Is my MCP Certification from 2002 no longer valued?

metalone4

I certified as MCP in 2002, passing the 210, 215, 228, and 229 exams. Then from 2003-2015 I was employed, working as a Technical Analyst. I always intended to update my certs, but never had the time until now. My experience is pretty current, but this cert is obviously very old. I don't think it ever "expired" but the exams themselves that I took are retired. Is this cert relevant or valued any more? Should I advertise it on my resume? I still have the transcript.

cyberguypr

We are talking 13-14 years old. If you come across my desk for an interview you better wow me in some other way because such old certs certainly won't impress me. Honestly, my first thought would be "if this guy hasn't updated a cert in 13 years, i doubt he will now". I understand life gets in the way an whatnot but again, 13 years is an eternity in IT terms. On the other hand, some places do not value certs that much so it may not be a big deal after all. T

I'm assuming the IT market in San Diego is competitive. I personally like to keep my pool of options very wide. If I were you and looking to leverage MS certs for my next job, I would start working on grabbing a current cert ASAP.

UncleB

I'm with cyberguypr on this - it doesn't take much effort to keep your certs up to date ( probably giving up most spare time for a month each year) and the cost is low (US$30 for the book and $200 for the exam for each cert) plus if you know your stuff as you say then it should be a walk in the park.

As a recruiter I would ignore these certs as they are for technologies that are no longer used - this leaves you with your charm, intelligence and experience to win me over, assuming you even get shortlisted for an interview which is unlikely without the certs to differentiate yourself from the herd of other applicants who probably have them.

For you they should be cheap and easy to do, so why not just do it?

thanks
Iain

metalone4

Thanks guys. Don't get me wrong, I am going to update my Microsoft certs, I'm just asking these questions to determine in which order I should take certain exams. As I said, my Microsoft experience is much more current and I still stand the chance of impressing while interviewing. After much thought, my plan is VCP6-DCV, then 70-410, then probably 411 and 412. If I still have time left before I must start working, I want my CCNA as well. Time is the key factor for me. I will need to be working by the third quarter of this year and I think the vSphere cert is more important right now. I need certs under my belt to certify all my past experience. Thanks again for the feedback.

P.S. - I know it sounds like renewing certs every year should be cheap/quick/easy but it really wasn't a possibility for me at the time. Being the single father of two daughters took all my "spare" time and money. Not to mention the crazy overtime hours, and 24/7 support, which I'm sure you two are all too familiar with. I'm only able to do the certs now because I have the time and a lump sum of money to live on.

PJ_Sneakers

There are always short life vouchers for sale on some resale sites too, if you need to save cash.

metalone4

PJ_Sneakers wrote: »

There are always short life vouchers for sale on some resale sites too, if you need to save cash.

I was not aware of that, thank you!

renacido

I have almost the complete opposite point of view as the previous commenters.

Who would laugh a guy out of the interview room for having 13-year-old certs when they've been steadily and gainfully employed in IT during nearly the entire time since they were certified?

I'll tell you who: someone who doesn't value real-world experience.

Experience > certs > degree in my 23 years experience as an IT professional.

Yeah, you're better off with up-to-date certs. But the "value" of having those certs is getting found by recruiters or passing a cursory review of your resume by an untrained HR person. The hiring manager knows that someone who has been employed as an IT pro for 13 years is a more reliable hire than a fresher with certs that are so new the ink hasn't dried yet.

I have some "valuable" certs but they don't land me any job. My work history well-articulated on my resume lands me the interview. My depth of knowledge and expertise in my field which makes me an excellent interviewee, plus my excellent references, land me the job. The alphabet soup of certs makes me show up when job recruiters search Google and Linkedin.

Update your certs when you can, but go ahead and do a job search with your head held high.

metalone4

renacido wrote: »

I have almost the complete opposite point of view as the previous commenters.

Who would laugh a guy out of the interview room for having 13-year-old certs when they've been steadily and gainfully employed in IT during nearly the entire time since they were certified?

I'll tell you who: someone who doesn't value real-world experience.

Experience > certs > degree in my 23 years experience as an IT professional.

Yeah, you're better off with up-to-date certs. But the "value" of having those certs is getting found by recruiters or passing a cursory review of your resume by an untrained HR person. The hiring manager knows that someone who has been employed as an IT pro for 13 years is a more reliable hire than a fresher with certs that are so new the ink hasn't dried yet.

I have some "valuable" certs but they don't land me any job. My work history well-articulated on my resume lands me the interview. My depth of knowledge and expertise in my field which makes me an excellent interviewee, plus my excellent references, land me the job. The alphabet soup of certs makes me show up when job recruiters search Google and Linkedin.

Update your certs when you can, but go ahead and do a job search with your head held high.

Thanks for that. I've been stressing a lot recently, and this is good to hear. You touched on a point that I had in mind when I posted this thread, and you pretty much confirmed what I was wondering. And that is, if my listing MCP on a resume would aid in any way getting through the HR recruiting process. From what you say, it sounds like it might help a little. That said, I'm not interesting in trying to snow anyone, so I am continuing to work with Windows and studying for the new tests.

And an update on my post above, the part about going for VCP6-DCV...yeah, scratch that. I had no idea it was so expensive and that an approved VMWare course was needed to qualify for the exam (my bad). If an employer was footing the bill that'd be different but I just don't have a spare $4k right now. 70-410, here I come!

renacido

metalone4 wrote: »

Thanks for that. I've been stressing a lot recently, and this is good to hear. You touched on a point that I had in mind when I posted this thread, and you pretty much confirmed what I was wondering. And that is, if my listing MCP on a resume would aid in any way getting through the HR recruiting process. From what you say, it sounds like it might help a little. That said, I'm not interesting in trying to snow anyone, so I am continuing to work with Windows and studying for the new tests.

And an update on my post above, the part about going for VCP6-DCV...yeah, scratch that. I had no idea it was so expensive and that an approved VMWare course was needed to qualify for the exam (my bad). If an employer was footing the bill that'd be different but I just don't have a spare $4k right now. 70-410, here I come!

Some advice that might help in your job search:

- With your old certs, simply state you are a MS Certified Professional. No one cares when they see MS exam numerical codes in a resume. And spelling out that you are an expert on Windows XP/2000 doesn't do you any favors since those are past EOL and Microsoft no longer supports those.

- Focus your resume on achievements at work. Things you did, and how it helped your company and it's customers. THIS IS GOOD ADVICE FOR EVERYONE, NO MATTER HOW MANY CERTS YOU HAVE. Companies don't care that you can pass exams, they care that you can accomplish challenging assignments, you're reliable/responsible/trustworthy, you play well with others, you can adapt and adjust in times of adversity, etc. Certs are only valuable in demonstrating that you can learn enough about the topic to pass the exam. The exceptions to this are the rare certs that require validated proof of work experience in the field (CISSP) or involve practical lab-based exams (CCIE, OSCP) and not merely multiple-choice, pick-the-least-stupid-answer exams.

- When it comes to tech skills, build a simple table or list near the top of the first page and keep it succinct, so whoever reviews your resume can scan it in 10 seconds and have an idea if you meet their needs or not.

- Build a general resume but customize it for every position you are interested in. Send potential employers a tailored version of it that matches your skills and experience to the job description as best you can without lying or exaggerating. If you have a hard time doing this for a particular position, that's a fair sign that you're not well qualified.

- Be honest. Hiring managers (smart ones) look for 3 things: professional character (honesty, reliability, work ethic), cultural fit (ability to work as part of the team, alignment with company values, likelihood that they will show good judgment and make decisions that align with company goals), and ability to perform the core functions of the role. Notice that not one of those is "meeting every single item on list of desired skills and credentials".

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

tpatt100

If you were actively employed since you got your old certifications then you probably reached a point where the certifications are not as big of a deal anymore career wise. Of course depending on the type of work you do and your employer then they could be a big deal, I know some people who work for service providers so it's required they stay current with certs especially for contract work.

I don't even list my MCSE, MCSA, Citrix and some other certs because they are old and no longer relevant to my career. I am planning on getting back into the Microsoft cert game again because I really have no clue how to do much of anything with the newer Server versions.

stryder144

metalone4 wrote: »

And an update on my post above, the part about going for VCP6-DCV...yeah, scratch that. I had no idea it was so expensive and that an approved VMWare course was needed to qualify for the exam (my bad). If an employer was footing the bill that'd be different but I just don't have a spare $4k right now. 70-410, here I come!

Stanly CC has an approved course and it costs $185 or so. Once you complete it, you are authorized to sit for the exam. Not sure what version they are teaching (5.0, 5.5, 6.0), but worth a look. The only thing that kind of sucks is that they are so popular that they have a wait list. My advice, don't give up on the cert but it might be wise to put it behind the Microsoft certs, priority-wise.

OctalDump

Probably not. My experience is that most jobs don't /require/ certification, especially jobs where you have x years of experience in y different technologies, where x and y are both large.

My guess is that if an employer really cares about certs, the age would probably count against you, and if they don't then putting it down isn't going to help. Most employers will just care that you seem competent, and certifications are just a way to short cut to that.

Play up you achievements - how you delievered value to the business, how you helped the business achieve its goals and mission, how you exceeded and excelled. A few interesting recent projects filled with buzzwords helps eg Managed the migration of critical MS SQL 2012 business applications to cloud based IaaS platforms on Azure and AWS.

Once you are in the interview, you can talk to the questions. It's good to have a few projects you can talk through, problems encountered, resolutions, staff involved, business outcomes, what you learnt, what you'd do differently etc.

As far as your plans for certification go, given your experience, you might be better to focus hard on one area than have a grab bag of lower level certifications. Since the expectation is that you will be pretty good at what you do. A bunch of recent lower level certifications could make you appear less capable, ie "14 years in IT and he hasn't gone past MCP/CCNA? What's going on there?"

netsysllc

Experience is king however I have found that people who got certified on Windows Server 2000 and 2003 and never 2008 or 2012 still manage and operate 2008 and 2012 servers and environments just like the 2003 ones. The down side with that is none of the newer features or best practices are put into use. If I saw that on the resume my interview questions would include some that would test the current knowledge of Windows Server.

metalone4

netsysllc wrote: »

Experience is king however I have found that people who got certified on Windows Server 2000 and 2003 and never 2008 or 2012 still manage and operate 2008 and 2012 servers and environments just like the 2003 ones. The down side with that is none of the newer features or best practices are put into use. If I saw that on the resume my interview questions would include some that would test the current knowledge of Windows Server.

Yeah, that's true. I was trained somewhat on Server 2008, but not as well as I was on 2000 and 2003. Before I even start applying for a job I'm going to take Windows Server 2012 course(s), or at the very least, a bunch of labs.

Mutata

I asked recently and Stanly CC is still 5.5 ICM