Jim McLeod is a DBA, and a good friend of mine. And today, he is due congratulations, because he passed the exam 70-444 – Optimizing and Maintaining a DB Admin Solution in SQL 2005. Now he only needs to do the Infrastructure Design exam (70-443) to become MCITP:DBA.
Did he take one of the courses I teach, that Microsoft recommends to do before trying the exam? No.
Did he spend hours in study, looking for those small things that he would need? No.
Did he download one of those illegal copies of the exam? No, of course not. That would be cheating, and Jim’s not like that.
So how did he pass? Easy. He’s a DBA by trade, and good at his job, too! So he just booked in, sat the exam, and passed it easily. The certification wasn’t trying to trip him up with tricky questions, it was just trying to find out if he really does have DBA skills. Jim does, so he passed!
Congratulations again, mate.
This Post Has 4 Comments
I’ve found that studying for MS exams a good way of consolidating my ASP.NET experience (70-315), or more recently, establishing a foundation of knowledge to help move over to the latest version release (70-536).
Committing to hours of targeted study is sometimes the only practical way of keeping up. My take is you might as well get some professional recognition for it so sitting the exam makes sense.
I’d like to study for 70-228 and 70-229 as SQL Server 2000 is essential to (but only part of) my role. But I don’t know 10% of the stuff a seasoned DBA like Jim would necessarily know. With a bit more knowledge I’m sure would do a better job though.
It’s good that the certification program does not discriminate against the gifted and knowledgeable expert, but for others who may aspire to that status the whole process of preparation is central to laying down a useful foundation of knowledge.
Great post.
This is the best proof of the real world validity of the programme.
70-444 is really easy for people with practical experience but 70-443 is really tough…
Cool! I agree with the posts from everyone else. I just sat the 70-444 exam and passed with 794 score. I read through the Microsoft training materials, but really did not study. I just used the knowledge gained from the job. This exam is really easy for those with pratical experience, but it covers SSIS packages pretty thoroughly and that is one area I was not familiar with.