How does Microsoft certification 70-432 help in career building re: SQL Server and who should go for it?

Question

How does Microsoft certification 70-432 help in career building re: SQL Server and who should go for it?

Answer 1

A certification isn't necessarily going to be helpful at all in finding a job. Having a certification might put you slightly higher than someone without a certification all other things being equal, but its not going to give you a significant advantage. At least in the United States, most companies hiring SQL Server DBA's don't care about having a certification or not. Experience speaks more than certifications do. I have interviewed more than a few MCITP Database Administrators that couldn't explain basics of Backup and Recovery, or tell me the three recovery models for SQL Server, and I have interviewed MCITP Database Developers that couldn't create a normalized table design for a simple customer sales database.

The unfortunate truth is that you can easily buy the questions for most Microsoft Exams which makes them much less valuable than certifications from Cisco for example. The lack of a functional hands on lab requirement makes it so you could learn the questions for the exam and never actually have worked with the product. Being a DBA is a lot about experience and I prefer a DBA to have past development experience first when I am interviewing or hiring.

In a nutshell, having the certification won't hurt you, but its not going to be any kind of a jumpstart into a career. The places that most care about certifications are consulting firms that are also Microsoft Partners since the certifications are another credential they can provide to potential clients that proves their level of competence.