Sue is gone this weekend dog sitting, so I am planning on finishing up my studying for the 70-229 exam. This morning was spent catching up on reading all the blogs I subscribe to (took around 3 hours).
This week I was Scobleized. Of course I was so buried in work this week I wouldn't have known until today, if Ken hadn't called and told me. I printed it off and am seriously thinking about framing it and putting it on my desk. Should be a good conversation piece when people come into my cube.
This week was spent trying to complete one ASP.net project and picking up another (that is almost complete) from Johan (last day was Friday). On the train this week, I have be playing around with SQL Server Notification Services. Since moving to Salem from Gloucester my commute has been cut from about 65 min to only 30 min. Most people would think that is a good thing, but for me it sucks... What can I get done in 30 mins? I usually get about 10 min away from completing what I am working on and have to start shutting down to get off the train.. oh well, at least I'm not stuck in traffic.
Next week I am hoping to take my next exam towards my MCSD, that is if I actually do complete my studying. This morning I ran across Josh Crosby's blog about studying for the MCDBA. He mentions some good options to help you get an MCDBA. Comparted to him I seem to be either cheap or lazy. For getting the MCAD I did the following:
Exam 70-316 took about 6 weeks to read the following books
MCAD/MCSD Self-Paced Training Kit: Developing Windows-Based Applications with Microsoft Visual Basic.NET and Microsoft Visual C#.NET
MCAD Developing and Implementing Windows-based Applications with Microsoft Visual C# .NET and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Exam Cram 2
Since the MS Press book was the First Edition, it was not really written based on the exam. The exam on the CD that came with it was good though. The Exam Cram book was great for getting me in the mode of take exams on .net.
Exam 70-315 took about 6 weeks to read the following books
MCAD/MCSD Training Guide (70-315): Developing and Implementing Web Applications with Visual C# and Visual Studio.NET
MCAD/MCSD Self-Paced Training Kit: Developing Web Applications with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET and Microsoft Visual C# .NET
The two books sort of complemented each other, but I am sure I learned more from the Que Training Guide than from the MS Press book.
Exam 70-320 took about 6 weeks to read only Que's training guide
MCAD/MCSD Training Guide (70-320): Developing XML Web Services and Server Components with Visual C# .NET and the .NET Framework
The training guide was enough for this exam, since they cover everything so well.
The hardest part about studying form the exams was making myself study - 6 weeks of preparation for each exam. I'm lucky since Sue is in school and she was studying all the time, it made it easier for me to study too.