Advice on certification (MCP / MCSE)

[Acert93]

Hey all,

I know a number of you are / were in the IT field so I thought I would drop a few questions here.

I am on pace to finish my BA (Theology) in 2008, yet seeing as I probably won't get a full time job in my field any time soon I am looking at other ways to win bread. With my past technical experience and general affinity to the field I have been seriously looking at getting some technical certs and seeing if I cannot get an IT position ... with an eye of maybe leveraging an IT background in a similar field as my degree.

I should probably start off with the A+ for a warmup (I took a practice test and did well, so a quick read of a prep book and I should be fine there). From there I am eyeing the prospects of getting an MCSE, although the sea of Microsoft acronymns is quite confusing!

One of my hurdles is the lack of trainers in my area. Using the MS trainer finding tools it looks like the closest would be ~160 miles. A 3-4 week bootcamp is more than I could give up (and quite costly) in terms of time off work unless I could turn around immediately and find employment to leverage such.

I know MS Press has some nice training books for the MCSE but, admittadly, after work I am dead tired. I always enjoyed the video training books at Lynda.com and am curious if anyone has heard about these and if they are worth the investment? e.g. CBT has a MCSE Windows Server 2003 series for an "affordable" $1,100.

http://www.cbtplanet.com/mcse2003.htm

Anyhow, I know this is scattershot. I am not overly familiar with all the various programs... Some general advice, links, and whatnot would be appreciated.

For those who are unfamiliar with my background, besides a little programming in school, I formerly worked for a number of years for a webhosting company doing some IT work and customer care/management tasks (small company, jack of all trades) and I also moonlight in basic web design. I have been in the PC scene since the 80s when my dad had me building PCs and setting up networks for fun. I have kept up on the trends in the industry in general. I have a hankering for following GPU and CPU teachnology, too But that is more of a hobby. Basically I have tagged along in the tech industry for years, even got my feet wet some, but probably should jump in all the way for better employment oppurtunities.

Certification is a hurdle to getting back into the IT industry and getting a decent job and based on pay an MCSE looks like a solid investment, at least compared to what I currently do.

Thanks for your time and advice on this topic

 

[Arwin]

Certainly just using the books is by far the most cost-effective way to go about this. So even if you can manage to take off some time just to give yourself the time to work through them, that should do the trick. I went for what was then the Software Developer certification. The good thing is that you can try individual exams, so you could just go and start with the one that you have the most affinity with, order that one book, and sign up for that one (usually online) exam. If you pass that, you automatically I think get your basic Professional certification, and you can then easily work towards different higher level certifications just by passing additional exams one at a time. It's a very flexible way of doing things, and it's a good start.

Over here at this moment in time you'd get a job already if you just can show you have affinity with IT and are an apt learner, by the way. You may wish to find out how things are in your area, and you might even be able to find a company where you can work and learn.

Anyway, if you're not adverse to books, and after completing your current education that might get a lot easier (I studied English Literature and had to read so many books during that time that since then I've only read about 1 book a year on average, apart from IT books that is obviously ).

Anyway, the books were great for me. You'll just have to try out for yourself if they can work out for you too. Also, I think you'll be able to find test-exams online, so you can compare your progress from the books with a test-exam and see how well you're picking things up.

I personally thought that the Software Developer training was a really decent one. You basically pick either VB, C# or C++ as your language training, then have an obligatory Architecture subject (which was tough, but good) and then you have some optional fields, where I think I took VBA and SQL, as those were most pertinent to my job at the time (as they, by the way, still very much are). Things have changed a bit since then I think (the name Software Developer I believe has changed to something else) but not that much.

Pay in this field has always been good, and even in bad times especially if you have half a brain you'll still have a good paying job. Plus it benefits you in any other field you might work, as almost all forms of work now benefit from IT in some sort, and to be able to benefit from IT it helps to personally know more about it - generally IT fails when there is no crossover between the professionals and the IT consultants, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, I'd try to go for one of the books, and if you have any questions when you're going to attempt one, also feel free to ask me in PM, or just here in the thread.

Good luck!

 

[Frank]

You might first try and see if you can get a job in IT anyway, that makes it all a lot easier. And many companies rather have someone who is interested and did it for a hobby over twenty years, than someone who only has a certificate or education. And you can raise in the ranks when you study.

I have no education either, but a great IT job anyway.

 

[John Reynolds]

Not MS testing, which I'm not particularly fond of (should just be straight-up knowledge testing, not trying to fool people into producing the wrong answer via cleverly worded questions), but I just nailed CompTIA's Security+ test with a perfect score. Started studying Tuesday afternoon here at work and took the test this morning. I took it because the entire DoD is moving away from MS certification to CompTIA's for a number of reasons; no idea if the private sector is seeing anything similar. I was loathe to take it since I generally dislike cert-heads (people who're MCSEs and have no experience) because I've simply seen too many who haven't a clue (we have a resident MCSE who's seen all his network privileges removed because he's such a complete idiot). Unfortunately, many IT managers are non-technical and really lack the chops to properly interview people and rely too heavily on certs for gauging whether or not a potential candidate is qualified.

 

[Frank]

"Human resources" (don't you hate that?) doesn't know about the job you're goung to fulfill, and neither do most IT managers. Certificates is what is in demand in that case.

On the other hand, when they do know, they rather have someone who spend a decade figuring it all out for themselves.


People and companies leaned a thing or two from the IT craze in the nineties.

 

[Acert93]

Thanks for all the tips guys! As I haven't worked in IT in 5 years or so I have a bit to brush up on (I haven't touched a Windows server since 2001). From sending out feelers locally just getting a foot in the door for an interview requires relevant experience a company can immediately leverage (something I currently lack sans low level help desk) or they want cert(s). Certs obviously don't mean you know much (my past experience was: once you get in the door they want to direct you in the way the company does things anyhow) but sometimes it is the cost of admission.

Again, thanks for all the feedback.