Worth taking both MCSE and MCITP?

Xentia

I'm interested in pursuing a career in IT and have decided I will most likely take the Microsoft route over the Cisco route. Might end up getting CCNA later on, but for now I'll just choose 1 path. Can anyone who has taken both certs tell me if MCITP is just an updated curriculum from MCSE? Regardless of whichever cert will be the "standard" in the next couple years, if they cover different material, I'd want to take both just for the knowledge. And because 2 Microsoft certs would probably look better on a resume than just 1.

Now as far as MCITP goes, what would be the largest difference between SA and EA in the work environment? Also, which course would be the hardest of the 2 or do they both cover largely separate things?

Hyper-Me

For the most part they cover the same material.

the MCITP is geared more towards an "overall" enterprise environment, so it touches heavily on things like Terminal Services, IIS, some Sharepoint, Deployment, etc. I think the MCSE gives a richer, more focused approach to core concepts such as AD Domain/forest design, etc.

In "a couple years" the MCSE will be retired and no longer attainable. It might be worth it to do the MCSE to establish a cert "history" of sorts, but if you are just starting out I would go ahead and go for the MCITP: EA.