Is pursuing an MCSE without experience an exercise in futility?

I've been in networking, and I'm really interested in switching and getting an MCSE, but I've heard that without administrative/Microsoft experience it's going to be very difficult to find a job. I don't want to have to start out as an assistant to the helpdesk janitor, either, in order to get my foot in the door, since my current job - though it isn't executive pay - isn't peanuts. Is it possible to get a job with one's MCSE without server experience? Has anyone done so?

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Turgon

Dr_Atomic wrote: »

I've been in networking, and I'm really interested in switching and getting an MCSE, but I've heard that without administrative/Microsoft experience it's going to be very difficult to find a job. I don't want to have to start out as an assistant to the helpdesk janitor, either, in order to get my foot in the door, since my current job - though it isn't executive pay - isn't peanuts. Is it possible to get a job with one's MCSE without server experience? Has anyone done so?

A lot of people with an MCSE and no experience are not going anywhere exciting fast. What you have heard is true and it isn't a new phenomenon either. If I go as far back as 1999 I recall an agent telling me he had to knock people back who trumpeted their MCSE's because they didn't have any relevent experience. Competition is high for jobs right now, the world is full of techies looking for work. The best you can do is accentuate the experience you already have in networking, press on with your studies and market yourself aggresively to get your foot in the door. You may well have to start on helpdesk, it really depends on how transferable your previous experience is in the desktop/server genre.

Forsaken_GA

I've been paying attention to the other threads you've posted, and it's fairly obvious you want to get the hell out of networking.

But any time you make a drastic shift in career, you risk having to take a paycut.

Especially right now, this is a horrible time to be job hunting. This is the time to work on your skillset. As much as you may hate your current job, take the time and work on the skillset for where you want to be, and ask your manager if there's any chance of cross training available for the field you're looking to work in. That would give you the opportunity to work on your skills and be able to put some honest experience on your resume.

dynamik

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

But any time you make a drastic shift in career, you risk having to take a paycut.

+1

While you obviously don't want to put yourself in a dire situation, you should focus on the long-term financial aspects as well as your overall happiness.

C4jun000

dynamik wrote: »

+1
you should focus on the long-term financial aspects as well as your overall happiness.

Exactly what I'm doing. I have zero experience, at least on my resume', that go along with my certifications, but my goal is to become a MCSE and I'm sticking to it. I was on the WAN telco side of things for many years and I was not thrilled about it at all. A layoff actually forced me to ask myself what I wanted to do. I made a choice and have stuck with it. Who knows what the outcome will be, but I keep telling myself that all this work I'm doing isn't going to be for nothing. It may be tough in the beginning, but I'm willing to stick it out and see it through.