An Overview of Microsoft Office Certification and Career Path

Microsoft is one among the global leaders in information technology and is best known for the Windows OS and the Office software. If you are in the process of implementing new business tools within your company, it may be in your best interest to check out sites like https://www.cognillo.com/blog/difference-between-distribution-security-and-office-365-groups/, in the hopes of making an easier decision. Do some research first before going ahead with anything. However, the product line of Microsoft is even broader like Bing, MSN, Xbox 360, products like PCs, tablets, mobile phones, keyboards, mice and more. Along with their products and services, Microsoft also has a global certification program with an objective to churn out qualified professionals to support the company application and products deployed at various work environments.

Technical recruiters consider Microsoft certifications as a testimony of an applicant’s competence in handling specific technologies. Researches have shown that specialized IT certifications from world’s leading providers increase the chances of job applicants to land in a good job or help the working professionals get a promotion. Almost all hiring managers agree to the fact that IT certifications are considered with medium to high priority while making a hiring decision. If you like to get ahead in your software engineering career or become one of the top IT specialists in your company, certifications in Microsoft Office will surely give you great opportunities in your career path.

MOS (Microsoft Office Specialist) certification

Microsoft Office Specialist or MOS is one of the most reputed certifications, which a person’s skill and knowledge through some project-based assignments. The certification process will give the students and working class an opportunity to undergo some real-time exercises to understand better and appraise Microsoft Office product.

Certification training from the provider will give the students an opportunity to realize their potential and prepare themselves for the industry. A good Microsoft Office Certification training not only benefits the students, but is also ideal for the industrialists, administrators, and even the educators with the need for enhancing their skill-set to perform better in their respective fields.

MOS benefits

Microsoft Office Specialist certification will benefit various career aspirants in the following ways:

  • For the students, it will boost their academic performance and also help them prepare better for their future careers.
  • For the educators, this course and certification will make them capable of guiding their students in a more focused and targeted manner.
  • For the administrators, Office certification will help them enhanced their performance skills, and further help meet the institutional goals easily.

Those who are looking for MOS certification can prepare well with the help of any good online or offline training program, which offers syllabus-specific learning materials and practice sessions. MOS is purely a performance-based Microsoft endorsed certification.

Other Microsoft Certifications

Apart from MOS, Microsoft also offers many other certification programs which are divided into different core IT categories as:

  • Cloud computing: It encompasses technologies related to business intelligence, cloud data, Microsoft Azure, Windows Server 2016, DevOps, etc.
  • Data: Handling machine learning, business applications, analytics with database technologies from Microsoft. Business applications are like Microsoft Dynamics 365. It also covers SQL database and working with Transact-SQL. Did you know that utilizing sql remote services could save your business time and money? Check out red9.com to discover more.
  • Mobility: End-user topics and desktop applications including the latest Windows 10, enterprise applications, Intune, and System Center Configuration Manager, etc.
  • Productivity: MOS comes under this along with other solutions as Exchange Server, Office365, SharePoint Server, etc. If programs like this are vital for your work, you might want to have some Exchange Reporting solutions ready so that your work is always protected.
  • App Builder: It is more development-oriented by covering designing, architecting, building, and testing solutions like Azure, Visual Studio Team Foundation, SharePoint Server, etc.
  • Business Apps: Focusing on areas like Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales, Distribution, and Trade, Finance and Operations, Customer Service, Field Service, Retail, etc.

The certifications under various above categories include the following:

Cloud certifications

Cloud certifications from Microsoft are MCSA, MCSE, and MTA, etc. The most relevant certification under MTA is the IT Infrastructure. To get this certification, candidates need to pass an exam, which includes the fundamentals of networking, server admin, mobility, security, and cloud.

The cloud track of MCSA covers topics like BI, Azure-based Data Engineering, Cloud, Azure or Linux, Machine Learning, MS SQL 2016, Windows Server 2012 and Server 2016, etc. Three exams each are needed for Windows Server. MCSA and other credentials have only two exams.

MCSE certifications need any of the MCSA to be qualified for it. Qualified applicants need to pass one among the 15 exams next to get the credential. These include various options like cloud data, Azure, big data, Server 2016, data center, private cloud, hybrid cloud, server infrastructure, and DevOps, etc.

Data certifications

There are many certifications in terms of data also in the track of MCSA, MCSE, MTA. The five certifications in MCSA Data track include Machine Learning, SQL 2016 DB Administration, SQL 2016 BI Development, SQL 2016 DB Development, as well as SQL Server 2012 and SQL Server 2014.

MCSE category of data certifications includes two as Business Applications as well as Data Management & Analytics. MCSA is the prerequisite; as we have seen above, to go for MCSE. Business Applications specialties are Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Dynamics 365 for the Operations. For MCSE Data Management & Analytics the requirement as SQL Server 2012, SQL Server 2014, SQL 2016 DB Administration, DB Development, Machine Learning, BI Development, BI Reporting, or Azure-based Data Engineering.

Mobility certifications

Mobility certifications by Microsoft also include MCSA, MCSE, and MTA certifications. Similar to the Cloud track, MTA consist of IT Infrastructure. When it comes to mobility, Windows 10 is the required track in MCSA. It requires the applicants to passing two exams. MCSE Mobility is the most advanced track in this line, and applicants require MCSA to qualify for it. It needs Windows 10 as well as one more exam from a choice of three as Desktops & Enterprise Applications, System Center Configuration Manager plus Intune, as well as the Enterprise Device Managing.

Productivity certifications

There range varies widely from a single Office product specialization to administering the entire Office 365 services. Apart from MCSA and MCSE, it required Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) also, which we’d discussed above in detail.

App builder certifications

It also features the same path for certification as MTA, MCSA and also MCSD. The major MCSA app builder track includes two as Universal Windows Platform (UWP) and Web Applications credentials. The two exams to pass include programming topics like HTML5 CSS3, JavaScript, C# programming, ASP.NET MVC framework, etc.

MCSD track includes App Builder certification, which requires MSCA Web Applications or UWP as a prerequisite. Topics covered under MCSD certification track include developing Azure solutions, web services, SharePoint solutions along with software testing using Visual Studio, application lifestyle management with Visual Studio, and Azure DevOps solutions, etc.

Business App certifications

In the MCSA track, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations are the essential prerequisites. Topics covered under this are administering MS SQL database infrastructure, SQL database provisioning, AX development, extensions for Microsoft Dynamics 365, etc.

Once certified, it guarantees that the professional has demonstrated the ability to handle all features and functionality while operating Microsoft Office and its tools.