A lot of us, myself included, felt cheated when Microsoft decided to sunset the MCSE credential. I wrote about its long goodbye in a recent article for Redmond Magazine here.

Those I talked to in the IT world had two major problems with the elimination of the MCSE:

1. We liked the name. MCSE has such a better ring to it than MCITP.
2. The MCITP, we felt, just wasn't at a high enough level to make it truly a goal worth attaining.

The best part about the MCSE was in many ways how many hoops you had to run through to get it. Somewhere between six and eight tests were a lot of work to accomplish. So, when you'd completed it, you really felt like you'd completed something. The replacing MCITP cert could take as few as three tests, depending on the MCITP you were reaching to obtain. And, that lack of value is probably one reason why the level of people attemption to obtain the MCITP is much lower than the initial rush to MCSE status.

In a likely move to combat this, Microsoft has recently announced yet another level to their certification program: The Microsoft Certified Master. Not to the "architect" level at the very top (and $20,000 price tag) of the Microsoft Certified Architect, this new cert is designed, in the words of Microsoft...

"...to help IT professionals attain a "master" level of proficiency in specific products - something previously only available internally to Microsoft employees and select partners. The programs will focus on design, build, and troubleshooting skills, and will require three weeks of mandatory training per track, delivered exclusively by top subject matter experts and industry-renowned instructors. The initial plan is to roll out the program for Exchange Server 2007, SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, with additional server products being added in the future."

Know that the MCM will have some hefty minimum requirements -- not unlike the MCA -- that must be fulfilled before you'll even be allowed into the program. But the end result is intended to be a person with a very high level of IT knowledge in a targeted area.

More information at Microsoft's press release: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2008/jun08/06-10mscert.mspx