MCP Career Advice :s

Syy

Hi Guys,

Ive been a stealth member for a short while checking of the wealth of information available here (great site)

So im coming to the point in my career where i want to take the next steps but im unsure what direction to take.I know ultimately its my decision but im hoping you guys may be able to help clear the air a little for me

Ok so a little about me, im 29 i work in Desktop Support for a large Pharma company supporting over 700 users.I have a little over 4 years experience and a CompTIA A+ to my name (although studied it ages ago now).

Ok so here i my dillema, in short i would like to study a course that will offer me the most value in terms of my career, open up more doors for me,increase my earning potential and generally make me more appealing to an employer..

Windows Server 2012 is very appealing as it looks like it brings alot to the table in terms of virtulization and cloud computing which are both buzz words in the industry at the moment,however i do not have any server knowledge so i would be starting from scratch and it looks as if there is very little study material out there at the moment...

Another interest for me is SharePoint 2010.I work with it daily. I administer multiple site collections as a power user and develop custom solutions and workflows for our department.I am keen to learn more about the platform.however again I am unsure what i need to do to take that interest to the next level?

Could i study for the ms exam? or would i need to have the underlying server knowledge before i go ahead with the SharePoint exam? and if did need the server knowledge can anybody advise what course i should study before hand?

Im sorry for all the questions , im very confused to be honest and all i know is what i like but im not sure what i need to do to take my it to the next level. It would be really great to here from anybody either in the same position as me or who has been for some advice..

Cheers guys

Simon

SteveLord

The MS exams are more difficult than CompTIA and often many lengthy scenarios you have to read through. There is also likely going to be something you're tested on that you've never had to apply in a real world scenario.

If you have no server experience, those types of exams will be challenging. And you may end up losing much of that knowledge if you do not end up applying it shortly after.

Syy

Steve,

That sounds like sound advice, thank you..

The problem is if dont have hands on experience with servers, and it is likely i will not be able to pass MS exams without the hands on experience how can i progress within my careers?? Im currently stuck in the Desktop Support and i just dont know how im going to move on at the moment

any advice appreciated

joshmadakor

SteveLord wrote: »

The MS exams are more difficult than CompTIA and often many lengthy scenarios you have to read through. There is also likely going to be something you're tested on that you've never had to apply in a real world scenario.

If you have no server experience, those types of exams will be challenging. And you may end up losing much of that knowledge if you do not end up applying it shortly after.

^ This is exactly why I don't like MS exams. They area really damn difficult, and a near 40%-60% of the material you are tested on for any given exam, you will NEVER use. If you like SharePoint, I suppose it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a SharePoint exam, since you have the opportunity to work on it daily.

On another note, SCCM seems to be hot right now. I have SCCM 2007 and 2012 on my resume and I get a lot of calls, so you might want to look into that. If you don't already use it at your work, maybe you could adopt it. A fully functional, working SCCM environment makes life a lot easier, I've gotta say.

lantech

The exams should be really difficult. That being said there is no reason you can't get experience on them. Even if you don't have a job working on servers you can always build yourself a lab. When I got my MCSE back in the stone ages that's what I did.

If you want to start working on servers then the MCITP Server 2008 EA seems to be the way to go right now. Especially for someone new to working on servers. There is limited information on the MCSE 2012 exams right now. Yes, you can gain the knowledge but it will be by reading Technet and white papers on 2012.

I don't know anything about the Sharepoint certifications. Maybe a better idea would be to ask this question in the MS section of the forums. They will have more information about not only the Sharepoint exams but the server exams as well.