Vlad Catrinescu's Blog, page 4

Microsoft CUTS HALF Its Microsoft 365 Certification Exams

Passing a Microsoft certification exam always feels great! What doesn’t feel great? Studying for an exam that won’t exist anymore! Don’t worry! As usual, when it comes to Microsoft certifications and exams, I have you covered!

Read the highlights below to get a taste what you can expect.

Video Highlights

– Microsoft is just about to cut half their current portfolio right now. Microsoft currently has twelve different certification exams. It will go down to six. So if you want to make sure you’re not studying for an exam that’s about to be canceled. Also learn about the latest exams because we’re also getting some new exams.

– The Teams Application Developer Associate will retire or have retired at this point in March 2023. For the general public, however, the MS-600 exam and certification can still be taken by Microsoft partners until December 20 23. Microsoft did not announce any replacement. However, Microsoft did hint that there will be a new Microsoft 365 dev exam.

– Microsoft 365 Certified Security Administrator associate will retire in June 2023. Microsoft recommends that you focus on one of the exams from the Security, Compliance and Identity Portfolio. No news yet if the AZ-500 will affect.

– The exams MS-100 and 101 will be retired in July 2023. Instead of being an enterprise administrator expert, you will now just be a Microsoft 365 Certified Administrator Expert. You will still need an Associate Level prerequisite before you go pass the Expert Level Certification.

– Microsoft recommends focusing on the MS-203 and MS-700 exams instead. The exams will be retired again in July 2023. The exam page is not yet updated. However, the courseware retirement page is updated.

– Microsoft has been giving less and less importance to training new It professionals on Microsoft 365. Less exams means less opportunities to get certified. For Microsoft, certifications are a marketing tool. I hope this will change in the future.

Video Transcript

I am doing this video to make sure you’re not currently studying for an exam that Microsoft is just about to cancel, because there are some big changes coming, especially for the Modern Workplace exams, or Microsoft 365 exams. Microsoft is just about to cut half their current portfolio right now as I’m recording this video.

Microsoft currently has twelve different certification exams. It will go down to six, and the current portfolio that looks something like this will go down to something more like this. So if you want to make sure you’re not studying for an exam that’s just about to be canceled, and also you learn about all the latest exams because we’re also getting some new exams, which is exciting.

Make sure you watch the rest of the video right after the intro. First of all, before we talk about the new stuff, let’s do a quick recap of the current Microsoft 365 portfolio. Right now we have one fundamental level certification, five associate level certifications, two expert level certifications and two specialty level certifications.

As a summary, if we dive a bit deeper, the first certification is the Ms 900, Microsoft 365 Fundamentals Exam, which gives us the Microsoft 365 Certified Fundamentals Certification. This is an optional certification, but I highly recommend it before you move over to the Associate Level certifications. Now, if we talk Associate levels, our first exams are MD 100 and MD 101, which if you pass both of them will give you the modern Desktop Associate Certification.

We then have exam Ms 203, which gives us the messaging Administrator Associate certification. We then have Ms 500, which gives us the security Administrator Associate. We have the Ms 700 Managing Microsoft Teams exam, which gives us the teams administrator associate.

Then next up, Ms 600, which gives us the teams Developer Associate. So those are our associate level certifications. Then we have two different expert level certifications.

First of all, we need to have an eligible associate level Cert. Then we need to pass the Ms 100 and Ms 101 certification, which again, together those two exam plus a prerequisite will give us the Enterprise Administrator expert. We do have a second expert level certification, which is you need to have the team’s administrator associate.

So the Ms 700 plus the Ms 720 exam, which will give us the team’s voice Engineer expert. And for our specialty level exams, we have two of them. First of all, exam Ms 220, which if we pass it gives us the Exchange online Support Engineer specialty.

And the Ms 740 troubleshooting Microsoft teams, which if we pass it gives us the Teams Support Engineer specialty. So this is the current Modern Workplace portfolio as I’m recording this video. But things are about to change.

On February 1, Microsoft posted a blog post called evolving Microsoft 365 Certifications to help keep you in sync with a new era of work and they announced some of the portfolio changes in there. And I’ll make sure to add a link to this blog post in the description of this YouTube video. Okay, so what are our changes? First of all, for the Modern Desktop Administrator Associate, the certification name will change.

It will become Microsoft 365 certified Endpoint Administrator Associate. The MD 100 and 101 exams will retire in July 2023. So if you’re studying for those exams, you need to pass both of them before July 2023.

If not, they will be gone. They will be replaced by a single exam called MD 102 Endpoint Administrator. So the good news is that you will only need one single exam if you want to get the Endpoint Admin Associate certification.

So that’s the good news. And it will be available in beta starting in May 2023. So this is our first certification that will still be there, but will get an update.

Instead of two exams, it’ll be one exam and the name will change from Modern Desktop Administrator Associate to Endpoint Administrator Associate. Okay, next up, we have a retirement and a change. And let’s talk about the Team’s Voice Engineer Expert, which before you needed to have the Ms 700 and the Ms 720 to get this expert level certification.

Well, the Ms 720 exam and the related certification. So the team’s voice engineer expert will fully retire in June. Will fully retire in June.

2023. Instead, what Microsoft decided is to create a very similar role. So we will get a new exam and a certification, but the name will actually be called microsoft 365 Certified Collaboration Communication System Engineer Associate.

So this will be an associate level certification and it will add quite a few objectives, especially around meeting rooms and audiovisual installs, things like that to the list of evaluated objectives. The Ms 721 exam. So we will get this new exam called Ms 721.

This is available right away in beta at the time of recording this video again in April 2023. So if you’re interested in getting the new one, it’s available today. And I do have some good news for you as well.

Especially if you passed already the Ms 720 exam, you will automatically get the new certification. So if you are already a Team’s Voice Engineer Expert, you will automatically get the Collaboration Communications Systems Engineer Associate and you’ll be able to renew that certification for free for the next years. Of course, remember, we have to renew them every year now for free on Microsoft Learn.

Okay, next up, let’s switch over from administration, talk a bit about development, and we’ll talk about the Microsoft 365 Certified Teams Application Developer Associate Certification, the Ms 600 exam and its certification. So the Teams Application Developer Associate will retire or have retired at this point in March 2023. For the general public, however, the Ms 600 exam and certification can still be taken by Microsoft partners until December 2023.

Now you might find it super weird like Vlad, why would it be retired for the public but not for partners? That is because this certification is required for different Microsoft Partner program competitive for different Microsoft Partner program competencies competency. It’s because this exam is required for different Microsoft Partner program levels. So for example, I’m sure you’ve seen logos of companies saying we’re a Gold Partner or a Silver Partner.

Well, in order for them to get that Gold Partner or Silver Partner, they need to pass certain Microsoft exams and the Ms 600 was one of them. So that’s why if you work for a Microsoft Partner, you will need a Private Access code. So make sure to work with whoever manages the partner program with Microsoft in your company or with the Learning Partner that gave you the training.

This way, you get your Private Access code so you can still pass the exam until December 2023. Right now, Microsoft did not announce any replacement. However, Microsoft did hint that there will be a new Microsoft 365 dev exam.

So this is a quote from the blog post that I talked about a bit earlier. So what they said is that to focus on developing the right experience, will retire the certification and corresponding exam Ms 600 building Applications and Solutions with Microsoft 365 Core Services on March 31, 2023. The key is there at the bottom in green.

We’ll be sure to let you know when the new experience is available. So even if Microsoft did not say we will have a new exam, this is the number. Here’s everything you need to know.

They kind of hinted that we will have a new experience. Okay, so this is it for Ms 600. Next up, another retirement, the Ms 500 exam.

And the Microsoft 365 Certified Security Administrator associate will retire in June 2023. Microsoft recommends that you focus on the SC microsoft recommends that instead you focus on one of the exams from the Security, Compliance and Identity Portfolio. So the SC 900, 200, 300 or 400 and there are no news yet if the AZ 500 will affect and there are no news yet if the AV 500 will suffer a similar fate.

Remember, before the Security, Compliance and Identity Portfolio even existed, we had three exams AZ 500, which was Azure Security and Compliance, and Ms 500, which was Microsoft 365 Security and Compliance. And initially, when Microsoft announced the Security, Compliance and Identity Portfolio, a lot of people asked, hey, does that mean the Ms 500 and SC five? Does that mean the Ms 500 and AZ 500 exams will go away? And at the time Microsoft said no, there is currently no plan to replace those certifications. So it seems they did have a change of heart in the past year and a half and now the Ms 500 is going away.

Okay, next up, we also have a change for our other expert level certification. So the exams Ms 100 and 101 will be retired in July 2023. The certification name will also change.

So instead of being an enterprise administrator expert, you will now just be a Microsoft 365 Certified Administrator Expert. Also, you will only need one single exam, the Ms 102, which will be available in beta starting in May 2023. You will still need an Associate Level prerequisite before you go pass the Expert Level Certification.

Microsoft did not necessarily give us the full list, so I will give you what I think it will be a bit later in this video. But remember, you will still need an Associate Level Cert before you go take the Expert Level exam. Next up, we have again two more retirements the Ms 220.

So the troubleshooting Microsoft Exchange online and the Ms 740 troubleshooting Microsoft Teams courses and related certifications will expire. Will get retired in July 2023. Now, this might be a surprise for a lot of you.

Microsoft actually announced it to Training partners that those two exams and the related certifications will be retired again in July 2023. The exam page is not yet updated. However, the courseware retirement page is updated.

Microsoft recommends focusing on the Ms 203 and Ms 700 exams instead. Now, you might ask yourself, oh, Vlad, if Microsoft only announced it to Learning Partners, but it’s not yet on the exam page, can you talk about it? Usually I couldn’t. Usually, all those announcements are under a nondisclosure agreement.

So even if I know about them, I cannot really talk about them until Microsoft makes the change on the public exam page. But for those two retirements, I asked specifically, microsoft gave me the go ahead to share this information for all of you. So I really wanted to put it in here and let you know that those two exams are going away.

So this way, don’t get me wrong, if you find it valuable and you want to learn from those exams, please go and do them. But I just want you to know that those exams and certifications will be going away in July 2023, and I would expect the exam page to be updated very shortly. Okay? So with all those changes, what will the modern workplace portfolio look like now? So from twelve exams, we will go to six exams.

One fundamental level exam. Four one fundamental level certification. Four associate level certifications, one expert level certification and no specialty level certifications.

Again, if we dive a bit deeper into the details, we will still have the Ms 900, Microsoft 365 Certified Fundamentals Assert, so that will still stay there. But then a lot of what happens next will change. So first of all, we will have Exam MD 102 Endpoint Administrator, that if we pass this one exam, we will get the Endpoint Administrator Associate Certification, then the Ms 203 and Ms 700, no change there.

So it’s our Exchange and Microsoft teams exams. Nothing changes there. We will then have exam Ms 721 called Collaboration communications systems engineer.

And if we pass that exam, we will become a Collaboration Communications Systems Engineer associate. So again, this certification is a bit of a modification from the expert one we had before. But instead of being an expert, it’s only an associate level certification now and no prerequisite.

So each one of those Associate exams, you don’t need the Ms 900, it’s recommended, but you don’t need it. You can go directly pass those associate level exams and then we will have our expert level certification, which we will need exam Ms 102, which would give us the Microsoft 365 Certified Administrator Expert. Now, you will notice I don’t have the Ms 721 as a valid prerequisite because Microsoft did not yet confirm it.

So I’m not sure if it will be a valid prerequisite or not, but so far Microsoft confirmed, but so far all the three previous certifications were a valid prerequisite. I expect them to keep being valid prerequisites, but it remains to be seen if the Ms 721 will be a valid prereq before going for the Administrator expert certification. Okay, so this is what the portfolio will look like after July 2023.

As you can see, we will still have all of the different core tools inside Microsoft 365. We will have teams, we will have Exchange. Unfortunately, no SharePoint.

I still think we should have Exchange teams and SharePoint as a separate search, but no SharePoint online. Still in there. But again, take a look at it.

This is what the Microsoft 365 certification portfolio will look like after July 2023. Okay? Now, what are some of my talks on this as we close out the video? Well, the number of exams doesn’t mean much alone, right? I’m sure a lot of you are looking at this a bit with a negative point of view because less exams means less opportunities to get certified. And I just want to put a bit of optimism that the number of exams alone doesn’t mean much.

However, I feel, and this is all personal, right? Personal opinion as Vlad, not as an MVP or an MCT regional lead. Personal opinion. Microsoft has been giving less and less importance to training new It professionals on Microsoft 365.

And that’s something that I’m personally really disappointed about, especially that except platform. I mean, Microsoft 365 brings a ton of money for Microsoft. It has a ton of usage.

We’re talking about hundreds of millions of monthly active users. And yet we’re cutting down on all of the different training opportunities that people have to learn Microsoft 365. Because remember, Microsoft will not really create any Microsoft official courses unless they’re for a Microsoft certification.

Now, there are multiple reasons why that might be. Does Microsoft consider that they have enough trained professionals that they don’t need to invest into training new ones? Because at the end of the day, let’s be honest here, for Microsoft, certifications are a marketing tool. They are a motivator for people to learn a platform, so then they can go to Microsoft clients and deploy it.

A client doesn’t want to work with a tube. A client would not want to work with a solution if there’s not enough skilled people out there to help them manage it. So certifications is a way for Microsoft to show clients that, hey, we have 250,000, let’s say, Teams administrators that are certified in the world.

So if you choose Teams, you will have the technical people you need to properly implement it. So does Microsoft now say that, hey, you know what, we have enough admins in the world that we don’t need to invest in training new ones. Or maybe we have such a big ownership of the market share that people will find a way to learn Microsoft 365 without us having to motivate them with certifications.

Those are again just some of my talks. And to back this up a bit, we can take a look at the Power platform. Currently again the latest public numbers.

They have around 20 million monthly active users, yet they have more courses and certifications than Microsoft 365 as a whole. And only Teams has over ten times the active users of the Power platform. So as you can see, maybe Microsoft is more motivated to get people trained on the Power platform and get those numbers up, whereas Microsoft 365 has where Microsoft 365 already has so much market share and so many trained It professionals.

Again, one of my talks which hurts me a bit is that people that were SharePoint professionals before, people that were SharePoint professionals before, such as myself, that are evolving their skills to the cloud, are the ones that are the hardest hit, because SharePoint Online professionals. Because in the past, in the SharePoint on Prem days, we had SharePoint 2013 certifications, SharePoint 2016 certifications, SharePoint 2019 certifications, and then we even had an Ms 300 Teamwork Administrator Certification which covered SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, Yammer Stream and all of that. But Microsoft and Worldwide Learning decided that there is no future for Certified SharePoint and OneDrive for Business admins.

There is no training for them and there is no certification for them even. And again, the Teamwork Admin got retired in August 2020, which was really, it really hurt me because so many people were trying to learn from SharePoint on Prem to SharePoint Online. But Microsoft canceled not only the certification, but also the training for It.

And now the Ms 600, Microsoft 365 developer, which was a great training and certification to get SharePoint devs that were creating firm solutions before to upgrade their skills to the cloud. And on purpose. I have the old name of the certification here, microsoft 365 Developer, which later got changed to Teams Developer.

So really I’m super disappointed to see those opportunities go away for old Sherpin professionals. And currently with the new and currently with the new certification portfolio, there is going to be nothing if you’re a SharePoint online and OneDrive for business admin or even a SharePoint dev. And I really hope this will change in the future, but we’ll see where worldwide learning goes if we take again a brief look at the Microsoft Certification portfolio right now.

After those changes, the Microsoft 365 will be the portfolio with the fewest number of certifications we will have. Not even half of Azure, not even half of Dynamics, a bit less than Power Platform, and around the same number and around the same number as Security, Compliance and Identity. But Microsoft 365, despite being one of the most used products, will have the least training and certification opportunities for It professionals.

Okay, so this has been a bit sad. I’m not sure if you can feel it from only a video, but it does hurt me a bit because I know how much training and certification can guide and help somebody’s career. So whenever certifications get retired, especially ones that I think shouldn’t, it does hurt me a bit.

But there are some more positive news coming for Modern Workplace. There will be some new content, a new role coming soon in the Modern Workplace portfolio, but I will make a dedicated video for that. So make sure you follow the channel, make sure you like and subscribe.

This way you’ll get notified as soon as that video goes live. But I really wanted to get this video on exam retirements out before. So none of you are studying for exams that are about to disappear and get retired on this, I just wanted to say really quick, thank you.

If you made it so far in this video, I really hope you enjoyed and you found it valuable. And please do let me know in the comments. What do you think about those changes that Microsoft is doing to the Modern Workplace portfolio? Do you agree with them? Do you not agree with them? Do you wish Microsoft had some more exams in there? If yes, let me know which ones in the comments.

And again, if you found this interesting and you want to get notified when more videos like this will be dropped on the channel, make sure you subscribe to the channel. This way you’ll be the first to know of any training and exam changes that Microsoft will announce. So, thank you again very much for getting to the end of this video and I really hope you found it informative.

The post Microsoft CUTS HALF Its Microsoft 365 Certification Exams appeared first on Vlad Talks Tech.

Can ChatGPT Pass the Microsoft SC-900 Practice Test?

As technology continues to advance, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly prevalent in various industries. One area where AI has shown promise is in the field of IT certifications.

In this blog, we will explore:

What is ChatGPT?What’s covered in the Microsoft SC-900 Exam?Testing ChatGPT against the first 10 exam questions of the Microsoft SC-900 practice testDid ChatGPT pass?My thoughts on the results

For more on the impact of AI, watch my Pluralsight session,“The IT Ops Sessions: The Effect of ChatGPT and AI on the World of IT Certification.”

What is ChatGPT? 

Before we dive into the results, it’s important to understand what ChatGPT is. Simply put, it’s an AI language model developed by OpenAI that is capable of generating human-like responses to text prompts.

It has been trained on a massive dataset of text from the internet and is capable of generating coherent and contextually relevant responses to a wide range of prompts. 

What’s Covered in the SC-900 Exam? 

Now, let’s talk about the SC-900 Microsoft certification exam. This exam is designed to test a candidate’s knowledge of Microsoft’s security, compliance, and identity solutions.

It is intended for individuals who are interested in pursuing a career in IT security or who are responsible for implementing and managing security solutions in their organization. 

Testing ChatGPT against the SC-900 Practice Exam

The SC 900 practice exam covers a range of topics, including Microsoft’s security solutions, compliance regulations, and identity management. We used the first 10 questions from the practice exam to determine ChatGPT’s potential of passing the practice test. 

If you are looking to see test in action, watch the video below. 

To conduct the test, we input each question into ChatGPT and evaluated its response. We then compared ChatGPT’s response to the correct answer provided by Microsoft. We repeated this process for all 10 questions. 

Did ChatGPT Pass? 

The results of the test were surprising. ChatGPT was able to answer 8 out of the 10 questions correctly. This means that if ChatGPT were to take the SC-900 exam, it could potentially pass with a score of 80%. 

It’s important to note that ChatGPT was not specifically trained on the content of the SC-900 exam. Instead, it was trained on a massive dataset of text from the internet. This means that ChatGPT’s ability to answer the questions correctly was based solely on its ability to understand the context of the questions and generate a relevant response. 

My Thoughts on the Microsoft SC-900 Practice Test Results  

While the results of this test are impressive, it’s important to keep in mind that ChatGPT is not a substitute for human expertise.

ChatGPT can’t take the Microsoft SC-900 exam, or any other exam for you

The SC-900 exam is designed to test a candidate’s knowledge of Microsoft’s security, compliance, and identity solutions. It requires a deep understanding of these topics and the ability to apply that knowledge in real-world scenarios. In addition, the exams have proctors so don’t get any funny ideas. 

ChatGPT, on the other hand, is an AI language model that is capable of generating responses based on the context of a given prompt. While it can provide useful information and insights, it cannot replace the expertise of a human who has a deep understanding of the subject matter. 

That being said, the results of this test do suggest that ChatGPT has the potential to be a useful tool for individuals who are simply looking to understand how studying for the SC-900 exam.

However, if you’re looking to truly learn, take a look at my SC-900 Pluralsight learning path and study guide. These cover Microsoft identity and access, concepts of security compliance, and all other topics covered in the SC-900. 

How can organizations use ChatGPT in the world of certifications?

ChatGPT could be used as a tool for organizations to assess the knowledge of their employees. By inputting questions related to their security, compliance, and identity solutions, organizations can evaluate their employees’ understanding of these topics and identify areas where additional training may be needed. 

Final thoughts

It’s important to note that while ChatGPT was able to answer 8 out of the 10 questions correctly, there were still some areas where it struggled. For example, one of the questions asked about the best way to prevent different departments from talking to each other. ChatGPT’s response was not relevant to the question and did not provide the correct answer. 

This highlights the limitations of ChatGPT and the importance of human expertise in certain areas. While ChatGPT is capable of generating responses based on the context of a given prompt, it may not always provide the most accurate or relevant information. 

Conclusion and Summary 

In conclusion, testing ChatGPT against the first 10 questions of the Microsoft SC-900 certification exam yielded some interesting results. While ChatGPT was able to answer 8 out of the 10 questions correctly, it’s important to keep in mind that it is not a substitute for human expertise. 

ChatGPT has the potential to be a useful tool for individuals who are studying for the SC-900 exam or for organizations to assess the knowledge of their employees. However, it should be used in conjunction with other study materials and should not be relied upon as the sole source of information. 

As technology continues to advance, it will be interesting to see how AI language models are used in IT. While they may not replace human expertise, they could provide a valuable tool for individuals and organizations looking to assess their knowledge and understanding of complex topics. 

See how you do on the Microsoft SC-900 Practice Test with a little help from my SC-900 Pluralsight learning path and study guide!

Or for more on the impact of AI, watch my Pluralsight session,“The IT Ops Sessions: The Effect of ChatGPT and AI on the World of IT Certification.”

The post Can ChatGPT Pass the Microsoft SC-900 Practice Test? appeared first on Vlad Talks Tech.

Get Microsoft Teams Certified with the Teams Support Engineer Specialty (MS-740) path on Pluralsight

Microsoft Teams is one of the most popular tools inside Microsoft 365 – and I am happy to say there’s been a ton of new content on Pluralsight for Teams IT Professionals! I am glad to say that the Troubleshooting Microsoft Teams (MS-740) certification prep path is now available on Pluralsight.

This path covers the skills you’ll need for troubleshooting a whole range of problems and situations that might arise as a Microsoft Teams administrator. Additionally, the courses in this path cover the objectives of the MS-740 exam and can help you prepare for certification.

At the time of writing this blog, 6 out of 7 courses are released, and the last 2 should be out shortly! With 5 hours of content already there, you can get started studying for the MS-740 Microsoft Certification Exam! You can find the path over here on Pluralsight > https://spvlad.com/MS-740 ! I am also working on the usual Study Guide – which is available at: MS-740 Study Guide – Troubleshooting Microsoft Teams

Leave a comment and don’t forget to like the Vlad Talks Tech Page   on Facebook and to follow me on Twitter here  for the latest news and technical articles on SharePoint.  I am also a Pluralsight author, and you can view all the courses I created on my author page.

The post Get Microsoft Teams Certified with the Teams Support Engineer Specialty (MS-740) path on Pluralsight appeared first on Vlad Talks Tech.

Get Microsoft Certified with the Power Platform App Maker Associate (PL-100) path on Pluralsight

In the past few months Pluralsight has released a ton of Power Platform courses, both brand new ones, as well as updates to old ones, as the technology keeps changing, and Microsoft releases new certifications! I am glad to say that the PL-100 path is now published for those of you looking to pass the PL-100 certification exam!

This path covers certification objectives for the Microsoft Power Platform App Maker (PL-100). Candidates for this exam are able to use data and understand issues that need resolving within their organization. They can use this knowledge to imagine, simplify, and automate tasks and processes for their team and organization using the required processes and app experiences. The candidate is capable of working autonomously, not necessarily requiring formal IT training, but comfortable using technology to create solutions for their business. Being an advocate for Power Platform solutions is key, as is familiarity and ability to apply features of Power Platform apps as well as other apps such as: Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 apps and services, and any third-party solutions.

At the time of writing this blog, 5 out of 7 courses are released, and the last 2 should be out shortly! With 10 hours of content already there, you can get started studying for the PL-100 Microsoft Certification exam! You can find the path over here on Pluralsight > https://spvlad.com/PL-100Path ! I am also working on the usual Study Guide – which will be available at: PL-100 Study Guide: Microsoft Power Platform App Maker

Leave a comment and don’t forget to like the Vlad Talks Tech Page   on Facebook and to follow me on Twitter here  for the latest news and technical articles on SharePoint.  I am also a Pluralsight author, and you can view all the courses I created on my author page.

The post Get Microsoft Certified with the Power Platform App Maker Associate (PL-100) path on Pluralsight appeared first on Vlad Talks Tech.

Get a FREE or Discounted Microsoft Certification Voucher in 2022

Microsoft Certifications are an awesome way to show of your skills to potential employers and clients, as well as to motivate you to keep up to date with the ever changing cloud technology landscape, but they can also be expensive, especially if your organization doesn’t cover their cost. There are however multiple ways to get a free or heavily discounted certifications in 2022! In this blog post, we will share all the different ways you can save money on your certification goals by getting either a free , or a discounted Microsoft certification voucher!

PS: This is also available as a video you can watch in the header of this blog post – or go directly to YouTube over here!

Microsoft Virtual Training Days

Microsoft Virtual Training days are free 1 and 2 day virtual events that give you the opportunity to expand your skillset and connect with Microsoft experts. They offer trainings on both specific workloads, such as Implementing Hybrid Infrastructure in Azure, as well as many certification focused sessions, such as the one below! What is amazing with Virtual Training days is that after you attend the training, you get a free voucher to take the exam!

Microsoft Virtual Training days offers free training /vouchers for the following certifications – but make sure you check often as they keep adding new opportunities! You can find all upcoming events at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/trainingdays ! Remember – you can sign up for multiple of those trainings for different exams, so it’s not only one!

AZ-900PL-900DP-900AI-900SC-900Microsoft 30 Days to Learn It Cloud Skills Challenge

Microsoft’s 30 days to learn it cloud skills challenge is a long-term program – allowing you finish a “challenge” and then get 50% off a selected Microsoft exam! The challenge is easy – study for the exam on Microsoft Learn! What’s not to love? You can study for the exam you want to pass using free resources – and then save 50%!

With Microsoft’s 30 days to learn it challenge you can currently save 50% on the following exams – but those can of course be updated at any time!

AI-900DP-100AZ-204MS-600PL-100AZ-303/304AZ-400AZ-204DP-203

As you can see, this offer is mostly complementary to the other one, as this one is focused on Associate level certifications, versus Virtual Training Days which is focused on Fundamentals level certifications. You can go explore the Microsoft 30 Days to Learn It Cloud Skills Challenge at the following link: https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/offers/30-days-to-learn-it?WT.mc_id=M365-MVP-5000399 . You can get one discounted exam every 6 months using this program!

Cloud Skills Challenges Around Big Microsoft Events

Microsoft usually organizes Cloud Skills challenges around it’s biggest events such as Microsoft Ignite and Microsoft Build! While those promotions will be time specific and will change depending on the event, you can take a look at the Microsoft Ignite 2021 Cloud Skills Challenge to have an idea what they look like!

Limited Time promotions

There are many limited time promotions such as this one from Global Knowledge in January 2022, so make sure you follow me on Social Media as I will try to share all of them!

Leave a comment and don’t forget to like the Vlad Talks Tech Page   on Facebook and to follow me on Twitter here  for the latest news and technical articles on SharePoint.  I am also a Pluralsight author, and you can view all the courses I created on my author page.

The post Get a FREE or Discounted Microsoft Certification Voucher in 2022 appeared first on Vlad Talks Tech.

Five New Microsoft Certifications We Might Get in 2022

We’re at the beginning of 2022 and I’m sure many of you are currently looking at your certification goals for 2022! Whether it’s simply renewing your existing certifications or maybe taking a look at what new products you want to learn about this year and maybe pass a new certification in this blog we’re going to take a look at what are five new certifications that we might get in 2022! As a note – those are just educated guesses, and I have no knowledge of those coming – so at the end of the year we can go back and see how many did I get right!

PS: This is also available as a video you can watch in the header of this blog post – or go directly to YouTube over here!

1 -Power Automate Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Developer

Robotic Process automation is a huge business opportunity – and according to many studies, the market could hit over 7 billion by 2028. While Microsoft does have an RPA product in Power Automate, mostly built by acquisitions, it’s still very new in the RPA game compared to some of the competitors that have been at it for over 20 ears.

With Microsoft’s product solidified, next thing Microsoft will need is a pool of talented professionals able to actually create RPA solutions with Power Automate, and hopefully for Microsoft migrate them from competitors, in the Power Platform ecosystem. In January 2022, we had a post on Tech Community that Microsoft is considering a new certification for the Power Automate Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Developer.

Here is the role description taken from the Microsoft survey:

Candidates for this exam automate time-consuming and repetitive tasks by using Microsoft Power Automate. They review solution requirements, create process documentation, design, develop, troubleshoot, and evaluate solutions. They support the deployment of solutions to production environments.

Candidates work with business stakeholders to improve and automate business workflows. They collaborate with administrators to deploy solutions to production environments and support solutions.

Candidates should have experience with JSON, cloud flows/desktop flows, integrating solutions with REST/SOAP services, analyzing data by using Microsoft Excel, VBScript, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), HTML, JavaScript, one or more programming languages, and the Microsoft Power Platform suite of tools (AI Builder, Power Apps, Microsoft Dataverse, and Power Virtual Agents).

Given the huge market opportunity, as well as Microsoft’s investment into the Power Platform certification portfolio lately, I do believe this certification will happen in 2022!

#2 – Exchange Online (EXO) Support Engineer

Our next possible certification for 2022 is in the Support Engineer category. Back in July 2021, Microsoft announced the first certification in this new type of portfolio , and they said Teams will be the first one of many in this category – and I think we found our next one!

At the end of December 2021, Microsoft posted on Tech Community that they are considering a certification for the Exchange Online Support Engineer / Troubleshooting!

And here is the description from the Microsoft Survey!

Exchange support engineers identify, troubleshoot, and resolve issues with Exchange Online, hybrid Exchange environments, and related components, technologies, and services. The support engineer obtains log data, analyzes data to identify root causes for issues, and resolves issues.

The engineer should have significant experience deploying, managing, and troubleshooting Exchange environments, plus have hands-on experience with PowerShell and the Exchange PowerShell module. Exchange support engineers work with customers and other stakeholders to understand details of any issues and also interact with related technology administrators and peers to resolve issues.

I believe this certification will happen as Microsoft already confirmed they want more Troubleshooting certifications , and Exchange Online does make sense to be it’s own topic!

#3 – Azure Support Engineer

Our third possible 2022 certification is the Azure Support Engineer certification! This would be in the same category as the previous one, and Microsoft did post that they are considering it.

Here would be the description of the role – taken from the Microsoft survey

Candidates for this exam are support engineers who use advanced troubleshooting methods to resolve issues with Azure virtual machines (VMs), virtual networks, connectivity between on-premises datacenters and VMs, and connectivity issues with Azure services. The support engineer queries log files to identify the root causes for issues and troubleshoots complex issues.

Candidates collaborate with stakeholders to understand details of any issues. They also interact with Azure administrators and peers. Support engineers work with Microsoft subject matter experts to escalate issues for investigation. They must be able to use available tools to diagnose issues.

Azure is a huge business unit at Microsoft – and the one that already has the most certifications – but I wouldn’t be surprised if this certification gets published in 2022!

#4 – Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect

Security, Compliance, and Identity is a huge focus for Microsoft – as let’s be honest, security is now part of your job if you work in IT, whether or not it’s explicitly written in your job description! Microsoft did invest heavily in the new SCI portfolio in 2021, releasing 1 fundamental certification – and three associate certifications, however, there is currently no Expert level certification if you are a Security specialist in the Microsoft ecosystem.

In December 2021, we had another post on the Tech Community sharing that Microsoft is considering a certification for the Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect role. Given Architect in the name, we can be pretty confident that this will be an expert level certification and will fill that gap inside the SCI Portfolio.

#5 – Viva Insights Practitioner

This one is a bit more of a far fetch prediction, however Microsoft does offer two badges via it’s partner program on Viva Insights – and with Microsoft Viva recently reaching 10 million monthly active users, I think that we might see this become a real certification in 2022!

Conclusion

Those five certifications – are the five certifications that I think we might get in 2022! Do you agree? If so – which one are you most excited about? What other certification would you like to see in the portfolio? Let me know in the comments!

Leave a comment and don’t forget to like the Vlad Talks Tech Page   on Facebook and to follow me on Twitter here  for the latest news and technical articles on SharePoint.  I am also a Pluralsight author, and you can view all the courses I created on my author page.

The post Five New Microsoft Certifications We Might Get in 2022 appeared first on Vlad Talks Tech.

Free Practice Questions For Select Microsoft Certifications

As I was browsing a certification on the Microsoft Learn site – I realized something new showed up on the page – a Tip to Download Free sample questions to help prepare for this exam! I haven’t seen this announced anywhere yet – so I wanted to write a quick blog to share what I found so far!

This content is also available as a video in the header of this post – or go to YouTube at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2hmgrcFkyk

Once you click on the link – you have a bit of a user guide where we are able to find a bit more information. Here is the introduction:

Microsoft is exploring the possibility of providing sample questions as an exam preparation resource, and we would like your feedback. While we prefer that you complete the survey after taking the exam, you may complete it at any time. Thank You!

So we know from this introduction that this is a pilot (one I really love) – so if you use them, make sure you fill out the survey to let them know if you found it useful or not. As for the questions, I found the number of questions , and the types, are really adapted to the exam. For example, the SC-900 exam has 20 questions of multiple types (Multiple Choice, Matching, Sentence Completion)

If we look at an Associate level exam – such as the AZ-104, we also have case studies, as you would have in the real exam, so I find it really awesome that Microsoft put the time to include those in the exam.

So far, this sample question pilot seems to apply to the following exams:

AZ-900AZ-104AI-900DP-900MB-910MB-920MS-900SC-900PL-900

If you are preparing for one of those exams – make sure you leverage those sample questions as part of your study material and you fill out the survey at https://aka.ms/samplequestions !

Want to get certified? Make sure to check the Microsoft Certification Study Guides that I have built!

What do you think about this initiative? Something that you think is useful – or something that you do not plan to use? Let me know in the comments below!

Leave a comment and don’t forget to like the Vlad Talks Tech Page   on Facebook and to follow me on Twitter here  for the latest news and technical articles on SharePoint.  I am also a Pluralsight author, and you can view all the courses I created on my author page.

The post Free Practice Questions For Select Microsoft Certifications appeared first on Vlad Talks Tech.

Did I Help You Get Certified? Get your Microsoft Certification Stickers

For the past few years – I have been creating content on Pluralsight around some of the top Microsoft Certifications – as well as spoke at numerous in person, and virtual events around the value of getting Microsoft Certified! There are many cool ways to showcase your certification online – but I thought it would also be awesome if you can show it off in person as well – and what better way, than some awesome stickers?

If my Pluralsight courses helped you achieve one of the certifications above – fill out this form (and submit a few verification details) and I will mail you some amazing stickers so you can show everyone the certifications you have achieved! https://spvlad.com/CertStickers

The post Did I Help You Get Certified? Get your Microsoft Certification Stickers appeared first on Vlad Talks Tech.

Starting Soon: Free Certification Exam with the Microsoft Ignite Cloud Skills Challenge

It’s that time of the year when Microsoft is getting ready to showcase the latest & greatest features and give us a glimpse on what we can expect before the end of the year, and of course get us excited for 2022. Microsoft Ignite, which happens November 2nd to 4th 2021 will bring back a fan favorite – The Microsoft Ignite Cloud Skills Challenge , where attendees can do a Microsoft Learn challenge – and get a voucher to pass a Microsoft Certification exam (Value up to 165$ USD) for free! It’s a great way to get certified – while saving on money! Watch the video below – or keep reading depending on your preferred format!

How to get a Free Microsoft Certification Exam at Microsoft Ignite

The first thing you need to do is to register for Microsoft Ignite – November 2021 – which is 100% Free! You can register at this link: https://myignite.microsoft.com/home . Afterwards, go to the Learning Zone part of the Menu, and go to the Cloud Skills Challenge.

At the time of writing this blog post – the challenge isn’t yet started, it starts on November 2, 2021, at 4:00 PM UTC, but you can register to get notified when the Cloud Skills Challenge starts! Meanwhile, here are the important details about it!

There are 12 challenges available to choose from, select one that’s right for you. Once you complete that challenge you will earn a free Microsoft Certification exam that can be applied to your choice from a select list of options. This year, we really have a lower selection of available exams than previous years – here is the list of exams you can take with your voucher.

MS-700: Managing Microsoft TeamsMS-720: Microsoft Teams Voice EngineerMD-100: Windows 10MD-101: Managing Modern DesktopsMB-210: Microsoft Dynamics 365 SalesPL-400: Microsoft Power Platform DeveloperAZ-104: Microsoft Azure AdministratorAZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft AzureDP-300: Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft AzureAZ-800: Administering Windows Server Hybrid Core InfrastructureAZ-801: Configuring Windows Server Hybrid Advanced ServicesMB-330: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain ManagementSC-200: Microsoft Security Operations AnalystSC-300: Microsoft Identity and Access AdministratorSC-400: Microsoft Information Protection AdministratorImportant dates:Challenge Starts: November 2, 2021 at 4:00 PM UTC Challenge Ends: November 30, 2021 at 4:00 PM UTC You need to be registered at Microsoft Ignite – however you have until November 30th to finish the Cloud Skills Challenge Vouchers sent: If you complete your challenge before it ends, one free Microsoft Certification exam will be associated with your Learn profile on December 7, 2021.Vouchers expire: March 15th, 2022Important links:Cloud Skill Challenge: https://csc.docs.microsoft.com/ignite/registration/fall2021Official Rules: https://csc.docs.microsoft.com/Ignite/OfficialRules/Fall2021

If you have any questions before – or after the challenge starts, please let me know in the comments below!

STARTING SOON! Get a FREE @MicrosoftLearn Certification Voucher (Value up to 165$ USD) by registering for @MS_Ignite & completing a Cloud Skills Challenge! All the Details here >https://t.co/pGlX15Mb9E pic.twitter.com/os4HsQUxdu

— Vlad Catrinescu (@vladcatrinescu) October 18, 2021

The post Starting Soon: Free Certification Exam with the Microsoft Ignite Cloud Skills Challenge appeared first on Vlad Talks Tech.

New Microsoft Teams Certification Coming Soon: MS-720 Teams Voice Engineer

Since Microsoft Inspire happened last week – I have been getting a lot of questions regarding a tidbit of information in some of the sessions – a new Microsoft Teams Certification! This would be Exam number MS-720 , and the certification title will be Microsoft Certified: Teams Voice Engineer! Let’s look at what we know so far!

PS: You can either read the blog below or watch the YouTube video above – depending on your content consumption preferences! They both cover the same content! Also, this blog covers public information at the time it’s written – and everything can change from now until the certification is published!

Our First Hint Towards a New MS-720 Certification

The first sign we had towards a new certification is on June 9th, on the Microsoft Tech Community, when Microsoft posted a Microsoft Teams Voice Engineer Blueprinting Opportunity
. From that post we have learned two things:

The title should be Microsoft Certified Teams Voice EngineerThe survey also mentioned A Teams Voice Engineer must have completed the MS-700 – Microsoft Teams Administrator certification as a pre-requisite.

The last part really made me think, will this be an Associate or Expert level certification? On one side, the word Engineer usually means expert (who remembers the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer certifications) , however, lately, Microsoft has released multiple Associate level certifications that use the Engineer title. I am thinking at MS-740 – Teams Support Engineer, or AZ-700 – Azure Network Engineer! Given the recent history from Microsoft, I think this will be an Associate level certification with 2 exams (MS-700 + MS-740) but only time will tell!

We Got Our Confirmation at Microsoft Inspire

At Microsoft Inspire which happened in July 2021, a session called Microsoft Teams, Grow your Business with the Hybrid workplace, confirmed us the certification was coming soon, as well as the exam number and certification title! No session went into details; however one session did mention we should see this exam in Fall 2021! Also, I would like to give a huge thanks to Philipp Kohn for sending me the tip about the mention!

What’s Your Take on the MS-720?

Is it something you’re excited about? Or is there another certification you had hoped for in FY22 in the Modern Workplace portfolio? Let me know in the comments below!

Leave a comment and don’t forget to like the Vlad Talks Tech Page   on Facebook and to follow me on Twitter here  for the latest news and technical articles on SharePoint.  I am also a Pluralsight author, and you can view all the courses I created on my author page.

The post New Microsoft Teams Certification Coming Soon: MS-720 Teams Voice Engineer appeared first on Vlad Talks Tech.