“Brought to you this summer”: Microsoft Certified Master SQL Server

As some of you already may have heard: this June I passed my Lab Exam for the Microsoft Certified Master SQL Server 2008.
– almost exactly 3 months after my first attempt. In fact the Exam has already taken place in the middle of May. – Unfortunately this time I had to wait more than 30 days until I received my result, and it took another couple of weeks, until my name made it onto the official MCM-List: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/mcm-certification.aspx

The MCM is the highest technical certification that Microsoft offers (http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/master-sql.aspx), and unlike the MCITP or even MVP the MCM is only awarded for a so called knowledge exam plus a practical lab exam of approximately 5 1/2 hours practical problem solving on a SQL Server box.
In fact, as of September 2012, I am the only Microsoft Master for SQL Server in Germany outside of Microsoft and affiliates. 🙂

At TechNet’s Master Blog you can now also find a short introduction of myself (Thank you, Bob Taylor): http://blogs.technet.com/b/themasterblog/archive/2012/08/20/introducing-our-latest-sql-server-2008-microsoft-certified-master-andreas-wolter.aspx

Thanks to all the people that believed in me, and to those that made me pursue it even more determined 🙂
Among them: Paul Randall and Kimberley Tripp from SQLSkills – my number one teachers, in general terms, since several years, Jonathan Kehayias and Bob Beauchemin who added valuable knowledge in SQL OS and Developing, Robert Davis, who graded my first Lab within hours, and last but not least: Ralf Dietrich, my long term sparring partner for SQL Server and uncertified Master in Germany 😉

Also I have to apologize to all my customers for often letting them wait long because I made my studies number one priority. It will be made up by even better and more effective consulting skills 🙂