A random collection of epiphanies, thoughts and problem solutions pertaining to .NET and BizTalk.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

MCTS in BizTalk 2006

I passed the MCTS certification exam in BizTalk 2006 today. There were 50 questions and I finished them in 60-70 minutes. I have been programming in BizTalk 2004 and 2006 extensively for a couple years now, as it turned out that I over-prepared for the exam; I should have (probably) passed it just based on my experience. I would have to say the exam questions are relatively easy and not well balanced. Like most of the bloggers pointed out that there are too many BAM and BRE related questions. Moreover, there are too many questions about distinguished/promoted properties.
There is a lack of the core architecture questions on the messaging engine, publishing-subscribing model, orchestrations etc.

I almost felt that those exam authors might be programming heavily in BAM/BRE; they were probably not extremely familiar (or concerned) with the more popular/well-known features in BizTalk like orchestrations, maps, pipelines etc. There're 0 questions about the custom components development which I consider it's a big weakness of the exam. Programming custom components like adapters, pipeline components, functoids, fact retrievers, and BAM interceptors are essential part of the BizTalk framework. The exam didn't cover these areas well.

Another big complaint from me is that MCTS in BizTalk 2006 is not a constituent part of the MCPD certification. From my perspective, it most definitely should be. BizTalk developers must have equally strong .NET programming skills as web / winform developer. Anyway, I hope MSFT would consider this seriously and revise the certification path.

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