.NET MCTS

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Hello,

I've got some fairly vague questions about the .NET MCTS exams (starting with Exam 70-536). I'm going to start with a quick bio of my experience. I'm 24 years old and have been a web designer for many years. I briefly studied computer programming at University until I swapped to a marketing major. I understand the basics of programming and have experience in Perl, CGI, PHP, etc. I understand the fundamentals behind most of it. With that being said, I'm also fairly developed in my web design work and scripting.

I've never done any certification work until recently. I randomly decided to start getting certified. I started off running through CIW's Master Designer program. I passed the Foundations exam with no problems, passed the Site Designer with no problems, and am going to finish the certification with the E-Commerce Designer next week. I've never developed anything in .NET before but I've always wanted to learn it and now it seems I have a fairly good reason to.

Would you recommend doing the training and attempting to take these .NET MCTS tests if I've never touched .NET in my life? I think I have the technical capability to understand it all, but I've never actually had my hands in. I'm wondering how tough these certifications are. I'm a bigger fan of self-paced learning (as I'm currently finishing my BSBA degree online) so I'm also wondering if the self learning kits are worth any good.

So all pretty vague, but I'm curious how difficult it will be to learn this .NET material in hopes of taking these exams eventually. Anyone have any thoughts for me as being brand new to .NET? Thanks, guys!

 

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In addition to that.....would it be a good idea to pick up a beginning .NET book that explains the basics of .NET first, before looking into the Microsoft Certified study material, or will the Microsoft books cover it well enough? Thanks!

 

Yes, I would suggest getting some beginning .NET books before trying to tackle the MSPress books. I would not recommend trying to tackle the .NET exams until you've had some time working with the .NET Framework. At least create some basic applications and get a feel for the features that the .NET Framework offers. Then, perhaps go through the exam-focused books and work through them. I highly recommend doing all the examples and really learning how Visual Studio works.