I hope to finish the 3rd one and earn the MCSA Data Platform next month, then I'll move onto an Dev path.
A few thoughts...
For me, the best way to learn is through hands on, breaking, tinkering, fiddling, etc with a project rather than studying...but luckily the company I was working for offered reimbursements and a small financial incentive to get certifications, and the project I was working on was heavily based on SQL Server. With having both worlds it made sense to take the exam as well.
With everything now 'full stack experience' it seems like the database has been left out of the conversation...the tools and automation is so good it's very easy to take the database for granted...so while it's probably not the 80% you use 80% of the time, I consider it time well spent.
A certification by itself doesn't necessarily mean anything, good or bad. However you learn best, is what should matters. I wouldn't discourage anyone from learning through any method, nor hold it against them, what works for me, doesn't always work for someone else..whether school, self-taught, studying for exam, etc. I had a co-worker who found I had in my free time went to a Linux user group meeting, and was confused, as to them my time would be better spent on a work based subject. But after they had mentioned they spend hours watching sports weekly I understand now to them 'computer stuff' is work, so why work on anything but work?...I do this for fun and as work, it's a passion, so don't frown on any sort of 'learning' or enjoyment that is taken if it's on a somewhat bizarre subject.
About the exam, it seems to me, that the exams were more of a 'general' knowledge check...if you're familiar with most features, and how they work, you'll do pretty good. It didn't get a whole lot of 'in depth' with specific technicalities...I assume so you don't try to reinvent the wheel or do something that SQL Server makes easier, and know that something could work better in the database layer.
It may seem odd to get these SQL Server specific ones, rather than a more 'developer' based path, but as I said, it was a subject I didn't know much about, except for the basics of getting a database 'working' on the backend, the project I was working on was heavily database driven so I was learning it anyway. As a full stack developer, the database is part of that...right?
I found these sites from the community useful.
https://sqlwithmanoj.com/2012/11/16/passed-70-461-exam-querying-microsoft-sql-server-2012/
https://www.cathrinewilhelmsen.net/2015/01/28/preparing-for-and-taking-exam-70-461-querying-microsoft-sql-server-2012/
But my next post will be C# unit tests in VS.
