VS 2008 Certification

Visual Studio 2008 certifications are part of the ‘new generation’ of certifications, i.e. Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) and Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD)–the same format in which VS2005 certifications were released.

There will not be an upgrade path from MCAD or MCSD to Visual Studio 2008, but you can go from MCAD/MCSD to Visual Studio 2005, then follow a (to-be-determined) transition path to Visual Studio 2008

If you are new to certification (or just haven’t started a VS2005 or VS2008 track), take 70-536 because it is the first step for both 2005 and 2008 MCTS cert’s and is available now.

If you are partially through an MCAD or MCSD track, you can finish them. MCAD/MCSD won’t expire. However, at some point this year retirement of those exams will be announced (usually with a year’s notice) so keep that in mind, keep an eye out for a formal announcement, and get a move on. For that reason, too, It is not recommend starting a MCAD or MCSD track from the beginning now - instead consider exams in the MCTS/MCPD family.

If you work with Visual Studio 2005, start (or finish) a Visual Studio 2005 certification track. As long as you are working with VS2005 those certs will have value, one of the exams is part of your 2008 track and there will be a 2005 to 2008 option, for when/if you want to transition your certification to 2008.

If you want to start a VS2008 track from scratch (or if you are MCAD/MCSD and want to wait for 2008), you can start now on 70-536.