MCDBA - opinions?

Is it worth it? Weighing the costs of study time, test fees, possible
training fees against the possible benefits of recognition, possible
salary increases, etc?
What have others out there found in their MCDBA experiences? How many
of us on the groups are MCDBAs?
Since they're retooling the certification track starting with 2005 in
the fall (see link below), should I wait until after that to pursue it
or go at it now? How friendly are MS upgrades should I pursue it now,
then be forced to upgrade later?
http://searchoracle.techtarget.com/o...107033,00.html
<unc27932@.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1123609568.603437.101720@.g44g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...
> Is it worth it? Weighing the costs of study time, test fees, possible
> training fees against the possible benefits of recognition, possible
> salary increases, etc?
> What have others out there found in their MCDBA experiences? How many
> of us on the groups are MCDBAs?
> Since they're retooling the certification track starting with 2005 in
> the fall (see link below), should I wait until after that to pursue it
> or go at it now? How friendly are MS upgrades should I pursue it now,
> then be forced to upgrade later?
> http://searchoracle.techtarget.com/o...107033,00.html
>
From a purely financial standpoint.. It is probably not worth the amount of
time that you put in to getting it. From a "how good a DBA are you? point
of view, it is well worth getting.
Up to this point, your DBA duties and implementing duties are most likely
only a small cross-section of what a DBA should know. How many of you have
actually gotten in to Replication? How many have delved in to the lower
levels of how indexing works or what statistics do and how they are
generated and maintained?
The real world situations that you are faced with on a day to day basis at
one job as a DBA may be totally different than what you may encounter at
another facility.
From this point of view, the more depth and breadth of knowledge that you
have about SQL Server will be well worth the investment in time.
As far as the new SQL 2005 track and your MCDBA status, I'm not sure. There
is some lag time while the exams are vetted out and everything gets put in
place. Having an MCDBA on 2000 is NOT going to hurt you at all when it
comes time to prepare for the SQL 2005 exams.
Just my .02
Rick Sawtell
MCT, MCSD, MCDBA