Category: Certification

Big DataCertification

70-475 Big Data Analytics Exam – Feb 2017 Update

on July 27, 2017

The 70-475 Designing and Implementing Big Data Analytics Solutions certification exam was first published Oct. 27, 2015. Many features and services in the Microsoft Azure platform have changed since the exams initial release. This is true of all the certification exams that cover Microsoft Azure services. For this reason, Microsoft published updates to these exams periodically. The latest update to this exam was published in February 2017. This article outlines the current state of this certification exam. Read More

Certificationdatabase

70-473 Cloud Data Platform Solutions Exam – June 2017 Update

on July 26, 2017

The 70-473 Designing and Implementing Cloud Data Platform Solutions certification exam was first published Oct. 27, 2015. A lot of things with Microsoft Azure have changed in the time since it was first published. For this reason Microsoft does publish updates to the various certification exams, and this past June 2017, Microsoft published an update to the exam to bring it in line with the current state of the Azure data platform. This article outlines the current state of this certification exam. Read More

Certification

New 70-745 Implementing a Software-Defined Datacenter Certification Exam

on July 11, 2017

New exams are announced every so often as Microsoft continues to grow the array of Microsoft Azure and Cloud certifications to compliment the broad array of services they offer. These exams test and verify the skills necessary to work with, build with, and manage these various services. One of the latest exams being added is the new 70-745 Implementing a Software-Defined Datacenter certification exam. This exam will test and verify your skills in building a modern datacenter; one that uses software-defined networking using Windows Server 2016 and Virtual Machine Manager (VMM); rather than the traditional hardware-based networking model from the old days of on-premises datacenter.

NOTE: At the time of writing this exam summary of the 70-745 Implementing a Software-Defined Datacenter certification exam, the exam was just recently released as a Beta exam. There is limited information available on the exam at this time, but I will update this post with more information as it becomes available.

Certification Target Audience

The 70-745 Implementing a Software-Defined Datacenter certification exam is geared towards IT Professionals with experience building out, securing, and managing Software-Defined Networking (SDN) environments for hosting Virtual Machines and Storage solutions. The exam will test your familiarity and understanding of Software-Defined Networking using Windows Server 2016 and Virtual Machine Manager (VMM).

Skills Measured

Here’s a very high level list of the skills and objectives measures on the 70-745 Implementing a Software-Defined Datacenter certification exam:

  • Plan and implement System Center Virtual Machine (VMM) Core Infrastructure
  • Implement Software-Defined Networking (SDN)
  • Implement Software-Defined Storage
  • Implement DataCenter Compute Solutions with Virtual Machine Manager (VMM)
  • Secure your Software-Defined Datacenter
  • Monitor and Maintain the Software-Defined Datacenter

Training Materials

Being a newly announced exam (at the time of writing this) there is still a very limited amount of training / study material available for the 70-745 Implementing a Software-Defined Datacenter certification exam. You’ll want to focus mostly on the Microsoft documentation for Windows Server 2016 and Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) when studying at this time.

Fortunately, there is also a Exam Reference book announced from Microsoft Press to be coming soon. The Exam Ref 70-745 Implementing a Software-Defined Datacenter book will offer you the ability to hone in your studying to focus on the specific objectives and skills measured by this exam.

The Exam Ref 70-745 Implementing a Software-Defined Datacenter preparation book from Microsoft Press currently scheduled for release on July 25, 2017.

Happy studying!

CertificationTraining

New Big Data and Web Dev Microsoft Professional Program (MPP) Tracks Open for Enrollment

on June 6, 2017

Last year Microsoft launched the new Microsoft Professional Program (MPP). This is the latest initiative from Microsoft to provide training and an educational platform to help fill the ever growing skills gap in IT. Initially, Microsoft launched the program with a single track; the Data Science Microsoft Professional Program (MPP) track. Due to the huge success of this initial track, Microsoft announced earlier this year they are expanding the Microsoft Professional Program to 2 more additional tracks; Big Data and Front-end Web Development.

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CertificationOpen Source

LFCS: Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator Certification

on April 20, 2017

The Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator (LFCS) certification from The Linux Foundation is a full Linux certification for verifying and validating your Linux Operating System skills. Linux is the #1 operating system for web servers, cloud computing, smartphones and consumer electronics. It’s been growing very rapidly over the years, and even Microsoft has fully embraced Linux for running workloads in the Microsoft Azure cloud.

The IT industry is increasingly seeking out IT Professionals who have Linux Operating System management and administration skills. This certification will help you validate those skills to help advance your career. Read More

Certification

Exam Finder Helps Search Microsoft Certification Exams by Technology

on April 18, 2017

There are many different certification exams from Microsoft covering all the different technology areas. There are also many different certification paths like the newly redesigned MCSE and MCSA certifications that are made up of multiple certification exams. Unfortunately, the list of Microsoft certification exams can be a bit cumbersome and difficult to search through on the official Microsoft Learning site. For this reason, I have created a simple, open source, Microsoft certification exam finder tool.

The Build Azure Exam Finder allows you to search and filter through a list of Microsoft certification exams. It works by having all the exams in the list assigned Tags that you can easily filter on to find the exam(s) you’re looking for. You can filter on a combination of technologies or larger certifications like MCSE and MCSA to find the exams you’re looking for.

You can access the Build Azure Exam Finder tool here: http://exams.buildazure.com

The tool currently includes 31 exams in the list, and I’m planning on adding more soon to fill it out to contain a nice list of the various Microsoft certification exams available. I hope this tool helps others discover the certification exams and larger MCSA or MCSE certification paths that fit their expertise and knowledge areas. I was inspired to build this simple tool by many of the Microsoft certification questions people have been asking me through this blog and elsewhere online, as it helped me realize that there’s a real discoverability problem in how Microsoft present the certification information on the official Microsoft Learning site.

Additionally, the Build Azure Exam Finder tool is fully Open Source and hosted on Github (https://github.com/BuildAzure/ms-cert-finder). It’s built very simply using HTML, JavaScript, and the Bootstrap CSS Framework. This keeps it simple, lightweight, and most importantly, very easily to contribute to.

Certificationdatabase

New MCSA: Azure Database Development Certification from Microsoft

on April 13, 2017

There have been many changes to the Microsoft certification program lately. Among these changes have been brand new MCSA and MCSE certifications, including MANY new exams. Among these changes is the recent addition of the MCSA: Cloud Database Development certification.

Update May 27, 2017: Microsoft announced that they’ve renamed the MCSA: Cloud Database Development certification to MCSA: Azure Database Development.

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Certificationdatabase

New MCSA: Data Engineering with Azure Certification from Microsoft

on April 13, 2017

There have been many changes to the Microsoft certification program lately. Among these changes have been brand new MCSA and MCSE certifications, including MANY new exams. Among these changes is the recent addition of the MCSA: Big Data Engineering certification.

Update May 27, 2017: Microsoft announced that they’ve renamed the MCSA: Big Data Engineering certification to MCSA: Data Engineering with Azure.

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