If you are a newbie in IT and would like to test the waters of this sphere by getting the core software development skills, then obtaining the Microsoft MTA: Software Development Fundamentals certification is what you need. This designation will validate that you have some practical experience with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET or C# and are familiar with the concepts tested in the 98-361 exam.
Exam 98-361 includes 51 questions that you are to solve within 50 minutes. You should be ready to solve the questions of various types, such as multiple choice, hot spot, best answer, build list, drag and drop, to name a few. The exam will cost you $127. To succeed in the test, you need to score 700 points out of 1000.
As for the exam content, it falls into six topics you need to be ready for. First, the exam will check your understanding of core programming. This implies how good you are at understanding the data types, computer storage, computer decision structures, error handling, and defining the suitable method for handling repetition. Thus, you should be ready to deal with textual and numeric data, If decision structures, While loops, For loops, as well as structured exception handling.
The second topic checks your understanding of the object-oriented programming. This is where candidates have to demonstrate their understanding of inheritance, polymorphism, encapsulation, and the fundamentals of classes. So, you should be knowledgeable of constructors, methods, events, how to create and utilize classes, extend the functionality in classes, and hide the implementation details of classes.
The third topic focuses on your understanding of general software development. This includes your competence in understanding the app life cycle management, interpreting app specifications, and understanding algorithms and data structures.
The fourth topic is centered on web apps and checks your understanding of them. That’s why you should be ready to understand web page development, Microsoft ASP.NET web app development, web hosting, and services. Within this topic, you should demonstrate your knowledge of CSS, JavaScript, HTML, state management, and event model. You also should know the distinctive features of server-side and client-side programming, websites creation, and web apps deployment. In addition, you should be familiar with WSDL, SOAP, and Internet Information Services.
The fifth topic will validate your understanding the desktop applications. Here, you should be able to understand Windows apps, console-based apps, Windows Services, and their characteristics with capabilities.
The sixth topic validates how good you are at understanding databases. In this section, you should be capable of dealing with database management systems, database query management systems, and database connection methods. You should have primary skills in working with database design, normalization concepts, ERDs, SQL, stored procedures, XML file, and different types of data stores.
According to the Ziprecruiter website, having the MTA: Software Development Fundamentals certification, you can earn annually about $100,767 per annum.