Today is the start of a very exciting and challenging journey to become a Microsoft Certified Master on SQL Server 2008. This post is about my planning on achieving the certification.
The Motivation
Over the years I have worked in various environments that involved development with SharePoint, BizTalk, Integration, Web and custom development. All of them had one thing in common and that is they all use SQL Server. I always enjoy and have allot of passion working within SQL Server. Always learning the little bits about the ins and outs of SQL Server is fun. Working with SQL Server all over the years came to a point that I ask myself how can I improve myself to be better at what I do and know. That has put my focus on achieving the Microsoft Certified Master on SQL Server 2008.
The Schedule
How am I going to achieve this and by when? My personal schedule is to write the MCM on SQL Server Knowledge Exam in the first week of May 2012. If I pass that exam then it will onto the MCM on SQL Server Lab exam. From today it leaves me with roughly 3 months for studying.
As mentioned by other MCMs that studying alone is not enough. You do need years of experience working with SQL Server.
The Resources
Where are the resources? There are various books, whitepapers and blogs that needs to be studied that will help with the exams. On the official page and from SQLskills.com you get links to the recommended resources. There are also training programs available that can be attended for preparation to the Microsoft Certified Master on SQL Server 2008 exams.
The OneNote
There are so many resources available on the internet that it can be a big tasks to get these resource organized. I took the time in my planning to organise the resources into a Microsoft OneNote document. You can download it from here.
The OneNote document is divided into sections namely:
- Videos
- Stairways Series
- Books
- Blogs
- SQLSkills Training
The videos section includes the links to the recommended readiness videos for Microsoft Certified Master on SQL Server 2008. The Stairways Series section is links the various topics about SQL Server that is provided by SQLServerCentral.com. The Books section has links to the recommended books for reading. The White Papers section are the whitepapers that must be read for the exams. The Blogs section is links to some additional reading for the exam. Lastly the SQLskills Training section has been broken down to sub sections with the various resources links that is mentioned on SQLskills MCM page.
If you are also going to do the Microsoft Certified Master on SQL Server 2008 exams I hope this document can help you on your journey. Also if you find resources that I might have missed let me know and I will update the document.
Again here is the full link to the document: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4406115/MCM%20SQL/SQL%20MCM%20Training.one
Conclusion
In conclusion as I mentioned in the beginning of this post, it is going to be a very exciting and challenging journey to be come a Microsoft Certified Master on SQL Server 2008. I will continue to put up posts as my learning progresses on the topics of SQL Server. For those who also attempting these exams as well, best of luck and see you at the other end.
Cheerio!
