My boss came to me with a problem. We were going through our Microsoft Gold Partner certification renewal, and we’d lost a few developers over the past couple of months, developers who happened to hold a lot of Microsoft certifications. The Gold Partner program was points-based, and with those departures, we were short.
“Do you have any guys who could take some Microsoft tests and help us on points?”
Normal Craig fashion: probably. I’m not sure. Let me get back to you.
I went back to my desk and started Googling. Microsoft Gold certification. Points-based system. What counts, what doesn’t, what’s worth how much. An hour later, I understood the math.
The big certifications, like the MCSE, the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer,were worth 5 or 6 points each. But they required multiple exams. Getting two or three of my senior systems guys through that gauntlet would take weeks, and we needed this by next month.
Then I found a smaller certification. The MCP. Microsoft Certified Professional. One test. Basic networking, basic Microsoft products, basic IT fundamentals. It read like a CompTIA exam. And it was worth 3 points.
I had a staff of over 25 people. Almost 20 of them were in the office right now.
The math was simple: instead of pushing 3 senior engineers through a 4-exam certification track for 6 points each, what if I got 10 people through one basic test at 3 points each? Project managers, junior systems guys, senior systems guys, even the installers. 30 points. One test. Problem solved.
The Pitch
I went back to my boss. “Got a plan. I’m not going to ask my systems guys to take the big Microsoft tests. I’m going to get all the guys to take the small one.”
He raised an eyebrow. “All the guys?”
“Yep. All the guys. Even the installers. It’s a basic Microsoft test. And every one of them wants to advance their career, the installers want to be junior systems guys. This helps them and it helps us. If I get this right, I can single-handedly get us to the number you need.”
The eyebrow stayed up. “How are you going to do this?”
“We’re going to stop what we’re doing for two weeks, and I’m going to teach them 6 to 8 hours a day.”
He seemed skeptical that a project manager or a field technician could pass a Microsoft certification exam. I’d reviewed the curriculum. It wasn’t the easiest material in the world, but it was basic IT, and we were an IT company. Besides, even if some of them didn’t pass, they’d still be more IT-aware than they were before. The downside was still a gain.
Back to the Whiteboard
I downloaded all the course materials, a couple hundred bucks from Microsoft’s accredited training site. I had the office admin buy me a brand-new set of dry erase markers. Total investment: course materials plus $7 in overnight shipping from Amazon.
And then I was back at the whiteboard. Honestly, it felt like I was back at CompUSA teaching in front of a room full of people, 20 years earlier. Same energy, same format: go through the material at night, make sure I understood it, then teach 6-plus hours the next day.
A week and a half in, we were making real progress. Things were feeling right. I thought I could actually pull this off.
Then I realized I was a few days away from the moment every student dreads: test anxiety day. So I did something about it. I downloaded a couple of practice exams at home, ran through them, scored in the 80-90% range. Passing was 70%. Close enough.
I scheduled a test during the work day, took an hour and a half, and passed.
The next morning I walked back into the training room and said: “By the way, this isn’t theoretical anymore. I took the test yesterday. I passed. What I’m teaching you is exactly what you’re going to see.”
The Result
We finished the two-week training. Over the next week or so, 10 or 11 people passed the exam. I got the 30 points I’d promised my boss. We kept our Microsoft Gold Partner certification.
The total cost was a couple hundred dollars in course materials, a set of dry erase markers, and two weeks of my time.
The Closer
People asked me later why I’d bother training installers and project managers on something that wasn’t in their job description. The answer was simple: it was in mine.
My job wasn’t to protect the way things had always been done. It was to look at a problem, find the fastest path through it, and bring my team along for the ride. Sometimes that means building a network. Sometimes it means negotiating a deal. And sometimes it means picking up a dry erase marker and teaching a room full of people something nobody expected them to learn.
The installers didn’t need that certification. But they wanted it. And I needed them to want it, because that’s what made the whole thing work.