Starting a mcsa

topstar

Hi all
I would like some advice, at the minute I have A+ ,N+, and Ccna intro and by the end of September hope to have passed my Ccna incd .

I am considering going to collage to attain my mcsa a two year course or I may do it from home I attended the Ccna academy semester 1+2 and over the summer finished semester 3+4 from home. I have no experience with Microsoft and if I study from home was thinking doing the mcdst first to give me a bit of a background into xp then starting on the 70-270.at the present time I am not employed in the It industry but was hoping to start looking for jobs in the new year.

Now for the questions
1. Which would be better home study or collage
2. Would the mcdst be a good place to start if I choose to study from home and if I started at the end of September could I achieve it by Christmas and 70-270 by June next year .
3. how hard would a mcsa course be compared to the Ccna

I would really appreciate any advice you could offer


Many thanks
Stephen

sprkymrk

topstar wrote:

1. Which would be better home study or collage

Well, a 2 year course sounds a little overkill for the MCSA. I think you only need 3 exams to obtain it since you already have A+ and Net+. That means you would still need 70-290, 70-291 and a client OS like 70-270. However, depending on the cost and how many hours per week the classes run, if you learn well in a classroom environment it might be worth it. There is nothing wrong with really nailing down a technology, taking your time, and passing 1.5 exams per year. Many people make the mistake of cranking out 6-7 exams in a year, then a year or two later they forget 80% of what they learned, then wait 3 more years to repeat the process. I'll never regret the 10 month NT4 MCSE course I took, nor the 9 month W2K MCSE course I took. The time you devote to slowly absorbing the information helps with retention. This might especially be the case for you since you are not working in the industry yet.

topstar wrote:

2. Would the mcdst be a good place to start if I choose to study from home and if I started at the end of September could I achieve it by Christmas and 70-270 by June next year .

Only if you think it will help you get a job. The MCDST won't apply toward your MCSA (since you already have A+ and Net+) nor will it apply toward an MCSE down the road.

topstar wrote:

3. how hard would a mcsa course be compared to the Ccna

Apples and oranges my friend.

Good luck!

Illusionking

sprkymrk wrote:

taking your time, and passing 1.5 exams per year. Many people make the mistake of cranking out 6-7 exams in a year, then a year or two later they forget 80% of what they learned

Experience and repetition are going to be key if you want to remember everything you work on. You may never work with shadow volumes or automated installations, if that's the case you'll most likely forget about it quickly.

Just a question though, if you're going for MCSA why even focus on Desktop Tech? Not that anythings wrong it with, but it's more of a server focus or a workstation focus.

topstar

Hi all
Thanks for the replies. I’m thinking of getting the mcdst for a number of reasons , it will help me get my first job which will probably be desktop support , and I was hoping it would make the 70-270 a bit easier as I have no real xp knowledge. But if you could tell me I could leave it out and still make it through the 70-270 that would suit me fine.

To tell you the truth I would love to just study for my ccnp as I have built a good foundation for it, but my chances of walking in to a networking job after Christmas would not be as good as getting a job as desktop support . The Ccna was not as bad as I thought it was going to be ( or as bad as I had made it out to be in my head as I did not think it was in me.) and now I am thinking the same for the mcsa and am probably just looking for some reassurance .

Any suggestions on were I should go from here would be really welcome


many thanks
stephen