Which exam next?

Drunk-Admin

Afternoon all

I passed the 70-411 yesterday on the fifth attempt a massive relieve to have passed

So now for the MCS certification I am trying to decide which exam to do next.

The options are:

70-412 - Configuring Advanced Windows Server 2012 Services
70-409 - Server Virtualization with Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center
70-462 - Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases
70-346 - Managing Office 365 Identities and Requirements

In my current role, the 462 is probably most relevant (and would lead to just being one exam away from SQL MCSA) but I plan on changing role in the next month or two & was thinking either 412 or 409 - can anybody advise me which would be "easier" to complete or what experiences you have had with either of these exams?

Many Thanks

AndersonSmith

I opted for the 409 when taking my MCSA exams because the topics on the 412 didn't really pertain to my current job at all and I couldn't see most of them being necessary for me in the near future either. I'm also in the process of trying to virtualize a lot of my servers so virtualization was something that had already interested me quite a bit anyway.
As for which one might be easier, the 409 was definitely the easiest of the 3 exams I took (410, 411, and 409) and I passed on the first attempt with only 5 weeks of studying as opposed to the 11-12 I studied for the other two. It wasn't necessarily an easy test, but it was the easiest of the 3. A lot of the Hyper-V objectives on the 410 are also covered on the 409 so since I had already taken the 410 I had kind of a head start on a bit of it I think as well.
I can't speak for the 412, 462, or 346 because I haven't taken any of these but the consensus on this board that I've seen is that the 409 is the easiest of all of them.
I'd hate to advise you as to which one you SHOULD take next. Just take a look at the objectives of each exam and see which one fits you the best. If you're planning on switching job roles, having experience and a certification in that role may be of benefit to you. Good luck!

Drunk-Admin

appreciate that - i was looking at that and seems to be quite a bit of crossover to the 410 & 409 - will have another look & hopefully get stuck in to it this week,

thank you!

poolmanjim

TL;DR - 409 is considered easier. 412 aligns more with what is being asked from Sys Admins/Engineers right now. Take your pick. Either way you're an MCSA

The community consensus is that the 74-409 is far easier than the 70-412. I can't speak to that, I got my MCSA on hard mode and went for the 412.

I can say this about the objectives covered. The 409 is geared heavily towards Hyper-V and virtualization. Many companies have just begun adopting Hyper-V or are still still mostly VMWare. A lot of what you will see on the 409 will translate and apply as general virtualization knowledge. The 412 on the other hand covers a collection of different Microsoft technologies that have become increasingly common place.

With the 412 you see stuff like Federation Services and Certificate Services taking center stage with some outlying technologies like AD RMS, DAC, and DHCPv6 showing up. Federation Services used to be uncommonly used. It was complicated and difficult to use. Now with 365 and Azure becoming the next big thing we are seeing more and more Federation Services. Where there is Federation Services there is Certificate Services so you see the tie in there pretty quick.

Drunk-Admin

thanks guys - think i am gearing towards the 409 to be honest, will read a bit more on it & decide during the week. then get down to it.

appreciate the pointers

AndersonSmith

The good thing about the 409 imo too is that it doesn't focus ONLY on virtualization necessarily as it also touches quite a bit on Failover Clustering, redundancy, etc. All of the concepts are related to virtualization but they don't have to be applied only to virtualization.