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New Microsoft Partner Competency is coming for custom development shops!

Many companies are deeply embedded in pure Microsoft development (such as thycotic) but do not necessarily use any of the Microsoft server products (MS CMS, BizTalk, SharePoint) in their solutions.  These shops are typically building applications using custom WinForm/ASP.NET, C#/VB.NET and a Microsoft SQL Server back end.  This makes the Integrated E-Business Solutions competency impossible to attain and most of the others are not a good match either.  Another option sounds like the ISV competency but this doesn't always fit either ... do you build a product to sell that can be tested?  Often times the "product" is custom software that you don't own and can't share with anyone.

The solution? (I didn't know about this until I asked at the Microsoft Partner booth at PDC!) ... Microsoft has introduced a new competency for Microsoft Partners that will go live in late October 2005 - the Custom Development Solutions competency.  This is a much needed competency and matches all those custom development shops out there!

Requirements for the Custom Development Solutions competency:

  • 2 MCADs or MCSDs
    (the website then talks about 1 exam from the listed so maybe MCP is sufficient?)
  • 3 customer references about implementations using required technology

The competency also makes mention of 3 specializations (Application Infrastructure Development, Smart Client Development, Web Development) but doesn't go into much detail on their importance.

 

Jonathan Cogley is the CEO and founder of thycotic, a .NET consulting company and ISV in Washington DC.  Our product, myclockwatcher.com is a time and expense tracking system specialized for billable professionals built on ASP.NET, C# and SQL Server using Test Driven Development.

8 Comments

  • Nothing against you Jonathon, but we haven't had a very good experience with the Partner Program.



    The bigger issue is what does one get from the Partner Program. With us, the answer is zero, nada, zilch, the big goose egg, nothing. As a result, when our current partner subscription is up, we are not renewing our subscription.



    We have found no benefit to being a MS Partner if you are doing Custom Development. There are no events in our area, the people that we are told to contact never return our phone calls, people in the field offices don't return phone calls, and the partner people just don't listen. This has been my one and only question to them for 18 months with no response. I have re-subscribed twice based on promises that things would happen for custom development shops and I have not seen the first thing happen. We have already decided that we won't be resubscribing another time.



    Ok, I feel better now.

  • Our shop is happy to be in the partner program just for the licenses it grants. Have there been any details about what happens with the release of TFS and VS 2005?

  • Yeah, we get the licenses through other sources, thus the complete frustration with the whole partner program. The promises that have been laid out don't match what has been delivered. I love the people in the product groups, but the partner program just doesn't seem to be a good fit for my development shop. It would be one thing if the partner people would respond when you ask a question, but they don't. Oh the frustration.



    Sorry for the intrusion. You may now return to your regularly scheduled development.

  • Yes, I agree with that, Wallym. There are plenty of fireworks and slick, glossy marketing materials at the start, but it's not long before you face the cold, steel wall of a department overrun with bureaucracy.



    Still, the subscriptions are alive and we didn't expect leads, really, as we are in a niche of a niche.



    Thank you, Johnathan, for sponsoring this tangential conversation :)

  • Scott,



    I am not sure if you meant it the way I interruprted it or not. The way your post reads, you are assuming that I am looking for leads. That is not what I am looking for. I have some ideas how to make the process work for a custom development shop, yet no one will return my calls.



    Wally

  • Lamont,



    As I understand your post, you are assuming that custom development only involves development on the client. We have used MS back end server products. From what I have seen, terminology is not the issue. My frustration is that the partner people typically don't respond. I haven't had any success with the field offices folks either.



    Wally

  • Great discussion! Thycotic is new to the Microsoft Partner world ... so far our experience has been positive. The new initiatives such as GoldMine sound very interesting and will certainly help small business. Our business is typically Agile custom development consulting with a growing ISV component. This could also be turned to converting Java Agile shops into .NET ones which could be an interesting licensing incentive for Microsoft with MSDN Universal sales and upcoming VSTS. Hmmm.

  • Lamont,



    The issue, and Jonathon and I discussed this at lunch, is that MS does a lot of partnering in certain places. According to Jonathon, you will roll open your list of contacts in Washington DC. I have similar statements from others in other locations with people that I have worked with. Where I am, the MS partner program does not bother to return phone calls. When I get contacted by the partner program from Seattle, all I get pointed to is some web site.



    Given the unwillingness of the people in the partner program to return phone calls locally, it just sounds like the partner program is the wrong place for us.

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