Microsoft Office Specialist Exams?

NewITGuy1

Hey guys,

I am new here. I have a CompTIA A+ exam currently. I am wondering if I should get the Microsoft Office Specialist Master certification. I want to start off in the help desk field. Is this a good certification to get? If not, what should I get?

systemstech

NewITGuy1 wrote: »

Hey guys,

I am new here. I have a CompTIA A+ exam currently. I am wondering if I should get the Microsoft Office Specialist Master certification. I want to start off in the help desk field. Is this a good certification to get? If not, what should I get?

I'd focused on other certs. This cert seems slightly worthless.

G.O.A.T

I disagree, many helpdesk jobs want you to know about office applications, certificates prove (to some extent) that knowledge. Go for it, I plan on getting 4-5 of these office certs.

Pseudonym

These office specialist exams are geared more towards people actually using the software, not people configuring and troubleshooting it. The only office related stuff you'll probably have to configure in a 1st line job will most likely be outlook, any troubleshooting will be more than likely Windows based and not specific to office. Network+ will be more helpful for you, in my opinion. I don't think any employer will ever want you to have in depth knowledge about excel functions... etc. As mentioned by a previous poster, these are pretty irrelevant for a tech.

OctalDump

I know more than one person who got an IT job because they could do "amazing things" with Excel. Depending on who is hiring you and what for, it can pay off.
The average nontechnical user knows Word, Excel etc, but rarely intimately. So, if you can show off some skills in this area, it can impress them far more than something they have no idea about like creating SOEs, deployment, network troubleshooting etc.

Yes, it's silly and not really 'technical', but sometimes it what people expect of the "IT crowd". Although, they'll probably then ask you to design a website for their cat...

Pseudonym

I can see what you're saying mate, and while I agree they're not absolutely worthless if somebodies asking 'what should I spend my time on to increase my employability as an IT tech?' - Surely having a basic grasp on networking is going to prove more beneficial than the 1 in a thousand question someone might get about excel? I get a hell of a lot of problems with loss of connectivity and virtually none about using Office.. Maybe that's just me?

si20

I've only studied for the MOS Excel exam - and I failed by 1 point! (I was studying my BSc at the exact same time to be fair). The excel course/exam was very enjoyable. I went in there thinking: "I'll spend 1-2 days studying and wont have trouble passing". I couldn't have been more wrong.

The exam does require you to know some very useful knowledge about excel and being a Microsoft exam, it's not afraid to fail you if you don't meet their expectations. If you have a few weeks to set aside and learn all the features, you'll breeze the exam. Don't underestimate the exam - it's not extremely hard, but it does require more study than I had time for.