IT Starter Career Advice

IT_Man

Ive been working in Corporate for around 6 years and I want to move out into IT.

Ive done A+ but I now have the option to either do an MCITP: Desktop Administrator & MCSA, OR, for roughly the same amount of money excluding exam fees, I can just go ahead and do the MCITP: Enterprise Administrator.

Im not quite sure which route to take. I have an agreement with a company that if I can pass two exams I can get a 6 week placement with an IT firm.

I'd much rather start the Enterprise route but if that's a beastly exam it'll take longer to pass, so not quite sure what to do.

Any advice would be appreciated,

thnx again, H

drew2000

My advice would be to go the Desktop route, unless you have experience in an Enterprise (DC's, GPO, DHCP, DNS, VPN, etc.).

You are setting yourself up for a more difficult journey by heading into the Enterprise stuff unless you have a lot of experience with it.

I would say get your initial certs and get the 6 week placement. Then work hard and knock their socks off and try to get a year or so out of your first job.

Sometime after 1-2 years in desktop, start working your way up into the Enterprise.

Just my $.02...Drew

IT_Man

Fabulous!

Many many thanks.

Jander1023

My 2 cents...

I am doing the MCITP-SA, Win7 Desktop Admin and the EA. However, if you want to get the Win7 Desktop Admin you will need a solid understanding of AD and Server 08. I took the 640 and 642 before doing the 686 and that knowledge was very valuable. Not sure I pass that exam without it. (Btw, I failed the 686 twice even with having already passed the 640 and 642.)

I guess it really depends on your current IT knowledge. However, you may notice a lot of people on this forum failing the 680. Part of the reason is the 680 exam includes a lot of material related to Server 2008.

I'd advise starting with the 640 and 642. There is a lot of overlap between the two and many people study for both at the same time. Get a book for each, such as the MS Press books. Also, I'd advise using some type of training videos, such as Train Signal or CB Nuggets. They can help you with getting a virtual lab setup, which is critical to learning the material.

Good luck!

drew2000

Also - Technet has a section called "Test Lab Guides." Check that out, they are the best hands-on labs I have ever used and they are free. They cover some topics that are on both Server 2008 and Windows 7 exams (DirectAccess, WFAS, IPv6, etc.).

Drew

KoolDavid

drew2000 wrote: »

Also - Technet has a section called "Test Lab Guides." Check that out, they are the best hands-on labs I have ever used and they are free. They cover some topics that are on both Server 2008 and Windows 7 exams (DirectAccess, WFAS, IPv6, etc.).

Drew

Hi Drew,
Where can I find this section Test Lab Guides?

LCA

KoolDavid wrote: »

Hi Drew,
Where can I find this section Test Lab Guides?

Test Lab Guides - TechNet Articles - Home - TechNet Wiki