Would You Pass the SQL Server Certifications Please? What Do You Mean We're Out?

I have held various certifications through my DBA career, from CompTIA A+ certification back when I worked help desk (I'm old) through the various MCxx that Microsoft has offered over the years (although I never went for Microsoft Certified Master (MCM), which I still regret).

I have definitely gotten some mileage out of my certs over the years, getting an interview or an offer not just because I was certified, but rather because I had comparable job experience to someone else *and* I was certified, nudging me past the other candidate.

I am currently an MCSA: SQL 2016 Database Administration and an MCSE: Data Management and Analytics, which is pretty much the top of SQL Server certifications currently available.

I also work for a company that is a Microsoft partner (and have previously worked for other Microsoft partners) and part of the requirements to become (and stay) a Microsoft partner is maintaining a certain number of employees certified at certain levels of certification dependent on your partnership level.

I completed the MCSE back in 2019, and my company is starting to have a new re-focus on certifications (a pivot, so to speak - I hate that term but it is accurate), so I went out to look at what my options were.  We have two SQL Server versions past SQL Server 2016 at this point, so there must be something else right?

On top of that, the MCSA and MCSE certs I currently have are marked to expire *next* month (January 2021 - seriously, check it out HERE)...so there *MUST* be something else right - something to replace it with or to upgrade to?

I went to check the official Microsoft certifications site (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/browse/?products=sql-server&resource_type=certification) and found that the only SQL Server-relevant certification beyond the MCSE: Data Management and Analytics is the relatively new "Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate" certification (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/azure-database-administrator-associate).  

The official description of this certification is as follows:

The Azure Database Administrator implements and manages the operational aspects of cloud-native and hybrid data platform solutions built with Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Azure Data Services. The Azure Database Administrator uses a variety of methods and tools to perform day-to-day operations, including applying knowledge of using T-SQL for administrative management purposes.

Cloud...Cloud, Cloud...Cloud...(SQL)...Cloud, Cloud, Cloud...by the way, SQL.

Microsoft has been driving toward the cloud for a very long time - everything is "Cloud First" (developed in Azure before being retrofit into on-premises products), and the company definitely tries to steer as much into the cloud as it can.

I realize this is Microsoft's reality, and I have had some useful experiences using the cloud for Azure VM's and Azure SQL Database over the years...but...

There is still an awful lot of the world running on physical machines - either directly or via a certain virtualization platform that starts with VM and rhymes with everywhere.

As such, I can't believe Microsoft has bailed on actual SQL Server certifications...but it sure looks that way.  Maybe something shiny and new will come out of this; maybe there will be a new better, stronger, faster SQL Server certification in the near future - but the current lack of open discussion doesn't inspire hope.

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Looking at the Azure Database Administrator Associate certification, it requires a single exam (DP-300 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/dp-300) and is apparently "Associate" level.  Since the styling of certs is apparently changing (after all it isn't the MCxx Azure Database Administrator) I went to look at what Associate meant.

Apparently there are Fundamental, Associate, and Expert level certifications in the new role-based certification setup, and there are currently only Expert-level certs for a handful of technologies, most of them Office and 365-related technologies.

This means that for most system administrators - database and otherwise - there is nowhere to go beyond the "Associate" level - you can dabble in different technologies, but no way to be certified as an "Expert" by Microsoft in SQL Server, cloud or otherwise. (The one exception I could find for any sysadmins is the "Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert" certification, which is all-around design and implement in Azure at a much broader level.)

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After reviewing all of this, I am already preparing for the Azure Database Administrator Associate certification via the DP-300 exam, and I am considering other options for broadening my experience, including Azure administrator certs and AWS administrator certs.  I will likely focus on Azure since my current role has more Azure exposure than AWS (although maybe that is a reason to go towards AWS and broaden my field...hmm...)

If anything changes in the SQL Server cert world - some cool new "OMG we forgot we don't have a new SQL Server certification - here you go" announcement - I will let you know.

The Value of Certifications

A former co-worker recently sent me an email asking about Microsoft certifications, and if I pursued them, and what I thought about them.  I started to write a response and it sounded like a good blog post {-: so here it is:

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I am certified through the gills in SQL 2000 (MCDBA) and 2005 (MCITP), but when it came time to upgrade to 2008 I got distracted by life and let it slide.  I finally tried the upgrade exam once right before it retired and just missed passing it.

My experience with certs is that many people don't value Microsoft certs because they are seen as just paper - the only cert that really is valued in the community is the MCM (now the MCSM) - the Master certification.  The catch in the MCM/MCSM is that it requires most of the lower level certs as prerequisites - you have to be an MCITP Admin *and* an MCITP Developer as prereq's for Master.  (The developer requirement is why I sincerely doubt I will ever pursue MCM/MCSM.)

Unless you are interested in going for Master (or are looking at a specific job listing that requires you to be an MCITP) I would not spend your effort (and $$) on it - you will not see much real reward out of it other than whatever intrinsic feeling of accomplishment you get from passing tests - there are no raises or better jobs or anything else just from being certified *if* you already have experience.  For a brand-new DBA there may be some benefit if you are competing for jobs against other new DBA's - the guy with the no experience and the cert may have an edge over the guy with no experience and no cert.

Having said that, the certification blueprints (topic lists) are good sources of study material if you just want to know what there is to learn for learning's sake - but you can do that without shelling out a few hundred dollars per test for multiple tests.  Most of my SQL 2000 and 2005 certs were achieved while I was working for a boss who saw great value in certification and education and therefore funded everything.

Someone told me back when I worked at the University of Nebraska - a certification just tells a potential employer one thing - that you know how to take tests.  For Microsoft certs lower than Master, I completely agree.  The Master is a two-part written and lab exam and is supposed to be the best exam MS has ever created.  One of the guys in our office recently took (and passed) the Knowledge (written) half of the exam and it blew his mind compared to all of the MCITP tests.

So....if you are thinking of becoming a certified Master (I think there are ~75 of them in the world) then you *have* to take the lower tests and you should get on it.  If you are not thinking of that, then I wouldn't worry about it.

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...and that's my $.02

T-SQL Tuesday #028 – Jack of All Trades, Master of None?

It's T-SQL Tuesday again, and this month Argenis Fernandez (@DBArgenis/Blog) is hosting with the topic of "Jack of All Trades, Master of None?"

This topic has become especially relevant to me in the past six months as I have left my previous life as an in-house DBA to become a consultant at House of Brick Technologies.  As an in-house DBA at a company (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Alegent Health, and First National Bank of Omaha) I always  considered myself a specialist *and* a generalist.  I specialized in SQL Server (I didn't write VB code or administer Oracle instances) but I was a generalist in all areas of SQL Server (installation/troubleshooting/tuning/Profiler/DTS) with as much Windows knowledge as was necessary to gather Perfmon data and scan the Event Logs for relevant errors.  I usually didn't install my own Windows or rack my own servers; I installed the product after other professionals had performed these important functions.

Over the last few product versions of SQL Server, it has become more and more difficult to be a SQL Server generalist, especially working for a company (First National) where we developed almost none of our own software.  The SQL product keeps getting broader and broader - SSIS/SSAS/SSRS/SS-fill in the blank-S/Extended Events/Powershell integration/etc. etc. etc - that it seemed nearly impossible to keep up, especially as much of my job was interacting with software vendors and troubleshooting their code in our environment.  If I worked with SSRS it was because we purchased an application that required SSRS and that app usually used it (or misused it) in a very particular way.

As I have written about previously, just to stay a general DBA Microsoft is leading us down these paths as they killed DTS (forcing SSIS) and now as they have deprecated Profiler (forcing Extended Events).  I keep waiting to hear that they will deprecate T-SQL in favor of Powershell. {-:

As I noted after reading Rob Farley's T-SQL Tuesday blog "Be the Surgeon" I have always been told it is better to be the specialist (the surgeon) - and many of the blogs and Tweeters I follow exemplify this, whether it is:

• Mr. Extended Events Jonathan Kehayias (@SQLPoolBoy/Blog)
• Mr. SSIS Andy Leonard (@AndyLeonard/Blog)
• Mr. DBCC Paul Randal (@PaulRandal/Blog)
• Mrs. Indexing Kimberly Tripp (@KimberlyLTripp/Blog)
• Ms. Love Your Data Karen Lopez (@Datachick/Blog)

 ...and so on and so on.

(Of course the extreme example of this is here:)


http://www.bazingajournal.com/2012/03/words-to-live-by.html

Do I think these SQL Server "specialists" just know Extended Events, or SSIS, or DBCC? Of course not - these people and the others like them are geniuses about the product, and you can't know SSIS without knowing T-SQL, and how indexing works, etc.

The  other side of this is the generalist - the all-star as a generalist in our current SQL Server world is the Microsoft Certified Master (MCM).  To become an MCM you have to first be an MCITP in Database Administration and an MCITP in Database Development, followed by additional testing and labs.  Some MCM's may debate this, but to me the requirement to be both a DBA and a developer is by definition generalist, and it is the reason that I crossed the MCM off of my list of potential certifications - I can't believe I would ever have enough time to put into becoming a certified Database Developer to get past the prerequisite.  The other large batch of people I follow fall into this pile - not all MCM's, but all of them not known for a specific piece of the product:

• Brent Ozar (@BrentO/Blog)
• Kendra Little (@Kendra_Little/Blog)
• Jeremiah Peschka (@peschkaj/Blog)
• Thomas LaRock (@SQLRockstar/Blog)
• Robert Davis (@SQLSoldier/Blog)
• Argenis Fernandez (@DBArgenis/Blog)

...and many, many more.

(As always when I print a list like this, there are plenty of people beyond those listed here - I currently follow 425 people on Twitter and roughly 2/3 of them are SQL Server people - #sqlfamily)

When I came to House of Brick Technologies it was to expand my horizons and learn VMWare, as we primarily consult for implementing virtualization for critical applications (AKA databases).  I have limited VMWare experience (some of my past SQL Servers were VM's {-:) but House of Brick was willing to hire a strong SQL Server DBA and teach them VMWare, reasoning that this is simpler than trying to turn a VM expert into a DBA.  I have been through VMWare Boot Camp and am beginning to work double assignments with some of our SQL Server/VMWare pros to gain some practical knowledge with the product.

So I end with a question - am I becoming more general or more specialized?  I am expanding my horizons into a new technology (general) but I am starting to limit myself into a speciality of Virtualization DBA...

So which is it?



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