Microsoft Certified Partner? Important to Developers?

Question

My company has recently became a Microsoft Certified Partner and from a business perspective it helps us greatly as it provides the software licenses needed to continue development in a much more cost effective manner, and the added benefit of marketing abilities.

Now, I know that Microsoft Certified Partner status is important to many clients, but from a developers perspective, is it something that as a .NET developer you would look for when selecting an organization to potentially work for? Is it seen as a benefit where you know at a minimum that the organization will have access to the tools needed for the job?

Answer 1

If you enter the Empower for ISV program, the software kits are a godsend.

Answer 2

It's not a deal-breaker for me when accepting a job, but the perks sure are nice and if I were working for a company using the Microsoft stack I would try to push them towards MCP.

My current MSDN subscription increases my productivity greatly.

Answer 3

Yes. As a partner, you not only get access to the software, but the company gets vouchers for certification testing, making it more likely that your employer would not only support, but encourage you to get certified. I work for a MS Gold Partner and every single developer here is MCPD certified.

Answer 4

I'm usually less concerned about partner status, as long as they have a Premium MSDN subscription.

Answer 5

No, but it would be nice.

Answer 6

I am starting to work at a software company that is a Microsoft certified gold partner very soon, in terms of how that looks on your CV does it help that you have worked for a company that is certified ?

Answer 7

It is extremely useful if you're developing for Microsoft platforms. However, I do not think it's something I would require to take a job.

If I took a job that was not a Partner, I would probably look at spearheading the effort if I felt it was important enough to bring to the company/team. It really doesn't take too much effort to get the partnership as long as you have a real product for their platform.

Answer 8

There are great benefits to a company of being a Microsoft Certified Partner. It is not that hard for a company to become a Microsoft Certified Partner iff the whole company is willing to work towards it and is not just always chasing the next deadline.

So if a company is not Microsoft Certified Partner, I may ask why?

However so far it has never been a factor in deciding on taking a job, as other factor (like location) are more important to me.