MCDST expiring on 30th... whats the alternative?
Hi everyone,
I graduated last year and got my first temporary help desk support job in October, which lasted for 3 months. Since Jan I have been looking for a job, i am getting the interviews but am always beaten by someone who has more experience. I want to learn for a certificate, was thinking about the MCSDT, but that is retiring on the 30th June, so no chance of getting that certificate at all. Any suggestions on other alternatives to the MCDST certificate?
I graduated last year and got my first temporary help desk support job in October, which lasted for 3 months. Since Jan I have been looking for a job, i am getting the interviews but am always beaten by someone who has more experience. I want to learn for a certificate, was thinking about the MCSDT, but that is retiring on the 30th June, so no chance of getting that certificate at all. Any suggestions on other alternatives to the MCDST certificate?
Comments
MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator 7
and/or
MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Support Technician 7
For the Desktop administrator you need the 70-680 and the 70-686. For Desktop support it is the 70-680 and the 70-685. So by doing the 680, 685, and 686 you can get both.
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/mcitp.aspx#tab2
A couple days, and if you don't make it you lose a bunch of money. At this point it is probably the better move to go on to the 70-680. You also have to consider that testing centers are likely already booked. At least where I live they are normally booked a week or 2 out, but you also have an extra load because people are trying to finish the exams retiring as well as use up their voucher packs that expire on the 30th.
If you want a windows XP cert, the 70-270 is very similar to the 70-271 but it isn't retiring and actually covers more technical information on the OS rather than supporting users.
And welcome to the forums!
Yeah no kidding! June is just an awful month to try and take a test. The testing centers in my area have been book solid for awhile now. It's a more than a little frustrating.
PS: Congrats on the MCSE:S!!
I would have started my reading for the MCDST today, so doing that certificate is out of the question. in regards to windows 7, as alot of companies are still using windows xp, wont it be a waste to do a certificate that i might not even use at the moment? or an option maybe to look into a MCSA certificate, which covers MCDST??. another question, when sitting for a certificate, you have to pass a number of exams e.g. 4. do i have to sit all 4 exams in the same session, or they can be done individually on different days?
By learning Windows 7, you might miss out on some of the XP specific stuff, but a lot of it is similar. It is mostly just a slightly different interface with some new features.
Like I said earlier, if you feel that you need to have a Windows XP certification, the 70-270 is still available. The MCSA is 4 exams mostly centered around Windows Server 2003. The 270 is on XP, the 290 and 291 are on server 2003, and then your elective exam can be just about anything. If you wanted you could make your elective be the 70-680 and be half way to having your windows 7 desktop support too.
EDIT:
Another thing to note is that the Vista exams went out in March.