Where to start with Microsoft certs?

I am looking to add a few certifications soon as I prepare to graduate. I have an A+ cert along with roughly two years of IT experience. I'm debating on whether to start with Windows 7 or Windows Server. Any thoughts or recs on which one of those routes might provide a higher point of entry from a career standpoint? I'm leaning towards Server 2008. I'm not sure if Server 2012 and Windows 8 is mainstream enough at this point.

Thanks!

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MrSharp

It all depends.
What are ur 2 years of IT experience in and what are you hoping to go into?

re:server 2012/win 8 being mainstream - it really depends on the company that you are/will be working for. What I;ve tended to see is that the bigger companies are slower with the uptake of newer OS'es whereas the smaller companies upgrade quicker (and more easily!)

AU5

MrSharp wrote: »

It all depends.
What are ur 2 years of IT experience in and what are you hoping to go into?

re:server 2012/win 8 being mainstream - it really depends on the company that you are/will be working for. What I;ve tended to see is that the bigger companies are slower with the uptake of newer OS'es whereas the smaller companies upgrade quicker (and more easily!)

My prior experience is pretty wide ranging, but most of my work was dealing with Windows servers (AD, Exchange, a little bit of Dynamics). I also did a good bit with Symantec Backup Exec. I dabbled a bit with our Asterisk phone server, but I'm certainly not proficient. I also handled a lot of client support calls for our vendor software and all day-to-day desktop/printer/phone problems.

I'm not picky at this point as far as how my career begins, but I eventually want to get into the software/programming side of things. I hope to be able to take classes to add a CS degree to my current degree in Finance (strange, I know). That being said, I feel like any realistic opportunities will be at a desktop/server system specialist type role. I should add that my previous company was very healthcare oriented which I hope to use as a selling point. The city I am in offers a healthy amount of healthcare related positions.

MrSharp

In that case maybe I would say start off with 70-640 (will give a good overview of win2k8 server AD environment) or for a more desktop orientated one go for 70-685 or 686 (either of these combined with 70-680 will give you a MCITP on windows 7 and u'll have until end of jan 2014)

Some guys would recommend you go straight for the 2012 exams, so maybe look into that aswell. What do others suggest?

If ur in the States, I believe that MS exams actually count towards your degree which is a plus.
From what I've seen, developers get paid a good proportion more than the equivalent support guys on the same level so if you're interested in that could be a promising career path.

There are MS certs related to developers but I know next to nothing about them so my doubt my advise there would be useful.
Perhaps ask in the developers forum...
Microsoft Developers Certifications Forums

AU5

Yeah, I believe you are probably right. 70-640 is probably a good place to start and would hopefully allow me to enter on the server support level and progress upward from there. As far as 2008 vs 2012, I believe there is an MCSA upgrade exam to transfer a Server 2008 cert into a Server 2012.

Thanks for your advice.