MS MTA exams

techpatrick82

So i was looking at taking all 4 of the exams. My question is for 500.00 are they worth it.What do they look like on a resume? Do employers understand them. Should i save the money and just go after the MCSA windows 7, by taking the Windows 7 configuration and the windows 7 Enterprise Desktop support technician exams?

PJ_Sneakers

They are not worth $500, in my opinion. For $500 you could get training/books and an MCSA, which would be way better for your resume.

jaso

I wouldn't do all of them, but some can give you nice entry level information. If you work as a support already you would probably nail the 98-349, 98-365 doesn't make sense, when you can take 70-410 - it will be harder but it is worth much more (MCP, first exam towards MCSA etc.). I took the 98-366 because I wanted to test my knowledge and check the system of Microsoft questions, how they are asking etc. Right now I'm looking at 98-367.

Basically the MTA can give you a nice overview regarding the form of Microsoft questions and in my case it was a way to jump back to learning process. Especially when MTA exams cost much less in my country than in USA...

PJ_Sneakers

That is true about the MTA exams. They will give you a brief example of how the MCP-level exams are structured. Not the wording, but the way that some of the questions are presented (like table-based answers). I was actually pleasantly surprised at the complexity of the Server Fundamentals test. If I were to take one MTA as an intro to Windows testing, it would be that one.

SweenMachine

PJ_Sneakers wrote: »

That is true about the MTA exams. They will give you a brief example of how the MCP-level exams are structured. Not the wording, but the way that some of the questions are presented (like table-based answers). I was actually pleasantly surprised at the complexity of the Server Fundamentals test. If I were to take one MTA as an intro to Windows testing, it would be that one.

I agree with this. I took all four of the 'standard' MTAs before moving on. The Server one is the only one worth anything in my opinion. I don't know any employers that look for MTAs but they aren't a bad starting place..

-scott

Kandinsky

I took all four of the MTA exams too. I was fortunate that it was paid for by a back to school grant I qualified for. I'm not sure if I would have paid for them out of pocket if they weren't, but since they were, I figured why leave them on the table. The MTAs were the first IT certifications I earned, so in that respect, I do think they have value as a starting point. The server fundamentals exams was by far the most challenging of all of them. These are all relatively new exams just being introduced in 2012, so I'm not sure how many employers fully understand or are aware of their value yet. If you're looking for recognized entry-level certs I'd probably just shoot for the A+, Network+, etc. Also, one thing that was interesting to me, when I passed my first MTA exam, they also awarded me an MCP certificate. So if you don't have any previous MS certs, you can get both an MCP and an MTA on your resume just by passing one of the MTA exams.