Shall I go for MCSE or MCITP?

tosmci

Dear Experts, I am not a pure IT guy but works as a Control Systems Engineer. Our application softwares runs in W2K3 and the latest version which was released in 2011, runs in W2k8 Server OS. Our control system will have Servers and Client machines in a Windows Domain Environment.

My main intention is to gain a strong basic knowledge of concepts of Windows Server OS and Security like DNS / AD / Remote Access /VPN / Domain/ Windows Security etc... Hence I thought of doing either MCSE or MCITP. I do have some basic knowledge in MS 2K3 and I have CCNA certification.

Now I'm really confused whether to start with MCSE or MCITP? If i directly start with MCITP, will it cover all basic concepts? or shall I do MCSE and upgrade it to MCITP?

regards,
Abhilash

phoeneous

tosmci wrote: »

My main intention is to gain a strong basic knowledge of concepts of Windows Server OS and Security like DNS / AD / Remote Access /VPN / Domain/ Windows Security etc...

MCSE. Even if you do just MCSA you will gain a ton of knowledge.

Dakinggamer87

I would recommend MCSE

Cthu1hu

I say MCSE as well, than you'll have a solid foundation when you upgrade. Seems like when I went for mine, there was a lot of "heres whats different than Server 2000". I would imagine it would be the same now.

Shadly1

I'd just like to point out... you asked this question in an MCSE thread

mikedisd2

If you're just after the knowledge, don't bother with either. Just read and learn the technologies that apply to your job; you don't need certs for that and doing the comprehensive set of MS certs takes alot of time and money.

If you want the certs for future considerations, go with the MCITP; it will cover all the items you're after as well as up to date concepts of design. The MCSE won't have enough longevity to make it worth while and more employers now render it passe.

N2IT

mikedisd2 wrote: »

If you're just after the knowledge, don't bother with either. Just read and learn the technologies that apply to your job; you don't need certs for that and doing the comprehensive set of MS certs takes alot of time and money.

If you want the certs for future considerations, go with the MCITP; it will cover all the items you're after as well as up to date concepts of design. The MCSE won't have enough longevity to make it worth while and more employers now render it passe.

+1

Well said and I agree

tosmci

Thank you very much to who replied on my thread. I am behind knowledge of MS concepts. But if I could gain knowledge and add a certification to my CV, it would give me an edge over others.

I have decided to prepare for MCSE and complete it within 6 months (not sure if that much time is enough) and upgrade to MCITP by next year. This is because 99% of customer sites have Win2K3 and only the systems going to be delivered from this year will run on W2K8. BY that time more and more customers upgrade to latest version, i will be an MCITP ..

Is 6 months enough to pass MCSE if I spend 3 hours per day? I have CBT / Microsoft IT Academy access/ and PDF format of all Microsoft books for MCSE in addition to Mark Minasi's book on W2K3. Which will be better to use as I have limited time ?

RobertKaucher

tosmci wrote: »

Thank you very much to who replied on my thread. I am behind knowledge of MS concepts. But if I could gain knowledge and add a certification to my CV, it would give me an edge over others.

I have decided to prepare for MCSE and complete it within 6 months (not sure if that much time is enough) and upgrade to MCITP by next year. This is because 99% of customer sites have Win2K3 and only the systems going to be delivered from this year will run on W2K8. BY that time more and more customers upgrade to latest version, i will be an MCITP ..

Is 6 months enough to pass MCSE if I spend 3 hours per day? I have CBT / Microsoft IT Academy access/ and PDF format of all Microsoft books for MCSE in addition to Mark Minasi's book on W2K3. Which will be better to use as I have limited time ?

It is hard to say. If you have already been working with Server 2003 for a few years then that should be ok. It took me 8 months to complete my MCSE Security but I was literally putting in 3 hours a day and 6-8 hours on my days off. I failed the 70-291 once. It is possible - but it will not be easy. If you have the CCNA the 70-291 might be easier for you than it was for me. I would say the MCSA, almost certainly could be done in 6.

Jander1023

Personally, I wouldn't waste the money and time on the MCSE. However, if you aren't very strong on 2003, then you might want to read through the MCSE books before doing the MCITP track. I read the 290 and 291 books before starting my server 2008 certifications. It did help.

Also, the 2008 books cover many things related to 2003. Many comparisons of how it was in 03 were given to compare to the new changes in 08. So, IMO, you learn about 03 and 08 while obtaining your MCITP. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for only getting your MCSE.

You can certainly do both, but that is a lot more time and money. Anyho, that's my 2 cents.