April 6, 2011 at 7:25 am
It occurred to me that I have not gained any qualifications since leaving school (1979) so I thought I'd have a go at 70-433 (I work as a Senior SQL Developer). I was looking at the net to find out more about the exam and came across some sites that appeared to offer help.
Certainly the reviews looked good. There was one for a "Brigenza Sue" who had passed with flying colours thanks to their material.
Keen to find out more I did a quick Google on the aforementioned Sue to see how credible she was. And what a woman! Not only had she recently gained 70-433 but also at least 500 other IT-related certifications in the past couple of months! Well, according to all the reviews she's been giving anyway.
I can't live up to that so, rather than give money to these crooks I thought I'd just get the Microsoft book - does that sound like a plan?
April 6, 2011 at 8:51 am
Lol.
Personally i studied out of Books Online, but that's not likely to suit most people. The training guides are usually adequate, if not necessarily complete.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
April 6, 2011 at 9:18 am
You studied straight from the BOL as your primary textbook?! Ha! That's a reference, not an instruction guide.
For the rest of us non-savants, the books do well. Research each book though, since many have comments noting how there were questions on the test that were not addressed in the book. You'll want to find a book which has fewer of those comments.
And after you have the core body of knowledge from a book, you may find it helpful to pick up a practice test (some books come with one) to get a better feel of the experience.
Jim
Jim Murphy
http://www.sqlwatchmen.com
@SQLMurph
April 6, 2011 at 9:22 am
What is this "study" thing? I've been hearing about it since gradeschool, but I've never really been clear on the subject...
The Microsoft book is indeed a good place to start. Good job on doing the homework on the "resource" you found. Who knows how many people they sucker in that way.
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April 6, 2011 at 9:26 am
[Jim].[dba].[Murphy] (4/6/2011)
You studied straight from the BOL as your primary textbook?! Ha! That's a reference, not an instruction guide.
i got the list of skills covered from the MS website, read up on each in BoL. I was taking the exams as betas, so there were no books available (not that I'd have bought even if there were)
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
April 6, 2011 at 9:27 am
Great story. I would go with the MS Curriculum books, BOL and SSC.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
_______________________________________________
I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
SQL RNNR
Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
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April 6, 2011 at 9:33 am
Studying is for mere mortals. This is how we learn stuff that we didn't already know. Probably sounds strange to you, I know. Consider this post 'study', so now you know what 'study' means. Works like that. <g>
BOL is way better since 2005, and getting more complete with each release. It used to have the syntax/usage, a brief paragraph for most topics, and a few examples usually.
Still though. That's heavy duty and quite commendable.
Jim
Jim Murphy
http://www.sqlwatchmen.com
@SQLMurph
April 7, 2011 at 5:28 am
The MS 70-433 book isn't bad - less than the usual number of corrections on the publisher's web-site for their material (you should see the corrections for the 70-432 book!). It gives brief details of all aspects required for the exam, but you do need further work in addition to that book.
I use the book as a starting point and then use BOL, web resources and the Itzik Ben-Gan (along with a host of other writers) "Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2008: T-SQL Programming" to expand on the articles. There are a couple of other books in our office that I pounce on occasionally, but those are the main sources.
SSC also provides a lot of articles and pointers to web resources for all aspects - it just takes a little digging at times, which is half of the fun.
April 8, 2011 at 12:02 am
April 8, 2011 at 10:14 am
Thanks for all the useful tips and advice. I'll have a look at Mike's article over the weekend plus some of the other resources mentioned.
It's a sunny spring day in London, I've had a nice lunch stiiting on the steps of St Pauls with a couple of colleagues, so hope you all have a great weekend too!
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