Microsoft Office Specialist Certification

Slipper1

Hi All,

I am looking for feedback\advice on the Microsoft Office Specialist certification. Has anyone taken this course and what did they think of it?

I was looking MOS v ECDL and I feel that the ECDL is very much geared towards passing the exams rather than learning. The performance based testing with MOS looks like it would be more beneficial but this is just my opinion.

Would anyone recommend one over the other and if so, why?

Do employees hold either in high regard or are they both money making exercises?

mick.fr

Slipper1 wrote: »

Hi All,

I am looking for feedback\advice on the Microsoft Office Specialist certification. Has anyone taken this course and what did they think of it?

I was looking MOS v ECDL and I feel that the ECDL is very much geared towards passing the exams rather than learning. The performance based testing with MOS looks like it would be more beneficial but this is just my opinion.

Would anyone recommend one over the other and if so, why?

Do employees hold either in high regard or are they both money making exercises?

Office certifications (Word/Excel...) on their own are worth very little, if nothing at all on the market.
To give you an idea, there is 96 people worldwide (September 2008) who are certified on Office Groove 2007. Which is part of Microsoft Office 2007.

Now there is probably a few more who are actually certified on the core Office 2007 exam, but Microsoft has not provided any figure yet.
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/certified.mspx

This certification is interresting if you are certified on Vista and SCCM for example, because you are better prepared to actually deploy a full client solution.

Now there is some Microsoft Office trainers, there is training material and centers, there is people who need Microsoft Office training, me the first, but nothing too exciting in this field...

Now you can do Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS), that is the hell of another story. People are struggling to find qualified people, so there is very good opportunities with this product. If you have some development background, that will help you.

Ginger

mick.fr wrote: »

Office certifications (Word/Excel...) on their own are worth very little, if nothing at all on the market.
To give you an idea, there is 96 people worldwide (September 2008) who are certified on Office Groove 2007. Which is part of Microsoft Office 2007.

Now there is probably a few more who are actually certified on the core Office 2007 exam, but Microsoft has not provided any figure yet.
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/certified.mspx

This certification is interresting if you are certified on Vista and SCCM for example, because you are better prepared to actually deploy a full client solution.

Now there is some Microsoft Office trainers, there is training material and centers, there is people who need Microsoft Office training, me the first, but nothing too exciting in this field...

Now you can do Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS), that is the hell of another story. People are struggling to find qualified people, so there is very good opportunities with this product. If you have some development background, that will help you.

Ok this is a bit of a mixup...

The certifications specified by Mick are MCTS exams and not MOS/MCAS level exams. They are quite different.

The reason you are not seeing any of the MCAS certs listed on that site is because they are not MCP exams and that list only provides information for MCP level certs.

Also the Groove product is a part of the Office System but the MCTS listed above is actually based on the Groove Server product. You will also see exams based around Project Server and other parts of the Office server suite.

Anyways

MOS was rebranded for Office 2007 and labelled as MCAS, the Microsoft Certified Application Specialist. MCAS exams are different to MCTS as they are geared at a different market and also they have a different testing provider.

You can find more info on the MOS and MCAS certs here

As to your question. Sometimes employers like to see you have a bit of competence with say Excel especially if you are going to be working in accounting or budget planning for example. So it will look good on your CV. Whether it gets you a job is a different story and also its also another story if the HR folks know about it.

The ECDL was essentially created to give employers a baseline that the person had a basic knowledge of Office applications especially if they were returning to the workforce after a while.

The MCAS is a bit above that and details that you know more than the basics and are familiar with the advanced workings of the product. And as it geared towards individual products not the overall, you can mix and match to your job spec.

Are they a money spinner.. Sure they are.. why else would they create them . The thing is do you get your return on your investment and honestly I cant say because I have never had to hire office workers

Anyways, if you want to think of it as this.. ECDL is intro, MCAS is intermediate and above.

You dont always need to do the course, you can always grab a book and learn the tips and tricks and do them on the job which means you will learn them more than in a course. Also its a lot cheaper!

If you are technically inclined you can look at some of the WSS (Windows SharePoint Services (FREE))/MOSS (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (EXPENSIVE)) and there are some exams, 4 to be exact which are geared around them, 2 development and 2 config. Tho if you are doing Office Apps and not server product and infrastrure these will be aimed too high