Counting and tracking Microsoft Certified Professionals

Every six months or so, I like to check in on the number of Microsoft Certified Professionals tracked at the bottom of the MCP Magazine home page. The chart below shows the numbers of IT professionals who have qualified for nine certification credentials from October 2002 through December 2003.

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Overall, the numbers show that while the growth of the Microsoft certified professional population has slowed from its peak in 1999 and 2000, we may be in for an uptick as IT pros finish up Windows 2000 and move on to pursue Windows Server 2003 certi

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fications or upgrades.

Here's my analysis of some of the most interesting trends derived from these statistics:

What's missing from this report is the newly-minted MCDST, simply because it's not possible to earn the credential until February, 2004. As these numbers begin to appear, I'll be watching them with some interest as well.

Ed Tittel is the Series Editor for Exam Cram 2, and a contributing editor and columnist for Certification Magazine. He also follows certification topics for InformIT.com, and has written numerous books on MS certifications.

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