Blogs

We recently completed the first round of exams for our first "hybrid rotation" - our alternate delivery model where we do one week onsite in Redmond followed by ten weeks of Lync-based remote training delivery - and we've had outstanding results with the new model on many fronts. I'm very happy to say that these results extend to where it counts most to many of our candidates - certification. Please welcome the following new Masters from "R11": Hannes Gfrerer is a Senior...

Please welcome our newest SQL Server Certified Master Li Xiaozhao. I was fortunate enough to get to greet one final Master on my next to last day at Microsoft. Welcome to the community. Li Xiaozhao is a SQL Server/BI consultant with Microsoft Consulting Services in France. He has been working with SQL Server since 2003 and specializes in database design & architecture, query optimization and SQL Server performance tuning & troubleshooting. Read More...

We wrapped up our first "hybrid rotation" last week, and R11 candidates are busy completing their exams - I look forward to more announcements for newly-minted MCMs in the near future. During the second half of R11, two candidates from past rotations completed their retakes and achieved the SharePoint 2010 MCM certification. Here are the most recent additions to our community: Andy Daniel (R8). Andy Daniel is the lead collaboration platform engineer for General Motors. He comes from a Unified...

Starting May 8: SQL Server 2008 Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) Accelerated Exam Preparation Program Our popular live accelerated training program for SQL Server MCM returns with another session starting May 8, 2012. Whether you're preparing for SQL Server 2008 MCM exams, or just looking to take your SQL Server skills to the next level, don't miss out on this unique training opportunity. Accelerate your path to SQL Server MCM This series of live online sessions with a SQL MCM presenter offers...

I want to congratulate our newest SQL Server 2008 Certified Master, Nicholas Cain. Nicholas is very well known by most of us here in the Redmond area, and he is a frequent participant in our local #SQLNomz get-togethers. Here is brief introduction to Nicholas: Nicholas has been a SQL Server DBA since the turn of the millennia. He got his start going through a 7.0 to 2000 upgrade and has worked with those editions as well as 2005 and 2008 in critical highly available production environments. In 2010...

We held our most recent SharePoint MCA boards just a few weeks ago, from February 29-March 1 at the Microsoft Technology Center in Reston, VA. Please extend your congratulations to one of our candidates who successfully achieved the Microsoft Certified Architect: SharePoint 2010 certification - Wictor Wilén! Wictor Wilén is a Microsoft Certified Master in SharePoint and works as SharePoint Solution Architect at Connecta AB . He has worked in the portal and web content management industry...

Our second quarterly webcast for SharePoint 2010 MCM will be held in just a few weeks on Friday, April 13 at 9AM Pacific Time . We'll provide a detailed program overview, share updates on program schedule, and set aside plenty of time for live Q&A. If you want to learn more about our program from the folks who run them (and are all MCMs themselves), sign up today! You can register for the SharePoint 2010 MCM webcast here . Links to webcasts for all upcoming MCM program webcasts are always...

We recently completed our most recent MCM Directory rotation where we had 23 participants. The largest in several years! Please congratulate the following individuals who have successfully completed all of the required exams during the rotation: Sean Metcalf - Metcorp Consulting Adrian Corona Temores - Microsoft Allen Ho - Microsoft Dorin Minghiris - Microsoft David Gregory - Microsoft Eric Hall - Microsoft Mark Renoden - Microsoft Serge Evseev - Microsoft Sean Ivey - Microsoft Vlad Tomsa - Microsoft...

Uwe Ricken shared his story of his path to SQL Masters certification on the SQL Server Central forums . I am reposting his story here with his permission. Thanks for sharing your experience, Uwe! Hi all, I've just got the information that i have finished the 88-970 successfully with the second try. So - if anyone is interested I want to share my experiences with my MCM roadmap with you :) I'm working with SQL Server since 1998 and most of my experiences with SQL Server is from the dev side...

Please join me in welcoming our newest SQL Server Certified Master, Eric Strom. Here is a brief introduction to Eric: Eric Strom is a Database Consultant with Digineer, Inc , a business and technology firm in the Twin Cities metro area. He has been working with SQL Server for over 10 years and specializes in performance tuning, database design and architecture. He served on the PASSMN executive board from 2009-2010. While a board member, he presented at and helped plan the first SQL Saturday (on...

It's mid-winter and also the midpoint of our first hybrid rotation delivery, with the "R11" candidates working hard at attending remote instructor-led training, remote office hours, and doing LOTS of lab work and study. Six weeks down, six to go... While R11 has been underway, we've had the great pleasure of adding to the SharePoint MCM ranks while several candidates from past rotations completed their certifications. Here are the latest members of our community: Bill Ayers (R6...

It's mid-winter and also the midpoint of our first hybrid rotation delivery, with the "R11" candidates working hard at attending remote instructor-led training, remote office hours, and doing LOTS of lab work and study. Six weeks down, six to go... While R11 has been underway, we've had the great pleasure of adding to the SharePoint MCM ranks while several candidates from past rotations completed their certifications. Here are the latest members of our community: Bill Ayers (R6...

I am delighted to introduce another new SQL Server 2008 Certified Master to the MCM community. Please join me in welcoming Argenis Fernandez, our newest SQL Certified Master. Here is a brief introduction: Argenis has been working with SQL Server for around 14 years. An active member of the SQL Server community, he has presented at multiple SQL Saturday events, and also at the PASS Summit 2011. His main areas of interest are SQL and OS internals, scripting and HA/DR. He loves making things run fast...

Please join me once again in congratulating Benjamin Wright-Jones ( blog| @superlatch ). Benjamin was already a double SQL Server MCM (2005 and 2008) and is now the newest SQL Server Certified Architect (MCA). Here is a brief bio of Ben has worked at Microsoft (UK) for nine years specialising in data solutions; specifically large relational databases, high availability, performance tuning, benchmarking and scalability. Prior to Microsoft, he worked at various services and ISV companies using SQL...

Please join me in congratulating our newest SQL Server MCM, Gavin Payne. I met Gavin at the SQL PASS Summit last year and knew he would be joining our ranks very soon. Here is a brief into to Gavin: Gavin ( blog | @GavinPayneUK ) is a Senior Consultant for Coeo , a Microsoft Gold Partner providing SQL Server services for mission critical environments, where he architects, implements, troubleshoots and optimizes SQL Server environments to meet the performance, scalability and availability requirements...

Back by popular demand: SQL Server 2008 Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) Accelerated Exam Preparation Program Our first online live accelerated training program for SQL Server MCM was such a hit that we’re bringing it back starting March 6. Whether you’re preparing for SQL Server 2008 MCM exams, or just looking to take your SQL Server skills to the next level, don’t miss out on this unique training opportunity. Starting March 6: Accelerate your path to SQL Server MCM This series...

Please join me in welcoming our newest member of the MCM community, Sean McCown. Here is a little info about Sean: Sean McCown is a Certified Master in SQL Server 2008. He is also a SQL Server MVP with over 15yrs experience in databases. Sean is also founder and co-owner of the renowned website MidnightDBA.com where he records free SQL Server training videos and co-hosts the popular webshow, DBAs@Midnight . Sean blogs at http://www.MIdnightDBA.com/DBARant and can be found on Twiiter as @MidnightDBA...

We're kicking off an initiative to conduct regularly-scheduled LiveMeetings on Advanced Certification offerings. These will be hosted by the program managers and include detailed program overviews as well as time for live Q&A. You can find them here on MS Events - if you want to learn more about our programs from the folks who run them (and are all MCMs themselves), sign up today! And for those of you who can't attend the live sessions, they'll be archived in MS Events for your asynchronous...

SQL Server 2008 Certified Master (MCM) and SQL Server Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Brent Ozar ( blog | @Brento ) offers up his advice on how to pass the SQL MCM knowledge exam . Sorry, Brent doesn't give out the answers, but he does give a unique viewpoint on studying your tail off versus diving right in. Check out the blog post here: http://ozar.me/2012/01/how-to-pass-the-sql-mcm-exam/ Brent Ozar ( blog | @Brento ) is founder of Brent Ozar PLF . Read More...

Looking for options for taking the SQL Server Certified Master lab exam? For a limited time, Microsoft Learning will be offering remote delivery of the SQL Server Certified Master lab exam for a reduced price of $2000 US (normally $2500 US). Remote delivery allows you to take the exam from a quiet location of your choosing and saves you the cost of travelling to a distant testing center. Remote delivery requires a working webcam, the full Microsoft Lync client, and a reliable internet connection...

Please join me in welcoming our newest SQL Server 2008 MCM Qikan Fang. Here is some info on him. Qikan ( @qkfang ) is Chief Developer at Health-e Workforce Solutions ( www.healthewfs.com.au ). His experience focuses around SQL Development, Data Integration, Performance Tuning, BI and Security. His career started as a R&D developer in China using SQL Server 7.0. After a few years work and study in Melbourne, he published a paper about biometric authentication and was fortunate to present it at...

SQL Server MVP Jason Strate ( blog | @StrateSQL ) has started a SQL MCM study group on Yammer.Yammer is free to join So check out the new study group and get involved. Head over to Jason Strate's blog post to learn more and join: http://www.jasonstrate.com/2011/12/sql-mcm-study-group/ Read More...

Please join me in welcoming Martin Cairns to our community of certified Masters. Martin is very active in the SQL community, and I think we will definitely benefit from having him join us. Here is a brief bio about Martin: Martin Cairns , Senior BI Consultant ( blog | twitter ). Martin is a consultant with Purple Frog Systems a Business Intelligence & Data Warehousing Consultancy. He provides expertise for some of the UK's most prestigious clients including ASOS, AOL and Tesco. Martin has...

After nearly four years I'm moving on as the PM of the Lync and OCS MCM programs. It has been quite a ride..... On January 12 th 2009 the first rotation of OCS MCM kicked off in building 11 on Redmond campus. Almost four years later we have achieved the following… Run 12 rotations Moved classrooms once Revised the content 7 times and gone through one complete rewrite Made 4 people sing ‘I’m a little tea pot’ for being late to class (you know who you are) Delivered 32256...

We wrapped up SharePoint 2010 MCM R10 (AKA R1010 for all you binary folks out there) a little over a week ago in not-so-sunny Redmond, and I'm very pleased to announce a number of additions to our community and new certifications for current community members. We have four new SharePoint 2010 MCMs from our most recent rotation: Anthony Wong (R10) is a Senior Premier Field Engineer at Microsoft based in Hong Kong. Specializing in SharePoint, BizTalk and .NET application development in general...