"So, a booth babe and a geek walk in to a bar..."

We just published a "request access code" button for first-time visitors to the MCP site who have lost their access code or it expired. The access code (you get it in an e-mail after passing a MSFT cert exam for the first time) is only good for a few...

Definitely one of the most common questions I get from MCPs (particularly in India, I think) is on the status of your MCP or credential welcome kits. So, first let me say SORRY for those of you who are not sure what to do or waiting on your kit - I know...

Additional info on the exam insurance promotion we announced at TechEd. See earlier post . The marketing team here at Microsoft Learning and the TechNet team put together a deal whereby people who buy exam insurance and take their first exam by January...

Spread the word, exams won't be out until early 2007... including a one-exam upgrade path for MCDSTs (exam 621, slated for mid-February) but in the meantime Rob (Senior Product Manager for Cert) and John (guy who is working with the Vista and Office product...

One of whom is named Lucas ( see earlier post ). So there you have it. In related news, there are 61,873 MCSE 2003s in countries other than Kenya.

Last week we had a Live Meeting for MCAD/MCSDs about the new VS2005 certifications. Here's the recording . It was great, mostly because we got so many good questions that had obviously not been well answered before (sorry about that...!). These are...

So today this new exam program launched " exam insurance " through which you pay a little more for your MSFT certification exam, then if you fail it you can take it again for free and if you pass it you get 25% off your next exam. I would tell you how...

The word on the street is that lots of people were disappointed about missing the beta for exam 70-620: Windows Vista, Configuring; the "big Vista" exam (in its beta state, the number is 71-620). We're sorry if you are one of those people--we'd love to...

For Office, there will be three MCTS level certifications for developers, each requiring 1 exam. MCTS is Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist , which is the technology-series certification in the new format of certification. There is also a Microsoft...

We're kicking around the idea of asking Microsoft Certified Architects (about 70 people are MCAs, to date) to host MCP-only talks on whatever is on their mind... or whatever you want to hear about. The idea would be to have one meeting per month from...

At the Microsoft Learning booth yesterday at IT Forum (by the way, if you're in Barcelona and you're reading this, come by our booth in the Ask the Experts session... we somehow have a basket full of tiny cookies with MCP logos on them--really a 'don...

Earlier I talked about the Oct 25 Live meeting about Visual Studio 2005 certs and how to get there from MCAD and MCSD... here's the deck to review or share http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/upgrade/default.mspx#STEP_02

my two favorite things about being in Barcelona for TechEd are as follows. 1. yesterday we took a train out to Circuit de Catalunya to have a beer and watch some auto racing. before we even entered the stands or could see the cars, i was eyeing the...

Reminder/heads up that the exam path that was originally announced for SQL Server 2005 MCITP: Business Intelligence certification (431 + 446) has now CHANGED to 70-445 and 70-446 --basically with 445 there is now a MCTS certification specific to BI. We...

If you have access to the MCP site, you can check out some basics on the upcoming exams and certs that will map to Vista, Office, and Exchange ("will" map because they won't be available for a few months, yet). https://mcp.microsoft.com/mcp/preview.mspx

The ladies and gents powder rooms at the Barcelona conference center share a common main door, then ladies go left, men go right. This man obviously had his head in his conference guide and missed that critical signage. When he came out of his stall and...

I'm in Barcelona for TechEd IT Forum, and, apparently, I can't sleep. Earlier I had dinner with Matt (who runs the team at Microsoft Learning that coordinates with the product groups to make sure our training and certification matches to the technology...

Per my earlier post , the Microsoft Learning booth at Ask the Experts at IT Forum has, inexplicably, hundreds of tiny cookies--cakes, depending on where you're from--with perfectly rendered little MCP logos on them. Slavko, our on-hand Slovenian MCT ...

Hi, Stefano. Thanks for your good suggestion about a unified certification transcript. This, in fact, should not be too much to ask. We (a cross-group team at Microsoft) are actually working on it now. I know I've seen the idea of Microsoft Office certifications...

Back in Seattle now. What a good event, TechEd. Here's my quick review: Absolute tops: My co-workers. My co-workers from Microsoft Learning, Pearson VUE (one of our exam partners), and the very funny MCTs from all over (Slovenia, Italy, Romania...

One of my MSL co-horts, Matt Carter (afore-mentioned guy in charge of working with product groups to align the training and certifications we develop with release of technologies...) was telling me yesterday that he, too, had a surprising restroom experience...

You can check out this Virtual Side interview with our group's general manager, Lutz Ziob, (who, to my discomfiture, is always nice enough to try and speak German with me when we run into each other in the lunchroom...) about Microsoft Learning's new...

An update on 540 (TS: Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 - Application Development) for those of you who are interested. The 71-540 beta (betas are always a 71- prefix) started in September 2006. The product planners (meet Howard ) needed to extend the beta...

My name is Trika Harms zum Spreckel, and I manage MCP communications for Microsoft Learning. This is my blog, related to certification and MCP what nots. but seriously, is this thing on?