Not sure what to do next ...

woodworm

Sorry for asking the same question again, I've read through other posts but can't make my mind up what to do next.

I have just completed my MCITP-SA (woo hoo!) but now I'm not sure where to go next. I feel as though it would be 'easiest' to continue along the same track and work towards the EA certification, but wondered if it would be more valuable for me to work towards a second MCITP (such as Virtualisation or Exchange) or something totally different such as CCNA.

I'm unsure as my job may be under threat in the near future and this may influence my decision as it would be more beneficial to me to do Exchange or Virtualisation certs if I were to stay in my current job but maybe the SA + CCNA would look better on my CV if required .... If the worst were to happen at work I guess I would still be in position for another 6 months so hopefully have the time to add something else.

Whichever route I go down I will need to spend some money building a new test lab.

Thanks for reading.

Essendon

Yeah such a decision is always a tad difficult to take. Thing is you can never really tell if what you are going to do is going to be good for you. That said, if I were you I'd concentrate on system engineering certs. I reckon you'd have a better chance at getting a rewarding specialised job administering say Hyper-v, instead of being a jack-of-all-trades patching ports, building servers, and copying configs on to switches/routers.

Of course, some folks would say you should broaden your skillset, but you can only be brilliant on one/two things. So I suggest going in for Exchange/Virtualisation depending on what you like doing. Exchange 2010 is taking off quite well, atleast in Australia, and Virtualisation is going to be hot for the foreseeable future.

woodworm

Hi Essenden, thanks for your reply.

I wouldn't mind being brilliant at one thing never mind several! At the moment I'm thinking I will continue along the EA track as some of that stuff is still fresh in my mind after finishing the SA last week.

It was much easier in the days of MCSE + elective!

nhan.ng

you can always study hyper-v/exchange/share point next if you want to stick with the MS route for now.

add CCNA/vmware VCP later if you have time:)

Essendon

woodworm wrote: »

Hi Essenden, thanks for your reply.

I wouldn't mind being brilliant at one thing never mind several! At the moment I'm thinking I will continue along the EA track as some of that stuff is still fresh in my mind after finishing the SA last week.

It was much easier in the days of MCSE + elective!

Good idea to finish off the EA while you still remember the stuff from the SA. Just a word of advice, both the 643 and 647 are not-so-easy exams, the 647 moreso. Take your time to prep through these and I'd recommend installing Hyper-v and playing with Hyper-v VM's.

woodworm

Thanks for the advice chaps.

I'm rebuilding my test lab on a newer machine using Hyper-V. We also use this at work so I have a little experience with it, though not enough knowledge to pass any exams (yet!).

I plan to start with the 643 exam (though annoyingly the R2 version of the book isn't out in the UK until the end of July). Do you think it would be easier to do the 647 first? I've just finished the 646 for the SA and believe they are similar.

Essendon

No I firmly believe doing the 643 will assist in the 647. You will be tested on Hyper-v on the 647 and also Remote Desktop Services and before I forget, IIS too.

You dont have to wait for any books to come out, read up TechNet, all the info you ever need is there and is there for free!!