Microsoft Certified Professional + Site Building (MCP+SB) April 1999 | Alexandria, VA

Tool-Chain Intuition vs. Formal Training: Achieved the “+ Site Building” designation by successfully navigating a specialized exam for software never previously utilized in a production environment. Demonstrated an advanced ability to reverse-engineer software interfaces in real-time by leveraging established patterns from the Microsoft ecosystem (InterDev/Office).

Systemic Skepticism: This experience served as a critical turning point in evaluating professional credentialing systems. The disparity between failing a “daily-use” tool (InterDev) due to minor abstraction nuances and passing an “unseen” tool (FrontPage) through pure intuition led to a strategic pivot away from standardized testing in favor of proven, project-based architectural expertise.

The “Strategic Asset” Reflection

The “Plus” and the Pipe Dream: In April 1999, I became a “Microsoft Certified Professional + Site Building.” On paper, it looked like a major upgrade. In reality, it was a “fireball of glory” that changed how I view authority.

After the frustration of failing InterDev by one question despite using it daily, I took the FrontPage certification on a whim to qualify for the “+Site Building” suffix. I had never opened the software in my life. I loathed the GUI-heavy, “document editor” approach to the web. Yet, I passed. I was angry because the system had proven itself flawed. How could a test validate me on a tool I’d never touched, while penalizing me on the tool I used to build military portals?

This was the moment I lost faith in the “Certification Scheme.” I realized that many of these tests were designed to measure a user’s ability to navigate a specific menu system, not their ability to engineer a solution. I kept the “Plus” on my resume because the industry expected it, but I walked away from the MCP program entirely. From that point on, my “certification” would be the code I shipped and the systems I kept running, not a badge I bought from a testing center.