Microsoft Professional Program retiring thoughts

Reading Time: 3 minutes

In this post I want to discuss my personal Microsoft Professional Program retiring thoughts based on the recent announcement.

For those of you unaware the Program will officially end at the end of this year and there are other deadlines before then. You can read the announcement in detail here.

For some of you this will probably come as a bit of a surprise. Mostly because of the time people will have left to complete the programs. I know it certainly was for me.

Especially since I have just started my second course in a Microsoft Professional Program, having passed the first one. In addition, edX who are the company who hosts the courses are still sending me encouragement emails.

It will be a shame if I do stop because I really wanted to complete this program before doing anymore certifications.

Mostly because I already have gained over twenty certifications and wanted to do something different after gaining the Azure Administrator Architect certification recently.

Reasoning

Now there could be many reasons why the decision has been made to do this. For instance, it could simply be due to people using other training resources instead.

Personally, I think it’s a shame because I think taking part in a Microsoft Professional Program shows just how invested you are in the content.

For example, most of these programs have multiple courses that you must complete. Making the effort to complete these courses demonstrates that you have put in the effort to formalize your knowledge.

In addition, I thought these programs made a refreshing change from doing the exams. Especially for those of us who have sat exams in a test center.

However, if you read the statement it does sound like they are going to focus more training within Microsoft Learn. Afterwards, you can then look to do exams to gain the newer certifications.

For those of us affected, all we can do now is decide how to proceed. I for one will finish the course I am currently working on as part of my current program and decide from there.

Deja vu

For me it’s not the first time this has happened though. Last time was when I was studying for the MCSD Azure Architect certification.

It was announced after I started studying for the certification that it was going to be retired. So, I worked hard to gain the certification beforehand.

However, if I did decide to attempt this it would require a lot more effort because of the deadlines involved.

Of course, this announcement will probably remind a lot of people about the time Microsoft announced they were retiring the Microsoft Certified Master certifications.

Alternatives

Previously, I published a post about study tips which can help if you want to study for a new certification. Some of which you can surely use as an alternative to the content in the Microsoft Professional Programs.

You can read that post in detail here.

Final word

Well I hope my thoughts about the Microsoft Professional Program retiring announcement has given you something to think about.

I know it may be a bit of a surprise but remember that things do have to get retired over time. Regardless of our opinions they are sometimes required for various reasons.

Of course, if you have thoughts about this than you are more than welcome to share with a comment below.