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I'm at a point where I want to improve my 'marketability' as much as possible before dropping out of permanent programming roles and getting into contracting. I've looked at Microsoft ceritifcation in the past but didn't see the point when they were bringing in a new certification structure.

Now I'm looking again and it seems the main relevant ones are MCTS (for web, desktop or cloud) and, beyond that, MCPD. Given that I've never seriously used ASP.NET Webforms, have absolutely no desire to work on WebForms contracts, and have around 2 years of solid ASP.NET MVC experience that I want to build on, would it be a complete waste to get the MCTS web certification? Is there any cross-over value that would make doing what appears like a painfully out-of-touch certification worth while beyond the 'gold star' resume factor?

[edit] fixed the cert number from 505 to 515 - thanks

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Shameless plug on marketability. – karlphillip Mar 22 '12 at 16:52

closed as off topic by maple_shaft♦ Apr 2 '12 at 11:02

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4 Answers

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I would go for MCTS 70-515 instead of the 505, since it's on .NET 4 instead of 3.5. As for the MVC part, you can see it's only 13% of the exam and it's MVC2, not MVC3.

For the discussion how useful certification is: How valuable is the certification

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That link returns a 404 as of 2011/10/10. – StuperUser Oct 10 '11 at 10:04
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The one to Microsoft works, the one to the question is 404-ing. Do they both work? – StuperUser Oct 10 '11 at 13:29
@StuperUser "Do they both work?" are you doubting your previous sentence? – Paulo Manuel Santos Mar 9 '12 at 0:15
No, that second comment was clarifying in response to another comment which I appears to have been deleted. – StuperUser Mar 12 '12 at 9:51
up vote 2 down vote

If you have the relevant experience on your CV, it won't matter - I've been contracting for years, including a lot of roles that mention the certifications in the requirements. I don't have any certifications and have never even been asked about them.

Certifications only really matter for permanent staff where they count as part of the organization's partnership status.

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up vote 0 down vote

Since nobody so far has said this, these two key insights may not be immediately obvious:

  • All else equal, a MCTS certification makes you more marketable.
  • It doesn't hurt.
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up vote 0 down vote

I have an MCTS in Sql Server Database Development and while it's good to have on a CV I wouldn't say that it gives me a massive advantage over anyone else. I am sure there are plenty of people out there with better SQL skills than me who don't have any certificate, and I am sure that employers know that too.

I would say the certificates may be more relevant at the start of your career, but as you progress I believe subsequent interviews etc will focus more on your experience than any certificates.

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