"CERT Boot Camp"

http://www.ExamsAreEasy.com

Issue 1 -- Monday, July 9th, 2001

CERT Boot Camp is published at the beginning of each month.

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IN THIS ISSUE:

1. A WORD FROM THE EDITOR: Cassie would like to hear from you!

2. TRANSCENDERS: Are they good value or too expensive?

3. ARTICLE: .NET - What does it mean to YOU?

4. EXAMS ARE EASY UPDATE: New SQL Server Tutorials

5. JOKE

6. CONTACT CERT BOOT CAMP

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A WORD FROM THE EDITOR:

Welcome to your first issue of CERT Boot

Camp. My aim is to help you on your journey to

Certification success, so please help me to help you by emailing me

at cassiesimons@nospamExamsAreEasy.com (removing the "nospam"). with your questions, requests and

suggestions for future issues.

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2. TRANSCENDERS: You've probably heard about Transcender's

products, the much-hyped exam simulation software. Well, the

reason it's much-hyped is that it's very, very good!

The questions are close to the real thing and the

explanations are second to none. The only trouble is, the

cost is around $150, and sometimes more, per product - and

once you've tried one, you'll want one for each exam!

Assuming you wouldn't want to do anything illegal, is there

any way around this? Well, there is a free on-line club at

http://www.transcender.com/club/default.asp that you can sign

up to, which will give you discounts.

And here's another thing: You can apply to test out

Transcender's products as part of their beta testing, for

free!

By emailing productreview@transcender.com, you can apply to

participate in this scheme. You need to agree to a)Take the

exam within the time specified by Transcender (4-6 weeks) and

to b)Provide feedback on the product.

I've applied to participate in the beta trials for the SQL

Server Admin 2000 Transcender, and if I'm accepted, I'll give

you an update in next month's issue as to the benefits and

pitfalls.

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3. .NET - What does it mean to YOU?

Microsoft's .NET is the new development platform (currently in beta) for XML Web services.

The big picture? .NET is conceived as a step towards an intelligent internet. If you think about it, the "modern" internet models the old mainframe approach - a browser is much like a dumb terminal, showing the user one page at a time and not allowing customisation or annotation of the content. How many times have you wanted to collate information from a number of web sites, and had to use a piece of paper or lots of cutting and pasting to do so?

XML enables you to separate a Web page's underlying data from the presentation of the data, which is why it is a key component of the .NET architecture. To quote from the horses mouth (Bill Gates, actually): "The power of XML and advanced software is making the orchestration of online and offline data and services a reality."

But let's step down a level. As far as you or I or the average developer is concerned, the .NET platform sits on top of the operating system, and lets your program interact with the operating system via a set of classes.

Along with the .NET platform comes VB 7.0, better known as VB.NET, and C# (pronounced C-sharp). These new programming languages are tightly coupled with the .NET framework and are, according to Microsoft, a big leap forwards. The jump from VB 6 to VB.NET will be much more significant than occurred between VB 5 and VB 6.

The product manager for VB.NET, Ari Bixhorn, explains that the new C# language and VB.NET both have very similar capabilities, but with very different user experiences. He recommends that people with VB experience go with VB.NET, and people with C experience go with C#. Logical really.

So, how does all this affect aspiring MCSD's? Should you wait for .NET certification exams to appear or should you continue studying with a view to taking for the current certifications and then upgrade later on?

The answer is that there is no straight answer - the right thing to do depends on your immediate and long term career goals.

If you expect to be job hunting or changing positions - or even bidding for a pay rise - in the next 12-18 months, then you may find that going for the current MCSD path will give you a good return on investment for the short term. You'll start reaping the benefits of your MCSD more quickly.

And remember that lots of software houses and companies will continue to use VB 6 for a long time, and the same is true, of course, for C++.

You can expect to have a significant wait before any new .NET certifications are

released. With .NET expected to be released at the end

of the year, .NET exams may come out in beta version soon afterwards.

The beta testing takes another big chunk of time (but you

could get a headstart and take the beta exams). So, until

Microsoft give a date, we don't know when the .NET exams and

the new MCSD certification path will be available for general

consumption.

The current MCSD certification should be valid for some

considerable time. Microsoft usually retain a certification's

validity for 12 months after an exam is retired.

On the other hand, if you have no pressing need to obtain

certification - perhaps you are not looking to move jobs in

the foreseeable future - then you could start your training

and practising on .NET and be prepared to take the exams when

they come out - I would expect that being one of the first to

obtain the new MCSD certification would give you a nice edge

in the job market!

**Thanks to subscriber Richard B for inspiring this article**

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4. EXAMS ARE EASY UPDATE: New SQL Server Tutorials.

Just a quick note for those of you studying for SQL Server

exams: Cassie has provided you with two SQL Server Tutorials

at www.ExamsAreEasy.com/sql.html.

The first tutorial covers installation and configuration, and

the second covers SQL Server security. Further tutorials will

be added at approximately weekly intervals, so please visit

the page and bookmark it for future reference!

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5. JOKE:

A lady fell for her handsome new dentist like a ton of bricks and pretty soon

had lured him into a series of passionate encounters in the dental clinic after

hours. But one day he said sadly, "Honey, we have to stop seeing each other.

Your husband's bound to get suspicious." "No way, sweetie, he's dumb as a post,"

she assured him. "Besides, we've been screwing for six months now and he doesn't

suspect a thing." "True," agreed the dentist, "but you're down to one tooth!"

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6. CONTACT CERT BOOT CAMP

Do you have any CERT, techie or career questions? Do you want
to share your thoughts? Would you like to share a top tip with other subscribers? If so, send me an email at cassiesimons@nospamExamsAreEasy.com (removing the "nospam").

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