Suggestions On What MTA To Take?

technicallydoing

Hello, guys. I am glad to find a good forum for these questions. I started in the IT industry in around 1999 and have a diploma which at the time was equivalent to the A+. Have been mostly hardware, somewhere around what you guys now call deskside support. However I found that I am a quick learner and most application/software issues are either a check box or a reload. I was very active in IT until around Win XP. For the last many years I have been working in the printing/imaging field which is nice because it allows us to know only a few things like drivers, services, SMTP, etc. These are all concepts that I have mastered as it relates to my line of work. Currently I am in a different role where I train other co-workers. I started studying for 70-680 and believe I could pass it if I really studied and spent a lot of lab time but don't feel real great about it. I am not interested in taking the A+ any longer since I have attempted to study for that off and on for years and really don't wish to commit useless BlueRay Disc specs to memory and **** $300. I will pursue the CTT+ since I can more than likely convince my employer of that one due to my role and maybe the Net+ since that seems to be the new A+. So, I have thought about taking one of the MTA exams to see just how far I am off from real MS certification. But of course that leads me to my next question: should I do the 98-349, 98-365 or 98-366? So my issues are money and practice. As far as time I can set at least an hour aside every morning. Keep in mind that is this is really more of a hobby/side thing for me since I don't use this daily in my line of work. Thanks guys!

Jon_Cisco

Welcome to the Forums!

I'm not sure I really understand your goal. Since you are doing this learning on your own with no apparent end goal I would say start with something that interests you. You indicate Net+ seems to be the new A+ so I am guessing you want some sort of marketability out of the certifications you choose.

I am currently studying for the 98-365 because while I have used servers occasionally I never had the reason or opportunity to learn much about what they were doing. I also feel like people will assume you can work with desktops if you can work with servers. So this certification is just a general way for me to demonstrate familiarity with Microsoft products.

My recommendation to you without any better understanding of your end goals would be to set up a nice virtual environment. It can be done fairly cheaply if needed but will allow you to play with different server and OS versions. I am using an ESXi server(free) and Workstation 11(paid) however to get started quickly you can use virtual box on most systems. The ISO files are available from microsoft for testing so you don't need much more then a machine with 4GB of ram to get started.

Itrimble

If you do want to take the MTA, then the CSTA program is offering free MTA and HP vouchers if you are a member.

Certiport

techno-kid

This depends on your interests and career ambitions

technicallydoing

I did sign up for CSTA but still not sure which cert to tackle first. I think I can rule out the 365 test since I am not really interested in servers at the moment. Just not sure if its networking or OS. Neither really are directly related to my field. I think building a lab at work is out of the question but I have a few PCs/laptops I can play around with at home. So I guess I just have to come up with whatever is the cheaper lab setup.

jaso

Hi,

when I'm looking at your current work profile, I would suggest something related to OS, since you are working mostly with systems connected to other OSs I would say the OS one is for your. I'm not sure if you learn anything useful from it as it is really basic knowledge about OS.

The 98-366 is partially theoretical and partially practical (troubleshooting mostly) and I'm not very sure, it touches something related to printing/imaging, especially chapters that focuses on theoretical part like WAN technologies etc.

For labs 98-349 something with client OS would be enough. For 98-366 would be better to have server OS, because there are some chapters with parts related to Windows Server roles (DHCP, RRAS etc.). Anyway one machine should be enough.

JaSo