MCSA, Should I bother?

[Cliotoby]

Itll look ok on my CV, having MCSA as well as a CCNA as a graduate and might get me that bit more interest. But at almost £300 for the 3 exams is it going to be worth it?

Honestly I dont think ill struggle with it and Im confident I could pass it with some effort. Rekon it would be a good idea?

Also Study guides for Server 2012 dont seem to be out yet so Im best sticking with server '08 ?

 

[Adam.]

Piece of piss. I passed mines at 16 with all circa 90%

It's a hard one re 08/12. You could do 08 as there are a ton of guides out there and then just to the bridge course into 2012 when more info comes out and you've had a chance to play about with it.

Also look at the other paths as MCSA is quite advanced IIRC. Start off with the desktop support.

Also try and see if you can get exams through a local college as thats what I done and the exams were £40 each vs £100 direct.

 

[Cliotoby]

Cheers Adam. I get the impression that Server 12 has not yet been adopted by all that many people yet so I might as well sit the 2008, perhaps that would be more useful. Plus as you say there's tons of guides out there. official guides dont get released until April 13 IIRC.

What makes you say start with desktop support? I would prefer to focus on servers unless itll really help me doing DST, theres not much I really need to know is there?

How did you set about getting exams through local colleges?

 

[Adam.]

I done my HND at college and the option was hand in a 100+ page report or a copy of the MS certificate. I spent my time studying for the exam instead of writing a s**tty report.

As for desktop support. It's easier to get into then you can progress really. Unless you have something amazing it's going to be hard to walk into a server job straight off without experience. Start at the bottom of the ladder as they say. (Then again Scotland might be different from England?)

Once you've got a bit of practical experience it's pretty easy to climb your way up.

 

[Cliotoby]

Im from England mate. I know where youre coming from with start at the bottom but the jobs Im applying for list server knowledge as a + point. So if i can back it up to some extent it might just give me the edge. Plus its only associate level its not like im sitting MCSE.

 

[dk]

i didn't think MCSA and MCSE existed these days, isn't it different now, MCTIP or something?

i doubt you could do the exams without a lot of really world knowledge and a lot of studying, theres a lot of content.

I have the 2003 MCSE.

I'm guessing adam isn't talking about an MCSE when he says its a piece of piss and he did it at 16, because it isn't, and i doubt you could pass it at that age, with no real world knowledge unless cheating.

 

[Cookie]

i didn't think MCSA and MCSE existed these days, isn't it different now, MCTIP or something?

i doubt you could do the exams without a lot of really world knowledge and a lot of studying, theres a lot of content.

I have the 2003 MCSE.

I'm guessing adam isn't talking about an MCSE when he says its a piece of piss and he did it at 16, because it isn't, and i doubt you could pass it at that age, with no real world knowledge unless cheating.

The amount of Indians with paper MS quals may disprove your theory a tad

 

[ThomasBrentnall]

i didn't think MCSA and MCSE existed these days, isn't it different now, MCTIP or something?

i doubt you could do the exams without a lot of really world knowledge and a lot of studying, theres a lot of content.

I have the 2003 MCSE.

I'm guessing adam isn't talking about an MCSE when he says its a piece of piss and he did it at 16, because it isn't, and i doubt you could pass it at that age, with no real world knowledge unless cheating.

It's MCITP now which is a combination of two MCTS's.

For example I have Windows 7, Configuring (680) so now I just need 685 then I will have [FONT=wf_SegoeUI]MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Support Technician on Windows 7[/FONT]

More information: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/mcitp-certification.aspx

 

[Adam.]

I'm guessing adam isn't talking about an MCSE when he says its a piece of piss and he did it at 16, because it isn't, and i doubt you could pass it at that age, with no real world knowledge unless cheating.

Please do no comment on something/someone that you know nothing about dk.

 

[MikeB85]

CBT Nuggets for Server 2012 MCSA are out now mate. I was going to upgrade my 2003 MCSA to 2008 but they are retiring the exam in a few months so just going to do the 2012 one instead.

 

[H182]

I keep getting emails from the MPC member site that you can study for MCSA 2012, so I assumed the courses were out. Even if they're not I think you'd be better off waiting and doing that rather than 2008 then upgrade.

 

[dk]

The amount of Indians with paper MS quals may disprove your theory a tad

Like I said, cheating, they know the questions and answers, that doesn't count, hence why you call them paper ms quals.

 

[dk]

Please do no comment on something/someone that you know nothing about dk.

I have done the mcse, so I can comment as I know about it, and I also know that a 16 yr old is unlikely to pass it without cheating, there's too much real world knowledge required to do it properly, something a 16yr old wouldn't have unless they were a child genius, are you one of those? Do you have an mcse you can prove you achieved at age 16?

You say the mcsa is quite advanced iirc, if you remember correctly, so you haven't done it then as you would know, and the mcse is a stage above that, you do know the mcse is about 7 or 8 exams right? You mention doing 1 exam instead of your paper at college.

so please don't insult my intelligence, you didn't do an mcse at 16, you may have completed 1 ms exam, the first one is pretty easy tbh, and the windows 7 one I got 1000/1000, so that one is piss easy and 1 ms exam gets you an mcp, nothing like an mcse. A proper mcse takes a couple of years to complete.

 

[Adam.]

I have done the mcse, so I can comment as I know about it, and I also know that a 16 yr old is unlikely to pass it without cheating, there's too much real world knowledge required to do it properly, something a 16yr old wouldn't have unless they were a child genius, are you one of those? Do you have an mcse you can prove you achieved at age 16?

You say the mcsa is quite advanced iirc, if you remember correctly, so you haven't done it then as you would know, and the mcse is a stage above that, you do know the mcse is about 7 or 8 exams right? You mention doing 1 exam instead of your paper at college.

so please don't insult my intelligence, you didn't do an mcse at 16, you may have completed 1 ms exam, the first one is pretty easy tbh, and the windows 7 one I got 1000/1000, so that one is piss easy and 1 ms exam gets you an mcp, nothing like an mcse. A proper mcse takes a couple of years to complete.

ok

 

[ChrisR]

Just to be really confusing the MCSA is back for 2013, replacing the MCITP

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/mcsa-certification.aspx

Really basically speaking you had:

MCDST (desktop cert), MCSA and MCSE (server certs) for 2003/XP technologies. You also had the individual exams which were MCPs.

Then they changed it for 2008 and brought in the MCTS to replace the MCP. You then also had MCITP status at various levels for various technologies, so there was a desktop one, server admin one, enterprise admin one etc.

Now looks like they have changed the names yet again.

As for which technology to certify in, personally I'd probably pick 2008 then do the upgrade exams to 2012 as a lot of places won't be touching 2012 for a while (hell a lot are only still just moving to 2008).

And don't knock the desktop ones as being easy, some of the Win7 ones cover a reasonable amount of stuff around the server side of deployment I've been told.

I never bothered really pushing the MS certs as it wasn't a career track I was wanting to go down, I do have one solitary MS cert in SCCM though.

A proper mcse takes a couple of years to complete.

Or 2 weeks on a boot camp?

 

[ThomasBrentnall]

Just to be really confusing the MCSA is back for 2013, replacing the MCITP

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/mcsa-certification.aspx

Really basically speaking you had:

MCDST (desktop cert), MCSA and MCSE (server certs) for 2003/XP technologies. You also had the individual exams which were MCPs.

Then they changed it for 2008 and brought in the MCTS to replace the MCP. You then also had MCITP status at various levels for various technologies, so there was a desktop one, server admin one, enterprise admin one etc.

Now looks like they have changed the names yet again.

As for which technology to certify in, personally I'd probably pick 2008 then do the upgrade exams to 2012 as a lot of places won't be touching 2012 for a while (hell a lot are only still just moving to 2008).

And don't knock the desktop ones as being easy, some of the Win7 ones cover a reasonable amount of stuff around the server side of deployment I've been told.

I never bothered really pushing the MS certs as it wasn't a career track I was wanting to go down, I do have one solitary MS cert in SCCM though.



Or 2 weeks on a boot camp?

There is a lot of deployment stuff involved in mcts, you are correct! It is rarther easy though, sat 680 at 16 (nearly 17 ) and only studied for one week

 

[dk]

Like I said, the windows 7 one 70-680 is piss easy, none of the others are on that level though, so don't let that lull you into a false sense of security, I got 1000/1000 in that exam, and that was as soon as it came out, so there were no study guides for it, but then you didn't need it, it's very easy, back in the day it was 291 that sorted the men from the boys.

And yes Chris, 2 week boot camp is easily doable, although a bit silly if you are then going to reply on the cert to get you a new job, because you will look very silly when you can't answer simple questions because you've just been taught how to pass an exam rather than the content itself.

I agree that the 2008 cert is the way to go for now and then do the 2012 upgrade. I am seeing a lot of customers dipping their toes in the water with 2012, I think the certs people need to concentrate on are going to be around sccm and hyper-v, that's going to gain a lot of traction in 2013.

 

[ChrisR]

Oh I agree David, doing the boot camp is a great way to get it done quickly for people but depending on the role you'd be relying on it for you could get caught out if that's the only experience you have. On the flip side the role could be in a place where you won't get 'caught out' and you'll be fine knowing what you know.

That side of IT is not a world I'm involved in anymore though, and even if I was I don't think MS certs are really on the cards at my current employer where I think the general attitude is where ever they can do without using MS products they do!

 

[iain187]

i didn't think MCSA and MCSE existed these days, isn't it different now, MCTIP or something?

i doubt you could do the exams without a lot of really world knowledge and a lot of studying, theres a lot of content.

I have the 2003 MCSE.

I'm guessing adam isn't talking about an MCSE when he says its a piece of piss and he did it at 16, because it isn't, and i doubt you could pass it at that age, with no real world knowledge unless cheating.

Yea there is still an MCSA but it's not been as we knew it for a while.
It kind of looks like the old MCSA but minus the elective.


They've changed the MS learning site around so ill look properly later but MCTIP sounds about right.

I have cocked up a bit with my certs. I've done the XP exam, the server 2003 exam and the 2008 networking. I've not had time so I've mixed generations haha. The exams themselves are no biggie.


I too doubt Adams claims but there's no point on calling him out because he makes the same claims every time a thread like this comes up and every time you say tell me more you get stonewalled - if you got a CV that said someone did their MCSA at 16 what would you do with it haha

 

[Darren S]

Itll look ok on my CV, having MCSA as well as a CCNA as a graduate and might get me that bit more interest. But at almost £300 for the 3 exams is it going to be worth it?

Honestly I dont think ill struggle with it and Im confident I could pass it with some effort. Rekon it would be a good idea?

Also Study guides for Server 2012 dont seem to be out yet so Im best sticking with server '08 ?

Personally, I'd go with 2008. It's an established platform and I think it's got a good few years left in it yet. Sure, it's appealing to get the latest insight on things like 2012 - but in real world terms, 2008 would be much more worthwhile, imo.

Anyways - you're already on a CCNA - which is what I'm studying at the minute!

D.

 

[dk]

Ccna is one of the hardest exams I have taken, all the Cisco certs I have done since have all been easier. I'm not a fan of how you can't go back on Cisco exams too, I used of like doing them once, and then Regina over all the questions to makes sure, now I can't do that with Cisco. And Hp exams are moving to a similar way too, where they have sections and once you've moved on to another section you can't go back over the previous questions.

Ive had to do loads of Cisco, Hp and netapp exams this year, I do more exams per year than I did when I was at school or uni, it's ridiculous.

 

[ChrisR]

Regina over all the questions to makes sure

You did what all over the questions you dirty boy??

 

[Darren S]

Ccna is one of the hardest exams I have taken, all the Cisco certs I have done since have all been easier. I'm not a fan of how you can't go back on Cisco exams too, I used of like doing them once, and then Regina over all the questions to makes sure, now I can't do that with Cisco. And Hp exams are moving to a similar way too, where they have sections and once you've moved on to another section you can't go back over the previous questions.

Ive had to do loads of Cisco, Hp and netapp exams this year, I do more exams per year than I did when I was at school or uni, it's ridiculous.

Exactly. Does seem a little draconian from my view. You done quite a few Cisco courses then, Dave? What was the difficult part on the CCNA for you?

Cheers,
D.

 

[Cliotoby]

A lot of people say that about CCNA. First time I sat it..... I sat down in the summer holidays after having a good few weeks of not giving a s**t and getting pissed (Id spent a year at college working on 2600 and 3560 gear and being lectured, and doing the cisco netacad exams), then revised sort of, then sat and failed it at about 75%. Sat it the following year in summer holidays and utterly f**king nailed it at 97%. 6 weeks of doing nothing but work or revise and I passed it, really dedicated my time and effort to that cert . Its a lot of info to digest if you've not done it before although having studied the CCNP units I often look back at CCNA for a few things, maybe to brush up prior knowledge, and worry Im reading the right book as there is so little to take in. What we talking..... 40 pagers per chapter for CCNA.

I could easily go back and pass the exam again although id need to brush up on my configs before hand. I want to pursue CCNP but I really dont want to over qualify myself for jobs especially when I have no experience, plus ive tried and had to break off to prep for interviews about 3 times in the last few months so ive given up now. Right now im writing tech notes on word for interview prep so I know anything on ccna level inside out but Im looking at sitting either CCNA security which shouldn't take much effort as ive previously studied it or MS Server. But I dont think I know whats involved with the MCSA as Adam says one thing and dK another. I have friends who say its a piece of cake. But I would want the full thing, rather than just one exam.

 

[dk]

You did what all over the questions you dirty boy??

FLOL, gotta love autocorrect sometimes!

 

[dk]

Exactly. Does seem a little draconian from my view. You done quite a few Cisco courses then, Dave? What was the difficult part on the CCNA for you?

Cheers,
D.

theres just so much stuff to cover for a kind of introduction to networking. Plus I did the 2 courses back to back and then did the combined exam, so i probably made it more difficult on myself, but i didn't want to have to do 2 exams. I found all the routing stuff and all the different wan stuff complicated, as its not really in my area of expertise.

This year I've done the CCDA, the on the datacenter certs I've done the UCS, Unified fabric and storage networking courses and exams, so thats 4 design courses.

on top of that though I've had to do hp 3par training, and net app training and exams amongst other stuff.

It seems to be never ending, the first week back from the break i have another cisco course and exam, then another net app course and exam, then a hp blade one, and then another hp 3par one after that. Then, a lot of he cisco stuff for datacenter is changing so i then have to do another USC course for the implementation side.

HARD CORE!

 

[Cookie]

The CCNA is only difficult because of the amount of knowledge you have to consume, and much of it is completely irrelevant (Frame Relay ffs!)

I still haven't bothered to sit my CCNA exam, did the ICND1 + 2 courses earlier this year.

 

[ChrisR]

Have to say don't miss being that much of a techie anymore

 

[Cliotoby]

Im stumped at what I should do next.

My CCNA expires this year and after an embarrassing technical interview in November I decided to re learn my CCNA to the f**king letter and even open up my CCNP book while im at it. I have got most of the way through it again with about 2 protocols left; OSPF and EIGRP (Id forgotten dynamic VLANS existed FFS ive not touched this s**t for 2 or 3 years) so Now wouldnt be a bad time to retake my CCNA, that way I can say Ive re certified.

I also want to sit 640 554 CCNA Security, but theres stuff in there that bores the s**t outa me and I was lectured on 640 553 so will have to relearn the lot. Foundation learning guide is 700 pages so its a good 6-8 weeks with my brain. I also want MSCA just to say I have it but really dont want to shell out a f**k ton of money.

Still havent got a job FML and Im working 48 hour weeks playing silly f**kers in retail. Companies take the piss to get back to you, Im waiting on about 4 interview dates now.

At the same time I dont want to book an exam because everytime I sit down to revise I get an interview half way through and break off to prep for that.

 

[Longy]

I really could do with upgrading my MCSE but just finding the time and funds. Be interesting to see the 2012 exams wonder how much will be Powershell.

 

[Darren S]

The CCNA is only difficult because of the amount of knowledge you have to consume, and much of it is completely irrelevant (Frame Relay ffs!)

I still haven't bothered to sit my CCNA exam, did the ICND1 + 2 courses earlier this year.

FLOL - tell me about it! FR was almost a dodo back in '97 when I started in IT

D.

 

[*Badger*]

CCNA is a ball ache purely because of the shear amount of information you are required to know a little bit about.

www.9tut.com is a brilliant resource for the CCNA. All the labs are on there, and if you want to find out what labs are on the exam itself then that's on there too in the comments section. Some of the test questions are also those from the exam.

Purists will say its cheating doing test exams etc, but Cisco ask you between 48-55 questions on the CCNA from a bank of 900. To memorise all the questions you'd need to have a pretty good memory and tbh it'd just be easier to remember the subject matter itself. I use practice tests to confirm my knowledge, and where needed highlight areas of weakness to work on.

Another great resource for Cisco are the CBT Nuggets videos, Jeremy is a legend, I can't remember his surname, but he is the don when it come to Cisco training IMO.

There are versions of 9tut for the CCNP track too, Route, Switch and TShoot.

However it gets a bit harder to find resources when looking at the CCSP stuff. Wish I'd got on board sooner tbh as the CCIP track (now extinct) is easier!

 

[dk]

CCNA is a ball ache purely because of the shear amount of information you are required to know a little bit about.

www.9tut.com is a brilliant resource for the CCNA. All the labs are on there, and if you want to find out what labs are on the exam itself then that's on there too in the comments section. Some of the test questions are also those from the exam.

Purists will say its cheating doing test exams etc, but Cisco ask you between 48-55 questions on the CCNA from a bank of 900. To memorise all the questions you'd need to have a pretty good memory and tbh it'd just be easier to remember the subject matter itself. I use practice tests to confirm my knowledge, and where needed highlight areas of weakness to work on.

Another great resource for Cisco are the CBT Nuggets videos, Jeremy is a legend, I can't remember his surname, but he is the don when it come to Cisco training IMO.

There are versions of 9tut for the CCNP track too, Route, Switch and TShoot.

However it gets a bit harder to find resources when looking at the CCSP stuff. Wish I'd got on board sooner tbh as the CCIP track (now extinct) is easier!

its cheating however you look at it, they aren't practice tests, they are actual test questions, thats an advantage however you look at it.

 

[Cliotoby]

LOL at that site. Whats the point.

 

[Cookie]

I know plenty of people that have used that site to pass CCNA/CCNP, and I wouldn't let them near my network

 

[*Badger*]

its cheating however you look at it, they aren't practice tests, they are actual test questions, thats an advantage however you look at it.

As I said in my post if whoever choses to memorise the entire bank of 900 questions rather than learning the content then more fool them.

It's one thing to pass an accreditation and another level of understanding entirely to use that knowledge on a live network, as you need much above that to implement or manage a network, QoS for example which is on the CCSP track!

 

[ChrisR]

Still havent got a job FML and Im working 48 hour weeks playing silly f**kers in retail. Companies take the piss to get back to you, Im waiting on about 4 interview dates now.

Getting that first job will be the best thing you can do, keep plugging away at it.

What sort of role do you want, and where abouts in the country?

 

[Cliotoby]

London ideally, GF lives there and will be buying a house down at the docklands in Sept. So want to move in with her. But would settle for anything really cant be choosy.

Network Engineer, junior or graduate. Im looking at 1st line support roles as well for ISP's. Anything will do I guess! GF rekons itll be a LOT easier for me to find a job once im working in London.

 

[ChrisR]

Well probably one of the best places to be for it so just keep applying to anything and everything you see.

 

[KDF]

The CCNA is only difficult because of the amount of knowledge you have to consume, and much of it is completely irrelevant (Frame Relay ffs!)

A-FN-MEN to that. Especially the irrelevant stuff !

Felt like I was wasting my time, even the relevant stuff I already knew most of.

I found the official material to be confusing and long winded.. Their explanation of subnetting is shockingly bad.