Make sure hiring managers and project leads notice you. By earning a Microsoft Certification on Microsoft Visual Studio, you gain an industry-recognized validation of your technical knowledge and ability to perform in critical developer roles.
Certifications are available for Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 (Microsoft .NET Framework 4), Visual Studio 2008 (.NET Framework 3.5), and Visual Studio 2005 (.NET Framework 2.0).
The Microsoft Visual Studio family of certifications gives you multiple ways to highlight your particular set of skills and abilities to help you achieve your personal and professional goals. We offer two types of certifications—Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) and Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD).
MCTS certifications provide the foundation for Microsoft Certification. These certifications are designed to help validate your skills on the features and functionality of key technologies. You can show your depth of knowledge in one specific technology, earn multiple MCTS certifications to show breadth across different technologies, or build on the MCTS to earn one of our Microsoft Certified Professional Developer certifications.
MCPD certifications help validate a comprehensive set of skills that are necessary to design, build, and deploy applications successfully by using Microsoft Visual Studio and the Microsoft .NET Framework. This certification builds on the MCTS certification and is designed to provide hiring managers with a strong indicator of your potential job success. Candidates for the MCPD typically have two to three years of relevant experience and a commitment to remaining current in best practices and technologies.
Our advice to people who ask us where to begin is simple—get certified on the technology version that you are using today or anticipate using in the near future. Use the following suggestions to help navigate your way.
Your profile
Recommendations
Your goal is to earn a certification in Visual Studio 2010 (.NET Framework 4).
You are new to Microsoft Certification and your goal is to earn a certification in Visual Studio 2005 (.NET Framework 2.0) or Visual Studio 2008 (.NET Framework 3.5).
Start with Exam 70-536: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework – Application Development Foundation
This exam is the foundation prerequisite for all MCTS and MCPD certifications on Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008.
Note If you pass this exam, you do not earn a certification but you do earn access to the Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) member site, your Microsoft transcript, and other MCP community benefits. You only need to pass this exam once.
You already hold a certification on Visual Studio 2005 or Visual Studio 2008, and you plan to transition your skills to the next version.
Read about upgrade options for Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Studio 2010.
After you identify what certification you want to earn next, check out our training resources and start preparing.
You already hold a Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD) or Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD) certification.
There is an upgrade path from both MCAD and MCSD to Visual Studio 2005.
Or you can bypass getting certified in Visual Studio 2005 and take the full exam path for certification on Visual Studio 2008 or Visual Studio 2010.
Do you want to see if you are ready to develop for the Windows Azure platform? Do you have what it takes to create Web applications by using Microsoft ASP.NET, JavaScript, Ajax, and Microsoft Silverlight? What about desktop applications that use Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) technology? Perhaps you are the services developer using WCF or maybe you are skilled at accessing data with ADO.NET. Getting certified on Visual Studio 2010 helps show employers and potential clients that you have the skills you need to be successful.
With Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, you can create what you can imagine, build on the strengths of your team, and open up new possibilities. New prototyping, modeling, and visual design tools enable you to create innovative applications for Windows and the Web. And you can take advantage of new opportunities and capabilities offered by multi-core programming and cloud development tools.
MCTS certifications provide the foundation for Microsoft Certification. These certifications are designed to help validate your skills on the features and functionality of key technologies. You can show your depth of knowledge in one specific technology, earn multiple MCTS certifications to show breadth across different technologies, or build on the MCTS to earn one of our Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) certifications.
Your Goal
Certification
Exam
To create Windows-based applications that run on corporate servers or user desktop computers.
MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Windows Applications
Exam 70-511: TS: Windows Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4
To create Web-based applications that run on the ASP.NET platform and are hosted on Internet Information Server.
MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Web Applications
Exam 70-515: TS: Web Applications Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4
To create applications that communicate with servers or other applications in a connected or disconnected state.
MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Service Communication Applications
Exam 70-513: TS: Windows Communication Foundation Development with Microsoft .NET Framework 4
To create data-driven applications that access data from various sources, such as Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Microsoft Office Access, object data sources, XML, or other flat-file sources.
MCTS: .NET Framework 4, Data Access
Exam 70-516: TS: Accessing Data with Microsoft .NET Framework 4
MCPD certifications help validate a comprehensive set of skills that are necessary to design, build, and deploy applications successfully by using Microsoft Visual Studio and the Microsoft .NET Framework. This certification builds on the MCTS certification and is designed to help provide hiring managers with a strong indicator of your potential job success. Candidates for the MCPD typically have two to three years of relevant experience and a commitment to remaining current in best practices and technologies.
Certification prerequisites
Exam requirements
MCPD: Windows Developer 4
Exam 70-518: PRO: Designing and Developing Windows Applications Using Microsoft .NET Framework 4
MCPD: Web Developer 4
Exam 70-519: PRO: Designing and Developing Web Applications Using Microsoft .NET Framework 4
If you currently hold an MCPD certification on Visual Studio 2008, you can take advantage of one or more of our streamlined upgrade paths to transition your skills and certifications to Visual Studio 2010.
Current certification
Certification goals
Exams
MCPD: Windows Developer 3.5 or MCPD: Enterprise Application Developer 3.5
Exam 70-521: Upgrade: Transition Your MCPD Windows Developer 3.5, or Enterprise Application Developer 3.5, Skills to MCPD Windows Developer 4
MCPD: ASP.NET Developer 3.5 or MCPD Enterprise Application Developer 3.5
Exam 70-523: Upgrade: Transition Your MCPD ASP.NET Developer 3.5, or Enterprise Application Developer 3.5, Skills to MCPD Web Developer 4
Microsoft Visual Studio is a complete set of development tools for building ASP.NET Web applications, Web Services, desktop applications, and mobile applications.
Each MCTS certification on Visual Studio 2008 requires that you pass Exam 70-536: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework, Application Development Foundation in addition to the exam related to the certification that you want to pursue. You only need to pass this exam once.
Note If you currently hold an MCTS or MCPD certification on Visual Studio 2005 (Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0), you have already fulfilled this requirement and do not need to pass Exam 70-536 again; you only have to pass the exam related to the certification that you want to pursue.
Your goal
To create applications with compelling user interfaces with Windows Presentation Foundation that run on the Windows platform
MCTS: .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Presentation Foundation Applications
Exam 70-502: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Presentation Foundation Application Development
To create distributed applications that communicate with servers or other applications in a connected or disconnected state
MCTS: .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Communication Foundation Applications
Exam 70-503: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Communication Foundation Application Development
To create applications that host workflows for your organization
MCTS: .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Workflow Foundation Applications
Exam 70-504: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Workflow Foundation Application Development
To create Windows-based applications that run on corporate servers or user desktop computers
MCTS: .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Forms Applications
Exam 70-505: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Forms Application Development
To create data-driven applications that access data from various sources, such as SQL Server, Oracle, Microsoft Office Access, object data sources, XML, or other flat-file sources
MCTS: .NET Framework 3.5, ADO.NET Applications
Exam 70-561: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, ADO.NET Application Development
To create Web-based applications that run on the ASP.NET platform and are hosted on Internet Information Server
MCTS: .NET Framework 3.5, ASP.NET Applications
Exam 70-562: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, ASP.NET Application Development
MCPD: Windows Developer 3.5
Exam 70-563: PRO: Designing and Developing Windows Applications Using the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
MCPD: ASP.NET Developer 3.5
70-564: PRO: Designing and Developing ASP.NET Applications Using the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
MCPD: Enterprise Application Developer 3.5
MCTS: .NET Framework 3.5. Windows Forms Applications
Exam 70-565: PRO: Designing and Developing Enterprise Applications Using the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
If you currently hold an MCPD certification on Visual Studio 2005, you can take advantage of one or more of our streamlined upgrade paths to transition your skills and certifications to Visual Studio 2008. And after you have earned the MCPD certification on Visual Studio 2008, you can upgrade to an MCPD certification on Visual Studio 2010 by passing a single exam.
MCPD: Windows Developer (Visual Studio 2005)
Exam 70-566: Upgrade: Transition Your MCPD Windows Developer Skills to MCPD Windows Developer 3.5
MCPD: Web Developer (Visual Studio 2005)
Exam 70-567: Upgrade: Transition Your MCPD Web Developer Skills to MCPD ASP.NET Developer 3.5
MCPD: Enterprise Applications Developer (Visual Studio 2005)
MCTS: .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Communication Framework Applications
Exam 70-568: Upgrade: Transition Your MCPD Enterprise Application Developer Skills to MCPD Enterprise Application Developer 3.5, Part 1
and
Exam 70-569: Upgrade: Transition Your MCPD Enterprise Application Developer Skills to MCPD Enterprise Application Developer 3.5, Part 2
Each Visual Studio 2005 MCTS certification requires that you pass Exam 70-536: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework, Application Development Foundation, in addition to the exam related to the certification that you want to pursue. You only need to pass this exam once.
Note: If you currently hold an MCTS or MCPD certification on Visual Studio 2005 (.NET Framework 2.0), you have already fulfilled this requirement and do not need to pass Exam 70-536 again; you only have to pass the exam related to the certification you are pursuing.
To develop Windows-based applications that include Windows Forms technology and data access.
MCTS: .NET Framework 2.0, Windows Applications
Exam 70-526: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 – Windows-Based Client Development
To develop Web-based applications that run on ASP.NET and the .NET Framework 2.0.
MCTS: .NET Framework 2.0, Web Applications
Exam 70–528: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 – Web-Based Client Development
To develop distributed applications that demonstrate a knowledge of Web services, .NET remoting, enterprise services, and message queuing technology.
MCTS: .NET Framework 2.0, Distributed Applications
Exam 70-529: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 – Distributed Application Development
MCPD: Windows Developer
(Visual Studio 2005)
Exam 70-548: PRO: Designing and Developing Windows-Based Applications by Using the Microsoft .NET Framework
MCPD: Web Developer
Exam 70-547: PRO: Designing and Developing Web-Based Applications by Using the Microsoft .NET Framework
MCPD: Enterprise Application Developer
MCTS: .NET Framework 2.0. Windows Applications
Exam 70-549: PRO: Designing and Developing Enterprise Applications by Using the Microsoft .NET Framework
Although Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD) and Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD) certifications continue to be recognized and valued by employers and decision makers who use Microsoft .NET 1.0 and Microsoft .NET 1.1, you can now easily upgrade your existing MCAD or MCSD certification to Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) or Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) on Visual Studio 2005. Depending on your current certification, you will need to take one or two exams.
After you have earned an MCPD on Visual Studio 2005, you can upgrade to an MCPD on Visual Studio 2008.
Current Certification
MCAD
Exam 70-558: Upgrade: MCAD Skills to MCTS Windows Applications by Using the Microsoft .NET Framework
Exam 70-559: Upgrade: MCAD Skills to MCTS Web Applications by Using the Microsoft .NET Framework
Exam 70-551: Upgrade: MCAD Skills to MCPD Web Developer by Using the Microsoft .NET Framework
Exam 70-552: Upgrade: MCAD Skills to MCPD Windows Developer by Using the Microsoft .NET Framewor
MCPD: Enterprise Applications Developer
Note You must also have already passed Exam 70-551 and Exam 70-522.
MCSD
MCTS: .NET Framework 2.0 Distributed Applications
MCPD: Enterprise Applications Developer on Visual Studio 2005
Exam 70-553: Upgrade: MCSD Microsoft .NET Skills to MCPD Enterprise Application Developer by Using the Microsoft .NET Framework: Part 1
Exam 70-554: Upgrade: MCSD Microsoft .NET Skills to MCPD Enterprise Application Developer by Using the Microsoft .NET Framework: Part 2
If you earn the MCPD: Web Developer and MCPD: Windows Developer certifications through the MCAD upgrade exams, you can earn the MCPD: Enterprise Applications Developer certification by passing one exam.
Visual Studio Certification Path Roadmap
View the certification path: Visual Studio 2010
View the certification path: Visual Studio 2008
