Why Aren't The: MCITP:SA & EA That Popular?

teksource1984

Techies,

I'm currently pursuing my MCITP:SA & EA. I currently work as a help desk analyst and have an A+ certification to my name.

I have seen at several job boards that the MCSE 2003 is still MUCH more popular in terms of job keywords then the MCITP series.

It has been 3 years since Microsoft rolled out the new exams and yet they haven't picked up much steam.

My biggest concern is that if I attain the SA & EA certification, it will not either (A) get me a more challenging position or (B) there just won't be any jobs that I can apply for

What do you guys think ? I live in the Seattle,WA metropolitan area and as of today there are only 7 job postings for an MCITP vs. at least a 100 for the old MCSE 2003.

Also, do I have to wait until MS finally pulls the plug on the 2003 exams before I put my 2008 credentials to good use ?

My main question is this..............is it worth pursuing the MCITP series and will it net the dream support engineer or system admin/server analyst position that im trying to attain ?

QHalo

http://www.techexams.net/forums/mcts-mcitp-windows-2008-general/61258-mcse-dead-long-live-mcitp.html

za3bour

I think this will change this year, for me that's HR fault they aren't exposed to the new technologies and MCSE is a popular term while MCITP is still not.

teksource1984

ahhh.............I see

za3bour

My advice to you is to study the 2008 material and get MCITP but also to have some experience with the 2003 material since it's still widly used and by this you can say you have 2003 experience in your resume in addition to MCITP certs.

earweed

za3bour wrote: »

My advice to you is to study the 2008 material and get MCITP but also to have some experience with the 2003 material since it's still widly used and by this you can say you have 2003 experience in your resume in addition to MCITP certs.

+1 Also there are a lot of similarities between the 2 and once you get to the SA/EA test you'll feel as if you're actually studying a lot of both as a big part of those exams seems to hinge on transitioning between the 2 and working with the 2 in co-existence.

Zentraedi

earweed wrote: »

+1 Also there are a lot of similarities between the 2 and once you get to the SA/EA test you'll feel as if you're actually studying a lot of both as a big part of those exams seems to hinge on transitioning between the 2 and working with the 2 in co-existence.

Hmm, this makes me wonder...

Is this to say that if one were going for both the SA and EA, would it be OK to prep for both simultaneously and then just take both exams in the same week?

Or is there enough mutually exclusive material to warrant focusing on each exam sequentially?:

Hopefully some of the EA/SA can answer this.

za3bour

Zentraedi wrote: »

Hmm, this makes me wonder...

Is this to say that if one were going for both the SA and EA, would it be OK to prep for both simultaneously and then just take both exams in the same week?

Or is there enough mutually exclusive material to warrant focusing on each exam sequentially?:

Hopefully some of the EA/SA can answer this.

Well that's a tough question, I had to think about it a lot I can honestly say that I don't recommend this but it seems doable. They do share a lot but their strategy is different so to save you from confusion I recommend that you finish one then do the other. Both of them require some refreshment from previous exams though.

Devilsbane

za3bour wrote: »

I think this will change this year, for me that's HR fault they aren't exposed to the new technologies and MCSE is a popular term while MCITP is still not.

You can't just blame HR on this one. They don't just randomly throw a job description together. Usuaully they put down what is requested from the manager. (I was talking with my manager recently, and he had no idea that MCP was going out the door)

MCSE will remain a popular term for sometime, and while the MCITP title will eventually catch on, there is really no telling when. That is why I opted to go for the MCSE while I still can, and upgrade it later.

earweed

Devilsbane wrote: »

You can't just blame HR on this one. They don't just randomly throw a job description together. Usuaully they put down what is requested from the manager. (I was talking with my manager recently, and he had no idea that MCP was going out the door)

MCSE will remain a popular term for sometime, and while the MCITP title will eventually catch on, there is really no telling when. That is why I opted to go for the MCSE while I still can, and upgrade it later.

Agrre with him on this even though I opted to go straight to the MCITP:EA. Most places that I've applied to and/or interviewed with in my area are stil on 2003 so the MCSE is still viable. That being said though eventually companies will be forced by MS to upgrade from 2003 and then the MCITP will be more valuable. I don't see this happening soon but it will eventually.

MentholMoose

Zentraedi wrote: »

Hmm, this makes me wonder...

Is this to say that if one were going for both the SA and EA, would it be OK to prep for both simultaneously and then just take both exams in the same week?

Or is there enough mutually exclusive material to warrant focusing on each exam sequentially?:

Hopefully some of the EA/SA can answer this.

Check the exam requirements:
MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT Professional) | Training Courses for IT Professionals

If you are doing the EA, you can get the SA by simply taking one more exam (70-646). As the SA is 640, 642, and 646, it is a good option to do 646 after 640 and 642, then continue on with the rest of the EA. This is the order I used to get the SA and EA: 640, 642, 646, 643, 647, 680.

Zentraedi

MentholMoose wrote: »

Check the exam requirements:
MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT Professional) | Training Courses for IT Professionals

If you are doing the EA, you can get the SA by simply taking one more exam (70-646). As the SA is 640, 642, and 646, it is a good option to do 646 after 640 and 642, then continue on with the rest of the EA. This is the order I used to get the SA and EA: 640, 642, 646, 643, 647, 680.

Thanks for the info. Well, I guess after thinking about it, I'll focus on SA first and then go for the EA.

Also, after reading around here, it seems like it might be easier to do 643 before 646, so that's the plan for now. 643->646->647.

Anyway, seeing as how you are a MCITP: VA, do you have any insight on when I should do the 70-659? I'm pretty interested in the material, but should I do that before the 646 or 647? Would I be in a better position with SA and EA under my belt before I tackle that?

MentholMoose

Zentraedi wrote: »

Also, after reading around here, it seems like it might be easier to do 643 before 646, so that's the plan for now. 643->646->647.

I don't think that's the case. The 646 is the Pro exam corresponding to 640 and 642, and 643 doesn't help.

Zentraedi wrote: »

Anyway, seeing as how you are a MCITP: VA, do you have any insight on when I should do the 70-659? I'm pretty interested in the material, but should I do that before the 646 or 647? Would I be in a better position with SA and EA under my belt before I tackle that?

I did the VA after getting the SA and EA. It's good to get through the EA rather than splitting it up.

Zentraedi

MentholMoose wrote: »

I don't think that's the case. The 646 is the Pro exam corresponding to 640 and 642, and 643 doesn't help.

Hmm, well now I'm confused. ??:

I saw this:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/mcts-mcitp-windows-2008-general/62509-passed-70-646-a.html

He mentioned:

Also for those who doesn't have much hands-on practice on Server 2008, then may be logical step to take 70-643 first, because exam full of questions about RDS and IIS.

That does worry me since I don't have much experience with either.

Hmm. Think I should lab with the 643 RDS and IIS material at least?

earweed

Probably a good idea to lab with IIS and RDS. The 646 study material should be adequate to acquaint you with those technologies also.

Povilas

earweed wrote: »

Probably a good idea to lab with IIS and RDS. The 646 study material should be adequate to acquaint you with those technologies also.

Actually - no. Maybe my MSPress book was outdated but it doesn't cover IIS and some other topics enough. And talking about labing - this exam is WHY? type and not HOW? type. Questions require wide knowledge of MS technologies, but doesn't require to have deep knowledge of any of them and labing may help you in real life, but in this exam you may benefit from reading briefs about as many MS products as possible (for example: Sahrepoints, Virtualization solutions, System Center products and so on). However exam doesn't expect you to know HOW to install or configure them, only to know WHY you should use one over other (Enterprise vs. standard, System Center Essentials vs. Configuration Manager).
I advise to take 643 just because you have to take it anyway if you going for EA and taking it before 646 is not required, but may be beneficial (at least couldn't do any harm), especially if you don't have experience.

And if you work as single server administrator with 5+ SMB companies, with 10+ servers, with no two servers alike, and almost any company has Sharepoints, IIS, SQL, Exchange, Terminal server and ten different custom apps running on them - in this case you may not need 643 before 646