Studying for the 70-767 to earn the MCSE

I really only planned on writing about the 70-767 in one post rather than two, but I thought this post may help other people while I continually study for my 70-767 exam. Microsoft is retiring the 70-767 and many other exams on January 31 2021. This is significant for several reasons:

1. The exams were originally set to be retired by June 30 2020
2. You will not be able to achieve an MCSA or MCSE after the dates
3. Microsoft is changing how they design the certifications to be role-based involving Azure technology

I’ve included a read-only copy of my OneNote study book. I’d recommend making a copy of it in your own OneNote, that way you can take notes and use the checkbox features. The only purchased material I am using for this study is the 70-767 exam guide and the Kimball Data Warehouse Toolkit book.

There are two methods to obtaining the OneNote depending on what you have available. Unfortunately it appears to me that their easy export / import function only works with the online capabilities of OneNote. So if you only have the desktop version, you may be stuck using this as a reference or copying and pasting page by page.

Here is the export zip of my OneNote and here is a link that details how to re-import it for your own use. (There is a URL on that page that will take you to the import section.)

Here is a read-only copy of the OneNote book you can use as a reference.

Resources Section

This tab includes all of the resources I am using for studying and it will be continually updated as I find new resources. The Tracker is a sub-page and is a high-level checklist of each Section in my OneNote that can be checked off as you study.

The Other Sections

The other sections are all very similar in design. I’ll use the Design a DW section as an example to explain the breakout.

The tracker sub-page is a high-level tracker of the primary sub-page progress. On each of the primary sub-pages, there is a tracker section that can be used to check off the sub-pages as you progress. I made each resource a page so notes specific to that resource can be easily defined. Obviously, if you prefer to take notes in one place, you can just use the Tracker section and take notes under each primary page. Or do it however you best take and read notes.

As of right now, I’ve added a page called Partitions. This was a particular topic in the 767 study guide I wanted to come back to and practice. So I’ve added resources and tasks to practice this topic. As I study, I’ll probably add similar pages to various sections on technology I want to practice or read on in more detail. I will update the export and the OneNote link as I add more material if needed.

Is it worth taking the exam?

With the exams retiring, the obvious question is: Is it worth taking the exam still? Short answer, probably yes.

If you can pass the exam, you get a badge showing you have knowledge and expertise to pass a Microsoft exam on this topic. If you pass this exam and another exam that can net you a MCSA or MCSE badge, that badge will stay with you forever too. So sure, the credentials won’t “expire”, but how long will they be valid?

They will be moved to your “inactive” section on your exams transcript after two years. They will still hold value for many years after this however. I can still google MCITP or MCM and I still find jobs requesting these super old certifications.

I’ve discussed this before in my “Who should become certified” article as well. If you obtain X certificate 5 years ago, your potential employer would know that you have a baseline of knowledge and there is a gap. If you can prove you’ve kept up to date on technology since then, the gap isn’t a big deal and the certification still serves as an indicator that you know about that technology. (Lot’s of caveates here, I’d recommend to read my certification article as I go into more detail.)

What about future certifications? What should I focus on next?

Honestly, I don’t know. This is not something I have focused my effort on lately. I believe certifications are one of several things you can do to build yourself a portfolio. Personally, I’ll be happy with my MCSE and CDMP for a short period of time. I plan on getting my TOGAF and SAFE4 certifications as well.

I’ve been more focused on learning new technologies like data streaming, cloud architecture, time-series databases, and working on more enterprise-level activities in my free time. I do plan on evaluating the certification space before December to help others make informed decisions. There is a lot of information out there and it can be difficult to aggregate it. I’ll be working on the data career guide as well to have that pushed out before the end of the year.