Voice of the DBA

Tag: certification

  • The Future of Certifications

    Hacker News is a forum for experienced developers. While I think plenty of beginners lurk there, the discussions seem to be dominated by those who have worked in the technology or software industries for years. I saw an interesting article that noted Hacker News doesn’t seem to discuss certifications and backed up the claim with some search results that show few results for various terms.

    I think that many experienced people working in technology are wary of certifications. With a little practical experience, one quickly realizes how little certifications actually do to prove you know how to work with a platform, or with code. Most companies that hire someone with a certification will need to allocate some time to training them how to work on their systems. To be fair, this is the case with a college degree as well.

    The article goes on to talk a little on how colleges ought to be separating out a “degree” from more concentrated or focused evaluations of skills. I agree, though arguably this reduces the brand (and revenue) of many institutions. My view would be that many people don’t need the two year degree. Those that do will come back and get it, or take additional classes to learn more.

    I do believe that studying for and passing a certification forces someone to learn a bit about the technology area. It also helps the student decide if it’s a subject in which they have an interest. It doesn’t prove they have knowledge, but it does show some work in a particular area. I think certifications can be good for many people as my studies this year have definitely helped me learn a bit more about different areas of Azure that I knew little about. I’m not an expert by any stretch, but I have some idea of concepts and how to go about learning more.

    My view is that beginners are very different from experienced people. We ought to understand that all of us are beginners in some technology area and certifications are a good way to focus effort and study in those areas. I would prefer that vendors not only have a path to more difficult and practical certifications but also that they lower the cost. I’d even like to see a second chance at exams given at 1/2 or 1/4 price. That would encourage more people to take a chance on an exam and not worry about the cost so much. This also might reduce some of the brain dumps and other cheats if someone isn’t overly stressed about the cost of exams.

    I’d actually like to see exams focused on very tight areas, like only T-SQL DML or T-SQL DDL, with actual code being written and tested, not multiple-choice questions. This is the type of program that might even encourage employers to regularly test their candidates before hiring, or even encourage more employees to cross-train into new technologies.

    There is a shortage of talent, often in new areas that vendors are selling products and services. Demand that vendors also provide training and focused exams that are based on the current versions at low costs. We can make this cheaper and easier to do. We’ve done that with most parts of technology services, why not exams and certifications?

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher, Spotify, or iTunes.

  • Passed a CosmosDB Exam

    I took the beta exam for Cosmos DB a few months back. I did this as part of the MVP program, as they were asking people to evaluate the exam and give feedback. I’ve lightly used Cosmos DB, but I also thought I might get some practice with the platform and taking an MS test, which I haven’t done in years.

    I passed!

    I got a note today that the results for DP-420 were in. This is the Designing and Implementing Cloud-Native Applications Using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB exam, which is way out of my area.

    To be fair, I didn’t want to just take this blind, so I spent about a week and a half studying regularly each day, going through the learning path and understanding the different aspects of CosmosDB. It was interesting and confusing, but I acquired a decent understanding of what the platform is and can do.

    What I didn’t know were some specifics like how many RU/s might be available for a particularly sized contained. I did, however, learn about the different types of containers, accounts, hierarchies of things, etc.

    Feedback

    I like the beta exams because you get more than the 5 minutes or so to give feedback, and can do so for many questions. While I think the exams do test some knowledge in most cases, I also think that they can mislead people at times. I also think that some questions are really fact memorization.

    For example, if you asked me what is max size of a serverless container, that seems like a reasonable thing to know. If you’re planning an install, you should know that serverless limits things.

    However, this is a memorization fact. It’s a documentation thing you can look up in seconds, and by the way, you should. That number could change any day as Cosmos DB evolves.

    There were 2-3 questions like that on my exam and I gave that feedback. I don’t have a better question, but knowing that a container is 10GB or 50GB seems like a poor test of knowledge.

    There were a few issues I had with wording, but overall the questions weren’t bad, IMHO. They were hard. Unlike many of the other SQL exams, I found most of these to be hard and was unsure of if I really knew the answer.

  • More Time to Certify

    With all of the shutdowns and quarantines with the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft has extended their deadline to finish the MCSA, MCSD, and MCSE certfifications. Previously old certification exams were due to expire on June 30, 2020. You had until then to complete your work. Now the timeline has been extended to January 31, 2021. This gives you more time to earn the cert you started.

    I haven’t held an active certification for years. I found them useful for studying and focusing my learning early in my career, but less so now. Working towards a test is also a time sink for me, when I often don’t quite have as much time as I’d like to get other things done. Life is busy, and I haven’t been as focused in a single area in a long time.

    However, I do think that certifications can be helpful in a few ways to many people, in addition to focusing your learning. Scheduling an exam puts pressure on you and will drive you to learn more. The semi-vague requirements will force you to learn more things than you might otherwise work on, which broadens your knowledge. I’ve found that to be particularly helpful in my career, when I have a wide variety of skills in different areas.

    Maybe the one area that you can use to further your career and open doors is to point to the certification not as a measure of knowledge and skill, but of desire. It takes active effort to learn and pass a certification exam, and employers need people that are hungry to learn and grow, and most importantly, willing to do this on their own time. It’s a good point to make if you talk about your work in an interview or write something on your blog.

    In addition to extending the deadline, Microsoft has changed the fees for rescheduling and cancellation, which is good. They’re also working for more remote proctoring of exams, which will allow more people to take these tests from work or home instead of having to drive to a facility. They are also extending out voucher and discount dates.

    If you’re interested in pursuing something, let us know today. I’m considering some of the Azure role based certifications, mostly because they may focus my learning. Now I just need to find time and make the decision to actually move in that direction.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

  • More Time to Certify

    With all of the shutdowns and quarantines with the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft has extended their deadline to finish the MCSA, MCSD, and MCSE certfifications. Previously old certification exams were due to expire on June 30, 2020. You had until then to complete your work. Now the timeline has been extended to January 31, 2021. This gives you more time to earn the cert you started.

    I haven’t held an active certification for years. I found them useful for studying and focusing my learning early in my career, but less so now. Working towards a test is also a time sink for me, when I often don’t quite have as much time as I’d like to get other things done. Life is busy, and I haven’t been as focused in a single area in a long time.

    However, I do think that certifications can be helpful in a few ways to many people, in addition to focusing your learning. Scheduling an exam puts pressure on you and will drive you to learn more. The semi-vague requirements will force you to learn more things than you might otherwise work on, which broadens your knowledge. I’ve found that to be particularly helpful in my career, when I have a wide variety of skills in different areas. I can often solve more complex problems.

    Maybe the one area that you can use to further your career and open doors is to point to the certification not as a measure of knowledge and skill, but of desire. It takes active effort to learn and pass a certification exam, and employers need people that are hungry to learn and grow, and most importantly, willing to do this on their own time. It’s a good point to make if you talk about your work in an interview or write something on your blog.

    In addition to extending the deadline, Microsoft has changed the fees for rescheduling and cancellation, which is good. They’re also working for more remote proctoring of exams, which will allow more people to take these tests from work or home instead of having to drive to a facility. They are also extending out voucher and discount dates.

    If you’re interested in pursuing something, let us know today. I’m considering some of the Azure role based certifications, mostly because they may focus my learning. Now I just need to find time and make the decision to actually move in that direction.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.