Should I do an MCSE course for £5000?

ABSOLUTELY NOT.

These types of companies are only interested in one thing - selling you overpriced courses on finance.

Go onto Amazon, buy some second hand books, get yourself 120 day eval versions of the various software, and learn that way.

It will take you a long time to pay off that 5k, whereas a hundred quid on books etc. will be a much better investment.

If you investigate various options which I will not discuss here, you can get the above even cheaper.

Mat.
 
The cost of the MCSE course if you do it section by section from a home learn, or even go to a college for some of it, including exams is far, far cheaper than that. Never do anything like that, its a money trap.

- Pea0n

Edit: Just realised its @dvent. I actually had one of the guys from them come round to my house once so I could see what they were like. it was a total joke, the guy was like a greased up used car salesman. I tried to get some information from the company about other stuff, took 3 weeks, no response and then when they phoned up after 5 weeks wondering why I hadnt sent in my bank details (basically) I told them to go swivel on it.
 
given the people who pass these things it isn't exactly rocket science - buy some books tbh....

5 grand courses are for the slightly naive people who see IT training adverts on TV and believe that they can do a short course then walk into a 35k job
 
Interested in doing this myself. How much should it cost to do the course? And is it best to learn from home, I would prefer to do it at some kind of training centre/college.
 
BE CAREFUL. MCSE no longer exists!! They are now called MCTS and MCITP I believe. Windows 2008 and Vista track are not MCSE anymore. Only Windows 2003/XP Exchange 2003 are MCSE material.
 
I'd say before you sign up for one of these sort of courses, check out the provider on http://www.certforums.com/ to see if anyone has prior experience of them at the very least as there are some really dodgy companies about. Once they've got your signature on the finance agreement you're pretty much at their mercy.
 
Begbie said:
Interested in doing this myself. How much should it cost to do the course? And is it best to learn from home, I would prefer to do it at some kind of training centre/college.
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You could probably do this within the company Begbie - you'd probably have to move department granted but there's a few working along side me with qualifications such as this.

My emails in trust or you can get me on global if you want any further information on this subject ;)

OT - OP I'd agree with what others have said, these companies are just after your money and there's many other cheaper way to complete these sort of courses.
 
Only way I would spend that much on a course is if your employer is paying for it! I went on an MCSE course that cost £7k and it was actually very good but I also self studied for my CISSP with a £45 handbook (guess which one I paid for ;) )

There are a LOT of MCSEs around now and without experience to back it up it won't get you a good job by itself.
 
I paid £2000 some years back to do the MCp then MCSE and some Cisco CCNA, was all class romm based in kingston with a decent company and was well worth it, £5k sounds very steep.
 
cosmogenesis said:
BE CAREFUL. MCSE no longer exists!! They are now called MCTS and MCITP I believe. Windows 2008 and Vista track are not MCSE anymore. Only Windows 2003/XP Exchange 2003 are MCSE material.
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Bit misleading, it still exists in that you can still take it, just be aware that it's based on the 2003 technologies and not the latest 2007/2008 versions of Server and/or Exchange.

MCTS are kind of like the old MCP in that pass a single exam and you can become an MCTS in something, pass a set of MCTS exams plus a pro one or two and you get a flavour of MCITP (an MCSE for the newer tech).

There's still a big market for MCSEs on 2003 so it's not a bad thing to do.

Be wary of these boot camps, they are geared up to get you to pass the exams, not to necessarily retain that info :p I' recommend them if you already have some of the knowledge and already have relevant experience. But if you are doing one when you haven't done anything like this before a longer period of study would be more beneficial.

A guy in my dept has just come back from a 14 day MCSE with Security and Messaging boot camp and it didn't sound too fun :p

Plus 5k for an MCSE is a bit much, Ambilogic will do one for around £2600 at one of their US camps. You get all your accom, plus they'll stump up another couple of hundred towards the flights. So for around 3k you get to have a couple of weeks in Boston to boot, although I suspect you'll be very busy cramming for all those exams :p

Personally I'll be going straight for the 2008 MCITP as my current employer wants to fund training, could do the MCSE but don't think it woul dbe as beneficial for me as I'm not looking to change jobs yet.
 
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mostly with previous updates to such certificates i was under the impression there was often ways to upgrade to new certifications doing only one or two exams for the added knowledge. If this is so get paid to do MSCE, then, pay for yourself to do the one or two exams and have both qualifications. WIll be a LONG time still I would think before most companies even switch off 2k3, let alone get to the point where everyone is on the new O/S.

Meh, i might be wrong, but its always worth looking into how to upgrade certifications as you can often bundle loads together. I think you could count what, comptia or networking + or something as one/two of the modules towards the msce and the like. So planned right you can often design a learning schedual to get a whole bunch of qualifications with a lot less exams than you would normally doing them all separately, save loads of cash upfront and end up with higher wages in the end.

But MCSE, its not exactly hard, buy the books, hell, buy them second hand off someone whose taken it before, check the bay, uni's, places that offer the course offering used slightly worn textbooks for cheap. Check some sites for best price and place to take the exams and do it yourself.
 
puckdrop said:
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
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5K for that is crazyness. Not sure if you have said if you work in IT but if you’re looking to get your MCSE look at getting a first line job or something along those lines most companies will pay for your training and exams and all the time you’re earning. You can pick the full set of MCSE books for about £60 second hand and each exam costs £88.

You need 7/8 exams for your MCSE so if you revised your self and pay for your exams your self your looking at no more then £700; of course if you pass the exams first time.

All I can say is stay away from these companies they are only after the money and if you do one of these boot camps or what ever they call them else days it won’t mean you walk into an amazing job. You do normally need experience as well which these companies won’t teach you.
 
Duggan said:
...You walk into an amazing job. You do normally need experience as well which these companies won’t teach you.
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If something seems to good to be true it usually is. I would keep your money and just do a bit at a time off your own back. if you love it then get a job somewhere and work your way up and get the company to help you out.
 
platypus said:
I wouldn't have said £5k for an MCSE sounds too good to be true.
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I would when its more then 4k over the price. I mean it might be good for people that cant read a book and learn from it. I understand that some people require teaching or a class room style course so that they can understand it more. But most companies will give you this training for free while you earn a wage and also getting the experience required to progress your career.

This course will give you a MCSE and a 5k debit until you find a IT job. And in most cases you dont have the experience. More then likely the job you get because you didnt have the experience will be a first/second line support job which would have given you the training anyway.
 
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Kinda turned down the offer - Went to see a guy about the couse the other day - he showed me stuff he said was quite hard - looked at it and it was sooooo simple - eg what is a FSB etc... so I told him sorry this is kind of simplistic - Im more used to taking soilding irons to motherboards etc lol
 
Hmmmm in a similar boat, been offered the chance to do one for about £3300 inc all the exams and 1 retake for each module should i fail them, and it also comes with the PMI material so I can get the Project Management qualification too.

I've been told the full course is includes ECDL, MCDST, MCSA & MCSE, and there are 7 exams in total that you need to complete, which are done through a Microsoft exam centre in my area.

At the end of it aswell they also guarantee a job in a company in my local area with a projected salary of nothing less than 21k, but the chap said they usually range from 24-27k. He said they will only put people on the training programs when they have secured a job at a potential employer (as the employer subsidises the cost of the training, or more realistically the training company get a recruitment fee of sorts id imagine which is why they could offer the MCSE for cheaper) But they put this all in writing before you start, so effectively you know where you will be working before you have actually started.
The resourses seemed good aswell, as he said that it is all done online and there is 24/7 live support if i get stuck, and also the employer can check in and monitor how I am progressing through the course as they could potentially hire me before it is completed if I progress through without hassle.

I dont know how much of this was waffle and sales talk, but I think i'd really like to do an MCSE, and whilst im still young it might be a good idea to do so. He also mentioned they would be putting up all the learning resources for Windows Server 2008 aswell but i don't know where that would stand with regards the MCSE as someone has said earlier for 2008 isnt strictly an MCSE anymore, and I wouldnt want to be shooting myself in the foot by spending all that money training for the 2003 stuff when maybe the 2008 stuff is standard soon after.
 
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