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?

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shon541

If you know the material, you have a couple of days. The alternative is taking 70-680 and 70-685 for Windows 7.

Devilsbane

The Alternative is going to Windows 7.

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

Devilsbane

shon541 wrote: »

If you know the material, you have a couple of days. The alternative is taking 70-680 and 70-685 for Windows 7.

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!

shon541

Devilsbane wrote: »

A couple days, and if you don't make it you lose a bunch of money.

That was my point. If you know the material, it wouldn't be too hard. But I agree with you, he would be better off going with the Windows 7 certs.

Devilsbane wrote: »

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.

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!!

ehsan103

Thanks for the replies,

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?

Devilsbane

I agree with the thinking of getting certified in what is out there. But if Microsoft isn't going to let you then there isn't much you can do. In another posting on techexams, someone has a couple sources that show XP only makes up about 50-60% of the PC market. Every day that passes that number will drop as more companies migrate all or part of their pc's up. Mainstream support for XP has already ended, and the extended support will end on April of 2014.

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.