An ordinary guy trying to make a difference
The face behind the FAQs
Having passed my ConfigMgr Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) exam, I received a congratulatory email from Microsoft which included a link giving a break down of the various Microsoft Certifications by type.
I was rather surprised to see that there are only 1,077 MCTS in ConfigMgr and even less in OpsMgr (830) out of the 2 million+ MCPs “out there”. This seems rather a low number based on the number of users of this technology. I’m not sure how these numbers compare with the SMS and MOM exams which have obviously been out for a while and maybe folks haven’t taken the newer exams as they’ve not upgraded to the new products.
All I would say is that with Microsoft's Second Shot offer being extended (register for the exam through this website and if you fail it (which you won’t ;-)), you get a free retake so now is as good a time as any to take your exams.
A word of warning on this one – if you’re planning on using a pre-paid voucher to pay for the exam make sure AT THE TIME you buy the voucher you say you want the Second Shot offer as I got a voucher through EDS and when I registered for the exam they said I couldn’t use Second Shot as this wasn’t specified at the time the voucher was bought.
Also bear in mind that because of Second Shot trying to get booked into a Testing Centre to take exams could be a problem (in the past I’ve called my local test centre and never had a problem booking in the same week. This time round though when I called Prometric I was told the earliest I could take any exam was 11th DECEMBER as they were fully booked – so I ended up going to a different Test Centre).
If you’re interested in seeing a breakdown of MCPs Worldwide checkout:
https://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/certified.mspx