SharePoint (and Project Server) Shenanigans

A quick post to say that I have started my journey to becoming a Microsoft Office Master and I am now officially a Microsoft Office Specialist in SharePoint and PowerPoint 2010.

Now you may be wondering why I would be taking the Microsoft Office Specialist exams when I have SharePoint and Project Server server certifications and I work as a consultant.  Surely I know this stuff and how does it help my career?

Well I’m glad you asked!  There are several reasons why I am interested in the MOS Specialist and Master exams:

• When you become too deep into the technical, you sometimes need a refresher on how out of the box items work.  This is my way of keeping my hand in.
• For users we train at Corporate Project Solutions, I wanted to know how well our courses prepared them for the exam (very well it would appear!).
• For our trainee’s within CPS, would it help them to becoming a well rounded SharePoint / Office professional in the marketplace (yes, it definitely would).
• Lastly (and possibly the most important), SharePoint solutions are not just about SharePoint.  It is about the integration with the Microsoft ecosystem (Office, Project Server, Team Foundation Server, SQL Server).  By understanding the surrounding technologies, solutions I design and implement will be more supportable and upgradeable in future.

For revision material, I used the following book and of course practiced on the applications themselves:

I will be working on the Word and Excel Expert exams next (a fair bit more prep to do first) and then I may take the Office 365 exam when it is released also, just to see how it compares to the SharePoint 2010 exam.

The Office 365 Study Guide is due out soon and I expect receive my copy in the next week or two from my pre-order.

As an interesting thing to note, during my research I found it difficult to find an examination centre that would allow me to just take the exam.  However, one place in London was very good, professional and I would recommend:

• Good facilities
• Helpful staff
• Flexible time scales
• Central location (near Holborn)
• There is a coffee shop outside for last minute revision before you go in
• What more could you want!

Full details about the all the exams can be found here:

To learn more about the MOS Master certification, details are here:

And lastly as a shameless plug for the company I work for… If you would like to learn more about the training Corporate Project Solutions provides, click on the image below:

If anybody has any questions about the details above, get in contact