Certification Question

techie2012

I am wondering if my certification time frame is reasonable. I have the A+ and will have the Network+ either by the end of this month or sometime near the beginning of October. I will also get my Security+ before the end of the year of course. However, my question is if I could achieve a MCSE by at least the summer. I have a good amount of experience with Windows and feel like I will soak in the information rather easily. I am just looking for some insight as to what I should focus on near the beginning of the year when i begin to take my tests for the MCSE because I have heard that it is very detailed. Thanks!

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Comments

earweed

You plan on getting the MCSE in 6 months?

gosh1976

What kind if windows experience do you have? Is it mostly client experience? or do you have quite a bit of server 2003 experience? Not that I have experience with the MCSE exams but that seems a like it might be a little over ambitious unless you are working with server 2003 and AD on a day to day basis. Actually it might be a bit ambitious then too. You are talking about sitting and passing 8 exams.

If you aren't working with server 2003 on a daily basis have you thought about taking the net+ and sec+ and then doing the MCDST while you still can? Then you could do the Win 7 upgrade and after that think about maybe taking the 70-640 or one of the server 2003 exams?

techie2012

gosh1976 wrote: »

What kind if windows experience do you have? Is it mostly client experience? or do you have quite a bit of server 2003 experience? Not that I have experience with the MCSE exams but that seems a like it might be a little over ambitious unless you are working with server 2003 and AD on a day to day basis. Actually it might be a bit ambitious then too. You are talking about sitting and passing 8 exams.

If you aren't working with server 2003 on a daily basis have you thought about taking the net+ and sec+ and then doing the MCDST while you still can? Then you could do the Win 7 upgrade and after that think about maybe taking the 70-640 or one of the server 2003 exams?

Well, I have some experience with Active Directory and 2003 and 2008 server administration with a small business but nothing large scale. I program server side applications with Java, HTML, CSS and SQL mainly for database and web servers but I think that I was mistaken and it should be the MCSA that I am going for first?

jovan88

Anything is possible! What's the rush though?

techie2012

jovan88 wrote: »

Anything is possible! What's the rush though?

Trying to get an actual IT job is like pulling invisible teeth in the city I live and it seems just to get a tier 1 helpdesk job, I need a bachelors degree or 5 years experience.

techie2012

earweed wrote: »

You plan on getting the MCSE in 6 months?

9 months!

Psoasman

I would start with the MCSA and see how you like it. At that point, you could continue onto the MCSE and do the 2008 upgrade. Since you already have some experience, the MCSA should be a good starting point.

techie2012

Psoasman wrote: »

I would start with the MCSA and see how you like it. At that point, you could continue onto the MCSE and do the 2008 upgrade. Since you already have some experience, the MCSA should be a good starting point.

Thank you for your advice. Now I have heard that there are 4 exams to get your MCSA and that you can substitute an elective with the A+ and Net+ and then another test with the Sec+ and then all you have to do is take the last two tests. Is this correct?

willhi1979

techie2012 wrote: »

Thank you for your advice. Now I have heard that there are 4 exams to get your MCSA and that you can substitute an elective with the A+ and Net+ and then another test with the Sec+ and then all you have to do is take the last two tests. Is this correct?

No, that's not correct. For the MCSA, you need a client OS exam (XP, Vista, or Windows 7), two core exams (70-290 and 70-291), and an elective. The A+ and Net+ or the Sec+ counts as the elective.

RobertKaucher

techie2012 wrote: »

9 months!

I did it in just over 6 months. I passed my 270 on July 10, 2007 and achieved the MCSE Security on Dec 19, 2007. That was about 8 months total of study, but it included a CompTIA (Sec+) exam and a failed 70-291.

I say go for it. But continually review or you will forget things. There is a lot of theory to digest.

Psoasman

Depending on what client you are using XP or W7, I would do either the 270 (XP) or the 680 (W7). Then do the 290, 291.You can use either the Net+/A+ OR the sec+ for your elective. You will want to get your electives from CompTIA transferred to your MS transcript, too.

I think it took me about about 10 months to do the MCSA, along with the A+, N+,sec+, but I was a noob starting out.