MCSA office 365, MCSA windows 8.1 vs Linux + for more job opportunities now

Alee83

MCSA office 365, MCSA windows 8.1 vs Linux + for more job opportunities now


Good day to you my fellow members...

I am currently a customer support or basically help desk for real estate group in West Texas and I have started studying on TestOut and CBT Nuggets and really been a bit confused on a area of focus at least to start on. It is a coin toss between my MCSA Office 365 and Windows 8.1 or to go the Linux route and do the 3-1 option for Linux+ test where you can get both your Linux + and LPIC 1 with Suse CLA. I am debating on which option will be more valuable to me right now, any advice? I don't know if this is true but there is so much talk about how hot Linux is in the market but I feel that what is valued and respected is Red Hat certification which has a huge cost behind it or you have to move up a few levels after your Linux+ before being taken seriously in the IT field. I like Linux and run Linux mint and Open Suse at home currently on systems I mainly use and then have windows 10 laptop and tablet. So would I be better off going with my windows MCSA to start off getting a new job with or the Linux route?

Chinook

I'd recommend you do what you most enjoy. If you go down the MCSA Office 365 route, I'd toss in Windows 10 rather than Windows 8.1. In the next year or so you'll start seeing lots of deployment work appear. The O365/Win10 route will open lots of doors for you for desktop support & management positions.

Getting into the Linux realm is probably going to be a bit more difficult. Junior Linux Admin positions are going to expect you to understand Linux, Apache & have basic scripting skills. I'd toss in storage & virtualization skills as a big plus. The "entry" level positions in Linux are often at Internet Service Providers, startups & hosting services.

Back in the 90's my professor explained to me "If you choose Linux, focus entirely on that path and nothing else". In hindsight, I realize he was right. There is many benefits to pursuing a career in Linux/UNIX/BSD. The pay is excellent and job security is almost guaranteed. And many of the old timers are retiring. But, the journey is a long one.

Side note: If would use Linux Academy for Linux training over CBT Nuggets. While Shawn Powers at CBT is a great trainer, Linux Academy "is" all about Linux (and Cloud). I was looking at the Linux Essentials training on Linux Academy. It's almost 17 hours and impressively in-depth. They also have LPIC-1 & part of the LPIC-2 track. It's only 25 bucks a month too. It also teaches you things like MySQL, Python, etc which are huge benefits in the realm of Linux

Good luck. And PS, the Office 365 exam is pretty tough (346). Read the book and lab the hell out of your 30 day trial(s).

Alee83

I kind of felt like Linux was a long journey as you explained and I may be interested in the future like 3-5 years down the road. So is Windows 8 and 8.1 pretty much phased out because it seems most businesses if they left XP are on 7 and maybe considering the jump to 10 now, but I don't see much use of 8? I also had read a article stating it to be better to start a MCSA office 365 route over the OS like 8.1 if you are going to go for your MCSE, and wondering what the opinion is of that with other IT workers and experts?

Chinook

Windows 8.1 was never really adopted in the Enterprise though you will find some of it in the SMB marketplace. The larger firms mostly stayed on Windows 7 because of the familiarity of it. Last thing you want to do is have millions of lost user hours because they can't find the start button they are used too.

the MCSA in Office 365 makes sense at both the Desktop level & for anyone looking for an upcoming career in Cloud Computing. A year down the road you'll start to see demand for Office 365 as larger firms start adopting O365 and leaving behind the internal Exchange environments. I think you'll see significant upgrading to Windows 10 in the next 24 months. Windows 7 is getting long in the tooth.

Where does Linux fit in? Well not anywhere really though if you focus on Cloud, Linux skills are a higher priority. What you might try to do is find a firm that has a mixed network (Linux and Windows) and get a foot in the door and work your way up.

It's admittedly really difficult to get a 'starter' job in the world of Linux unless you work at a web hosting firm or are fortunate enough to live in a high tech corridor. If you do want to master Linux then get yourself into a tech gig and focus your studies on Linux. You'll pick up the Windows stuff along the way.