Is mcdst going to be out of date soon?

george.cgeorge.c Member Posts: 23 ■□□□□□□□□□
Im new to the microsoft exams and wondered if I should skip the Mcdst exams and start on to the mcitp exams is this a good move? Just wondered how long will xp be around for?
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Comments

  • SieSie Member Posts: 1,195
    XP / 2003 will be around for a good while yet, whilst there is some early adopters of Vista and will be of 2008 it will be a while before these become mainstream.

    Microsoft currently has no plans to retire the MCSA 2003 or the MCSE 2003 and I dont see them doing it for some time if at all.

    From the MS Site:
    The MCDST credential will not retire with the release of Windows Vista certifications; it will continue to be supported by Microsoft and valued by employers and decision makers who use Microsoft Windows XP.

    What track to follow really depends on what you currently do / are aiming for.

    Do whats relevant to your current work and what future work you want to know, MCDST is a for Helpdesk Technicians. Also after you pass this you can always take the 70-621 upgrade exam to become a MCITP: Enterprise Support Technician if thats the path you choose.

    So really depends what your job is, what your working with (XP/Vista) and what you have the most experience with :D
    Foolproof systems don't take into account the ingenuity of fools
  • nelnel Member Posts: 2,859 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Like sie says, the 2003 platform will still be supported for a few years at least yet. i would go for the mcsa/mcse 2003 track if i were you. if you do, i would do the vista exam instead of the xp so it will be a viable option if you wanted to upgrade to 2008.
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    Bsc (hons) Network Computing - 1st Class
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  • bleScreenedbleScreened Member Posts: 73 ■■□□□□□□□□
    george.c wrote:
    Im new to the microsoft exams and wondered if I should skip the Mcdst exams and start on to the mcitp exams is this a good move? Just wondered how long will xp be around for?


    Heck I know people that are getting jobs that haven't updated their NT 4.0 certs. Even if the MCDST gets phased out tomorrow, it will still be a viable cert for getting a pretty good helpdesk job for a few years.

    Go for it man! It is a great two test legit certification you can get fairly quickly in order to get your IT career started while you working on bigger certs.
    Working on MCSE 2003 and B.S. in Networking
  • Daniel333Daniel333 Member Posts: 2,077 ■■■■■■□□□□
    Most large companies have a life cycle of about 4-5 years on the desktops now days, so you will see XP disappear, I guess 2012-2013? You gotta figure at my bank we are still running hundreds of Windows 2000 pro machines and dozens of 2000 servers. We even have a few virtualized NT4 machines. (we even run a number 16bit apps!)

    You won't go wrong either way, the install base of XP/2003 will provide work for years to come. And the Vista/2008 deployments will only grow. Plus the technology is pretty inter-operable.
    -Daniel
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