SharePoint Certification

When I heard that Microsoft was going to be releasing a suite of SharePoint Tests I was so excited! I started digging for more information but to my surprise there was absolutely nothing from Microsoft! I was even more surprised to find that my local testing was offering two of the tests: 74-132 and 74-133. I decided to give them a call to find out if they had any information about what topics were covered on the tests - especially since they were both listed with the same name: Customizing Portal Solutions with Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies. Their answer? Call Microsoft Testing.

To make a long story short the MCP guys don't know about the tests, the MBS testing guys don't know about the tests, and some other group didn't know about the tests. Their final solution was hilarious. "Go to http://www.microsoft.com" for more information. So, armed only with the information from Patrick's blog I signed up for the Developer's test, 74-133, and gave it my best shot this morning.

Some thoughts:

• The test follows MCP test format (70% to pass, multiple choice, choose some of the following and put them in order...)
  
• Pay attention to the title: "Customizing Portal Solutions with Microsoft® SharePoint® Products and Technologies." This is not exclusively a SharePoint exam - it is what it says. I'd recommend brushing up on what Microsoft thinks is a Portal, specifically which products.
  
• The test was mostly a developer's test - but not exclusively. I'm not sure how much that really matters since I'd think SharePoint developers would be somewhat familiar with the architecture/security/server configs anyway - but still, things that could have been brought to my attention YESTERDAY!

So my score? Sadly it is a bit low to mention here but after a week or so of prep I should be ready to try again :)