A Blog for the Microsoft Certified Professional(MCP) - By Georgeo Pulikkathara

Technorati Profile

2008-04-29T02:04:00Z

George Is Moving On…

2008-04-14T22:00:00Z

I’m changing jobs and moving to the Trustworthy Computing organization under Adrienne Hall’s leadership. This was a difficult choice for me to make, but the right one for my career development. I’ve really enjoyed working in the Microsoft Certified Professional Community Space, and working with all the great team players such as Lilia Taylor, Rolando Zarate, Ken Rosen, Trika Harms Zum Spreckel, and many others who have helped make the MCP community more active and vibrant over the last year.

We got to see MCP Benefits get launched in October, 2007. There was a lot of work in involved and some challenges in making this happen for you guys, but it was worth it. It’s a step in the right direction, and Microsoft Learning is looking for ways to reward our MCP and MCTs for being Microsoft Certified. We straightened out the MCP welcome kit mess for now, but we need to keep our eye on it.

If you recall, many of you received vouchers for delays caused by us for not getting the welcome kits shipped to you in a timely fashion for welcome kits you placed an order for. You go to see downloadable versions of the certificates for the new generation certifications such as MCITP, MCPD. We now have a revamped process, along with plans to shorten the welcome kit shipment times thanks to the collaborative efforts of many hands chipping in to make this a better process. We’re looking to utilize the “pizza box” delivery package utilized by the MCT program to ensure your welcome kits get there undamaged the first time.

We’ve seen our active participation increase almost 20 % last year from all the MCP who logged in and accessed their benefits and resources from the MCP Secure Site at https://mcp.microsoft.com/mcp. There’s more cool stuff coming for the MCP program. You’ll find that being Microsoft Certified does mean something, and will help you with your career.

Thanks to the assistance of Rajesh Mohan, Rahul Parikh, Donal Cavanagh, and Venumadhava rao Yandapally, we’ve got better customer issue escalation in place from the regional service centers to tier 1 to Tier 2 to handle MCP issues coming in.

There’s still more work to do for us, but I’m confident it’s going to happen. Quite a few good ideas have come up from the MCP Community on how to add value to being certified. Microsoft Learning is listening and they are serious about adding value to certification, and I’ve seen quite a few amazing folks step up to make things happen in this space behind the scenes.

I’d like to thank Noury Bernard-Hasan, Wayne Anderson, Adam Jaffe, Howard Dierking, Trika Harms Zum Spreckel, Lilia Taylor, Rolando Zarate, Rob Linsky, Rick Grindley, Bill Wall, Steve Sheppard, Max Myrick, Helmer Zandenberg, and many others for their assistance and feedback to help me get ramped up on the MCP program. In my absence, Ken Rosen will be covering down until we can identify the next MCP community lead. If you know of any good candidates (must be Microsoft Certified) who are passionate about adding value to Microsoft Certifications, and growing the MCP Community, please send them to Ken Rosen to see if they’re a good fit.

Warmest Regards,

George

MCP LinkedIn Community Proposal - Tell us what you think

2008-02-07T22:57:00Z

Here's Erwin's idea:

We're looking to take existing groups and consolidate them under "official" MCP LinkedIn groups that can be validated for the folks in the groups are actually MCPs. You'll have a group for each specific credential, such as MCP, MCSE, MCPD, MCITP, and so forth. In order to join the groups, you'll come in through the MCP Secure Site, get your credentials validated. and then you get directed to the correct group(s) based on your credentials.

In Erwin's own words, "How does it benefit you? Well, by joining a group, you will be able to network and connect with others with your certification. In addition, you will be able to display your certification logo on your LinkedIn profile for everyone to see. This is one of the only ways you can get a logo or visual ID on your LinkedIn profile and it’s treated as a badge of honor on the website.

We’re going to work and build a way to ensure that only those who are allowed to join the groups have valid certifications to protect your hard work and investment. Thus for the time being, these groups will be created and operated by us in Microsoft Learning. We may enlist the community to help us with these groups in the near future. But we thought we should be running this at the beginning to make sure everyone knows this is an authentic, official effort."

So, let us know what you think on either my blog, Trika's blog or feel free to email Erwin at erwinc@microsoft.com with your feedback.

Regards,

George, MCP Guy

Become famous with Microsoft Certifications

2008-01-15T22:26:00Z

So I’m talking with Liana Antanovich, our Senior Product Marketing Manager for Microsoft certifications. Liana wants to help tell your stories to a bigger audience. Microsoft learning is currently looking to interview those who work in the IT industry on their work experience as Microsoft Certified Professionals. If you hold certifications as a MSITP, MCPD, and MCTS in the following technologies such as Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft Forefront, Microsoft Systems Center/Infrastructure, or Microsoft Vista, we want to hear from you.

If you’re interested in telling your success stories, and you get selected for an interview, you’ll find your story published on Microsoft’s websites and portals. We’ll make your story into a case study that will be provided to Microsoft’s largest enterprise customers. Talk about a career boost.

What we want to know is: Who you are, and what you can do with Microsoft’s new generation of certifications. Please send your inquiries to me by January 30, 2008, at georgeop@microsoft.com.

George, MCP Guy

Microsoft Announces New Benefits for Global Microsoft Certified Professional Community

2007-11-26T23:42:00Z

Microsoft Announces New Benefits for Global Microsoft Certified Professional Community

New benefits feature increased access to an internal knowledge base for technical troubleshooting and worldwide community networking.

REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 26, 2007 — Microsoft announces that its community of 2.2 million Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPs) will now receive new benefits that will help them successfully deploy
and support new technologies through increased access to internal Microsoft resources and networking with their peers. The new MCP benefits are being introduced as Microsoft is gearing up to launch Windows Server 2008 and customers are already taking advantage of the readiness resources available. ”As new technology is released, Microsoft is investing in unique benefits for MCPs that provide ongoing value that will help them improve their performance on the job while distinguishing themselves from their peers,” says Lutz Ziob, general manager of Microsoft Learning.

Video Side Bar: The Value of Having Microsoft Certified Professionals on Staff Watch the video. (2 min, 52 sec)

Helmer Zandbergen has passed exam 071-649!

2007-11-16T01:36:00Z

Check out Helmer's blog. Helmer and several others received their scores via the Prometric website today. Congratulations to Helmer and all those who passed this new certification exam.

Helmer's Blog: http://blog.hznet.nl

Regards,

George, MCSE NT4/Windows 2000

Windows Live Account FAQ for MCP Secure Site access

2007-11-01T04:24:00Z

Thanks for everyone's time today during our webcast tonight on MCP 2008 Phase 1 Benefits. There was a question on Windows Live accounts being used for the MCP Secure Site access. I wanted to share out the link for the passport/windows live acccount faq, It's found here at: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/mcp/passportfaq.mspx.

Regards,

George

MSDN Webcasts link

2007-10-31T18:22:00Z

There was a question today on the link for MSDN Webcasts. You can find them at www.microsoft.com/webcasts or at http://msdn.microsoft.com/webcasts.

George

SilverLight version of the MCP certificate

2007-10-31T18:18:00Z

http://www.exsilioconsulting.com/mcpvoid/default.html

I'd love your feedback on this. We're looking for ways to help you promote your skills to your peers and employers. If you don't like this idea, please let us know as well.

George

MCP Member Directory Search

2007-10-31T04:07:00Z

How can customers search for MCPs worldwide? From this link:

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/directory/default.mspx

We have six MCPs in the Netherlands!

2007-10-24T03:44:00Z

For all you MCPs in the Netherlands(all six of you I'm told), Helmer Zandbergen is trying to search for you guys now, so you need to create your MCP community profile and mark it as visible to the public+MCP+Microsoft, so we can call search for you guys in the Membership directory.

Hey all! This is my MCP Community Profile. https://mcp.support.microsoft.com/profile/georgeo.pulikkathara Have you got your profile setup yet and visible?

George, MCSE Windows NT4/2000

Microsoft Is Requiring All Customer Facing Technical Microsoft Employees To Be Certified

2007-10-24T01:03:00Z

Earlier this year, two Microsoft Vice Presidents, Kevin Turner and Gerri Elliott, made abold announcement at MGX this year. That all customer facing-technical employees will obtain a Microsoft Certification. In Kevin Turner’s own words: “By having everyone obtain certification, we send a message that we are serious about building a world-class sales organization”.

This new initiative is part of Kevin’s Word Class Selling plan and MSL has worked with them to create easy to understand mappings between the different job roles and our MCP programs and also implement effective self-studysolutions for their learning/preparation needs. This is a pretty important step in growing the internal and external appreciation and recognition of Microsoft’s new Generation of certifications.

George,MCSE

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The Value of hiring a Microsoft Certified Professional

2007-10-19T05:38:00Z

In the US Army, our Soldiers attend Advanced Individual Training schools to earn our Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). For example in the Infantry branch, as an officer, you have to finish Infantry Officer Basic Course (IOBC) to get you initial designation as an 11A (Infantry Officer). To make Major and above you have to complete the Infantry Officer Advanced Course (now called the Maneuver Captain’s Career Course). The value of training and certification for the Army is that we know we’re going to lose some of our fellow Soldiers in combat, and we need to be prepared to continue the mission with those from other units. Because we’ve all been to the same training and certification program, If and when we lose an infantry Soldier, we can regroup with Infantry Soldiers from other battalions, and continue the fight as a cohesive unit, because we know and understand the tactics and doctrine of the US Army Infantry School. Working with a team of Microsoft Certified Professionals is the same way. There’s value in hiring a Microsoft Certified Professional, because if the team hasn’t worked together before, being Microsoft Certified, means you know how the team is going to work, and what needs to be done to accomplish the larger project at hand. Listen to this video interview of Bryan Baker, President of Exsilio Consulting, as he talks about the Value of hiring a Microsoft Certified Professional. It’s very insightful. Bryan Baker Interview

Regards,

George, MCSE NT4/Windows 2000

MCP 2008: Recognition, Respect, and Reward

2007-10-19T05:10:00Z

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the new owner of the Microsoft Certified Professional Program here at Microsoft. I’m happy to announce today that we’re launching some very cool new benefits for Microsoft Certified Professionals community worldwide. These benefits are designed to help the MCP community get the recognition, respect, and rewards that all MCPs deserve for being Microsoft Certified Professionals. This is part of what we internally at Microsoft had code named MCP 2008. Today we’ve launched our new Phase 1 Benefits. MCP 2008 Phase 1 includes the following benefits below for all MCPs. As long as you have MCP ID you can login today with your windows login account at https://mcp.microsoft.com/mcp and begin accessing these benefits right away.

Certificate Manager – MCPs will be able to download their high resolution new generation Microsoft certifications in both XPS and PDF file formats. While traditional welcome kits take up to 4-6 weeks for delivery worldwide, MCPs who earn the new generation of certifications will be able to download their certificates online within 72 hours of achieving their new certifications. We’re going to slowly start adding other older certifications back in, but we decided to first reward the folks who are taking the time to keep their certifications current and up to date. We’re working to add the MCSE, MCSA, and MCSD certificates as downloadable certificates that you can download and print yourselves.

Logo Manager – MCPs will enjoy continued access to their logo library of Microsoft certification logos. Certification logos downloaded for use for their resumes, websites and business communications.

Transcript Manager - Enhanced transcripts to match the look and feel of the new generation certificates, and will be made available in both XPS and PDF file formats.

Community Profiles – MCPs worldwide will get to build and maintain their personal landing page on the Microsoft.com website to help drive community interaction as well as improve discoverability of the MCP worldwide community of 2.1 million members. MCPs will be able to decide who can access their community profile in the online Membership Directory: worldwide public, MCP peers, or Microsoft only. I know the pages look boring and plain. That’s okay, because our MCPs are colorful and full of character…sometimes they’re real characters like Trika.

Member Directory search – There are some truly amazing MCPs out there worldwide. In order to find other MCPs near you, the Member Directory Search will enable you to find folks such as, Wayne Anderson, who is an MCSE. MCPs will be able to locate their peers worldwide within a city, state or country for purposes of professional networking, MCP mentoring, and MCP community involvement.

Internal Knowledge Base Access – Folks, this is the benefit that I’m most excited about. It’s time we started treating our MCP community as part of the Microsoft family and start providing you folks some important access and benefits. Yeah, I can almost hear you thinking, “What’s the big difference? You can already search at http://support.microsoft.com and find the necessary information.” Well, as a certified professional, MCPs will have privileged access to the highly coveted Microsoft internal partner level knowledge base that include exclusive technical information that is not available to the general public. Say you got Bill and Ted working in IT support for a bank. Their boss, Steve, comes in and says, hey, my scanner that used to work with Windows XP doesn’t work anymore in Vista. Can you fix this? So Bill goes and searches on http://support.microsoft.com and finds out that the driver isn’t available, and comes back and says, “Hey Steve, the driver isn’t available…stupid Microsoft”. Ted, who’s is an MCP, goes and searches the internal knowledge base at https://mcp.microsoft.com/mcp and finds out that a driver was submitted, but it didn’t pass certification, and it was causing the system to crash. The Vista team has filed an open bug on the driver that their working to resolve. He also find out that the dev team is working with the hardware vendor on a driver that will be available in the next thirty days. It also provides other partner level information that is not available on the public knowledge base site. Ted comes back and tells this his manager, Steve. Steve now views Ted as knowing something that others couldn’t have told him. Because Ted is an MCP, he gets the inside track on important technical issues that will make him and other MCPs more valuable to their peers and employers worldwide. Benefits like the internal knowledge base access will give our MCP community the leg up in coming across more knowledgeable and competent, and providing a real value in hiring an MCP.

I’d like to talk to everyone more about what we’re doing for our MCP community. So on October 31^st, please join me, Trika Harms zum Spreckel, and Bill Wall(Director of Certification Strategy), on a Live Meeting Webcast to MCPs worldwide as we outline and discuss the cool new MCP benefits that are being made available to Microsoft Certified Professionals worldwide on Phase 1. Live Meeting Registration links are provided below.

Registration Link for October 31 at 7:30 A.M. Pacific Time or at Registration Link for October 31 at 5:00 P.M. Pacific Time

Regards,

George, MCSE Windows NT 4/2000

MCP Special Live Meeting Webcast

2007-10-12T05:43:00Z

On October 31^st, Please join Trika Harms zum Spreckel, Bill Wall, and myself on a Live Meeting Webcasts to MCPs worldwide as we outline and discuss the cool new MCP benefits that are being made available toMicrosoft Certified Professionals worldwide. Live Meeting Registration links are provided below.

A little tidbit on Mr. Bill Wall. Bill Wall is our Director of Certification Strategy at Microsoft. Bill was the guy who created the Novell CNE certifications back in the early 90’s. Bill is going to be working on improving the value of our certifications, and I think you’re going to want to pay attention to what Bill is going to be working on for Microsoft over the next few years. So register and tune in on October 31^st to watch our “live” LiveMeeting webcast meeting/discussion/talk/presentation.

Please,pretty please. I promise you will get a treat… a pretty online treat…Also be sure to read Trika’s post on this webcast. It’s pretty funny. Boy can that woman write! :-)

Registration Link for October 31 at 7:30 A.M. Pacific Time

Registration Link for October 31 at 5:00 P.M. Pacific Time

~George,MCSE NT4/Windows 2000

Yeah,I’m working on exam 70-292 and 70-296 to move up to Windows Server 2003and then to Windows Server 2008 early next year…

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