For SharePoint techies the world is your oyster as far as certification and training goes. It’s really well mapped out and really well supported by Microsoft. There’s numerous streams that can be taken, if you are a SharePoint Admin, Developer or even Architect. (see Study Guides for example)
But what about for “non-techies” who work in SharePoint ? e.g. these types of roles :
- Information Architects
- Business Analysts / Strategists
- Power Users
- Sales / Pitcher
- Consultants
- Records managers
- Content Managers
In recent months I have had quite a few emails pop in to my inbox as well as a few discussions on here. There are now quite a few SharePoint Certifications routes for these “other roles” for example :
- Certified Salem Practitioner (Morgan and Wolfe)
- SharePoint Records Management Certification (ARMA)
- SharePoint Certification (AIIM)
Are you planning to take a certification ? If so, which one ?
I know we have quite a few ex Notes people on here, did these type of certs exist for that ?
Apparently I missed this post when it first came out!
I’ll comment re SharePoint certs and then answer the question about Notes certs..
My role is what I guess is “IT Pro” – not hands-on doing the install / config / admin / development. Instead, my team colleagues and I are responsible to set standards, governance, review architecture and dev design, review code, do some innovation research, etc. So in my own case, I’m pursuing MCSE and MCSD (in that order) for SharePoint 2013. That will take a while (at this time – Oct 2013 – I’m only partway to the MCSE, having completed the prerequisite MCSA in Win Svr 2012. So I’ve 2 more exams for MCSE before even starting on MCSD). That is a long and expensive (in money and time) road, but I think will position me well for my role.
Regarding Notes …no. We did not have certifications for the “other roles”. When I first became certified in Notes (1997?), there were 3 tests required for admins (2 admin exams and one dev), and 3 tests required for developers (one admin exam and two dev). And then there were various advanced exams one could take. That was a good approach, requiring that developers know at least the basics of administration, and administrators know at least the basics of dev. Some folks would do both dev exams and both admin exams to be dual-certified. I see that as similar to my goal of MCSE and MCSD for SharePoint. In later years, the dev and admin tracks became too complex to include exams from “the other side”. To be a competent Notes developer, one would need to know the @Formula language, LotusScript (basically VB with extensions for the Notes object model), Java, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, XML …and ideally at least a little C or C++. I see that as similar to the SharePoint 2013 MCSD track; competent SP developers should now know PowerShell, C#.NET, JQuery and other JavaScript, XML, …and the many capabilities within SP Designer, Workflow, and the UI menus. WHEW!!
The Salem course also looks quite interesting.
There’s also the Microsoft one for power users, the 77-886 exam.
https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exam.aspx?id=77-886#fbid=sZqu4dMYTNa
I do think it’s worth it and am planning on doing the one above, as well as the Salem and AIIM ones. I quite like the fact that they are all different vendors because you can get a more balanced view to the platform and not just the Microsoft enforced way.
We get endless inquiries from our users as to what exam they can write. I think there can be a few more actually cos none of those is aimed at actual end users who want to up their game. The current ones are all very advanced, it can be off-putting to the new-comers to the industry who want to improve because it can seem too overwhelming.
Hi Mark, great question, in my opinion and one that I’ve been looking at. I’m a cross between a techie and a non-techie… wearing many hats/roles in our SharePoint environment… trainer, power user, business analyst, content manager (my official title), forms developer, server administrator.
I’ve been debating between technical and non-technical certifications. I’m actually looking at SharePoint Certification through AIIM first. Why? because I can afford it out of pocket and my organization really does not have the funds to pay for training right now.
To do either an Admin or a Dev cert will take extensive training for me to get the needed background info and patch the holes in my knowledge base (not a bad thing)… just expensive and time consuming. I’ve also considered the MOS certification (I have MOS in Word, Excel, PowerPoint from years ago)… was thinking about upgrading that as a comfort zone starting place. Add the SharePoint cert with it.
For now, I’m upgrading my AIIM membership from Basic to Professional and will begin training classes there. Using Microsoft Virtual Academy and my subscription to SharePointVideos.com My Kindle is loaded with new SharePoint books. Problem is finding time to read them all.
