Comments on: The road towards MCPD-EAD: I passed exam 70-536 http://blog.briandicroce.com/2008/06/19/passed-70-536/ On the infinite search for the silver bullet... Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:41:41 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Brian Di Croce http://blog.briandicroce.com/2008/06/19/passed-70-536/comment-page-1/#comment-1152 Brian Di Croce Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:06:41 +0000 http://blog.briandicroce.com/?p=304#comment-1152 @Karthik: I have no idea how to get the CD content, but I can tell you that you don't need it to read and understand the material of the book. Honestly, I've never used the CD in the book. Just read the content that you don't know much about and familiarize yourself with it by loading Visual Studio and hacking some code. Practice makes you better. @Karthik: I have no idea how to get the CD content, but I can tell you that you don’t need it to read and understand the material of the book. Honestly, I’ve never used the CD in the book. Just read the content that you don’t know much about and familiarize yourself with it by loading Visual Studio and hacking some code. Practice makes you better.

]]> By: karthik http://blog.briandicroce.com/2008/06/19/passed-70-536/comment-page-1/#comment-1151 karthik Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:00:09 +0000 http://blog.briandicroce.com/?p=304#comment-1151 uhh..one more help..I am having that book in pdf format in my computer which was given to me by my friend.so I dont have that CD that comes with the book.Do u know by channce know where I can find the contents of the CD on the net?Coz I dont want to buy the whole book now.. uhh..one more help..I am having that book in pdf format in my computer which was given to me by my friend.so I dont have that CD that comes with the book.Do u know by channce know where I can find the contents of the CD on the net?Coz I dont want to buy the whole book now..

]]> By: karthik http://blog.briandicroce.com/2008/06/19/passed-70-536/comment-page-1/#comment-1150 karthik Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:46:42 +0000 http://blog.briandicroce.com/?p=304#comment-1150 Thanks a lot brian.Ill let you know for sure... Thanks a lot brian.Ill let you know for sure…

]]> By: Brian Di Croce http://blog.briandicroce.com/2008/06/19/passed-70-536/comment-page-1/#comment-1148 Brian Di Croce Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:24:58 +0000 http://blog.briandicroce.com/?p=304#comment-1148 @Karthik: I recommend you going with the book. It's complete and thorough enough to help you understand the concepts needed not only to learn about the BCL but also to pass the exam as well. Best of luck and let me know how that went! @Karthik: I recommend you going with the book. It’s complete and thorough enough to help you understand the concepts needed not only to learn about the BCL but also to pass the exam as well. Best of luck and let me know how that went!

]]> By: karthik http://blog.briandicroce.com/2008/06/19/passed-70-536/comment-page-1/#comment-1147 karthik Fri, 02 Jan 2009 10:11:34 +0000 http://blog.briandicroce.com/?p=304#comment-1147 Hi, I am thinking of going for the 70-536 exam.I am a rookie right now with 4 months experience working on asp.net.I looked at other reviews for this book which said that this book is a little hard to understand for starters.so should I go for this book right away or are there any alternative books which is sort of a prerequisite?Any advice on this matter will be appreciated. Hi,

I am thinking of going for the 70-536 exam.I am a rookie right now with 4 months experience working on asp.net.I looked at other reviews for this book which said that this book is a little hard to understand for starters.so should I go for this book right away or are there any alternative books which is sort of a prerequisite?Any advice on this matter will be appreciated.

]]> By: Brian Di Croce http://blog.briandicroce.com/2008/06/19/passed-70-536/comment-page-1/#comment-1087 Brian Di Croce Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:16:06 +0000 http://blog.briandicroce.com/?p=304#comment-1087 @Gabe: You're right, I haven't thought about the economic climate. Here in Canada, it isn't too bad though we are starting to feel some of the shock waves. Having hands-on experience on one hand and formal certifications on the other hand will surely put you in a position of being marketable and valuable to any organization...anywhere in the world. It'll be interesting to see what 2009 has to offer the IT industry as it goes through this economic storm. @Gabe: You’re right, I haven’t thought about the economic climate. Here in Canada, it isn’t too bad though we are starting to feel some of the shock waves. Having hands-on experience on one hand and formal certifications on the other hand will surely put you in a position of being marketable and valuable to any organization…anywhere in the world. It’ll be interesting to see what 2009 has to offer the IT industry as it goes through this economic storm.

]]> By: Gabe http://blog.briandicroce.com/2008/06/19/passed-70-536/comment-page-1/#comment-1086 Gabe Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:56:40 +0000 http://blog.briandicroce.com/?p=304#comment-1086 I agree with you Brian, however in this economic climate it I think it's best to have both strong development skills and certification. In the end, it makes us more marketable. I agree with you Brian, however in this economic climate it I think it’s best to have both strong development skills and certification. In the end, it makes us more marketable.

]]> By: Brian Di Croce http://blog.briandicroce.com/2008/06/19/passed-70-536/comment-page-1/#comment-423 Brian Di Croce Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:36:15 +0000 http://blog.briandicroce.com/?p=304#comment-423 Heya Paul, I totally agree with your comment that the time invested can seem overwhelming, especially when you think that there are now new certifications available for .NET 3.5, and that .NET 4.0 isn't far behind as well. In other words, these kinds of certifications seem to be valid only for a brief season. On a personal level, I have never agreed with technology/vendor specific certifications because 1) they're very temporary (mostly valid for 2-3 years), and 2) it doesn't really merit an individual's professionalism towards software development. In other words, a certification doesn't really certify much because the qualities developed behind core skills such as designing and programming are what really certifies a developer's professionalism in a project. Is your design testable? Can it be easily maintained and changed? Are object-oriented principles applied wisely and can you justify the reason why you decided to adopt this pattern instead of another? I believe that these are things we should really focus on to be better at our jobs....not whether you used a BufferedStream or MemoryStream object to read a stream of bytes. What's sad though, is that not many organizations value these former concepts. Some companies would hire a MCSD.NET individual over someone who isn't certified just because of the title...but behind that title, more often than not, is someone who doesn't really get the difference between software programming and software development. To be honest with you, the only reason I'm going forward with these certifications is because 1) it's fun to learn new way of doing things with the framework, 2) the opportunities it offers me to work on more challenging projects that demand someone with this kind of certification and 3) because my employer pays for them...so cheap...I know... ;) Paul, have you heard about the IEEE's CSDP certification? Now, that's THE certification that's worth investing time and energy. I won't tell you too much about it though...go to www.computer.org for more information. Thanks for your comment, Brian Heya Paul,

I totally agree with your comment that the time invested can seem overwhelming, especially when you think that there are now new certifications available for .NET 3.5, and that .NET 4.0 isn’t far behind as well. In other words, these kinds of certifications seem to be valid only for a brief season. On a personal level, I have never agreed with technology/vendor specific certifications because 1) they’re very temporary (mostly valid for 2-3 years), and 2) it doesn’t really merit an individual’s professionalism towards software development. In other words, a certification doesn’t really certify much because the qualities developed behind core skills such as designing and programming are what really certifies a developer’s professionalism in a project. Is your design testable? Can it be easily maintained and changed? Are object-oriented principles applied wisely and can you justify the reason why you decided to adopt this pattern instead of another? I believe that these are things we should really focus on to be better at our jobs….not whether you used a BufferedStream or MemoryStream object to read a stream of bytes.

What’s sad though, is that not many organizations value these former concepts. Some companies would hire a MCSD.NET individual over someone who isn’t certified just because of the title…but behind that title, more often than not, is someone who doesn’t really get the difference between software programming and software development.

To be honest with you, the only reason I’m going forward with these certifications is because 1) it’s fun to learn new way of doing things with the framework, 2) the opportunities it offers me to work on more challenging projects that demand someone with this kind of certification and 3) because my employer pays for them…so cheap…I know… ;)

Paul, have you heard about the IEEE’s CSDP certification? Now, that’s THE certification that’s worth investing time and energy. I won’t tell you too much about it though…go to http://www.computer.org for more information.

Thanks for your comment,

Brian

]]> By: Paul Rayner http://blog.briandicroce.com/2008/06/19/passed-70-536/comment-page-1/#comment-422 Paul Rayner Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:00:25 +0000 http://blog.briandicroce.com/?p=304#comment-422 Congratulations Brian! I have the same book, but have not been able to motivate myself to want to get the certification with everything else I have going on right now. The thought of spending ~60 hrs to prepare for the exam is a little overwhelming. I hope that the cert helps you in the future (or at least that all the studying you did makes you more knowledgeable about the CLR and more productive as a result). All the best, Paul. www.twitter.com/virtualgenius Congratulations Brian!

I have the same book, but have not been able to motivate myself to want to get the certification with everything else I have going on right now. The thought of spending ~60 hrs to prepare for the exam is a little overwhelming.

I hope that the cert helps you in the future (or at least that all the studying you did makes you more knowledgeable about the CLR and more productive as a result).

All the best,

Paul.
http://www.twitter.com/virtualgenius

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