Is it really worth just going to the MCSA or should you power through to the MCSE?

Thoughts? I am asking, I have never had either so obviously my opinion is rather weak. I do see MCSE 3:1 or more on job req's.

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CelticKevin

I am sure that the MCSA is valuable in its own right, but having the specialization of the MCSE is superior. There are some very sought after skills in both of those MCSE areas, particularly in BI.

i will certainly earn the MCSA, and then I will take a little time off from studying to evaluate my next steps. I lean slightly towards the BI track for MCSE right now.

antielvis

It would depend on where you are in your career. If you're a server analyst, yes, the MCSE would make more sense. If you're in Help Desk, then the MCSA makes more sense. It's unlikely you'd jump from Help Desk to a senior role.

Way way back in the day one of the thing made the MCSE worthless was that so many junior or entry level people had obtained the certification. It dumbed down the certification and made it look cheap. Of course there were other reasons (like how easy it was to brain **** it) too but anyway.

N2IT

Sorry for the LATE reply. What about for a Business/Data Analyst on track to be a Data Architect?

RobertKaucher

For either of those you will need one of the MCSEs. But I will be honest, for a data architect sort of role your SQL Server cert is a nice to have. It might get you noticed by HR but what is going to count is theory, theory, theory and then tons of practice. A lot of that is not MS specific or specific to any technology it's understanding data modeling to a very high degree.

N2IT

Robert I agree it's very complex, I might top out at senior Business analyst or Data analyst. No shame in that but you are right having that level of detail with the data is crazy complex.

RobertKaucher

I'm not telling you that you shouldn't dream big, just that that an MCSE is probably just one step on that path. But I can say for sure that people who have those skills at that high of a level are very few and command a high salary. Didn't we talk about the JavaScipt API for Office applications a while back? Check these out:

D3.js Gallery - d3.js is a JavaScript lib for data visualization.

And Tributary

Tributary is an experimental environment for rapidly prototyping visualization code. The environment provides several useful libraries, as well as a simple interface for live code editing. We call these shareable code examples inlets.

N2IT

Thanks for the follow up.