Mcsd

[Kiwi]

Hi,

I think this is the right forum... if not, I apologise.

I'm thinking about taking some formal certification exams, and I've got a few questions about them. The one that seems most approriate for me is MCSD (http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/mcsd/requirementsdotnet.asp) (Solutions Developer). It is based in .NET and requires you to pursue either the VB or C# path.
How does MCSD compare to the more common MCSE in terms of reputation?
I haven't been able to find any equivalent certifications from other reputable providers (eg Lotus or Novell). Does anyone know of anything roughly equivalent?
I'm planning on self-study for these. I'm fairly good (and experienced) at studying for exams, does anyone know if this is likely to be successful or not?

Thanks.

[Roelf]

i've taken all the neccesary courses to become an mcsd, but never got into taken the exams. My teacher told me the exams are hard to do without the hands-on experience in the language (VB.NET or C#) and the development environment (visual studio).

The questions in the exams are so detailed, you could have overread the answer easily while studying, but you would know the answer when you've worked with VS for quite a while.

MCSE is not comparable with MCSD, MCSE is for network administrators, like setting up SQL replication schedules, installing and tweaking windows server 2003, calculating subnetmasks for ip ranges etc etc.
MCSD is for solution developers (as you mentioned yourself) so desinging and programming applications, automating office applications (especially the Excel object model is rather complicated when there is need for automating) etc etc.

When you want to study yourself for the exams, make sure you get enough practice, make sure you have seen (and remembered) every screen in Visual Studio. Know the meaning and behaviour of every select-box, checkbox, radio button etc in this development environment.

Get lots and lots of practice, get a few good books. I dont know anymore which are good, i done the classes before the .NET introduction, so my books are ancient right now.

there is info on www.examcram.com

good luck