MCAD / MCSD Certification

[webmonkey323]

Hi,
I'm a MS DNA web developer (ASP, VB6, ADO, SQL, JavaScript, XML, etc.) looking to get .NET certified. I've been poking around with C# and ASP.NET, and none of it looks to tricky *yet*.

I'm wondering if it would be possible to get some study guides and put myself through the training, rather than shelling out £4k on boot camp training. I've seen that MS do a set of study texts (MCAD/MCSD Self Paced Training Kit: NET Core Requirements), and also a guy called Amit Kalani has written a few.

Having had 4 yrs. web development experience, how difficult would it be for me to pass my MCAD with some study guides, and which would be the better option - MS or Kalani??

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, I'm a bit lost at the moment as how best to pick up my MCAD.

Thanks

 

[BoulderBum]

I guess the Microsoft press guides are full of info yanked verbatim off of the MSDN help docs. Also, many of them have typos for the C# stuff (at least according to the Amazon reviewers).

I used the Kalani text and I swear by it. I didn't even consider the boot camps because of their price, though I think self-instruction will probably go much slower.

As far as the difficulty of the test with respect to your skillset, you'll almost certainly see questions about SQL, Javascript, and XML (at least to SOME degree), but the vast vast majority of the questions are about the various technologies and classes of the .NET framework.

The good news is that nothing should be very difficult to learn, the bad news is there is A LOT of material out there to know in order to reach a passing level.