New Horizons Blog and Resources

The lists below details what and when Microsoft certifications and exams are retiring and what your recommended next steps should be. 

First, if you’ve recently earned one of these certifications or have been studying for an upcoming MCSA, MCSE or MCSD exam, relax and take a deep breath, you’re OK, but you should move swiftly. In Microsoft's statement they clarified that, “If you have passed a qualifying exam, it will still count towards competency attainment for 12 months after the exam is retired.”

If you are pursuing a qualifying exam, “you can continue earning the MCSA, MCSD, and MCSE certifications as long as the required exams are still available. As we retire the exams that are part of those certification paths, you will no longer be able to earn those certifications. If you are unable to complete the required exams before they are retired (31/01/2021), ....”

Preliminary Exam in Containers, Kubernetes, & OpenShift
(PE180)

By passing this exam, you become a Red Hat Certified Specialist in Containers for Kubernetes, which also counts toward becoming a Red Hat Certified Architect (RHCA®). This exam will be retired on October 1st and will be replaced by EX180.

Microsoft has added a new benefit for customers participating the Enterprise Skills Initiative (ESI).   Now available to ESI customers, via the Learner Experience Portal, are exam preparation session offerings for six different Azure and Data/AI courses. These new Exam Prep sessions provide practical details on how best to prepare ESI customers for a certification exam.

In the weeks before COVID quarantined our households, VMware announced vSphere 7. Its release marks the most significant enhancements to vSphere in over a decade, bringing network administrators and developers alike a unified cloud platform that is optimized to build, run, and manage modern applications. In case you were too focused on Tiger King, we've summarized whats new, why it matters and how this can help your organization.

There are more than half a million IT job openings in the United States alone. Organizations like yours are constantly faced with how to identify candidates that could be the right fit. But what about your current team? They have valuable industry and company knowledge, are their IT skills keeping up with your rapid changing needs?