SQLAuthority News – I am Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT)

I am a Microsoft Certified Trainer and I am very much proud of it. Because I am a MCT, I have the support of great community leaders and trainers who help me constantly to improve in what I do. I have many Microsoft Certifications and I constantly try to take more of these. Every time, a new certification is announced, I make sure to add it to my list of existing ones. This post is written to make the community aware that how sometimes strict bureaucracy guidelines can create issues and a very well-confirmed project can crash.

Those who know me and read my blog know that I make my living by doing the following:

• SQL Server Consultation (Primary Domain – Performance Tuning and Query Optimizations)
• SQL Server Training (Wide Ranges of classes – Primary Subject – Performance Tuning and Query Optimizations)

If I have empty weekend, I usually travel anywhere in Asia-Pacific to deliver an SQL Session and I absolutely make NO Money there. However, by God’s grace, my SQL Sessions and travels for sure have gave me a good name in local community, and it gives me great satisfaction that I am able to help people as many people have helped me.

Everybody always look for an experienced person as a trainer or consultant. As I have written on SQLAuthority.com for almost 4 years, many people also know me from this blog as well.

Before committing for any consultancy project or training, I usually talk to project leader or technical head. These conversations are very helpful and help me to understand the project requirements early on hand.

Recently, I came across a strange situation, which showed me that a good reputation doesn’t count every time. I had already talked to the project manager and project was all finalized. They wanted a custom training course for the first one week, followed by consultation in the second week and a live project with the client. The client had already delivered advance payment, and my travel agent had made the flight and hotel booking as well. Just an hour before my flight, I received a phone call from the HR person, who said that they have a strict requirement that every trainer who comes to their organization must be a Microsoft Certified Trainer. The HR person also told me that they overlooked this detail during their initial process, and because of this, they are willing to pay my cancellation charges if I am unable to produce my MCT certification.

In fact, I was a bit taken aback by this phone call as I have never had such an experience before. I have tremendous respect for Microsoft Certifications, and I do have many of them. However, I was never asked in my entire career – or at least after establishing myself in this career – to prove that I am a certified trainer. I politely told the HR person that I do have a MCT certification, but it will take a time for me to find it as I have kept it somewhere safe and I have only one hour to leave for the airport. The HR person again insisted that without the proof of my certification, they will not be allowing me to conduct training.

Thanks to my wife Nupur, I could find the certification in few minutes, and additionally, I had proof that I was teaching a 500 level course at the University of Southern California to PhD students. The HR person was glad after receiving the scanned copies of the same and finally gave me the green signal to fly to the client’s office.

This whole experience made me think how important these certifications are to a trainer and consultant. Maybe I should have made a loud announcement earlier, but I think it is still not late: I am MCT and really take pride in being one!

Reference: Pinal Dave (https://blog.sqlauthority.com)