The Microsoft 70-562 exam in retrospect

Given that I posted my thoughts on the Microsoft 70-536 exam soon after I took it last January, I ought to have done the same for the 70-562 exam, which I took and passed last July. The 70-562 covers ASP.NET application development on the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 and, along with the 70-536, fulfills the requirements for the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) designation for ASP.NET application development.

I suppose I delayed writing about my 70-562 experience because it was so similar to my 70-536 experience. In each case I passed on the first try after about one month of focused study to supplement my career experience. In each case my principal study reference was the relevant Self-Paced Training Kit published by Microsoft. In each case the exam seemed tough but fair. I scored a bit higher on the 70-562 than on the 70-536, but I don't draw conclusions from that as to the relative difficulty of the two exams. Frankly, with so many months having passed, I don't remember which exam was harder.

I don't necessarily recommend that developers pursue the MCTS or any other IT certification. But if you're actively programming on some platform as part of your full-time occupation—as I was doing ASP.NET development in my previous job—, you might as well get certified. You might as well round out your knowledge (via exam preparation) and document your expertise. It's low-hanging fruit in that case, easily justifiable despite the unappealing aspects of the certification game.