Microsoft tailors training to the job

New concepts at Microsoft relate training more closely to the real workplace

Microsoft is taking a brand new approach to the training it offers the IT professional. Changes in the formats now allow people to acquire new skills quickly, and that fact allows them to apply that knowledge in the workplace more quickly than before.

The new certification program demonstrates a more holistic approach that Microsoft Learning is taking. This derives from the knowledge that it is people who drive business success and learning. Verification of an individual's knowledge and skills through certification delivers tangible benefits to those who want to build their careers while working. As a result, IT organizations have better trained, more productive teams, and companies gain cost reductions and systems that compete more effectively.

As a result of the changed thinking at Microsoft, the Learning certifications are arrayed in a three-tier system with separate tracks that more closely correlate to actual job responsibilities in the workplace. Students of the programs find that the structure of the training and the level of exams are more nearly akin to their jobs and what they need. The consequence is an ability to tailor the program to a level that is more appropriate to the level they find themselves in for their employer. People are not forced in to taking a series of exam levels to get what they wanted despite a lot of the material was inappropriate to their job.

It is reported that the new tracks offer more technical depth, focus more on on-the-job experience and map better with real-life experience, Much of what was required in earlier versions was inappropriate to all the students in the level.

One of the benefits of the changes is that the training is built to give tight integration between learning tools and product availability. the consequence of this feature is to allow IT professionals to adopt new, more capable technologies more rapidly as Microsoft rolls out product introductions.

The changes have allowed Microsoft to market the new technology as a valuable purchase and promises to change the way applications are developed. Speed of change and customer readiness to accept are a direct result of the change.

The fact that the tracks now more closely model the real world environment and the elimination of the need to acquire technical knowledge that is irrelevant to the job will make the Microsoft certification route much more manageable and is likely to attract more participation by IT professionals.