Which IT qual.....

R.O.S.S.I

R.O.S.S.I

R.O.S.S.I

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Been given the choice of doing one of these 3 qualifications.....


MCTS - Microsoft 70-680 exam.

CCENT Exam - Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices Part 1 (ICND1)

ITIL Foundation.


Have been working in IT for 3 years doing various support roles, just started a new job whereby I'm the sole IT bod for a small company - dealing mainly with Windows machines/some Citrix stuff.

I know none of them are hugely valuable and none will really allow me to get top end jobs, but it looks better on my CV than not, so, which would you do and why?
 
Don't bother with the MCTS yet, when server 8 and windows 8 comes out they'll likely roll out new exams going by what i was reading last time i was looking to do them.

Another vote for the cisco one.
 
CCENT will be more interesting than the other two, and will allow you to get CCNA by taking another exam, so that's the one that I would go for.
 
It depends on your level of knowledge, experience and where you want your career to go.


ITIL covers IT Service Management and is a very dry and boring subject. I assume you'll do the ITIL V3 Foundation. I have passed this and the exam itself is fairly easy if you can stay awake :p

70-680 - If your company uses Windows 7 and you want to go down the MS cert route then go for this.

CCENT - If you are relatively new to IT then the Cisco stuff inst really entry level stuff. Does the company even use Cisco equipment? You also really need to be getting hands on experience as well. No point having a CCNA on your CV with no experience or other qualifications to back it up.
 
The company doesn't use any Cisco stuff at all unfortunately which is why I didn't really think there was much point in doing that, however it was something that interested me, but as you say if i'm not going to be getting hands on experience of using Cisco stuff then it may be in vein really.

The MCTS was the option I was siding towards purely because we use Win 7 and Server 2008 here and whilst i know in a round about way what the exams cover I thought it might have been good to cement the knowledge.

I disregarded the ITIL as it looked like a complete borefest, however I know some companies look kindly on it!

Its either out of the Cisco or the MCTS......am I right in thinking the CCENT will teach some stuff regarding networking in general which isnt specific to Cisco products? Can't decide!
 
Drop the Cisco if you have no use of it day to day :)
ITIL looks good on a CV and probably sits better than a single MS exam. And as you say there are a lot of company's out there that look for it.

I'd go with the 70-680 on the provision that your going to be doing more MS exams in the future.
Hope you know your stuff on Branchcache and Bitlocker ;)
 
Its only 1 exam/course so even if you found you didn't like it its not the end of the world. I started studying for the CCNA probably 6 years ago but it didn't really interest me so I stopped. Since then I have got a masters degree in computer forensics, N+, MS certs and ITIL V3F. My current role involves VMware and Cisco equipment so it has started to interest me again.

A good forum for discussing certs: http://www.certforums.com/
 
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Cisco.
Though i went into CCNA a little while back with little to no experience other than the simple stuff and theory and i failed. But just ICND part 1 is fine.
 
R.O.S.S.I, you haven't mentioned your experience or qualifications. People shouldn't really be recommending CCENT if you don't have the experience or use for it. It only looks good to potential employers if you can back up your certs with experience.
 
What is it you want to do/where do you want to be in IT?

That'll help you decide rather than just picking one out of a hat :)
 
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