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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?

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closed as not constructive by bmargulies, phs, Peter Ritchie, Bo Persson, Ben Sep 3 '12 at 21:31


7 Answers 7

up vote 5 down vote accepted

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.

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That is if you want to get Microsoft certified. I believe that a vendor-independent (such as IEEE) certifications are more valuable than vendor certifications, so having easier access to MS certifications isn't a plus (or a minus) to me. –  Thomas Owens Oct 6 '08 at 17:26
@Thomas: Obviously everyone here is talking about Microsoft centric people. –  GEOCHET Oct 6 '08 at 17:29
Wayne, thanks for the info...now off to see about the certified partner testing vouchers... –  Mitchel Sellers Oct 6 '08 at 17:48
Rich B: Even if I did exclusive Microsoft development, I still wouldn't go after a Microsoft certification unless my boss told me I had to. Seems like a waste of time, IMO. –  Thomas Owens Oct 6 '08 at 19:14

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

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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.

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I agree that this is how most people are. It is nice to have though. –  Tom Oct 6 '08 at 17:34

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

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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 ?

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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.

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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.

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