Microsoft developer certifications - which ones ?

WobblyDog

I'm a software developer, but my employer is no longer interested in helping me keep my skills up to date. I've been using C#, ASP.NET and SQL Server commercially since 2002, but my experience with the latest versions of ASP.NET/C# and MVC is limited to home coding projects. I have MCTS certifications, but from 2009 using .NET 2.

I'd think I should home-study for the latest MS certifications, but which ones? The MCSD exams "Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3", "Developing ASP.NET MVC Web Applications" and "Developing Microsoft Azure and Web Services" look good.

I've plenty of O'Reilly, etc. books, but are there exam-specific books I should buy? How difficult is it to pass these exams when you haven't been on a training course immediately before? Any other considerations?

moneyuser

I think MCSD is the only one around worth doing. If you search for the exam code on amazon you will find books for each exam.

I have 2 of them (MVC & HTML5) and they are ok but not a full study guide. I am doing further study outside of the book, reading extra info about subjects and coding small examples.

These exams cover a wide range of subject areas. If you look at the Skills Measured section and are confident that you know each area well enough then you should find the exam easy

It sounds like you know C# itself quite well so you could also substiute the HTML5 exam for Exam 483: Programming in C# instead.

Also check out CertForums, it's quite good for certification stuff.