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I got a review, and seem to have sold a few copies!

And it was 4 stars and said the book was “pretty good”! Yay! I am very happy Thank you A Murphy, whoever you are. http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/1430239514/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

As you see, I’ve not asked friends or colleagues to write reviews for me, I wanted to see how the book did on it’s own. Maybe that was naive, but I’m happier with that approach.

Also, my publisher sent me a US tax form with my earnings on it implying it’s sold about 8,000 copies, I might be wrong, since I’m guessing based on the fact that it was about $4k and I make 50c a book… The tax man in the US wants 30%, which is fine, but I don’t want to have to pay again here in Ireland, so I’m asking my accountant what I am supposed to do.

Just sharing all this in case it’s useful to you, dear reader.

March 22, 2012 – 2:52 pm | By Stephen | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (2)

MCM… postponed.

Had one of those epiphanies while walking the dogs through the misty Curragh plains this weekend: why not postpone the MCM for another year or so? What’s the pressure on my to do it now? Reality started to dawn on me, I wasn’t ready to do the MCM yet. I’d done the book and one …

February 7, 2012 – 4:59 pm | By Stephen | Posted in MCM | Comments (2)

I didn’t get in! This time…

Well, I got the email this morning saying “you do not currently meet the pre-requisites required for entry into the Microsoft Certified Master Program.” But helpfully, it did list specific areas I should work on. Ironically, these three where things I had experience of, just in the interview I drew a blank! What I’ve learned …

January 28, 2012 – 8:54 am | By Stephen | Posted in MCM | Comments (0)

So, will I get it or not?

Well, if I do, that’s the best outcome since I’d not have applied in the first place otherwise. I’ve outlined my reasons previously. If I don’t though, while I’ll be disappointed and feel dumb, at least I will have saved the cost plus expenses plus “opportunity cost” of not working or just surfing and playing …

January 24, 2012 – 12:29 pm | By Stephen | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Interview Done!

Yep, and it went terrible. I was asked lots of very specific technical questions about the SP2010 architecture. I’ll not list them here because if you’re going to do this it’s to assess what you know already, not what you read on my blog! Sorry. It wasn’t all bad, there are plenty of things I …

January 23, 2012 – 4:01 pm | By Stephen | Posted in MCM | Tagged MCM | Comments (3)

Pre interview interview done.

So, I had a chat on the phone with one of the senior MCM people. He said at this point they want to establish how ready potential candidates are. The pass rate is 80% and they want to keep it high. He asked what I’d thought of the pre-reading list and the schedule of the …

January 20, 2012 – 2:35 pm | By Stephen | Posted in MCM | Comments (0)

Step 3

I got an email today arranging a pre-interview chat, it’ll be Monday next week (not this Monday coming). So, that’s progress. Now I know I’ll be doing an interview too I guess. My ego would have preferred a “of course you are ready to do the MCM!” But I don’t mind discussing it, maybe I …

January 7, 2012 – 5:38 pm | By Stephen | Posted in MCM | Comments (0)

Step 2 completed

I received an email from MS saying my transcripts had been verified. There was a brief moment as I opened the attachment to the email that it would say “sorry, we’re not letting you in”. Just paranoia, so far anyway. The email also gave instructions for where to upload my CV/Resume to. I did that …

January 5, 2012 – 12:54 pm | By Stephen | Posted in MCM | Comments (0)

How to get paid by a client who won’t pay you.

This is entertaining: The bottom line is: get a good contract.

January 4, 2012 – 5:00 pm | By Stephen | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)

Billing: Are you a Freelancer, or a Contractor, or a Consultant, or a Resultant!

What all these words means depends on who you ask. We all just want to get paid as much as we can for what we can do. There’s plenty of interesting chat on the subject here Currently, I contract for 3 or 6 months for one client, and I do a full 37.5 hours a …

January 4, 2012 – 4:10 pm | By Stephen | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (0)