What you need to know about Windows 7 certification. Is it available? Will it
help you get a MCITP? What do you need to do to prepare? How can
WindowsNetworking.com help you?
While Windows 7 has been available to IT Pros with Technet for a while, it was
just released to the general public on October 22, 2009. One of the ways that I
typically begin learning about a new Windows OS is to start by looking at its
certification. What I mean is, if you are going to spend time learning about an
OS, why not learn the things that Microsoft says are important enough to put in
their certification requirements? Plus, if you are going to invest the time to
learn about Windows 7, why not take a test when you are done learning and get a
certification out of it? It just seems like the most logical way to learn about
the new OS.
With that, what is the status of the Windows 7 certification program? What do
you need to do to get Windows 7 certified and how can WindowsNetworking.com help
you?
What is the status of the Windows 7 certification program?
Just as Windows 7 is now available, the entry-level Windows 7 certification, the
MCTS, is also available. Microsoft’s Certified Technology Specialist (or MCTS)
is the entry level certification for just about every Microsoft technology.
There are MCTS programs not only for IT Admins who are interested in Windows
Server or Windows 7 but also for those who are Office 2007 experts, SQL Admins,
.NET developers, and even volume licensing specialists. In fact, there are over
50 MCTS certification options.
As you are reading this, you are interested in Windows 7 certification so the
most important MCTS, to you, is the Microsoft Technology Specialist (TS) Exam
70-680: Windows 7, Configuring. You guessed it, this MCTS certification requires
a single exam and it is all about configuring Windows 7.
This exam covers topics such as:
* Installing, Upgrading, and Migrating to Windows 7
* Deploying Windows 7
* Configuring Hardware and Applications
* Configuring Network Connectivity
* Configuring Access to Resources
* Configuring Mobile Computing
* Monitoring and Maintaining Systems that Run Windows 7
* Configuring Backup and Recovery Options
According to Microsoft, the “Configuring Network Connectivity” portion of the
exam is worth 14% (so I encourage you to checkout the Microsoft.com resource
list of articles I have put together later in this article). Specifically, that
14% covering networking covers the following:
* IPv4 network settings
* IPv6 network settings
* Windows 7 networking settings
* Windows 7 Firewall
* Windows 7 Remote management
It is likely that if you have been using Windows 7 since beta version, and you
have previous Windows OS experience, I suspect that most of these networking
topics covered do not scare you too much.
However, out of all of those topics, the one that caught my eye the most is
IPv6. I do not think I have seen many “level 1” certification exams that require
knowledge of IPv6. I know that topic will require me to do some extra reading!
Let’s say that you took the 70-680 exam and passed it (which you could do this
week as the test is available!), what do you do next?
After the MCTS covering Windows 7, what’s next?
The MCTS covering the configuration of Windows 7 is a great place to start your
Microsoft certification path. That is because that exam applies to at least 3
other higher level certification options. They are:
* MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7
* MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Support Technician 7
* MCITP: Enterprise Administrator
The MCITP is Microsoft’s Certified IT Professional or
MCITP Training and could be compared to
the MCSE. However, there are many more types of MCITP than the MCSE and those
types of MCITP have various certification requirements. For example, to get a
MCITP Enterprise Desktop Support Technician 7 you need to take the Microsoft PRO
Exam 70-685: Windows 7, Enterprise Desktop Support Technician 7 on top of your
MCTS in Windows 7 Configuration. The requirements to obtain the MCITP Enterprise
Desktop Administration 7 certifications are similar but you need to take the
Microsoft PRO Exam 70-686: Windows 7, Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7 exam on
top of your MCTS in Windows 7 Configuration. I should note that both of these
exams are listed as “in development” by Microsoft and are expected to be
released on November 16, 2009.
For a much more in depth type of MCITP, you can apply your MCTS in Configuring
Windows 7 to the MCITP Enterprise Administrator certification. This version of
the MCITP requires that you take 4 tests, in addition to the 70-680 that you
passed to obtain your MCTS.
How can WindowsNetworking.com help you get Windows 7 certified?
Here at WindowsNetworking.com, we have been posting quality articles about
Windows 7 and Windows 2008 enterprise features since the time that these
operating systems were in beta. Thus, I am confident enough to say that there
are a lot of good articles to help in your certification pursuit. You can view
all of our Windows 7 content at the WindowsNetworking.com – Windows 7 Articles
Index.
Here are some good articles that I enjoyed and pulled from that index:
* Exploring Windows 7’s New Search Features (Part 1) by Brien Posey
* Connecting Windows 7 to an iSCSI SAN by David Davis
* An Introduction to AppLocker (Part 1) by Brien Posey
* Introduction to BranchCache – Part 1: Overview of BranchCache Features and
Capabilities by Thomas Shinder
* Deploying Windows 7 – Part 9: Deploying 32-bit vs. 64-bit Windows by Mitch
Tulloch
Keep in mind that Microsoft also has a number of Windows 7 education options.
Their Windows 7 education options list links to not only their free videos but
also 3rd party books and classroom training.
Conclusion
In this article, we covered what you need to know about Windows 7 Certification.
You found out that Windows 7 certification, in the form of the MCTS /
Configuring Windows 7 is now available. You need to pass one test – 70-680 – to
become a MCTS in Windows 7 and there are a lot of resources available to you. So
what are you waiting for? Get your MSTS in Windows 7 this week! Soon after that,
the MCITP certification options for
Windows 7 will be available so that you can continue your learning and
certification.
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