By participating in beta exams, you have the opportunity to provide the Microsoft Certification program with feedback about exam content. Having participated in the development process of these exams (including 71-564 below!), I know they depend on the contributions of experienced IT professionals and developers to improve and maintain the value of Microsoft certifications. But hurry fast, these spots don't last long.
Exam 71-564: Pro: Designing and Developing ASP.NET Applications Using the Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.5
Exam 71-565: Pro: Designing and Developing Enterprise Applications Using the Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.5
The infamous Second Shot offer is back! Now you can get a voucher to reserve the chance to retake an exam if you fail it. Apparently, there have been problems in the past getting his voucher; so make sure to read these instructions from Trika to make sure you register for it correctly.
Gerry O' Brien of the Microsoft Learning team explains why they there are no entry level certifications for developers. The reason being is because you'd have to be tested on core programming concepts - which are not really specific to a particular Microsoft developer tool, but in fact apply to several of them. This reiterates the point that Microsoft is working hard to ensure that the certification exams we take actually test you on your knowhow of the Microsoft tool that you're being tested on.
The question I have is this ... does that also mean that passing a MCTS exam automatically mean that you have a good knowledge of core programming concepts. If not, then I think they should and that core programming concepts should be tested indirectly. In other words, having this basic understanding as a prerequisite should be kept in mind when creating the MCTS exams. From what I can see, they are already do.
But then again, I haven't taken an exam for a few years. Furthermore, I decided to wait to take the ASP.NET 3.5 exams, even though I studying with ASP.NET 2.0 materials. My hope is that the new exams will be better in line with Gerry's philosophy of sticking with being tested on the product; if that's the case, then I hope to do very well on the exams. As soon as I can, I'll be taking exam 70-562, followed by 70-536 to complete my MCTS certification for ASP.NET 3.5. Wish me luck!
A few months ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Gerry O'Brien, who in charge of the development of Microsoft certifications for developers. I was invited, along with 6 other wonderful ASP.NET developers, to a 3-day work session where we basically got to decide the outline of the new ASP.NET 3.5 pro exam. This would later be the basis of the prep guide for the ASP.NET 3.5 Pro Exam.
In short, though our outline was totally from the previous 2.0 outline and vastly different from the other two groups that were present, my group was very proud of what came up with for the outline and feel that meets all of the objectives that Gerry was looking for. Interestingly enough, a developer noticed this difference and asked on Trika's blog was the deal was! Gerry answered that question very nicely in his blog.
The moral of the story is, don't expect the new 3.5 exams to be like the 2.0; a lot work has been put forth to make them better and more focused on what you're supposed to be tested on ... the product, and not everything that goes with being a professional developer.