Qualifications for IT.
- Thread starter BoomAM
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70-290 is a complete piece of cake. The disappointing things about Microsoft exams are that it is Microsoft or nothing. To answer the questions you need a Microsoft hat on.
However, the Microsoft exams are worth doing IMO if you are actively working on IT and using Microsoft products.
I'm currently studying for my MCSA and don't feel the need to do an MCSE as I'd rather do some Citrix and VMWare in which we already use extensively at work. Ultimately it depends on what you want to do.
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Depends if you want the knowledge or the qualification. If you want the qualification then I wouldn't, the MCSE is the headline qualification and more than a few people would just bin a CV if you only had MCP...
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Depends what you want to do, fine if you want to be a project manager. When I'm looking for network engineers doesn't even cross my mind though.
Only prince is related to projected management directly. The others can be described as soft skills, because although they are not directly related to a specific function they can be applied to pretty much any role. We have admins on ITIL and Six Sigma courses.
ITIL is is a set of concepts and techniques for managing information technology infrastructure, development, and operations (from wiki).
A LOT of UK companies are implementing an ITIL infrastructure.
Six Sigma seeks to identify and remove the causes of defects and errors in manufacturing and business processes.
Both are good good to have under your belt because they are prevalent in a lot of companies.
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Maybe, but you're a lot better off with a CCNP for 90% of roles...
Why not have both? Each of the above has a foundation course that is only 3 days long!
It's worth bearing in mind that HR and the hiring manager definately know what Prince, ITIL and Six Sigma are.
How long does a CCNP take anyway? a Year?
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Why not have both? Each of the above has a foundation course that is only 3 days long!
It's worth bearing in mind that HR and the hiring manager definately know what Prince, ITIL and Six Sigma are.
How long does a CCNP take anyway? a Year?
Prolly about 2 weeks to learn, 2 weeks to revise self learnt (per exam).
So 4 months to be safe.
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To be fair, unless you're going to use the stuff from the CCNA (and more so for the CCNP etc) you'll forgot the vast majority of it quite quickly, although it would be easier to pick it up again.
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Why not have both? Each of the above has a foundation course that is only 3 days long!
It's worth bearing in mind that HR and the hiring manager definately know what Prince, ITIL and Six Sigma are.
How long does a CCNP take anyway? a Year?
Because it's a £900 course that a sizable percentage of employers won't care about is the best reason in my mind.
HR might know what it is but they have no say at all in who we actually hire rather fortunately, I've thought about doing prince but my CCIE will be worth far more financially.
I'm not saying it's useless, some companies might like it, but even then only as a add on to recognised technical qualifications and personally I think most peopel would be better off starting on the next qualification. MCSE + CCNP or MCSE + ITIL isn't a hard choice for me when it comes to hiring...
I beg to differ. I work with for a vendor and I would say that 90% of the accounts I work with are implementing ITIL or Six Sigma. It is everywhere. Of course i'm talking about large companies - small businesses wont care (but then to they need the really high-end skiled people?).
Microsoft, Barclays, Proctor and Gamble, HP, Fujitsu, Tesco, HSBC, etc. You name it and chances are they're going the ITIL route and if they manufacture anything they're Six Sigma also.
That's the thing though, I guess it depends on what you're looking for. It's not supposed to replace a qualification such as a CCNP but rather prove to employers you know more than just how to configure routers and IP Networks - that you've gone beyond the strict product based training and into the business processes based that pretty much every large business today uses - It's a major focus and not just for management.
Contractor? Sure - I want him to just have the product based training. I'm hiring for a reason. Permie? I want a bit of diversity!
I employ 6 people now, and none of them had any formal IT qualifications when they joined up. I hire adaptable people - because they have to be able to learn new skills and technologies. Microsoft change their structure every 3 years or so, Cisco less often. If one of my interims needs to do a CCNA, I'll send them on that course. They're worth more in *** workplace so I can charge more, pay them more, and the whole company is more profitable.
I did my MCSE at boot camp and it was fine. If you work with the software every day anyway, the exams are really a case of getting your head around the truly random way that the questions are asked. For most people working with Microsoft systems, these exams are a validation of your knowledge, not a true learning experience. If you know nothing about Windows before you go to boot camp, you'll most likely fail, or pass poorly, because they can't possibly teach you that much stuff in 3 weeks.
I have 3 Prince II qualifications, and it's now the hot project management methodology. If you think it doesn't apply because you don't want to be a Project Manager, then consider it again, because every task you are given is a project, and what Prince II helps you do is get your targets delivered on time and on budget.
Quality management techniques like Kaizen, Six Sigma (and other Deeming methods) etc. are also very useful if you want to fit in with certain cultures, but their application in IT is much less obvious than in manufacturing where they originate from.
Time management are always excellent courses to attend, but you have to live it afterwards, and beware those lifestyle coaches who come with hundreds of pounds worth of personal organisers for you to buy. People skills are also vital. The days when an IT person could be a loner geek are long gone. You have to be sociable to work in IT these days, and people skills qualifications can help indicate to an employer that if there was an issue with your people skills, you've been made aware of it and you're working on it...
In my view, there is no such thing as a useless qualification - you'll always use some of that knowledge eventually.
I did my MCSE at boot camp and it was fine. If you work with the software every day anyway, the exams are really a case of getting your head around the truly random way that the questions are asked. For most people working with Microsoft systems, these exams are a validation of your knowledge, not a true learning experience. If you know nothing about Windows before you go to boot camp, you'll most likely fail, or pass poorly, because they can't possibly teach you that much stuff in 3 weeks.
I have 3 Prince II qualifications, and it's now the hot project management methodology. If you think it doesn't apply because you don't want to be a Project Manager, then consider it again, because every task you are given is a project, and what Prince II helps you do is get your targets delivered on time and on budget.
Quality management techniques like Kaizen, Six Sigma (and other Deeming methods) etc. are also very useful if you want to fit in with certain cultures, but their application in IT is much less obvious than in manufacturing where they originate from.
Time management are always excellent courses to attend, but you have to live it afterwards, and beware those lifestyle coaches who come with hundreds of pounds worth of personal organisers for you to buy. People skills are also vital. The days when an IT person could be a loner geek are long gone. You have to be sociable to work in IT these days, and people skills qualifications can help indicate to an employer that if there was an issue with your people skills, you've been made aware of it and you're working on it...
In my view, there is no such thing as a useless qualification - you'll always use some of that knowledge eventually.
I would concur with this whole heartedly but also add something
At the time apart from standard O levels/A Levels and a Degree the only exams I had taken were Microsoft MCSE ones (quite a number of years ago now)
I bought the self taught course and really knew the books backwards - but it was the way microsoft ask their questions , it to me seemed very American and due to the technical nature was pretty hard to understand (this was a purely pc based exam - I think they called it pre-emtive or something, and pc marked also)
you may laugh at what Im trying to say, but you really had to read some of these questions to know what Im saying. You had to answer each question as it was presented (you couldnt go forward or back once it appeared on the screen) and some of the questions where really bizarely written
I failed the exam by 1/2% with 79.5%, and never took it again (because out of 30 questions its not practical to fail by that amount - and of course being a 100% electronic exam, MS made it difficult to complain, as the centre where I took it was not run by MS affiliated staff)
I have since taken numerous other technical exams from other companies and past most of them, but I am always very weary of taking MS ones
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It's true the questions are oddly worded but in some ways it's a good thing. It forces you to understand both the question and answer, questions where you can just apply what you've done previously aren't tremendously helpful, questions which force you to really understand how it works have a place in these exams...
I dont know when you took the exams FrankJH or even which exam you took but my experience (I took my last exam a few months a go so it's pretty up to date) is slightly different.
The study is a true learning experience if you do read the books, then practice (theres normally exercises in the official books) then take the exam. Most people skim the books and then go into the exmas and get shot down in flames (almost happened to me on my first exam, being to confident about it - I learned there and then to study properly).
Nowadays its not just questions but simulations as well. So you get to make AD changes, group policy changes, etc, etc, etc. These are heavily weighted as well so you normally get a lot more than 1 questions worth of points.
To pass an exam you need 700 or more points (basically 70%) and at the end of the exam (once you've clicked finish) you can review and leave comments / complaints about each individual question with an overall comment as well.
Then after waiting several seconds (all the PC's they used for the exams were P2 buckets when I took the exams in Birmingham) you get your pass result.
Nervous experience but good fun.
M.
The study is a true learning experience if you do read the books, then practice (theres normally exercises in the official books) then take the exam. Most people skim the books and then go into the exmas and get shot down in flames (almost happened to me on my first exam, being to confident about it - I learned there and then to study properly).
Nowadays its not just questions but simulations as well. So you get to make AD changes, group policy changes, etc, etc, etc. These are heavily weighted as well so you normally get a lot more than 1 questions worth of points.
To pass an exam you need 700 or more points (basically 70%) and at the end of the exam (once you've clicked finish) you can review and leave comments / complaints about each individual question with an overall comment as well.
Then after waiting several seconds (all the PC's they used for the exams were P2 buckets when I took the exams in Birmingham) you get your pass result.
Nervous experience but good fun.
M.
I was signed up to go on an MCSE boot camp to get my piece of paper but I've now cancelled this to concentrate more on the ITIL/ISEB side of things as I think that's the route I'd rather go down. I'm already in a techy role and really don't see what benefit to me or the company adding an MCSE to my belt would bring so I'm not bothering.
Since there is already a thread on this, I will post my question here.
What about people who already hold a relevant degree (BSc). A CCNA for example will not be considered an "add-on" onto your CV since you most probably went into the exam unprepared with what you learned at uni.
What is the general/best "path" nowadays for degree holders if they want to make their CV look more attractive.
Thank you for your comments/guidance, especially the experienced people
What about people who already hold a relevant degree (BSc). A CCNA for example will not be considered an "add-on" onto your CV since you most probably went into the exam unprepared with what you learned at uni.
What is the general/best "path" nowadays for degree holders if they want to make their CV look more attractive.
Thank you for your comments/guidance, especially the experienced people
Since there is already a thread on this, I will post my question here.
What about people who already hold a relevant degree (BSc). A CCNA for example will not be considered an "add-on" onto your CV since you most probably went into the exam unprepared with what you learned at uni.
What is the general/best "path" nowadays for degree holders if they want to make their CV look more attractive.
Thank you for your comments/guidance, especially the experienced people
In IT I think a prospective employer will always EXPECT you to have kept up with the latest and greatest technology in your field, that's a given as far as I'm concerned.
I would be interested by people who could contribute more than just the basics so I would A-list people who have
Business skills qualifications - MBA, Accountacy skills
People skills qualifications/Soft skills qualifications (negotiating etc.)
Train-the-Trainer qualifications
and anything that indicates you might be a team player, or a public spirited type - member of a team sports club, volunteer fireman, special constable, St. Johns Ambulance, TA/RNR/RMR/RAFR, charity work etc.
These sorts of qualifications say that you can do much more than the role you're hired for, so you will likely contribute more than others, and that you're a sociable type who can fit in and work with the existing staff. IT still attracts loners/geeks/nerds and who honestly wants to work with someone who still lives with their parents and doesn't know their own shirt-collar size because their mum buys their clothes (I'm not kidding - I interviewed a chap the other week and he didn't know what size boots and overalls he'd need because his mum bought all his clothes for him. Even though he was well dressed and suitably qualified he didn't get the job because he would have been a disaster in my organisation.