Date and time: January 19, 2011 | 10am-1pm PDT | Live online training
Windows Phone 7 presents a fresh user interface and a smartphone platform with a unique value proposition for consumers, businesses and application developers. Windows Phone represents a new way to interact with friends, family and work in a mobile context and it delivers this experience in a way that is both productive and enjoyable. In this online event, Paul Laberge from Microsoft will provide you with an overview of the Windows Phone 7.5 platform from a application developer’s perspective as well as present the market opportunity that Windows Phone provides you as a developer. By the end of this session, you will be able to begin developing applications for Windows Phone and understand some of the most effective ways to market your solution in the Marketplace.
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I love this time of the year--holiday gift giving, holiday cheer, houses brightly lit (you should see mine...or maybe you can!), and ohhhh, the cookies--yum! One of my favorite parts of the year end are the different ways that people summarize the good (and bad) of the year as it comes to a close--top 10 lists are everywhere. Because I'm a psychometrician, I think of things in terms of numbers, so what better way to summarize our year?! Without further ado, here's my holiday/end of the year gift to you: Microsoft's Certification Exams: Our Year in Numbers*
Here are 10 of my favorite numbers from 2011:
I'm particularly proud of the last two numbers because they demonstrate our commitment to the ongoing sustainment of our exams and that we really do leverage external SMEs in the design and development of our exams. Want to get involved in exam (or learning content) development? Sign up for our SME database; if you're already part of it, be sure to update your profile regularly because we actively recruit SMEs based on the information that you share with us in this database. What are you waiting for?
Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season and a wonderful new year! All the best in 2012!
*We publish stuff every day...these numbers are to the best of my knowledge as of 12/15/11.
Oh, I know some of you will ask, so let me pre-emptively say that I can't share the number of candidates who took our exams or the passing rates...we consider that proprietary.
Over the last year, Microsoft Learning’s exam development team has been doing some really awesome work to incorporate more types of questions into our exams. We added these question types in order to make our exams more real-world and relevant. And that’s a benefit to you because when our certifications are perceived as more real world, relevant, and rigorous in the market, then the fact that you’ve earned one is more meaningful. Let’s not forget that these new question types are actually more interesting and fun to answer, too.
Some of these question types are oldies but goodies that our most tenured MCPs will recognize: for example, Choose All That Apply and Best Answer. Some of these question types, such as Extended Matching and Code Case Studies, are ones we've never used before.
It’s important to note that although these new and revived question types may feel more difficult to you than regular multiple choice items, they are testing the same exact skills as before. A qualified candidate should be able to demonstrate those skills, regardless of the manner in which the question is presented. I can’t tell you exactly which objectives include which question types. I can tell you that you’ll be seeing a wider variety of question types on all our exams than you may have in the recent past.
So how can you see what these new question types look like before you take an exam? That’s easy. Check out our new Snack that demonstrates how these question types function. This new Snack complements our existing Certification Exam Demo. If you’re going to be taking an exam in the near future, I’d recommend that you have a look at both the new Microsoft Certification Exam Demo: New Innovative Item Types Snack and the original Microsoft Certification Exam Demo Snack. If you’re nervous about what to expect on our exams or haven’t taken an exam in a while, these Snacks will give you a good overview of what you might see on our exams so you’ll feel better prepared. You can find both Snacks here.
J Seymour and Liberty Munson discussed some of these question types in the first episode of our new TechNet Radio show, Cert Talk. If you haven’t viewed it already, you should really check that out, too!
Exam 98-374: MTA: Gaming Development Fundamentals is now available at Certiport testing centers. MTA is the starting point of Microsoft technology certifications, positioning students for advanced technology training and Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) Certification. This exam tests your knowledge of fundamental gaming development concepts.
Candidates for this exam should have solid foundational knowledge of game design, hardware, graphics, and animation. It is recommended that candidates be familiar with the concepts of and have some hands-on experience with the technologies described here either by taking relevant training courses or working with tutorials and samples available on MSDN and in Microsoft Visual Studio.
About MTA
Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) is a new, entry-level certification that validates the fundamental technology knowledge that students need to start building a career in Microsoft technologies.
MTA exams are available only to academic students, faculty, and instructors. Contact your school administrator to find out if your school is an approved MTA testing center. If your school is not already an MTA testing center, a faculty member or administrator can contact a Certiport sales consultant to learn how to obtain MTA exams.
For more information, visit Certiport’s Web site.
I knew that would get your attention!
Networkworld.com recently published the results of a survey demonstrating the value of a wide variety of IT certifications. Specficially, respondents indicated that their IT certifications resulted in promotions, salary increases, and better jobs. May I point you to slide 8 which says "...Among those making $110,000 or more, Microsoft and VMware are the top choices...."? See the title of this post wasn't just a sneaky way to lure you into my lair of blog posts--certification can pay off. Literally.
Check it out here.
In this post, I wanted to offer a quick breakdown of the various cloud deployment models. Moving to the cloud in general means giving up some control and possibly some functionality for a lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), whether in a Public, Private, or Hybrid cloud.
If you select an Application Service Provider (ASP) model, you will give up control of the hardware, networking, and the physical plant. If you go with Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), you usually deploy on a pre-built server configuration. With Platform as a Service (PaaS), i.e. Microsoft Azure service, you basically select the application and the rest is managed for you. Finally the Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, i.e. Office 365, enables you to sign up for the services ($$) and use them.
When moving to a cloud model you usually give up some of the functionality of running the software locally. For example, currently the Enterprise-class FAST Search for SharePoint is not part of Office 365. However, with each new release of our software, we strive to eliminate such tradeoffs. It will be interesting to see what functionality companies are willing to trade off for cost saving and speed of deployment. Jeff DeVerter1 told me that the CTO of Rackspace likes to say, “The Cloud is for everyone, but not for everything.”
I also think that the positive effect of reduced capital expenditures for hardware infrastructure needs to be reviewed from more than an accounting viewpoint. The effect of having more capital to spend on IT innovation, new services, and the Return on Investment (ROI) from these investments should not be over looked when making such tradeoffs.
To help you make cloud deployment decisions, I recommend you refer to the architectures and various white papers at our TechNet Cloud Solution Hub via the link below and the second reference at the end of this blog.
We look forward to your comments. If you have a technical tip you would like to share with your colleagues, send it to phelsel@microsoft.com to be included in a Technical Tips blog.
To learn more about Microsoft Learning | FAST University classes and to register, visit www.fastuniversity.com or contact us at fastuniv@microsoft.com.
By Philip E. Helsel, MCT
References:1. DeVerter J (2011) Content Delivery Networks and SharePoint, SharePoint in the Cloud | LinkedIn Group