IBM Professional Certification is a business solution. A way for skilled IT professionals to demonstrate their expertise to the world. It validates your skills and demonstrates your proficiency in the latest IBM technology and solutions. The certification requirements are tough, but it's not rocket science, either. It's a rigorous process that differentiates you from everyone else.

IBM Certifications are classified into :

1. Software
1. IBM Cognos & IBM Information Management
2. IBM Lotus
3. IBM Rational
4. IBM Service Oriented Architecture
5. IBM Tivoli Software
6. IBM WebSphere
7. XML
2. Hardware
1. Dynamic Infrastructure
2. IBM Power Systems
3. IBM Storage & TotalStorage
4. IBM System x
5. IBM System z
3. Services
1. IBM Internet Security Systems
4. Other
1. Advanced Manufacturing Science
2. IBM Infrastructure Systems Architect
3. Innovation enabled by On Demand Business
4. IBM Learning
5. PL/I
6. Retail Store Solutions

Registering for the Exam

Visit the Prometric Web site to locate an Authorized Prometric Test Center near you, and register for the exam. be prepared to provide the following information:

• Name (exactly as you want it to appear on your certification certificate)
• Candidate / Testing Identification number (If this is your first time to register for a certification exam, a number will be assigned.)
• Phone number
• Fax number
• Mailing address
• Billing address (if needed)
• Test number
• Method of payment
• Company name

Contact the vendor of your choice and specify the time and location most convenient for you.

Test Information for various certifications detailing Duration of the Test, Approximate Number of Questions and Passing Score can be accessed here -
http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/tests/test_index.shtml
Official Website - http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/certs/index.shtml

Microsoft awards certificates to business workers, IT professionals, developers, technology trainers and system architects if they complete courses on Microsoft Technologies. These courses help you build and demonstrate technology expertise and skills to succeed in the highly competitive job market. Microsoft Certifications are broadly classified based in skill levels in to –

1. Business Worker – suitable for jobs involving extensive usage of Microsoft Office and Windows Vista
2. Technology Practitioner – suitable for jobs that require varying levels of skill sets ranging from entry-level technology specialists to solution architects

List of Microsoft Certifications

1. IT Professional
1. MCTS – Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist
2. MCITP – Microsoft Certified IT Professional
3. MCDST – Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician
4. MCSA – Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator
5. MCDBA – Microsoft Certified Database Administrator
6. MCSE – Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer
7. Microsoft Certified Business Management Solutions Specialist
8. Microsoft Certified Business Management Solutions Professional
2. Developer
1. MCPD – Microsoft Certified Professional Developer
2. MCAD – Microsoft Certified Application Developer
3. MCSD – Microsoft Certified Solution Developer
3. Advanced Certification
1. Microsoft Certified Master
2. Microsoft certified Architect
4. Home & Office User
1. MCAS – Microsoft Certified Application Specialist
2. MOS – Microsoft Office Specialist
5. Trainer
1. MCT – Microsoft Certified Trainer
2. MCLC – Microsoft Certified Learning Consultan

Registering for the Exam

                All Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) exams are administered by Prometric, an independent testing organization with more than 3,000 locations worldwide.

Microsoft Business Certification exams are administered by Certiport. The Microsoft Business Certification program is the only worldwide, performance-based certification program that validates the skills needed to get the most out of Microsoft Office and Windows Vista.

Mode of Registration

You can register online :

• www.prometric.com

• www.certiport.com

You can also register over phone* by giving the following details :

• MCP ID number or Prometric ID number (If you do not yet have one, you will be assigned a Prometric ID number.)
• Mailing address and phone number
• E-mail address
• Organization or company name
• Method of payment (credit card number, check, voucher number, or promotional code).
• Payment must be made in advance.

* India (Monday – Friday, 9:00 to 17:30 GMT +5:30) : 91-0124-451-7160. Phone number for other regions are available at www.prometric.com

Medium of Language

Microsoft Certification exams are available in a variety of languages. Inquire with your exam provider about available languages for specific exams. If an exam is not available in your native language and you must take it in English, you can request an additional 30 minutes to complete it. You must make this arrangement before appearing at the testing center. Please explain your needs to your exam provider when you register for the exam.

Cost of Certification Exam

Exams typically cost US$125 but are priced according to currency values in specific countries and regions. Certification exam prices are subject to change. In some countries and regions, additional taxes may apply. Beta exams are free.

Exam Scoring

• There is no penalty for guessing. If you choose an incorrect answer, you simply do not earn credit for that item. No points are deducted for incorrect answers.
• If a question specifies that you must choose multiple correct answers, you must choose the exact number of correct answers specified in the question in order to earn the credit for that item.
• Some questions on the exam might not be included in the calculation of your score. To gather data to update and improve the quality of Microsoft Certification exams, we need to present new content to candidates without counting the results toward their score.
• All Microsoft exams are scaled such that the passing score is 700. The actual cut score (the number of items you need to answer correctly) is determined by a group of subject-matter experts.
• A common misperception is that you must answer 70 percent of the items correctly in order to pass the exam; however, the actual percentage varies from exam to exam and may be more or less than 70 percent, depending on the input provided by the subject-matter experts who helped us set the cut score.
• After you complete your exam, the points you earned are compared with the cut score to determine whether the result is pass or fail. Prometric's software generates the scaled score and bars shown on your score report from scoring information provided by Microsoft.

Please Note : Exams cannot be rescored.

Official Website : http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/default.aspx

Distance learning MCA course, which is not taken very seriously by the industry. Hence, there is a need and the demand for professionally certified or qualified candidates in the IT Industry.  

It is a well known fact that SAP experts command the highest pay-packages amongst all classes of IT workers. Typically, Java and web-related skills are more and more relevant in the SAP technical world. This is so because, a SAP Java and web programmer has skills that are more relevant outside of SAP environments. Hence it is recommended that candidates combine Java/XML skills with ERP, to upgrade their skills.

SAP is entrenched in the IT environments of the largest companies in the world.

SAP Modules, now referred to as Solutions are classified in to :

• Financials
• Human Resources
• Customer Relationship Management
• Supplier Relationship Management
• Product Lifecycle Management
• Supply Chain Management
• Business Intelligence

Other Generalized Models include :

• FI – Financial Accounting
• CO – Controlling
• HR – Human Resources
• MM – Materials Management
• SD – Sales & Distribution
• BW – Business (Data) Warehouse
• ABAP – Advanced Business Application Programming

Also, please note that the solutions and modules offered vary with different institutes.
Career prospects are bright if candidates have the certification and the experience of handling at least two full cycles of implementation.

If you are someone who is interested in web-development, web-design, e-commerce or other related applications in the Internet, doing a Java course will help you fabricate your career path. There are surplus opportunities for skilled web and graphic designers. You will be typically dealing with colors, textures, perspective, composition, layout and typography.

Your passion towards creating visually stimulating and interactive websites combined with expertise in Java programming skills, ensure that you land in a job with good incentives and satisfaction.

The most widely adopted standard today is the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) specification. Sun Microsystems (together with industry partners such as IBM) designed J2EE to simplify application development in a thin client tiered environment. J2EE simplifies application development and decreases the need for programming and programmer training by creating standardized, reusable modular components and by enabling the tier to handle many aspects of programming automatically. J2EE provides a common set of infrastructure services for accessing databases, protocols, and operating system functionality, across multiple operating systems. J2EE and Java functionality can be easily integrated to :

• Share session data with JSPs (Java Server Pages) and Java servlets.
• Import custom JSP tag libraries and use them like ColdFusion custom tags.
• Integrate with Java objects, including the J2EE Java API, JavaBeans, and Enterprise JavaBeans.

The J2EE architecture consists of four major elements:

• The J2EE Application Programming Model is the standard programming model used to facilitate the development of multi-tier, thin client applications.
• The J2EE Platform includes necessary policies and APIs such as the Java servlets and Java Message Service (JMS).
• The J2EE Compatibility Test Suite ensures that J2EE products are compatible with the platform standards.
• The J2EE Reference Implementation explains J2EE capabilities and provides its operational definition.

Software Testing is a process that identifies the correctness, completeness, security, and quality of a developed computer software. Please note that  software testing is different from Software Quality Assurance (SQA), which encompasses all business process areas, not just testing.

• Testing methods
• The box approach       
• Black box testing
• White box testing
• Grey Box Testing

• Testing Levels
• Unit Testing
• Integration Testing
• System Testing
• System Integration Testing
• Regression Testing
• Acceptance testing
• Alpha testing
• Beta testing

Apart from Communication and Documentation Skills, Analytical thinking skills are a key to becoming a successful Test Engineer. There are different levels of Test Engineers. At an entry level, a testing engineer may set up and document simple test cases. As they become more experienced, Software Test Engineers may set up very complex test case scenarios, write test scripts and perform white box testing.