15yrs in IT going for MCSA....can it really be that hard?

I have never attempted to get a certification for any software. In my 17 years of IT I have always worked at small-midsize businesses supporting upwards of 400 employees and $500M in revenue and as low as 100 users with $60M in revenue. I have been desktop support all the way to a Director. Hence I have always worn many hats. Greats skills in sys admin, AD, exchange, data, etc...

I give you my background to ask legitimately (read: not arrogantly) can it be that difficult to get certified? Part of me says no I got this but the other part say Hell yes after taking some practice tests and purchasing some reading materials.

Any insights, suggestions, or comments would be greatly appreciated since I do not know what to expect.

Thanks!

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Comments

cyberguypr

Welcome aboard. I did my MCITP when doing desktop support and having limited Win server experience. Totally doable if you have the drive and put in the time studying and labbing.

BigTexIT

Thanks! Do you recommend paying for practice test that are almost the same price as the 70-740 exam? Almost seems stupid to do that. I have only purchased the greenish/yellow paperback book for the 70-740. I just see everyone talks about how tough these exams are so I am not sure how much too study before I take the exam.

Jon_Cisco

I'm on the other end of the spectrum. IT has always been a secondary part of my job in a much smaller environment.

With 15 years of experience in the industry you should already be familiar with a lot of the background information. What you need to do now is cover the exam material to fill in the gaps on anything that might be new features or areas your companies simply did not use. Perhaps you are familial with VMware but you will need to learn some of the specifics of Hyper-v for the certification.

Honestly if I was in your position and really interested I would just schedule a test for about a month from now and just go for it. It is certainly not something to be afraid of since Microsoft lets you take the test 5 times!

Good Luck!
Jon

malachi1612

I did my MCSA Server 2016 in less than a year. 13 years of desktop support but hardly any server experience.

It's hard but can be done with motivation and use study materials to fill in the gaps you are unfamiliar with.

backtracker

Jon_Cisco wrote: »

Honestly if I was in your position and really interested I would just schedule a test for about a month from now and just go for it. It is certainly not something to be afraid of since Microsoft lets you take the test 5 times!

^^This.

Give 740 a shot if you think you might be ready. There is nothing to lose except the financial cost of the exam and the potential bruised ego if you don't live up to your personal expectations (actually either of those could amount to ALOT depending on your perspective). There is no substitute for sitting the actual exam in the testing center.

Jon_Cisco

herath wrote: »

"It is cheaper to get them on eBay."

Herath appears to be a spam bot for ebay knockoffs.

gespenstern

It's hard. It's much easier when you already conditioned yourself for this self-learning lifestyle and have lifestyle inertia to help you. But starting it after 15 years is going to be psychologically hard.

BigTexIT

Thanks everyone for your input! I am halfway through the book. Microsoft has (suprisingly) had some helpful information in the virtual academy. edX seems like it has been great resource as well. I will book it for 2or3 weeks from now to finish up on the training. I will let you know how it goes!

Hawk321

The big problem with M$ is that their Q&A's are some kind of insane stuff. If you worked with AD and Powershell for years (not that dummy mouse pushing guy), most stuff will be easy for you.
Microsoft has a problem with good cert guides, 2012r2 was a total disaster and the whole concept changed with 2016 and gladly you get now for each exam a pearson book.

Just a advice: Do your exams step by step, let the stuff mature.

Panther

malachi1612 wrote: »

I did my MCSA Server 2016 in less than a year. 13 years of desktop support but hardly any server experience.

It's hard but can be done with motivation and use study materials to fill in the gaps you are unfamiliar with.

Wow, you all have me motivated. I'm several years in IT too, tier 1 and 2 support and no on the job server experience.