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Wed, May 6 2009 13:56

Seriously cheap exams in Australia

If you’re an MCP in Australia and you haven’t passed any exams over the past couple of years (since July 1, 2007), then Microsoft has an offer at the moment to let you do an exam for only US$25 (until June 30, 2009). Ok, so that means the price really...
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Tue, Mar 17 2009 10:44

Things You Know Now

This blog meme is doing the rounds… I’ve been tagged at least twice now ( Jason Strate and Greg Linwood ), so I suppose subconsciously I’ve been thinking about this stuff for a few weeks already. Since I do a lot of training, I tend...
Posted by Rob Farley | 2 comment(s)
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Fri, Feb 27 2009 17:51

Reasons to consider certification

I saw a link to a report by TechRepublic giving reasons to value certification in 2009 . The idea behind the piece is that we are in a time of economic crisis, cutbacks and the like, and asking the question about whether or not people should be looking...
Posted by Rob Farley | 2 comment(s)
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Wed, Dec 17 2008 11:51

70-113, the Virtual Lab exam, gives Microsoft Certification new hope

We all know what's wrong with Microsoft certifications. The multiple-choice format means that people can cheat too easily, and over the years, the questions have often felt too specific, asking the kinds of questions that proper IT professionals just...
Posted by Rob Farley | 7 comment(s)
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Fri, Aug 8 2008 20:36

Time to try some exams? Second shot is back

I always tell people to do exams during Second Shot season. Reason being - it makes the first one a practice. Don't bother studying, don't bother stressing, just go and see how you do. Then you can sit it a second time for real. Feel like giving...
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Thu, Nov 22 2007 14:44

How Jim McLeod passed 70-444

Jim McLeod is a DBA, and a good friend of mine. And today, he is due congratulations, because he passed the exam 70-444 - Optimizing and Maintaining a DB Admin Solution in SQL 2005 . Now he only needs to do the Infrastructure Design exam (70-443) to become...
Posted by Rob Farley | 5 comment(s)
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Wed, Oct 17 2007 9:30

The best way to pass a Microsoft certification exam

For a limited time only, Microsoft are giving you the chance to have a second shot at any IT professional, developer or Microsoft Dynamics exam. Brilliant! The way this works (and the way I encourage all my students to do this) is that if you register...
Posted by Rob Farley | 11 comment(s)
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Wed, Aug 29 2007 22:58

Latest news on 70-431 simulation questions

I got some news this week about the core SQL Server 2005 exam. A bit of an update from someone who has recently tried 70-431. He sent it to me having read my previous post on the matter . "I took the exam last week and got all the M/C questions right...
Posted by Rob Farley | 22 comment(s)
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Wed, Aug 8 2007 17:31

Only 71 people have MCITP:BI

Mitch Wheat sent me this. According to http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/certified.mspx , there are only 71 people in the world (well, at the end of June) who have achieved MCITP:BI. This means passing the two exams 70-445 and 70-446. You could be...
Posted by Rob Farley | 4 comment(s)
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Fri, Jul 20 2007 16:38

Pearson Vue no longer offering Microsoft exams

You can only book to do Microsoft certification exams through Pearson Vue until the end of August. From then on, you have to choose Prometric . More information can be read at Vue's website: http://vue.com/ms/testtakerfaq.pdf Personally, I find this...
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Wed, Jul 4 2007 23:56

Certification questions from the community

On a trip to Redmond earlier this year (when I was one of 6 people deciding on content for the 70-445 and 70-446 exams), I had the chance to meet Howard Dierking . Howard is the Product Planner for Developer and Database Certifications. It was great to...
Posted by Rob Farley | 2 comment(s)
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Tue, Jul 3 2007 18:08

70-431 exam tips, and congrats to Jos Verbaken - MCTS

Jos Verbaken was a student of mine a few weeks ago. He lives in Ballarat, and is known around the Melbourne SQL Server User Group circles. He did the 5-day course 2780 - Maintaining a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Database . During the course, I encouraged...
Posted by Rob Farley | 5 comment(s)
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Tue, Mar 20 2007 10:45

BI Certified

Like Darren Gosbell , I took the beta exams for the two new SQL2005 Business Intelligence exams. Like Darren, following the beta period I was invited to help with the exam development process, and now that the results have come out, like Darren, I have...
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Mon, Jan 22 2007 10:31

Two new certifications

Seems I have two new Microsoft Technology Specialist certifications. MCTS: Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: Configuration and MCTS: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: Configuration . The links are to the exams I passed, not the certifications...
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Fri, Dec 1 2006 14:35

Simulation questions in 70-431

Earlier this year I was one of four people who wrote a bunch of simulation questions for 70-431 . Today I heard from someone who has sat the exam with that content in it. It's great to get feedback on them, because it really helps Microsoft Learning work...
Posted by Rob Farley | 73 comment(s)
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Fri, Oct 27 2006 12:52

On learning (Calvin and Hobbes, the ACS and digital natives)

Digital natives learn differently. How do we take advantage of that? The funny thing is that right away, I've written this from an external perspective, when I'm probably in a mixture of both camps. Feel free to consider me in either camp as you...
Posted by Rob Farley | 6 comment(s)
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Fri, Oct 27 2006 11:57

What's wrong with IT?

To a large degree, it's the perception of experience. The IT industry has so many things wrong with it. It tends to be 'governed' (I don't know of a better word for what I mean there, 'run' would be wrong) by people in their 50s...
Posted by Rob Farley | 3 comment(s)
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Fri, Oct 13 2006 12:48

How they know you know

There have been many times over the years when someone has asked me to assess someone's skills. Usually this is by looking at a CV, but it has also involved talking to them in an interview setting. For any potential employer, the hiring process is...
Posted by Rob Farley | 3 comment(s)
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Tue, Oct 10 2006 12:36

I'm on the MS Developer Podcast

I'm listening to myself right now on the The Microsoft Developer Show from The Podcast Network, being interviewed about certification. The link is http://msdev.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/10/10/the-microsoft-developer-show-9-certification I do talk...
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