Microsoft has always been a proponent of technology
certification through its MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) program and
MSDN Learning portals with guidance to plan and prepare for their
certifications based on technology of your choice.
However, employers and employees alike are often at
crossroads of whether the Microsoft certifications are actually beneficial for
either of them. Here are some points in favor of both parties:
For employer’s,
the perks lie in achieving certain competencies within the organization (yes,
since 2010 Microsoft made key changes to the partner program that Gold or
Microsoft Certified Partner labels did not apply to the whole company per say
but to specific competencies within the organization) and demonstrating that
they are dedicated towards maintain those competencies. The requirements to
demonstrate these competencies among others are to show that your workforce
meets the requirements for number of certified individuals with those
competencies.
Specific to Sharepoint, Microsoft has consolidated the
process of becoming a Microsoft Sharepoint Partner. They are divided into 2
groups namely System Integrators and Independent Software vendors.
System Integrators – Helping customers realize full business
value of their Sharepoint investment including social; Enterprise Search and
surfacing LOB (line of business) data in Sharepoint.
Independent System Validators – providing solutions
leveraging cloud based platform for business intelligence, advanced
visualization, project portfolio and business process management.
The new Collaboration and Content competency merges the
previous competencies: Portals and Collaboration, Content Management and
Search. Further reading on the competencies and how to achieve partner status here.
For employee’s,
the perks are in achieving certification and Microsoft accreditation which can
help them gain better visibility within the organization as well as the
industry. Nowadays, it has relatively harder for companies to screen and assess
competencies which are ever changing and rapidly progressing (compare MOSS to
2013). This gives certifications more weightage when assessing talent and
required skill set based on requirements.
Below is the certification plan for MCSD (Sharepoint
Developer) in 2013:
(Images and content copyright of Microsoft, the views expressed here are mine)
