MCSE advice

It seems you're expected to have the professional MS\Cisco\Unix certifications and experience before you even join at 1st Line these days...
 
you need to look at your job and areas you need to improve and gain knowledge in. If you're working in the same environment as the course you'll learn more and they'll be more beneficial to you. if you go out learning every MCP to gain your MCSE you'll end up not having the hands on experience to back it up and you'll forget half of it. This will then leave you being an MCSE on paper which is practically worthless

MW
 
Had a massive think, im gonna do the CompTIA A + essentials along with the 220-602. This will be a good foundation for the future and will allow me to develop my skills both in the office and mainly out in the field which I enjoy doing. When I've worked longer in my current environment I will be able to decide whether I wish to pursue more specific areas but at the minute I feel I'm more of a hands on type of person so this course should suit me. Also going along with what MW said about doing the same stuff at work as in the course ill be learning more.
 
Sounds like a good plan, get the experience first then the papers to back it up.

I'd also agree that an MCSE is maybe getting on a bit now and that the 2008 certs would be more beneficial. I know most/a lot are still running 2003 but by getting on the 2008 train early you're prepared plus ready for all those migrations people will be wanting to do :)

fwiw I have no certs bar a couple of rubbish ones, my current role wanted everything under the sun but I had the experience they needed hence got the job (hadn't even walked to my car after leaving the interview before they were onto the recruitment agency saying they'll have me lol).
 
So whats the best way to do the CompTIA? The exams cost £114 each and theres 2 to sit. Im pretty confident looking at the course content that I know a good percentage of it already so perhaps self study would be a good option for me. The hands on courses can be had for a good few hundred quid, whether I'll be better off buying some books and doing it all myself I dunno. I spose at work I can experiment with anything I'm unsure of. Can anyone recommend some sort of book package for this? Theres several people CompTIA recommend here for buying books, I assume this will be the best option for training material.

Thanks
 
Surely all these people doing boot camps, etc means the MSCE has little real world exeperience? Surely the best thing is to get 5/6 years experience before taking some kind of course.

eg. I could pay the 4k go on a boot camp cram all the stuff in and come out with a MSCE and i'm a town planner by trade.

Borich
 
Pretty much yes, which is why an MCSE is only really used if someone has the experience to back it up. Unless of course the IT manager hiring is a clueless numpty. Ah...I think I see a problem...
 
I'm to be a chartered planner this year I needed a degree, masters, 2 years experience (logged) a mentor to guide me, and a 5000 word essay to go with my submission, then each year I have to 25 hours training.

you just google MCSE course things and it gives you the impression do the course walk into a course 35k a year job.

Just needs to take advantage.

Borich
 
borich_planner said:
Surely all these people doing boot camps, etc means the MSCE has little real world exeperience? Surely the best thing is to get 5/6 years experience before taking some kind of course.

eg. I could pay the 4k go on a boot camp cram all the stuff in and come out with a MSCE and i'm a town planner by trade.

Borich
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2-3 years is supposed to be the required experience before starting an MCSE

People who boot camp MCSEs will fail at interviews as pretty all will include technical questions if not a written exam.

Those adverts are miss leading, they imply that all it takes is an MCSE to hit their 30-40k but in reality its an MCSE + 5 years experience to back it up

If you check the job sites they'll give you the average wages for the qualifications. In london:

MCSA: £15-25k
MCSE: £25-40k
CCNA: £20-25k
CCNP: £30-50k
CCIE: £50-£90k

my advice would be to keep your experience and qualifications equal

no qualifications with no experience = EPIC FAIL :p
qualification with no experience = FAIL
experience with no qualifications = limited
experience with qualifications = cha ching $$$$$$ :D

MW
 
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I have just finished a comptia A+ and it is a bit of a waste of time tbh. You learn how many pins are in every cable around though that is for sure :D

But really you just touch on the basics that you should already know, the highlight was getting to build from scratch and setup about 10 pcs wireless and wired at some company, ok this wasn't exactly advanced but it was a bit of ego trip acting like the "network guys". We then had to set user accounts and set up the a workgroup on each pc! and printer sharing ... we were going to setup up a full domain instead but never got round to it. So really that is as hard as it got which i regard as being very basic still. My 10 year old nephew should be able to do that. Ok maybe the OSI model would be regarded as the most advanced thing, but still that is just something you learn the basics of as you are not an electrical engineer.....

I would suggest the network+ it seems to be quite well thought of in the industry although obvioulsy a CCNA would be better.. The two well sought after certs though are a MSCE + CCNA having both of those and at least 6 months experience in some kind network/systems admin role will stand you in decent stead for getting your foot in the door..

My typos are amazing....
 
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rz30 said:
The two well sought after certs though are a MSCE + CCNA having both of those and at least 6 months experience in some kind network/systems admin role will stand you in decent stead.
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Generally one or the other, not both. Very little role cross over to be honest once you are out of small businesses.
 
Course like the A+ and N+ are really good for your own personal knowledge and to get into IT as they create a good basis for growth.

I passed my MCSE in Server 2003 just over a year ago and this year i'll be upgrading mine to 2008 (as work are paying) as we're migrating all our services over to 2008.

I was studying for my CCNA last year and got as far as the CCENT exam but my current job only uses HP Procurve switches (for cost reasons) so they'll provide little experience. Cisco was my chosen route but fell into the Microsoft through work. i even applied for a trainee network security analyst role before my current job.

MW
 
An MCSE with only a few months experience will be pointless.

The key to being a well rounded professional is to balance experience with qualifications. If you spend too much time on courses and exams you'll be distracting yourself from gaining experience, vice versa.

Get yourself an MCP on something relevant and generic (Windows 2003 Management/Maintenance or Network Infrastructure etc) in your first year. Then, work towards an MCSA after 1 or 2 years. Then start looking at MCSE or whatever the equivalent may be.

You need to take your time with these things to find out what areas interest you and what you want to focus on.
 
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