Passed 70-237

HeroPsycho

Passed with a 952. WAAAAAAAAY overprepped for that one. LOL...

Not sure if it's that easy or if I just know Exchange 2007 really well.

Anyway, on to 70-238!

Prep materials used:

Sybex 70-237 + 238 exam prep book
Transcenders
Hands-on experience + E2K7 personal lab environment

CoryS

Gah I gotta take that one, I hate not having test centers conveniently located..

Congrats on the pass though, I hear this ones pretty easy. Good luck with the 238!

.. Anything out of the ordinary that you would recommend studying? I have been knee deep in 2007 for the last few months and I feel very confident with it but I am sure there are gotchas as there usually are.

dynamik

Wasn't your 236 score a little lower than you wanted? Is that why you overcompensated with this one

Congratulations all the same

HeroPsycho

Yeah, 700 for 70-236, but I honestly believe there was something wrong with my exam or workstation. That exam was really glitchy!

As for what to study, basically know your roles and best practices for them, how to make each highly available, what types of antispam technologies do what, how to institute ethical boundaries...

It's very much what you would expect for the most part of a design exam for E2K7. One of the more fair exams I've seen, and I think overall a good exam the more I think about it. That's encouraging because my last two exams? (70-351, 70-236) Not so much IMO...

And I gotta get 70-238 done, I've been in the Microsoft world too much, and it's definitely time for me to broaden my horizons with a major cert that's not Microsoft. Of course, I'll probably get dragged into Windows 2008 sooner than I'd like since I work for a big time MS shop, but I'd like to get something else like PMP, CISSP, or something storage related done.

snadam

congrats! You seem quite ambitious lately!

HeroPsycho

Lately?! When did I stop?

snadam

HeroPsycho wrote:

Lately?! When did I stop?

thats the spirit!

Thiassi

Nice score! Congrats.

dynamik

HeroPsycho wrote:

And I gotta get 70-238 done, I've been in the Microsoft world too much, and it's definitely time for me to broaden my horizons with a major cert that's not Microsoft. Of course, I'll probably get dragged into Windows 2008 sooner than I'd like since I work for a big time MS shop, but I'd like to get something else like PMP, CISSP, or something storage related done.

I know the feeling. I'd love to branch out, but at the same time, I kind of want to stick with it since I'm currently working with it, and it's fresh in my mind. I'm looking at the Enterprise Admin and Enterprise Messaging Admin after my MCSE. I might do that Sharepoint exam to get a little more familiar with that. Sharepoint seems like a cool technology that's really going to take off.

Do you meet the requirements for the CISSP, or would you just go for the associate? That'd be a great one to have.

HeroPsycho

Thiassi, thanks for the compliment.

Dynamik, I'm desperately trying to NOT get into Sharepoint. Yes, it's a very cool technology, yes it's going to take off and become increasingly popular, and for many people it would make sense. However, for my geographic area, my salary and career is maxed out being a Windows guy, and adding Sharepoint won't probably help me, and in fact might only cause me to gain a jack of all trades image.

With my experience working for Microsoft Premier Product Support for Exchange supporting 5.5 to 2003, and working from small to large clustered environments including large 10,000+ seat migrations, it makes sense for me to further my skills with Exchange 2007 to establish myself as an AD/Exchange superfreak. I've also added security skills and ISA to the mix there as they're Exchange related. The security stuff is more because my work at the time presented me with an opportunity to get into that.

But adding Sharepoint is probably not gonna help me unfortunately. However, I am trying to get my wife into IT doing that.

I am at a crossroads in terms of what other major area do I want to go into next. I have security experience enough to qualify for CISSP, so I could go that route. With military bases around, and my somewhat close proximity to Washington, DC, that could be a good avenue for a higher salary position with unparalleled job security. I also have a ton of experience troubleshooting storage performance issues with Exchange including when run on SAN's, not to mention my clustering experience involving SAN's (VMWare as well), so I could leverage that to go into storage. Or, since I'm a consultant, I could develop my soft skills more with PMP.

Already, I'm being tasked with a deployment of Office Communication Server, so it's tempting to get certified in that. Plus, I know I'm eventually going to have to do Windows 2008 for my current job. I'm getting pulled into more Windows related technologies, but I got to keep focused on what's going to help my career in the long run.

Decisions, decisions...

royal

Hero, it sounds like we're in the same boat and are very alike in our job functions. The only difference is you have a lot more experience and knowledge than I do. I've only really been in the field for a couple years and I started with Exchange 2003 (April of 2006 is when I began Exchange). I really like working with Clusters and Storage. I'm also beginning to work more and more on OCS. I just deployed Remote Call Control and Exchange UM and will be doing another RCC and UM project beginning next week with Live Meeting, Instant Messaging, PIC Federation, etc... Also, I want to stay as far away from becoming a Sharepoint guy as possible.

And congrats on the pass. I must be hated here, when I passed on 70-238 I had 2 people say congrats. *goes into a corner and cries* Hehe.

7255carl

congrats

sprkymrk

royal wrote:

And congrats on the pass. I must be hated here, when I passed on 70-238 I had 2 people say congrats. *goes into a corner and cries* Hehe.

Congrats Hero.

And royal, it's not that at all. What normally happens is that when we see you posted in a thread, that usually solves the problem and there is no need to post anything else. So when we see that you posted something we automatically think "case closed" and move on. :P

Oh and BTW, it was THREE people that offered you congrats.

Everyone click here and congratulate royal so he stops crying.

Mishra

royal wrote:

Hero, it sounds like we're in the same boat and are very alike in our job functions. The only difference is you have a lot more experience and knowledge than I do. I've only really been in the field for a couple years and I started with Exchange 2003 (April of 2006 is when I began Exchange). I really like working with Clusters and Storage. I'm also beginning to work more and more on OCS. I just deployed Remote Call Control and Exchange UM and will be doing another RCC and UM project beginning next week with Live Meeting, Instant Messaging, PIC Federation, etc... Also, I want to stay as far away from becoming a Sharepoint guy as possible.

And congrats on the pass. I must be hated here, when I passed on 70-238 I had 2 people say congrats. *goes into a corner and cries* Hehe.

Isn't that crazy. I'm always amazed at your in depth knowledge of skills in your career with only 2 years of being in the field. I've been doing this for 3.5 years or so and don't have near the detailed knowledge that you do.

HeroPsycho

Royal, I haven't been in this field that much longer than you honestly. First full time IT gig was Sept. 2004.

"Remember when I said, 'we're not that much differerent, you and I'?"

hetty

Congrats on the pass!