Here comes a new MS Cert program

Get ready for a new Microsoft certification program, aimed to sit between various single- or dual-exam CompTIA credentials and more advanced Microsoft credentials like the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) and the Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP). The program is going to be called the Microsoft Technology Associate (MTA) or perhaps the Microsoft Certified Technology Associate (MCTA, but I’m sticking to MTA for the time being) and so far, several exams designed to bring CompTIA certified people with Server+, Network+, Security+ are in the works, along with some entry level developer stuff.

In the past couple of months, I’ve had some confidential sources inside the publishing industry fill me in on this, but didn’t feel comfortable sharing what I know until I ran across a brief piece from Emmett Dulaney at CertCities.com dated 3/24/2010 and entitled “Microsoft Creates New Certification” to let me know that enough info has leaked out for me to say the program exists. In addition to the credentials that Emmett calls out in his story, my information is that .NET development, project management, and other topics will also fall under the MTA umbrella.

Here’s a list of Microsoft exams that will relate to individual credentials under the MTA umbrella, lifted straight from the MS Learning Exam Index:

Note that these new exams all fall inside 98-3xx exam numbering, and that four of these five items already have links into the Microsoft Learning exam descriptions (links are provided). I don’t know when Microsoft plans to issue a formal announcement of the program, but the official available date is on or around June 1, so it’s going to have to be sometime soon. Look for more information here when and as that happens — I’ve already launched a formal “when can you tell me more about this?” query with the folks who handle PR for Microsoft Learning.