NEWS
• Relates to: MCSE 2000 | MCSE 2003 | MCSA 2000 | MCSD .NET | MCDBA | MCSA 2003 | MCAD .NET
On July 14, Microsoft released a new round of certification counts for MCP holders. (Microsoft counts only those who don't also hold other Microsoft certs in this category, in case you didn't already know.) Comparing these numbers to the last report on May 8, 2004, and earlier reports from this year and last, here's what I observed that struck me as of potential or particular interest:
- Messaging specializations continue to increase more (and faster) than security specializations, although the delta between the two is less extreme than in previous reports. This time around, the MCSE numbers nearly match (3,459 for MCSE: Messaging versus 3,100 for MCSE: Security). On the other hand, MSCA numbers are still pretty far apart—MCSA: Messaging (17,557) overwhelms MCSA: Security (2,556).
- Since the previous update on May 8, MCDST is up by just over 400; this translates into about 44 new MCDSTs per week. Because MCSE, MCSA, MCDBA, and other numbers tend to stay in the range of 200 to 750 per week, this is not the kind of raging success I believe Microsoft was looking for!
- MCSE 2000 monthly rates are dropping. Down from a high of over 7,000 a month in 2003, current MCSE 2000 rates are about 3,000 per month (averaging over the period since the December 18, 2003 update). Monthly MCSA 2000 rates nearly match the MCSE numbers, at over 2,700 new MCSAs per month. Monthly Windows 2000 rates also still exceed MCSE 2003 rates (about 1,250 per month), and MCSA 2003 rates (around 1,850 per month). The big turnover from 2000 to Server 2003 hasn't yet hit Microsoft certification.
- As it's done for at least the prior two years, the MCDBA maintains a steady monthly rate of around 1,000.
- Developer certs tell an interesting story, though I'm not sure how to interpret differing MCSD rates (except to observe that .NET really does seem to have taken over on the development side of the house). MCAD, which is .NET-only, sees about 1,000 new certs a month. MCSD 2000 sees only 200, while MCSD .NET sees a bit more than 500 a month. Nothing like the admin or database credentials, but not inconsiderable, either.
- This latest report shows total MCP count down by about 9,000 since December, 2003. This has to mean that more MCPs have moved up in the ranks than new MCPs have entered them.
The biggest number of all in this report is that over 1.5 million people now hold one Microsoft certification or another. This lets Microsoft maintain its claim to being the biggest certification program. But the overall trend is one of slowing growth on older, more established credentials, and surprisingly slow growth on the MCDST. Perhaps an improving economy can help to reverse this trend by the time the next report comes out, probably in September.
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