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Training For Microsoft Sql Certifications What Should I Look For?
There are several SQL certification courses and Microsoft certification exams offered and there are also a few highly rated certification courses that can help you gain the knowledge and expertise to help you gain your certification. Depending on the type of certification you are trying to achieve, a professional course to help you prepare for the exam may run between 4 and 7 days and $2,495 to $4,995. Some of the premier courses even include:
* Airfare
* Lodging
* Ground Transportation
* 2 Microsoft Test Vouchers
* 2 Retake Vouchers (If needed)
* Onsite Prometric Testing Center
* Microsoft Training Books
* Microsoft Study Labs & Simulations
* Instructor Led Classroom Training
There are a few different Microsoft SQL Certifications offered and you can get training focused on each of these individual certifications.
For instance the Microsoft Certified IT Professional Certification or MCTIP certification course for short, is the premier certification for DBAs looking to build end to end BI solutions. The certification confirms that you are fully qualified to configure and implement a complete BI Solution. A bootcamp for any type of certification training like this should be very hands on with a training environment where instructors would guide you through step by step examples and demonstrations, not just long lectures.
Your instructor should create real world scenarios for lab environments. This course should demonstrate how to build an Integration Services (SSIS) package to automate the ETL process from the Relational OLTP to the DataMart / DataWarehouse. This course would also spend several days exploring the features of Analysis Services (SSAS) including cube designer, dimensions, measures, KPIs, Perspectives, Translations, MDX and Data Mining. Finally, the training would look at different ways to present the data to different users like Excel PowerPivot and Sharepoint 2010 built in BI solutions.
There is another certification for Database Developers which is the Microsoft Certified IT Professional. This certification is for SQL Server 2008 and is the premier certification for database server developers. The certification confirms that you are fully qualified to develop databases and architect entire application level solutions. A Database developers’ responsibilities are to design and implement relational database models (logical and physical) and database storage objects. They also program servers by using user-defined functions, triggers, stored procedures, Transact-SQL, or the CLR. They retrieve or modify data using SQL queries or tune and optimize queries. Database developers are typically employed by mid-sized to large-sized organizations.
Again, there are SQL courses available for this specific certification with instructors that will guide you through step by step examples and demonstrations and real world scenarios for lab environments.
Lastly, there is a certification for a Microsoft Certified IT Professional Database Administrator (MCITP: Database Administrator). This certification confirms that you are fully qualified to administer Microsoft SQL databases and architect entire application level solutions.
Database administrators install, configure and secure databases. Administrators are often tasked with evaluating the performance of the SQL Server by implements partitions and index tuning. Additionally, high availability strategies like Database Mirroring, Log Shipping and Clustering are included in administrators’ responsibilities. Database administrators are typically employed by small or mid-sized to large-sized organizations.
If you are in need of hands on training for Microsoft SQL certifications start by doing a Google search for the term “SQL certifications” or “Microsoft SQL certifications” to find a list of credible and accredited Microsoft Training Courses. Look for a course that focuses on accelerated learning, covers concepts in a clear, condensed fashion, and uses real world examples and terminology. Also, look for a boot camp or course that has a proven success rate with students passing their exams on the first try.
You should also check into the type of Facilities that a training center will supply you with.
A reputable training facility should give a description of the training facility stating something along the lines of, “We use top end computer equipment - 20in monitors, cpu’s with Intel Virtualization, 6 gigs (min) of memory. We use Herman Miller chairs to ensure comfort for bootcamp hours. Our desk allow plenty of room for student computer, your laptop and book – each student has a dedicated 6ft desk workspace.”
Compare the fine points of what each training camp has to offer. Do students stay at Marriott & Hilton brand hotels, which provide full studio amenities including flat panel tvs, microwave and refrigerator in every room? Or are there 30+ students in a classroom with only one instructor using very old equipment with lag and slow performance on the software used today. Do students stay in less than desirable (extended stay) type of hotels in areas not suited for professionals. Sometimes the creature comforts make all the difference but with very little impact on the difference in training fees that are offered.
Each website you visit when researching course training should have a very clear outline of what they offer. This overview should be enough information for you to make an informed decision on a SQL certification course that would be right for you. Make sure to read reviews and testimonials for each of the Microsoft training courses.
Office 365 – Stormy days in the cloud
These days, it seems like everyone is pushing “cloud” computing. Everything from our music, videos and photos – to business services like Exchange, SQL and even Windows Server. However, I’m discovering more and more why they call it the cloud and not clear skies.
Recently, I decided to move our mail to an Exchange Server in the cloud with a Microsoft service called Office 365. As we have staff and contractors all over the world (literally) – allowing the flexibility of administration and mailbox access anywhere in the world (via the internet) made complete business sense. Additionally, the security blanket of the 99.9% uptime promise by Microsoft – what could go wrong.
DISCLAIMER – the rest of this blog gets a little “geeky” with technical terms and a hard to follow sequences of steps.
Microsoft offers trial service (intended for small business under 25 employees) or an enterprise solution which offers much higher capacity. I jumped quickly to move our company domain MX records to the small business service. Everything was going fine. As I was pleased with the service (and realized I could get the enterprise service as part of our partnership agreement with Microsoft) – decided to move into the full Enterprise edition. So, I followed the instructions to delete our domain out of the small business and re-create it in the enterprise solution. The Microsoft servers allowed me to do this and it appeared everything would be fine.
Unfortunately, Microsoft maintained the old domain internally (even though I deleted the domain and account completely). Long story short – 3 days later (8 hours of which was on the phone) – Microsoft finally found someone who knew where the problem was and how to fix it. Thanks to a local (Tampa Bay) service provider and an amazing system admin – we were able to temporarily move to another Exchange server (Once Microsoft said they wouldn’t blame the problem on our temporary solution). Microsoft basically had us at their mercy. We (obviously) have no way to how many emails were NDR back to recipients or what this disaster cost us.
The problem is now solved and we are in the cloud. However, it seems almost impossible to believe a company the size of Microsoft would need 3 days and countless support techs to identify and resolve a routing issue within their own servers. Moreover, the fact they could suggest – “we’ll have till tomorrow to hear something” when a company’s entire mail service is hanging in the balance. I’m not just slamming Microsoft – they’ve been the source of my income for 17 years – it’s just a frustrating experience.
The cloud has a world of potential. However, sometimes these cloud based service providers are too big and have too many disconnected departments to provide realistic solutions – which is why they will never eliminate the need for administrators and the option to run services locally.
Chester
Windows 8 Preview
The world gets a first look at code name Windows 8 (Keep wanting to type Windows 2008 – bad habit). First glance, it looks very similar to Windows Phone 7. The Windows 8 interface is radically different from any previous desktop operating system – with the focus on touch technology. While Microsoft is playing catch up in the “touch” world – they seem to be leading the path of an unified operating system for desktop, laptop and touch slates.
In this first view, the os starts up with a full screen picture and some general information (time, etc..) on top of the picture. The interface is very friendly with the “tiles” providing more detail than a typical icon. If the “touch” interface isn’t well suited for your taste (or hardware) – the os offers the traditional interface we’ve come to know with the start button and complete menu system.
So – it’s obvious where many of these “touch” and “interface” ideas come from (true to Microsoft they don’t always invent the wheel) – yet – it’s blended with a couple of really cool features we haven’t seen in the Apple dominated touch world.
Microsoft has demonstrated they will not raise the white flag. If Microsoft actually listens to the community in the early releases – they might actually create a touch OS which takes a bite out of Apple.