The latest set of  Microsoft Developer certifications have now been announced. MCSD stands, as it did before, for Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer and can be earned in three specialisms.

If you have followed Microsoft accreditation over the years, you may remember , or may even have earned, the MCSD when it covered early versions of  Visual Studio.

Then, for Visual Studio 2008 and 2010 Microsoft introduced a twin-tier certification track - developers could earn their MCTS, Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist and then take further exams to gain the status of MCPD,  Microsoft Certified Professional Developer.

Microsoft announced that it was reverting to the acronyms MCSE and MCSD for its professional-level certifications back in May. Now we have the first news of its three  developer tracks:

According to Microsoft:

The new MCSD credential focuses on the ability to design and build application solutions, which may include integrating multiple technologies and may span multiple versions of a single technology.

The multiple versions of a single technology applies in the case of Windows App Store, for which these three exams have C# equivalents:

• Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3
• Essentials of Developing Windows Store Apps Using HTML5 and JavaScript
• Advanced Windows Store App Development Using HTML5 and JavaScript

If you take both the variants of the programming certification, i.e HTML5 with Javascript andCSS3 and C#, you gain a Microsoft Specialist Certification.

The HTML exam also counts towards the Web Apps certification.  The other two exams are:

• Developing ASP.NET 4.5 MVC Web Applications
• Developing Windows Azure and Web Services

The Application Life Cycle Management  has three focused exams:

• Administering Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2012
• Software Testing with Visual Studio 2012
•  Delivering Continuous Value with Visual Studio 2012 Application Lifecycle Management

Microsoft have prepared a video but you will need Silverlight to watch it - MCSD Video

What if you are already part way through one of the former certifications? The advice is that it is still worth achieving an MCPD on Visual Studio 2010 certification as it enables you to take advantage of a shorter path to upgrade your certification to the new MCSD certifications.  You will be able to achieve an MCPD or MCTS certification on Visual Studio 2008 or Visual Studio 2010 until July 2013.