Latest MCITP: EA

undomiel · December 2008

Just passed my last exam, 70-620. So now I'm a 2008 Enterprise Administrator! For some reason I just can't get the same level of excitement for it as I did with the MCSE. The difficulty level wasn't really comparable to the MCSE exams. The 620 was extremely disappointing. Sure I only pulled an 850 but the questions for the most part were A. dumb answer, B. dumb answer, C. not quite as dumb answer, D. right answer here here here ding ding ding ding ding. I knew it was supposed to be an easy exam but someone could pass it without ever having used Vista before, and that includes the simulations. I feel the same way about the 647 & 649 as well. Someone could pass those without having used Server 2008 before. They'd just need to make sure they'd read the white papers before hand. Maybe once they get some sims they'll be more respectable. I don't know, over all just rather disappointing. But I still hope it does the job of making me look more attractive to employers!

Back to full time job searching and maybe I'll crack open that RHCE book again as well.

drainey · December 2008

Congrats!!!

Claymoore · December 2008

Congratulations! MCITP:EA in two days may be a record.

I have 649 scheduled for Monday morning. I passed 620 back in September and plan on taking 647 in January. Hope to be joining the MCITP:EA ranks with you soon!

Slowhand · December 2008

Congrats on the pass, and the new cert.

I think I understand what you mean about the excitement-factor. The MCSE has (or had) a huge buildup to it, everyone wanted it, and it's ultra-sought-after by employers. The MCITP is still fresh, doesn't have as impacting of a reputation just yet (but it will), and after all. . . it's your "second enterprise-level cert" from Microsoft. Everyone gets nostalgic after their first time.

Enjoy the holidays, celebrate a little extra to bask in the afterglow of passing, and good luck with those Red Hat studies.

snadam · December 2008

congrats!!! Add that to your CV and go get 'em!!!

im just glad its slowdown time at work soon. I can finally get back on track with my MCSE, and so forth.

blargoe · December 2008

Congratulations!

undomiel wrote:

I knew it was supposed to be an easy exam but someone could pass it without ever having used Vista before, and that includes the simulations. I feel the same way about the 647 & 649 as well. Someone could pass those without having used Server 2008 before.

Are these exams really easier than the previous generation, or is your previous experience with
XP and 2003 translating into making the correct answer more obvious? Just curious

undomiel · December 2008

blargoe wrote:

Are these exams really easier than the previous generation, or is your previous experience with
XP and 2003 translating into making the correct answer more obvious? Just curious

Combination of both. The questions are closer to be CompTIA questions in that they are directly to the point. They felt almost formulaic at times. The answer a lot of times could be figured out through deduction and not necessarily through knowing the answer. Which is probably what saved me on the barrage of TS questions.

The 649 made me sweat a little at first but the 647 was pretty breezy. The questions are not as involved and don't make you think as hard as the MCSE line of questions I believe. The Vista exam though, I felt was laughable. My wife probably could have passed it, or at least come really close, and she's not a tech. The sims you can get through by just clicking around until you find what you need to do, reset, and then go through it straight away. The questions were not particularly impressive either. I actually feel a bit bad for not having pulled a 1000 on it and blame myself for being a slacker. Of course I just could have been lucky in my questions and I will confess to browsing around one of the sims until I found what I needed. I was just hoping for something a bit closer to the 270 in difficulty deep down inside. It wasn't even really fun. I preferred the 647 & 649 as there was the fun of problem solving in there.

blargoe · December 2008

I'm beginning to wonder if I should even bother with this one or find a bigger fish then. I've heard others say this one was comparatively very easy.

dynamik · December 2008

undomiel wrote:

So now I'm a 2008 Enterprise Administrator!

Congratulations!

snadam wrote:

im just glad its slowdown time at work soon. I can finally get back on track with my MCSE, and so forth.

Anti-congratulations! You're such a slacker!

snadam · December 2008

dynamik wrote:

undomiel wrote:

So now I'm a 2008 Enterprise Administrator!

Congratulations!

snadam wrote:

im just glad its slowdown time at work soon. I can finally get back on track with my MCSE, and so forth.

Anti-congratulations! You're such a slacker!

its not like i havent been learning...just not getting papers for it!!!

you make it seem like i sat around and played videogames all day long... :P

jibbajabba · December 2008

Congrats and I agree with you.
I got more excitement out of my VCP than I got out of my 2008:SA and 2008:EA combined.

When I finished the EA I actually made up my mind never to do a Microsoft OS based exam anymore (rather applications such as SQL). It is just not the same anymore .. Looking forward to work for my RHCE tho ..

amp2030 · December 2008

Congrats!!!

Mishra · December 2008

Well sweet. Are you balancing studying for certs and looking for a job pretty well?

undomiel · December 2008

No real balance, after I finished testing I've been throwing pretty much everything in to the job searching. Though this week is really difficult because tomorrow I'll be in Michigan for a week for Christmas with the parents. But I'm just doing what I can. The studying will happen whenever I need to take a break from the job searching, since that will look less slackerish to my wife than playing video games.

preecy · December 2008

Congrats on the achievement

I feel the exact same way. It took me 2 years to get through my mcse and it was no walk in the park like some people suggest! It only took me 4 months to get my mcitp:ea and i found it much easier than expected. The vista exam was a complete waste of time and money, that exam (in its current form) should have no part in the mcitp path. 70-649 & 70-647 werent very difficult either. As already mentioned, usually 2 of the possible 4 questions were ridiculous. If you know your 2003 stuff well and have a an once of common sense you can probably pass the two exams with little study.

blargoe · December 2008

As different as 2008 is from 2003, I'm really disappointed that it's as easy as you say. Everyone and their mother will be ITP's on 2008 and not have a clue what they're doing.

bliznako · January 2009

Congrats on the cert!
I must say I completely agree about the Vista exam, it is staining the whole MCITP:EA...

However, I am under the impression that even Windows Server 2008 itself was made much more "noob friendly" so to say, from installing to maintaining and so on, at least the common stuff, that a lot of the smaller companies use. I even came across some material that is repeating itself in the 70-640 and 70-642, or even some stuff from Vista exam to the 70-640.

Considering that most of the MCSE here have quite a lot of experience with WS 2003 and XP and the lack of "gotcha" questions on the exams, it adds up to the feeling of easy breeze when going through this learning curve.

NetAdmin2436 · January 2009

Congrats!

undomiel · January 2009

I'm not quite sure I would rate Server 2008 as more newbie friendly than 2003. The install while prettier is still basically like a Server 2003 install. IIS might be more user friendly it is hard to say. Coming from IIS 6 I keep running into the roadblock of option-isn't-where-I-remember-it problem but it may be easier for new users. I already know some wannabe admins (they were programmers) at the last job locked themselves out of their own server configuring the firewall. So I would rate it as taking about as much skill as 2003. Just my take though, other's mileage may vary.