Find jobs and internships you can start in the New Year (For Students)

Find jobs and internships you can start in the New Year
The Microsoft Students to Business (S2B) program connects students with Microsoft partners and customers for entry-level jobs and internships. Find job postings, unique training opportunities, and resources at www.microsoft.com/S2B.

Microsoft Exam Development Process

Microsoft Certification exams are carefully developed with input from industry professionals to reflect how Microsoft products are used in organizations throughout the world. The exams are the life-blood of the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) program—computer administered to accurately measure one’s ability to perform specific, market-relevant job tasks. This objective system of measurement is one reason the exams are so respected among employers.

Microsoft Certification exams test the precise skills required to use Microsoft technologies or perform the necessary job functions in areas such as systems engineering, database administration, and solutions development. These rigorous exams go well beyond testing routine knowledge or terminology. After all, on the job, you need to know more than facts. You need to apply your knowledge by analyzing technical solutions, solving problems, and making decisions.

Development phases

To ensure the validity, reliability, and relevance of Microsoft Certification exams, developers create exams in eight phases:

1. Job analysis: Exam developers break down the tasks performed within a specific job function, and identify the relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities needed when using a specific technology.
2. Objective domain definition: Tasks are translated into a comprehensive set of more specific and measurable skills and abilities. The resulting list of objectives, or the objective domain, forms the basis for the development of certification.
3. Blueprint survey: The objective domain is transformed into a blueprint survey, in which technical and job function experts rate the importance of each objective. This helps to determine the appropriate number and types of items to include on the exam. Contributors may be Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPs) or MCP candidates recruited from within Microsoft or through online forums. Based on contributor input, exam developers prioritize and weigh the objectives.
4. Item development: Exam developers write the exam items according to the prioritized objectives. Developers review and revise items to ensure that they are:
   • Technically accurate
   • Clear, unambiguous, and relevant
   • Not biased toward any population, subgroup, or culture
   • Not misleading or tricky
   • Testing for useful knowledge rather than obscure or trivial facts

   Items that meet these criteria are included in the alpha item pool.

5. Alpha review and item revision: A panel of experts reviews each item for technical accuracy. After the items are approved, they undergo a legal review.
6. Beta exam: The reviewed items are beta-tested. During the beta exam, candidates comment on items. The beta exam allows Microsoft to evaluate the quality of the item in an actual exam situation, and helps ensure that only the best content is included in the live exam.
   • Learn more about beta exams and how to participate
7. Item selection and cut-score setting: The results of the beta exam are analyzed to determine which items should be included in the live exam. This analysis focuses on many factors, including item difficulty and reliability. Microsoft works with a panel of experts to review the technical accuracy of questions and to determine the final item pool for the live exam. The panel determines the cut score (minimum passing score) for the exam. This score differs from exam to exam, because it is based on the difficulty of the item pool and the expected performance of the minimally qualified candidate.
8. Live exam: Prometric, an independent testing company, administers the final certification exam. The exam is available at testing centers worldwide.
   • Learn more about Microsoft Certification exams
   • Learn more about Prometric

Microsoft Beta exam scoring process

When you complete a beta exam, you do not receive a score immediately because the scoring model for the exam is not yet finalized. The scoring model is determined by the cumulative results of the beta, as illustrated in this overview of the scoring process.

Your score is added to your Microsoft transcript. In general, results for beta exams are available on or near the date when the final version of the exam releases.

Note Participation in beta exams is voluntary, and Microsoft makes no promises or guarantees regarding the beta exam process, availability of your scores, or the timing of your results.

Microsoft Exams Retiring on October 31, 2010

Exams retiring on October 31, 2010	Exam
Designing, Implementing, and Managing Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003	Exam 70-089
Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Software Asset Management (SAM) Program	Exam 70-123
Designing a Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solution	Exam 74-131
Deploying a Portal Solution with Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies	Exam 74-132
Customizing Portal Solutions with Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies	Exam 74-133
Pre-Installing Microsoft Products and Technologies	Exam 74-134
Developing E-Business Solutions Using Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004	Exam 74-135
Developing Microsoft Office Solutions Using XML with Office Professional Edition 2003	Exam 74-137
Planning and Building a Messaging and Collaboration Environment using Microsoft Office System and Microsoft Windows Server 2003	Exam 74-138
Deploying Business Desktops with Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft Office 2003	Exam 74-139
Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005 – Implementing, Managing, and Troubleshooting	Exam 70-262
Planning, Deploying, and Managing an Enterprise Project Management Solutions	Exam 70-281
Designing a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Organization	Exam 70-285
Implementing Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004	Exam 70-350
Windows Server 2003 Hosted Environments, Configuration and Management	Exam 70-501
Deploying and Maintaining Windows Vista Client and 2007 Microsoft Office System Desktops	Exam 70-624

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Microsoft Exams released in November 2009

Exams released in November 2009	Preparation guide
PRO: Windows 7, Enterprise Desktop Administrator (English)	Exam 70-686
TS: Windows 7, Preinstalling for OEMs (English)	Exam 70-683
PRO: Windows 7, Enterprise Desktop Support Technician (English)	Exam 70-685

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Microsoft Exams released in October 2009

Exams released in October 2009	Preparation guide
Windows Server 2003, MCSA Security Specialization Skills Update (English)	Exam 70-699
TS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Configuring (English)	Exam 70-662

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Microsoft’s Certification Map Seeks to Put Meaning Back in the Initials By John Hazard

The next generation of Microsoft certifications—a three-tiered, job-related map— will be easier to discern and navigate for business, partners and individual certificate holders, partners and analysts said.

MCDBA. MCDST. MCAD.net. MCP. MCSA. MCSE 2003. MOS 2002.

Those aren’t Department of Defense designations or the latest hip-hop playlist. Those are just a handful of the more than one dozen certifications Microsoft Corp. partners and IT executives are carting around under their credentials.

“There were so many of them that it got to the point where nobody knew what any of them meant and how one was different from another,” said Claire Schooley, an IT education analyst at Forrester Research Inc. “They had lost their meaning.”

To put meaning back in the initials, Microsoft on Monday unveiled a streamlined new certification map that will place certificate holders in one of three tiers—Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist, Microsoft Certified IT Professional or Professional Developer, and Microsoft Certified Architect—across all of its many applications, platforms, programs and subspecialties.

For partners, the certifications will also be linked to their competencies, eliminating a step many saw as redundant.

In addition, the new certification map will be more focused, ensuring specialization in specific skills, instead of an understanding of broad subjects, Microsoft and partners said.

Partners and executives should find the new system easier to navigate and better-suited to identifying a certificate holder’s actual skills, Schooley and several partners said.

“It used to be that a person would show up with a resume that said they were a MCSD [Microsoft Certified Solution Developer] and neither the business nor the [holder] knew what it truly meant,” said Karla Carter, a Microsoft Certified Trainer and private instructor of Microsoft technologies.

“Some people weren’t even aware of what the titles were and if they were, they might not know where the person’s specialty lies.”

“To get that certification,” Carter said, “they had to pass a handful of exams in subjects not really pertaining to their actual field. So you have no idea what area they specialize in. It was harder to get the certifications, then once you had it, it was harder to prove what you knew.”Under the new program, certification requirements will be more focused, requiring fewer and more specialized exams, Microsoft said.A streamlined qualification process will allow quicker and cheaper educations for Microsoft students, said Jane Cage, partner and owner of Heartland Technology Solutions, of Joplin, Mo.”I think you will see a lot more people achieving certifications,” Cage said. “If you cut a certification from eight exams to three, that may cut six months and a lot of money from the education process.”More accessible certifications will benefit partners in at least two ways, Cage said.”For one, it is a great marketing tool from us to clients, to let them know that we have techs certified in areas specific to their business. It adds confidence and credibility to table,” she said.”Second, it is important in the relationship with Microsoft. When they see we’ve taken steps to gain certifications in specific areas, they know we’re serious about doing business there. That then leads to synergy and brings more to what you can offer the client.”Qualifications are often where businesses and partners connect, said Michael Edde, president of Alpha & Omega Computer Consultants, of Murfreesburo, Tenn.”If you’re looking for someone who does something specific, being able to declare that will be a big help,” he said.”I’ve had many certifications, and I’ve only had a handful of customers ask for them. They want to know what you can do, and that’s it.”Edde said he has recommended that Microsoft add an additional search feature, based on certifications, to its Small Business portal.For businesses, having consultants and employees proficient in specific Microsoft technologies will improve performance, Schooley said.Current certifications will continue, but new software will require certification under the new system.The first credentials will awarded in early 2006 for partners and IT personnel working with Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005, all slated to launch Nov. 7, Microsoft said.Two exceptions, the MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) and MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator) certifications, will continue to be recognized, said a company spokesperson.

71-663 beta exam update from Born to Learn

“Betas are very important to us here at Microsoft Learning, but so is releasing an exam in a timely manner. Not only because we like to strike while the iron is hot, but also because we have commitments to support the Product Team’s launch. We also have many partners, MCTs and other folks who depend on MSL to release an exam that is in synch with their readiness activities like qualifying for a partner competency or certifying to teach a new class. A long beta also inconveniences those candidates that just want to take the live exam but have to wait for us to process the all the beta data we collect. To this end, it is always a balancing act between collecting all the data we can for psychometric reasons and the time it takes to read and act on each and every comment we receive from each beta candidate.

Sometimes things don’t go the way we planned.

 

For the new Exchange 2010 beta (71-663: Pro: Designing and Deploying Messaging Solutions with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010) the beta cap limit was inadvertently left blank. This means that more than three times as many candidates have registered for the beta than we had planned for. Why is this an issue? It primarily goes back to time. As I said above, each candidate has the opportunity to comment on the exam questions, and there can be a lot of questions in a beta, which means a lot of comments. Microsoft Learning reads EVERY comment to evaluate whether a question meets our standards for an MCP exam and determine next steps. This can involve technical research to verify if the question is indeed correct (or incorrect), evaluating if the wording of the question is confusing or a host of other factors that we use to decide if the item can be fixed or even should be kept at all. This takes time. With a product such as Exchange that has already launched we simply don’t have the time to process thousands of extra comments that will be generated by the extra beta candidates that signed up for this exam and still release our exam in a timely fashion.

 

Because of this, Prometric will unfortunately be contacting some candidates that were inadvertently allowed to register for 71-663 after we had reached the beta cap. I don’t know who these folks are so I would plan on taking the beta unless you are contacted by Prometric. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience of the situation, and as a token of our appreciation Microsoft will provide those folks who were inadvertently allowed to register with a voucher to take the Exchange exam for free when it goes live after the first of the year. You won’t be able to take the exam early but at least you won’t have to pay for 70-663.  If you are contacted, Prometric will have the voucher details. Obviously this will have been a frustrating week for many of you when it comes to beta exams. We appreciate your patience and are working to be sure this never happens again.”

Source: http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/2009/12/71-663-beta-exam-update

Announcing: Microsoft Student Career Portal

Microsoft is pleased to announce the launch of the Microsoft Student Career Portal.  The portal is a joint effort between Microsoft Learning and the Microsoft Student to Business program, and incorporates valuable student resources from each organization.

The best investment a student can make is in his or her career, that’s why Microsoft provides special offers for students on software, training, certification exams, and access to various programs to help students who are interested in a career in the IT industry. With the Microsoft Student Career Portal Micriosoft wants to provide insight on 5 IT careers, along with the learning tools, certification exam guidance, and various resources necessary for global students to gain technical skills that can differentiate them in today’s challenging job market. Microsoft plans to update the portal regularly and also plans to localize the portal into 5 languages by Summer.

If you work with students, point out our Student Career Portal, they will likely find some interesting offers that can help them on their way towards a career in IT.

Now available! 70-683: TS: Windows 7, Preinstalling for OEMs

Exam 70-683 is now available in Prometric testing centers. This is a Technical Specialist exam designed to assess candidates’ hands-on skills in preinstalling Windows 7 for OEMs.

Candidates for this exam are IT professionals who use the Microsoft OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK) and imaging tools to deploy and maintain Windows 7 desktops and additional applications and tools. Candidates should have a minimum of one year of experience addressing day-to-day issues involving desktop image deployments. Candidates should be familiar with Microsoft best practices for using the OPK.

This exam covers the following topics:

• Preparing the OPK Environment
• Creating a Base Image
• Configuring the Image for Deployment
• Deploying and Updating the Image

For a more detailed list of the skills measured on this exam, check out the prep guide. To schedule your exam, visit Prometric’s Web site.