced for the Academic Market.  that you can call Certiport to talk to someone.  Does this mean that the price is variable and can be negotiated?  Is there a readon that Microsoft is not being forthright about the cost of these exams?  I mean we all know that MCTS/MCITP/MCPD exams currently cost $125 each.  I know that the MCAS exams cost somewhere between 75 ( lowest price i found) and 110 plus an administration fee (Highest price).

This would allow the tester to plan costs of course  as they plot their total out come.

2. I did contact a local institution about just going an taking an exam with them and the said it was only open to their students and I would need to enroll with them to take the exams.  Is this  the long term plan?  It seems to be positioned for career changers as well as people wanting to explore new areas and limiting it to only a small number of institutions unnecessairly restricts the market.  What is the schedule and plan for building out this program that MSL seems to be pushing as an entry point to the certification industry.

3. You may also want to rethink your target audience as "MTA is also a great way for students who haven’t quite decided what they want to do when they grow up" never seemed to me to be those that are motivated enough to actually go and take an exam.

I did go through all of Microsoft.com/learning and there was nothing on this program anywhere, when will the website be updated?

Thanks in advance for a speedy reply

Bill

Hi Bill,

We appreciate you taking the time to familiarize yourself with the new MTA certification. Microsoft does not set pricing, Certiport and their Partners set the prices and they may vary by partner / country.  This is why customers are being directed to Certiport to learn more about pricing. I can tell you that for those schools who efficiently utilize the MTA Campus License the cost per exam will be a fraction of the cost of other Microsoft and competitive exams. I hope this answers your question.

It's nice to see that customers are using the MTA Campus License correctly. It's true that the campus license covers only students, faculty and staff of the licensed institution. So if you are an academic MCT teaching at an accredited academic institution such as an ITA, you can take the exam under their license.

We still have a lot of work to do in rolling MTA out in more languages and to new countries. Our focus as I mentioned is specifically on taking care of the customers in front of us right now. If and when we decided to look at other market opportunities you know that as an MCT you will be among the first to find out!

Regarding committing to a career path at a tender age; I didn't know I was going to get into marketing until my mid 20's, and I certainly didn't plan on switching career paths and spending 7 years as a supply chain manager until the opportunity arose in my early 30's. Fortunately for me, I enjoyed my time in supply chain immensely and I love what I do now - even if it wasn't scripted from high school. My son is will be starting his 4th year at the University of Washington this year.  As a freshman he thought he wanted to go into chemical or bio engineering. Now, although he has the credits to major in history he’s still looking at business, finance and econ as well. Maybe it’s just my family – but we’re confident that there a lot of students out there wanting to test the waters before they commit to a field, even if they know that they want to specialize in technology in some way, there are still a lot of options to choose from. By offering bite sized exams that don’t require investing time and money in multiple classes, students or career changers interested in starting a career in technology can get a good idea within a single quarter or semester if networking, db dev or windows admin is something that they have a propensity and passion for.  

You can read more about MTA on the Microsoft Learning site at www.microsoft.com/.../mta.

Thanks!

I guess that makes a certain level of sense.  I can understand why the level of material is directed at the market that it is targeted to, but I would submit that this is better offered as a course than as a certification track.  The purpose of certification is to demonstrate to employers, partners, and customers that you have skills related to a product or technology.  An MTA certification is going to carry zero weight with employers.  Most of them still don't get MCTS or MCITP and are still looking for MCSE/MCDBA/etc certs.  Customers tend to be even less aware of the value of certification and the new generation certs, and I can't see Microsoft changing it's Partner Program benefits to accommodate MTA certifications.

Don't get me wrong, I think that it's great that there is some sort of entry-level training available.  I just don't see how having an official certification offers any value over a certificate that says "I completed this IT101course."

I could not have said it better myself, Kevin! MTA isn’t designed to compete with, but rather help students prepare for career certs such as MCTS. MTA provides students with low investment career path exploration opportunities, confidence and motivation, and a validation of interest and aptitude with technology. This can be liberating and inspiring, particularly for someone who may lack the confidence in themselves to even attempt preparing for an MCTS (like me!).  The purpose of this certification is to demonstrate to yourself, teachers, admissions administrators, and your friends that you have taken the first step towards your career goals and that you were successful!

The thought of going into the field of technology can be intimidating for a lot of people, regardless of age. There is still a notion out there that one has to have the brains of a rocket scientist to be a successful technologist.  Of course, many geniuses do pursue careers in technology (thankfully for the rest of us!), but as you know there are other attributes of the masses that lend themselves to becoming successful working in technology.  Think of the curious kid tinkering with mechanical or electronic devices, the relentless puzzle solver and maze master, little inventors always wanting to know how things work; such intrinsic interests lend themselves to this industry. MTA is a great way to inspire and motivate students whether you’re in high school wondering what your future holds or just starting a new career at 40.

And as a teacher, (say teaching 150 – 200 level classes) and with a new class of 30 students every 90-180-365 days, what a great indicator that students have a solid foundation for the intermediate content they are about to learn.

For admissions administrators or entry level internship placement decision makers, with a sea of applicants of nearly identical education and experience levels, MTA shows not only a student’s aptitude but that they were afforded the opportunity or were motivated enough to go that extra step to differentiate themselves with a technology certification from Microsoft.

We know that lack of confidence and motivation are 2 key drivers of an ever prevalent and rising drop- out rate for students. I personally feel that MTA can provide the confidence and recognition that a young adult needs to take that next step, and the one after to start building a rewarding career for himself. This gives me a lot of pride in the work we are doing here in MSL!

Hi Victoria,

In the UK we have a strong IT Academy footprint and one of the key tenets of this program is the national recognition for the IT qualifications that are delivered.

The older qualifications such as MCP and MCSA are well established and have recognition in by the UK awarding bodies such as NVQ, The National Qualifications Framework (NQF), BTEC etc.  However new qualifcations take a long time to gain this status.

We have seen a distinct absence or delay in getting the newer qualifications such as MSTS and MSITP becoming nationally mapped to the above awarding bodies and this therefore leaves many colleges unable to deliver them as in most cases funding is drawn down from the goverment in recognition of the number of learners taught with qualifications which are nationally recognised.

Please can you tell me what active steps you are making to ensure that we do not have to wait for 2-3 years for the new MTA qualifications to be accredited/adopted into the NVQ framework?

Regards

Andrew

Interesting way to help students to fin out what they really need. I have students who want to be DBA's and I think this is really great.

Hello Andrew,

Thanks for the great question! Victoria is out of the office all week on vacation so I am doing my best to step in where I can. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the NVQ framework and our specific efforts to accelerate adoption within that framework. I will have Victoria give you a better answer when she is back next week.

Thanks,

-Aseem

Hi all,

My name is Pablo Bernal and I am the Product Manager for MTA. Along with Victoria and the Microsoft Learning team, we are extremely excited about MTA and we thank you all for your interest and comments.

About Andrew's question:

Country accreditations is something we care deeply about for our certifications. You may have heard the recent accreditation of our MCTS certifications in Ireland and the US. In Ireland, Microsoft certifications have been endorsed by HETAC (Higher Education & Training Awards Council).  This is transferable across Europe and is the first time in that continent that a national awarding body has approved industry certifications on a national framework. In North America, Microsoft Learning has also received  similar accreditation for 21 technical certifications from ACE (American Council on Education).

This so not include MTA.... for now. We have just launched and, as you correctly pointed out, it takes some time to go through the process to attain these accreditations. This is something that we are going to be looking at closely in the next few months, particularly for the UK. Stay tuned for news about it in the near future!

Thanks,

Pablo

I don't understand why these certifications are only for students who are enrolled in a institution that enrolls in this program. Brick and mortar colleges rarely sign up for anything that deal with certifications. This will only benefit Technical and For-profit schools. .

MTA exams should be available for any student with a .edu email and/or student ID. Also exam material should be given for free for basic exams such as these via dreamspark or certiport. The only thing the student should have to pay for is the voucher.

The idea of these certifications are great, especially the developer certifications. But I believe Microsoft is taking the wrong route only allowing student who are enrolled in a technical/for-profit school to take them as these are the only institutions that purchase this type of service.

In fact Microsoft should be more actively involved with State Universities and not technical/community colleges and for-profits.

Until these MTA exams can be taken by any student they will hold no weight just like CIW certifications. Most people who will hold MTA and CIW certifications come technical, online and/or for-profit schools. Employers will just look down on them as they do the degrees themselves.

My advice is open MTA exams and materials to anyone who is new to IT or wants to learn the fundamentals of a certain technology.

I teach at a 2 years college and want to congratulate Microsoft for creating this program, it is EXACTLY what students studying IT need.  We have restructured our college’s IT program to incorporate the MTA program and certifications.  I highly encourage college/university instructors to take a look the program I think you will find it’s perfect for entry level students.

Now that I have spoken about the benefits of the program, Microsoft announced the MTA program over a month ago and has only released the Dev/Programing classes.  When will the IT Pro classes/exams be released?  Classes start in a few weeks and you aren’t giving us much time to prepare.