Some two years ago I took the then brand new Microsoft Exams on Office 365. Passing both Exam 70- 321 Deploying Office 365 and Exam 70-323 Administering Office 365 made me MCITP Office 365. Back then I wrote about those exams, how hard I thought they were (I still now only a few people who passed them both), although I held MCTS Exchange and MCITP SharePoint and already did a great deal of work on Office 365.
Now Microsoft has made available two new exams, 70-346 Managing Office 365 Identities and Requirements and 70-347 Enabling Office 365 Services, passed them both and my call myself MCSA Office 365. It’s rather interesting to see how these exams then and now compare. The main feature added in the 2 years between them is of course Office ProPlus and the ways it can be deployed. All other features are more of the same, expanded features but not real new features. The experience was a bit like the Windows Server and Active Directory exams, you come from NT3.51 or NT4.0 and do Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 and now Windows Server 2012. Some new features and more of the same for the existing features. The exams evolve with Scenario’s, drag and drop items and complete PowerShell scripts questions but still they test you on what Microsoft thinks is important to know.
Back to MCSA Office 365, breaking the content up in a part called “Identities ad Requirements” and a part called “Enabling Services” seems pretty logical, the first is more about the current onprem environment and the latter more about the Office 365 platform. Also a very logical order for organizations who want to leverage Office 365 without the assistance of external parties. The Exam requirements at http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/exam-70-346.aspx and http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en-us/exam-70-347.aspx correspond very well with the content of the exams, no surprises there.
I do believe that these two exams are less difficult than the MCITP ones but on the other hand, they deserve more being part of a MCSE Track instead of a MCSA Track. They really come on top of MCSA Server 2012 or even on top of MCSE Exchange/SharePoint. Like two years ago and probably also like two years from now, Office 365 is a very broad set of Microsoft Technologies on which you have to be very comfortable if you want to pass these exams. So, yes, the MCSA Office 365 exams are tough cookies meaning that this certification will certainly have value.
Wish you all Happy Learning!