Search results for 'app:weblogs' matching tag 'MCM'

Update for the UC Roundtable at TechEd Orlando

Anonymous — Wed, 02 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

I'm very happy to announce that I'm joining forces again this year with the Microsoft Certified Master: Exchange Program and F5 for the 5th Annual UC Roundtable!

This is a great opportunity to meet and greet the Exchange MCMs and the Microsoft Exchange Product Group at Micosoft TechEd in Orlando. Appetizers and drinks will be served, compliments of our friends at F5!

Bring your Exchange and Lync questions for a fun evening of discussions around both products. MCM Program Manager David Bjurman-Birr will be there to answer questions about the MCM:Exchange program, as will others, like me, who have gone through the program.

Please RSVP to jeff@expta.com. Formal registration details will be be going out soon to those who RSVP to me.

The location is not announced yet, but the date and time if the event will be

Wednesday, June 13, 2012. 6:00-8:00PM

RSVP now and mark your calendars!

Microsoft Reinvents Certifications - Again

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Everything old is new again. Today Microsoft announced that it has reinvented its certification program to directly address technology’s evolution to the cloud. According to their surveys, "Top of mind for companies today is making sure they have the right skills and people in place to help them fully realize the benefits the cloud has to offer."

To that end, Microsoft is reinventing their certification programs to help hiring managers find people who have the skills they expect in their IT environments, now and in the future. The revamped program is a completely new approach to ensure certified individuals have the skills required to oversee an organization’s journey to the cloud. Everyone wants to go to the almighty cloud, right? Microsoft is betting on it.

According to Microsoft News Center:

The new certification framework has been streamlined to three skill levels to make it easier to navigate:

The Associate Level comprises the Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) certification, which provides a clear starting point for job seekers early in their technology career. Candidates must prove they have the required skills to hit the ground running. This level represents a foundation and is the prerequisite certification necessary to earn an MCSE.

The Expert Level comprises the Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) or its developer equivalent, Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD), and is Microsoft’s flagship certification for individuals who want to lead their organization’s transition to the cloud. These certifications recognize IT professionals and developers with broad and deep skill sets across Microsoft solutions.

The Master Level is the Microsoft Certified Solutions Master (MCSM) certification that differentiates the select few from their peers and represents the highest bar of knowledge and skills validation.

Microsoft is calling MCSE its flagship credential because it is the level that most people will aspire to, says Don Field, senior director of product management for Microsoft. It validates an individual’s ability to design and build solutions that may integrate multiple technologies, versions and products. These are the new kinds of skills that are needed for the cloud.

Microsoft had to ditch the MCSE (Microsoft Certified System Engineer) certification in 2009, due to several countries and municipalities having a problem with the term "Engineer". In some locations "Engineer" has a very distinct meaning and is regulated by their governments. The MCSE certification was replaced with the MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT Professional) certification series and a plethora of very targeted certifications (MCTS).

This added a ton of confusion, especially for those like me who invested for years in the MCSE certification. Microsoft Learning went so far as to publish an article, "The MCSE is dead, its time to move on". Now that they're bringing the MCSE back, I can imagine the new level of confusion this might bring, especially for all those hiring managers. "Are you a new MCSE or an old MCSE?"

This will undoubtedly cause issues for those who are already on the MCITP track, which can be as many as 7 exams and take a long time to complete. Microsoft hasn't announced how that transition will happen, or how grandfathering might work. There are other changes in the new certification tracks that I'm not at liberty to talk about. Those details will be released by Micosoft later.

As an IT professional who made my career around Microsoft certifications, I have a vested interest in how this all works out. I have been an MCSE since 1999 with Windows NT4 and followed every twist and turn that Microsoft Learning has thrown my way. I upgraded all my MCSE and MCP certs to MCITP and MCTS over the years. I became a Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) Exchange Server just last year. Now I'm looking at re-branding myself all over. Again.

What are your thoughts? Stay tuned for more details...

New Microsoft Certifications Will Expire

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

In my earlier post today, I wrote that Microsoft's certification program is being reinvented - Again. One important fact was briefly mentioned in the video below, taken from the Microsoft News Center website: The new MCSE and MCSD certifications will expire.

At 1:07 the video explains, "Those holding an Expert certification are required to recertify every 2-3 years." The Expert tier is the new MCSE and MCSD certification. This is supposed to ensure that their skills are always up to date.

It's unclear whether "out-dated" certifications will simply expire or whether they will completely drop off the transcript altogether. I hope it's the former. In my career as a consultant, I work with many customers with systems that are not "current" and are out of extended support. It's important for these customers to know that I'm certified on their old (and new) platform when performing a migration.

I can also imagine hiring managers for companies with older platforms would be interested in hiring IT Pros with certifications on what they run, not just the latest and greatest.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

Fifth Annual UC Roundtable at TechEd 2012 in Orlando

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

I'm pleased to announce the Fifth Annual UC Roundtable at Microsoft TechEd North America 2012 in Orlando, FL!

The purpose of the UC Roundtable is to gather Exchange and Lync MCMs, MVPs, product group members, admins, architects, and experts for a free-flowing discussion about issues, questions, and experiences related to Exchange and Lync Server. If you work with Exchange or Lync you need to be here!

This will be an after hours event near the Orange County Conference Center. Location details and dates are in the works. And for those of you who attended the Fourth Annual UC Roundtable, I promise it won't be here. :)

Please RSVP to jeff@expta.com for event details and location. I hope you can make it!

MVP Global Summit 2012 and MEC is Back!

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 06:00:00 GMT

I returned from last week's MVP Global Summit 2012 and had a blast. Microsoft really knows how to treat its MVPs, and had a lot of content lined up for us - unfortunately, none it can be shared with you due to NDA constraints. :(

I can say that the Exchange team has been quite busy and was happy to share lots of new information with us. I was pleased to attend breakout sessions with fellow MVPs and even a couple of fellow MCMs. Tony Redmond, Paul Robichaux, Pat Richard, Jason Sherry, Mike Pfieffer and about 30 other MVPs were in attendance. I'm happy to say that we all provided useful(?) feedback to the Exchange Team, who was also in attendance.

We also learned about a great surprise - MEC is Back! Today we're able to let everyone know. The Microsoft Exchange Conference had its beginnings in the late 1990's and ended in 2002. It was THE Exchange conference and has deep roots in the community. Michael Atalla, Director of Exchange Product Management, posted about the return of MEC over on the Exchange Team Blog. Tony Redmond also wrote about missing MEC last year. You can read his article on his blog, Thoughtsofanidlemind.

Be sure to visit MECisBack to register for more information!

Oh, and the coordinates on the MECisBack website? They point to here.

My Exchange MCM Plaque

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:00:00 GMT

I was surprised to receive an Microsoft Certified Master plaque today via UPS. It was accompanied by a letter from Christina Yoshida, Director of Advanced Certifications for Microsoft Learning.

The welcome letter says, "Congratulations on earning your Microsoft Certified Master certification! Enclosed in thei Welcome Kit are tools to acknowledge your new level of certification, the highest level of technical certification currently granted by Microsoft."

It includes a number of MCM benefits, those most important of which is access to the MCM community distibution list.

Who are the Exchange MVPs and MCMs?

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Legendary Exchange guru Tony Redmond wrote an article on Windows IT Pro magazine about Exchange MVPs. You can read his article here.

Tony is also an active Exchange MVP and has been for many years. He discusses the number of MVPs (Exchange and others), demographics, and what it takes to be an MVP. It's an interesting read. I knew that the number of Exchange MVPs was shrinking (used to be around 300 at it's peak I've been told), but didn't know it's down to 106.

If you're interested in seeing who my fellow Exchange MCMs are, visit the Meet the Microsoft Certified Masters and Microsoft Certified Architects site.

There's a new MCM in town

Anonymous — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 05:00:00 GMT

I just learned this morning that I passed the qualification lab and I am now an Exchange Microsoft Certified Master!

I have the rare distinction of being both an Exchange MCM and MVP in an already rare group. I can only think of two others worldwide.

This has been the most challenging, humbling, and intense experience I've ever had in my career. If you are interested in entering this program, I strongly recommend it. I’ll be happy to share information about the program that doesn’t violate my NDA.

It's great to work at a company that differentiates itself in the marketplace with highly qualified technology professionals. Our Microsoft practice has four MCMs on staff, three for Exchange (one double for OCS) and one for Lync. It stands to reason with all this experience you are in good hands with us.

Now to update my Outlook signature with some more alphabet soup...

If it was easy, everyone would do it

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Well, I got the results of the Exchange MCM qualification lab today, and I didn't pass this time. As I mentioned to David Bjurman-Birr, the Exchange MCM Program Manager, I almost would have felt disappointed if I DID pass, given my self-evaluated performance on the lab. The fact that I didn't just get a pass is a testimate to the difficulty and value of the program.

This program was one of the most difficult things I've ever done, and you have to be 100% all the way to the end. For some reason, my mind went blank soon after we received our first "two hours done, four and a half to go" notification and that was my undoing.

I've already confirmed that I will retake the lab next Thursday. I'll be spending my evenings and weekend reviewing PowerPoint slides, notes, and labs to ensure a much better outcome on Thursday.

I'd like to congratulate Markus Hengstler (Switzerland) and Kashif Awan (Pakistan) on becoming two of the newest Exchange Microsoft Certified Masters!! I hope to join your ranks next week!

Exchange MCM Training Comes to an End

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 05:00:00 GMT

My work area

My 21 day straight Exchange MCM training ended yesterday with the infamous qualification lab. The lab is 6 and a half hours where each of us is given a complex virtual environment and we have multiple scenarios that we must accomplish. The environment is full of all sorts of problems that Microsoft has seen in actual customer engagements.
I'll find out the results of the qual lab sometime next week (fingers crossed). I did find out that I passed the written exam that was given the day before, so that was a relief!

During my three weeks here in Redmond my schedule was pretty much the same every day. I would arrive about 7:30AM and review notes or work on labs until instruction began at 8:00AM. Instructors would teach until usually about 6:00PM, but nights went as late as 8:30PM. After instruction we would work on hands-on labs until about 11:00PM (one night we worked until 2:30AM), and then we'd head back to inn for some sleep, a quick shower, and start all over again. For 20 days straight - no weekends or time off. It was quite intense.

Microsoft Building 40

The instructors were all really great and gave fabulous presentations. They are comprised of product team managers, senior escalation engineers, and consultants. They are the best of the best on their topic and it was amazing to have subject matter experts at your disposal for questions and clarifications. The general topics covered over the three weeks were transport, client access, unified messaging, mailbox, high availability, operations, RBAC, and Office365. The Exchange Online and Office 365 content was a new addition to this rotation. We covered O365 in detail for three days and did some really awesome labs. David Bjurman-Birr is the Exchange MCM PM and says this training will probably be a future add-on for existing Exchange MCMs.

We each had a host computer with two nice size monitors connected side-by-side with a fully articulated arm. For labs you would use one monitor for the decks or lab materials, and the other for access to your virtual lab environment. Each of us had our own forests and domains, and both the host machine and labs had Internet access through TMG so we could do real world access testing.

One of the many drink coolers in Building 40

For those interested in logistics, there is a cafeteria between buildings 40 and 41 which serves a number of lunch options. The options change day to day, but repeat every week. A couple of days we walked over to the commons near building 92 where there were more (and different) lunch options. David stocked out training room with Cliff Bars, Kashi bars and packages of nuts. Drinks are free and plentiful all over the Microsoft campus. Markus Hengstler, one of my rotation colleagues from Switzerland, was introduced to diet root beer and became quite a fan. Of course, coffee was always popular throughout the day. I know I drank several gallons myself.

My best friend

The entire experience was quite humbling. I thought I knew Exchange pretty well, having worked on all versions since MS Mail. I think I've increased my knowledge of Exchange by orders of magnitude. I've met new friends and have a new community to bounce ideas off of.

Microsoft gardeners replaced some trees with these pretty pink ones overnight early this week

I'm looking forward to coming home now that it's over. I barely had time to call my family during my time here. Still, I'm so happy that I was able to do this. I can't stress enough how much knowledge you will get if you are able to attend. Please feel free to contact me or leave a comment below if you have any questions. Obviously, I can't tell you any more about the content than what I've said above (we're all under strict NDA), but I'll be happy to give you any help I can.

My plane is here, so it's time to back away from the computer for a while.