Long road to MCTS

Hi there

Let me start off by how my desire to become MCTS certified came into being.

Nearly a year ago, I was really starting to hang of .NET development. I was learning lots of new stuff as was becoming more and more interested in writing solid good code, then going for the classic 'solution that I knew worked'.

At this time I came into contact with some cool people, like my colleague Eric Rogien. He was in the process of becoming MCTS at the time.
He shared his experience with me and from what he told me, it was really worth the effort.

Soon after, I had my first intake interview with the guys from InfoSupport Belgium. The purpose of that talk was to find out if I was 'MCTS material' ;-)

You need a certain level of knowlegde before you should attempting the exam, they said. It's not that you are going to learn a certain syntax, but it's more about learning new ways and design patterns, things you won't come into contact with in your daily work.

And that's really what is it. Becoming certified for me isn't about obtaining a piece of paper that will increase my market value, but more about learning the way to get the most out of the .NET framework.

After that kick-off, I started working on the pratical issues. How was I going to study for the exam, which traject was I going to take, where was I going to get the cash for it, etc etc.
These things nearly took me 6 months to complete ;-)

A huge effort just to get started, but it has been worthwhile, because I already leared a lot and met some cool people along the way.

Next time, I'll blog down the details of my MCTS course.

Stay in touch...