Microsoft Certified?

[Schizophonic]

I'm sure there are a few chaps here who have taken the test and currently working in IT.

I'm 26 with 3 year IT background and looking to expand further with my self development. I'm considering to take an M.C.S.A. or an M.C.D.S.T. to join the First / Second Line support. While I've done that (depending on the hours I take to do that exam) would you advise that I should explore the route of M.C.I.T.P or M.C.P.D?

Which are you qualified in? What can employers / business will want in terms of IT?

At the moment I can see myself doing first line or second line but I have not experience enough work for database or programming?

 

[Schizophonic]

Try not to bother with MCSE or MCSA, they're retired/soon to be retired and replaced with MCITP.

MCPD? That's a developer qualification. Are you wanting to remain in support or change paths slightly and lean towards development? If you decide to change you'll most likely have to enter at a junior level, which isn't a bad thing completely, if a change is what you desire.

Are you in a job at the moment? Take exams that correlate to what you use day in/day out. You'll probably get a few raised eyebrows if, for example, you did a MCITP but have no real world Windows Server 2008 experience.

With three years background in IT I'd personally choose to do a MCITP, provided you actually get to work on servers in your day job.

I'm doing a MCITP at the moment and passed my first exam (AD 2008, configuration). While it helped having it on my CV, employers matched it with real world experience as well as being tested during interviews.

Thanks, I will look further down the MCITP route. I know that the MCSE and MCSA are quite old (2003) but I thought that it would be the fundamentals of getting a position within 1st /2nd line. I'm currently out of work but when I was in IT for a large bank, it was not necessary first line involved. I was part of IMAC (Installation Move Add Change) on the ITIL framework and it was not a 100% technical role but had elements of it. My company couldn't fund me to do these exams because it was not specific but I'm goign to be doing these qualification for myself and in which will lead me on to better and greater things.

I do know I like to work on support but maybe consider doing a CCNA and see how things go or what my salary would be at the time. Like I said I dont know much about Database or .net framework but do know big employers pay good money for the skill at hand.