Boris Hristov

Founder of 356labs

Founder of 356labs
and PowerPoint MVP.
Speaker, Trainer & Author.
A guy that loves to do sports, have fun and enjoy life. Gallery / Blog / Contact

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Microsoft Certified Trainer? Noup.
No more.

March 24, 2016 By Boris Hristov 36 Comments

boris_hristov_microsoft_certified_trainer

Last year I blogged about how I got the MCT Certification for 4th consecutive year and more importantly – how I started to see a change in the program that would make it matter again. This year, however, I decided to not go for it because nothing actually changed even though there were some signs. This would have been my 5th year as a MCT, but no, it just does not make sense for me. Let me explain.

What does the MCT Certification give you except for a bit of swag and deals to buy Microsoft Office?

  • Access to Office 365 – I have such as a Microsoft MVP (here you can get MS Office for cheap).
  • Access to some MCT Forums – I have never ever seen a reason to spend time there – no one does.
  • A bunch of free software licenses – OK, cool, but the MCT renewal price is 240 Euro for Bulgaria, so… I am almost paying for those.
  • Access to Microsoft Official Course Materials – VMs and PowerPoint decks – I don’t use those for my customers. Their quality is just not on my level.
  • Permission to teach people in Microsoft Certified Training Centers – don’t need it. I am contacted directly and the companies I train do not look for a trainer and a center. They want me to train them and they don’t care about certifications, centers, etc.

All that + the fact that I started my own business – a presentation design and training agency, made me take the decision to step off from my MCT “career” and I am bit worried(talking with friends MCTs) that a lot more people will do that too. In my opinion, Microsoft did not find a way to make this certification prestigious enough. In the last 5 years I was not even once in a situation where my MCT was required or asked for and if that’s the case, I just don’t see a reason why I should be paying Microsoft. I just don’t.

So, that’s that. MCTs, what your opinion? Shoot your thoughts in the comments. 

Filed Under: Courses, Perosnal, SQL Server Tagged With: 356labs, Awards, Certifications, MCT, Microsoft Certifications, SQL Server Training

Microsoft Certified Trainer. Yet again.

March 2, 2015 By Boris Hristov 1 Comment

Microsoft Certified Trainer

Microsoft Certified Trainer. Forth year in a row. And the first time I am blogging about it. Why?

In the last few years my personal opinion on the value of the MCT certificate was, let’s say, mixed. It was strange for me how one can become MCT(yes, anyone could have became MCT if he pays a fee!?). It was also strange to me that the training materials that Microsoft was providing to the MCTs (at least to the SQL Server trainers) were with really poor quality, sometimes even full of errors! What’s more, I seriously doubted the overall value of the certification – there was almost nothing that you, as an MCT, get from that program which is somehow… not fair. Now, for first time since 3 – 4 years, I feel like this certification is something one should again be proud of. It’s again something that is worth mentioning when you say what you do and who you are (and that’s not because the fee was raised dramatically). Microsoft has strengthened the requirements for one to become MCT and they actually started requiring things like training experience(kinda important, right?) + feedback from the students to be higher than X. In return they provide MSDN and Office 365 subscription(+ some other cool things), but again – that’s a step in the right direction and I am really happy to finally see it because training, teaching and education in general are really, really important things and I want to see only capable people involved there.

As of me, I have already delivered my first course for 2015 and I have 6 more (yes, 6) already arranged and booked till the end of May! So, I am busy, but with a smile on my face and already looking forward to meeting so many new people.

MCTs, wishing you a successful year and a I hope you will be having an amazing time with your students!

Filed Under: Courses, Perosnal, SQL Server Tagged With: Awards, Certifications, Conferences, MCT, Microsoft Certifications, SQL Server Training

MCSE: Business Intelligence

December 22, 2014 By Boris Hristov Leave a Comment

MCSE Business Intelligence

The last goal for this year is accomplished! I now hold the MCSE certificates for both the Data Platform and the Business Intelligence tracks. I have to admit I expected the BI certification exams (70-466 and 70-467) to be a bit easier, but Microsoft has done incredible job in preparing those exams. I am quite impressed by the questions asked and the number of scenarios and case studies they put every candidate in. As you may know, I have stepped in another role this year  and the first project I did for my new company was a BI PoC for the biggest telco in my country. This PoC was very successful and I learned tons of stuff as we actually used Teradata as a source for our data, SharePoint and Excel Services, SSAS Multidimensional, Excel and PowerView. That was also the main reason for me to push and learn even more for Microsoft’s BI stack and go for this certification…

So that’s it for now. One more HUGE blog post and update is coming on 29th of December, so stay tuned! Until then – have a great, great holidays!

Filed Under: SQL Server Tagged With: Business Intelligence, Career Development, Certifications, MCSE, Microsoft Certifications

Speculating. One more reason for the death of the MCM program.

September 18, 2013 By Boris Hristov 1 Comment

MCM Logo

A lot has already been written about the death of the most prestigious certification program Microsoft has ever had – the Microsoft Certified Master program. However, up until now I haven’t seen anyone speculating with one more possible reason why Microsoft could have taken this decision and I want to share it with you in this blog post. This one came during a discussion with a colleagues of mine(yes, we were also discussing it!) and I believe it makes sense! Here it is:

What if Microsoft do not want to release the know-how of the products anymore? We all know from MCMs that the training they got in Redmond included very detailed and low-level stuff. I am not saying that an MCM can rewrite the software by himself, but an MCM does know a lot about how exactly the product works and I am speaking about information that is not included in books like SQL Server Internals. Now who wins from that?

  1. Microsoft Product Support teams – if no deep knowledge is out there, customers will definitely need more of these guys.
  2. Microsoft’s cloud platform – Azure – if no deep knowledge is out there and the customer’s solution is complex(I am talking about the future here, Azure is still not that mature), why not using Azure when the support is provided by Microsoft + that’s cloud, right – you pay for what you use!

Again – I am not saying Microsoft did kill the MCM/MCA programs because of that! I am actually expecting to see what they will release as an alternative of these two programs. However, if you ask me, it makes perfect sense this to be one of the reasons why they have taken this decision. What do you think?

Filed Under: SQL Server Tagged With: MCM, MCSM, Microsoft Certifications, SQL Server

The past 2012 and the upcoming 2013

December 22, 2012 By Boris Hristov 4 Comments

2012-New-Year
Another year already behind us. However, a new one is knocking on our doors. Can you hear it? Are you ready to open up the door? What is going to happen next? I thought, it is time for me to do a quick recap of my year as I do this for some years already and it helps me see what I have done, where I need to focus more and what I should do next.

Let me start with what I have accomplished and what I have done throughout the year and then I will move to some negatives and of course future plans.

What I have accomplished:

1. Spent more time with my family
2. Spent more time with my amazing girlfriend
3. Went to the next level in my career and became SQL Server Deep Technical Support Engineer at Hewlett-Packard
4. Lead my own course on SQL Server at New Bulgarian University
5. Lead a course on SQL Server with my teammates at Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, Sofia University
6. Presented at Microsoft Bulgaria
7. Presented at SQLSaturday Conference, Sofia
8. Presented at TrainerBG
9. Presented at New Bulgarian University
10. Became ITIL certified
11. Became Microsoft Certified Trainer
12. Failed on the MCSE exam (I consider this as good thing!)
13. Graduated from New Bulgarian University (writing my bachelor thesis now)
14. Made Alarm@Student Council at NBU from an idea to reality
15. Became Student of the Year 2012
16. Did my first interview on TV
17. Did many interviews for various medias
18. Was invited to the birthday party of New Horizons Bulgaria (that meant so much to me!)
19. Bought a MacBook Pro
20. Traveled a bit more
21. Blogged a lot more
22. Read a hell of a lot of books on various topics
23. Did tons of sport
24. A lot more…
————————————————————

Became better and had so much fun!

What I have not accomplished or missed to do:

1. Did not travelled abroad with my girlfriend 🙁
2. Did not made it to TechEd (the airline company went bankrupt)
3. Did not participated in Toastmasters, Bulgaria
4. Did not participated in Pecha Kucha, which was held at New Bulgarian University
5. Did not zeroed out my e-mail
6. Did not zeroed out my Google Reader
7. Did not ordered a Kobe Bryant’s jersey
8. Did not buy a Porsche (still dreaming though! :D)
9. Probably a lot more, but I am trying hard…

What are my future plans?

ahh… I can’t tell you… 🙂

So, to sum it up:

2012 – What a year!
2013 – I expect you to be even a better one!

In the end, I wish you to have a great Christmas days! Be with your family and closest people, laugh, enjoy, relax and see you next year!

End.

Filed Under: Perosnal Tagged With: Awards, Career Development, Certifications, Challenge, Conferences, Interview, Microsoft, Microsoft Certifications, New Bulgarian University, SQL Server Courses, SQL Server User Group, TV