MCTS 70-178 Microsoft Project 2010, Managing Projects

Suddenly I became nostalgic.

You know, Microsoft Project is one of some early batch of software that I used during tertiary education time besides the obvious DOS, Windows operating system, VB (Not .NET you young people!) and et cetera.

I remembered times when being instructed to present my project schedules which ended up with printing of few ten pages of "partial" gantt charts and stitched them together using double sided tapes or glues. Guess not easy to be a project manager during those times. :D

Anyway, transition from the yawning old version of Microsoft Project to the state of the art version of 2010 (2013 on its way) is phenomenal. Number of users grow into millions and with some quarter of them with a chartered PMP qualification. Still, more projects failed in this decade than the total of few previous decades added up. Microsoft Project is just a tool, and it really can't help if you don't understand the essential of managing a project.

Anyway, back to the story of 70-178.

You see, to me, this examination is nothing but just a milestome to tell people that I'm more proficient in using this tool than others. Technically, it's not a tough one either. I have passed various other exams, which I personally think at a different playing field than this exam.

So, don't worry too much if you are taking this exam anytime soon.

What you really need to prepare are:

• Download the trial version/buy the licensed copy of Microsoft Project 2010
• Use the software alot, and explore various of its features
• Understand the basics of project management (If you are a PMP, congrats that you are on a faster track to pass this)
• Read one or more books on Microsoft Project 2010. I scanned through most of them and I think "Microsoft Project" title from Sybex is short and concise (about 400 pages) whereby "Microsoft Project In Depth" from QuantumPM is indeed, in depth (about 1000 pages).

Well, my passing rate of 962/1000 should indicate to you that the preparation materials above are sufficient. Right?

Can't get the damned "Gangnam style" out from my head. Geez.

COG-622: IBM Cognos 10 BI Administrator

This is a pretty simple test, perhaps due to the simplicity of Cognos 10 BI administration? Not really, I think the exam is out-of-sync to the actual administration needs of Cognos 10. Too many theoretical questions and the test misses the more essential adminitrative aspects and not reflective of a milestone that only a seasoned administrator will achieve. OR, most likely, I'm just too over qualified for it ;-)

My study materials are:

Cognos 10 Hand Book
Cognos 10 Architecture and Deployment Guide
Cognos 10 Installation and Configuration Guide
Cognos 10 Administration and Security Guide
Few VMs to play with

I have also developed a 3 days Cognos 10 Administration Boot Camp training course with tons of learning slides and hands-on labs.

TOGAF Foundation

A long awaited first architect level certification of mine, though foundational level, serves as a catalyst to boost value for my employer and clients. It is not a tough paper to pass, comparing to its Part 2 brother. I listed the materials that I used for examination preparation below:

• TOGAF Version 9.0 documentation (Optional but recommended, especially if you are like me going for Part 2 soon)


• TOGAF 9.0 Foundation Study Guide (Sufficient to pass part 1 but hardly flying color)


• Misc. TOGAF 9.0 Summary documents (For understanding only)


• Few years of architecting experiences (Optional but useful for really understand TOGAF values)

My score was 93% which is aligned with my usual passing standard. I think preparation works for Part 2 would be more interesting because it requires drilling deep into in-and-out of TOGAF 9 specification. Sounds fun!

IBM MQ Solution Designer Certification

O ya. I almost forgot to post my status on the IBM MQ certification test number 996.

Compared to the SOA certification I previously taken, which I commented most of the questions are very subjective to different minds, MQ exam is straighforward and technical indeed. Maybe one or two questions are abit gray because of the way they phrased the statements, the rest are the kind either you know or you don't know because you didn't study.



I think this paper is not a big problem for professionals who got extensive designing and solutioning experience (like me!). Another certification paper on MQ administration should provide more comprehensive coverages on how MQ really in action operationally.

IBM SOA Fundamentals (2008) - 000-669

I went to take this SOA entry level certification last Tuesday during the IBM SOA Service Management Conference 2009 in Malaysia (The exam is FREE!). Well, the thing is I don't really have the luxury of abundant time to prepare for this one, partly because I was prep-ing for MQ 996 Solution Designer exam the day before (Will post details on this later) and I only managed to cover the following reading materials.

*Best Practices for SOA Management (Chapters 1 - 3)
Publication number: REDP-4233-00

*Propagating Identity in SOA with Tivoli Federated Identity Manager
Publication number: REDP-4354-00

*Understanding SOA Security Design and Implementation (Chapter 1)
Publication number: SG24-7310-01

*WebSphere Service Registry and Repository Handbook (Chapter 1)
Publication number: SG24-7386-00

*Implementing Technology to Support SOA Governance and Management (SKIPPED)

*SOA fundamentals in a nutshell (Quite a number of questions from this, thought might not in a direct way)


Publication number: SG24-7538-00

More:
IBM Recommandations for Test Preparation


I find most of the questions in the paper very subjective and open ended to the background and experiences of one person. Giving an analogy, the question can be:

13. Please select 2 out of the following that best describes the way to die peacefully.

a. Died when sleeping (Pretty obvious huh)
b. Jumping down from 100 storeys tall building
c. Jumping down from 50 storeys tall building
d. Use a knife
e. Use a gun

When I saw some of the questions similar to the above style, I was like "HUH", then "EMM", then "SHIT"... Well, at the end I need to resort to 2 of my most effective strategy:

A. Use Common Sense in The Context
B. Choose either the shortest or longest answer (!)


By the way, there's another candidate in the same room with me that can't even tell the test number (000-669) when the proctor asked him. What's the whole point of taking the test without even understand the details of the test, its' objectives and structures.

Result receipt

83.3%..... Answered 9 questions wrongly. Darn.

The bottomline is this test is just merely testing your knowledge and common sense on SOA at a very introductory level and yet term "Fundamentals".

I guess product specific certification is more interesting... I like the logo though.

IBM Websphere Application Server (WAS) V6.1 Network Deployment Certification 253

Preparation for this examination (253) was kinda harsh. I only managed to cram 2.5 of the related IBM Red Books and struggled to get the other questions right using my project experiences.

Study Materials:

WebSphere Application Server 6.1 Planning and Design (SG24-7305-00)
WebSphere Application Server 6.1 System Management and Configuration (SG24-7304-00)
WebSphere Application Server 6.1 Security Handbook (SG24-7304) - Part 1

I really want to read up another one about Performance, Scalability and HA but my schedule was extremely tight, well, maybe will do the reading if going for the advanced certification.

Score: 89%

Flashback on the days in BrainBench

I like BrainBench. To be precise I like the FREE tests from BrainBench. It's free and everyone loves free stuffs. So I decided to log into the system and review what I had done during the past with BrainBench.

Some logos I'm allowed to use from BrainBench.











Some nice spots I'm still holding in BrainBench. Cool huh.

IBM Exam 704 - Advanced DB2 DBA Certification

Taking advantage of IBM certification promotion offered to their business partners in Malaysia, I enrolled into the test 000-704 advanced DB2 DBA about less than one month ago. The test only costs me USD30. Primary study material is the "Advanced DBA Certification Guide and Reference for DB2(R) Universal Database v8 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows", ISBN #0130463884. Overall the study experience was a pleasant one because you get to dive into the rich technical details of IBM DB2 database engine and start to be amazed by this world class RDBMS.

Anyway I think that it is too naive to declare someone as certified Advanced DB2 DBA just for the sake of passing 56% out of 57 questions. Yes, the questions are breadth and tricky but it would be better if the number of questions in the test increased to let say 300, :), testing every nuances of DB2.

For me, even passing the exam with flying colors as usual, I think I'm only conquered maybe 35% to 50% of the total universe of DB2 version 8 LUW, not to mention my lack of exposures in DB2 for i5/zOS and version 9 universes.

I will work harder. :-)