What to pursue next?

Hey TechExamians, I was wondering if I could gather some of your opinions to make a decision. I've been inactive on the certification front due to some health issues putting my out of commission for a year and then bookending that year with a lot of work and school. Well, I started to get burnt out on school so I decided to take this semester off. Of course, I don't want to waste this golden opportunity of having four months open so I decided to revisit my certifications and see where I was at. Well, here it is. My last cert was the CCNA, and that will expire in April of 2012. So my first thought was to perhaps study for the CCNP. But my current job as an IT Specialist has me handling all aspects of IT and the heavy part of it is in Windows Systems Administration. Since we currently use server 2003, I then thought I may as well tackle the beast and earn my MCSA since I already have 270 and 290 under my belt. Of course, I also have a lot of network hardening to do (STIG stuff for all my DoD brethren) so then I thought hmmm, maybe CISSP is the way to go.

So, my question to everyone out there is, what would you do? CCNP to renew (or even one of the CCNA: X certs like security) MCSA , CISSP, or some other cert that I haven't thought of? I apologize if it's a really general question but that's how it appears to me. So many roads to travel on, and with such a good chunk of time in front of me, many of them are viable options. HELP!

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Comments

LoMo

I say go with the MCSA since you already have two of the exams taken care of.

lordy

If you work with Windows a lot and have already passed two exams then I would first finish the MCSA.

Once you are done with that you could tackle the Cisco Switch exam as a first step towards CCNP. It will give you a solid understanding of LAN technologies which is always helpful regardless of your Operating System. It will also renew your CCNA.

powerfool

I concur... you already have two of the exams knocked out... go for the MCSA. The overall between the core exams on the MCSA/MCSE 2003 track is substantial (290, 291, 293, 294). You could potentially knock out the entire MCSE in a decent amount of time. The CISSP requires five years of experience from at least 2 of the 10 domains... do you have that? It is definitely a valuable certification, especially for those that do DoD work.

spicy ahi

@LoMo - Thanks! That's a good point.

@lordy - That was my initial thought as well. I may pursue that in the end, I just wanted to see if anyone else had a better laid plan.

@powerfool - the CISSP is a consideration because of what you mentioned. I have the prerequisite experience, I also have a good number of friends who are ready to give me their signatures so I don't have to worry about the endorsement as well. The thing that holds me back is that the next exam in Hawaii is in October, with none listed after that (that I've seen) Being that its only two months or so away, I don't think I'll be comfortable enough to sit for the exam by then, and I don't have the money to fly to the states to take the test either. I think I may just complete the MCSA and then do Switch like you and lordy suggested. Hopefully by then, the other question I have will be answered. We currently run server 2003 (hence the MCSA) but we're currently discussing plans to transition to 2008 within the next fiscal year. So depending on where that discussion is when I pass the Switch exam (hopefully long before April when my CCNA expires, lol) I'll either continue on with MCSE or maybe just take the upgrade path from MCSA to MCITP:SA then finish off the EA. Decisions, decisions!

spicy ahi

Just wanted to update my thread. After trying to study for the beast, I came to the conclusion that at this time I don't have any interest in MS tests. I actually picked up the C-Press CCNA:Security book one afternoon and started thumbing through it and an hour later I found myself hunting for a cheap ASA and XM routers with 12.4t IOS!

I'm probably going to start reading through CISSP material just to begin familiarizing myself with the 10 CBK domains so that once I'm done with Cisco, I'll slide right through into the CISSP. Then maybe I'll go back and knock out the MCSE. Ugh.

yuddhidhtir

neeti wrote: »

Hey TechExamians, I was wondering if I could gather some of your opinions to make a decision. I've been inactive on the certification front due to some health issues putting my out of commission for a year and then bookending that year with a lot of work and school. Well, I started to get burnt out on school so I decided to take this semester off. Of course, I don't want to waste this golden opportunity of having four months open so I decided to revisit my certifications and see where I was at. Well, here it is. My last cert was the CCNA, and that will expire in April of 2012. So my first thought was to perhaps study for the CCNP. But my current job as an IT Specialist has me handling all aspects of IT and the heavy part of it is in Windows Systems Administration. Since we currently use server 2003, I then thought I may as well tackle the beast and earn my MCSA since I already have 270 and 290 under my belt. Of course, I also have a lot of network hardening to do (STIG stuff for all my DoD brethren) so then I thought hmmm, maybe CISSP is the way to go.

funny pictures

why two members posting the same thing? r u the same person. Actually it grabbed my attention. may be an honest mistake.

linux_anarchist

CISSP is a cert you get for new job opportunities and/or a bigger paycheck, don't make the mistake of thinking that it will actually teach you anything useful.

Also, no one "slides right through" the CISSP.

linux_anarchist

yuddhidhtir wrote: »

why two members posting the same thing? r u the same person. Actually it grabbed my attention. may be an honest mistake.

The second one is a copy of the guys legit-post, it is some kind of virus or spambot ... see the link that he added. I don't recommend clicking on it.

spicy ahi

linux_anarchist wrote: »

CISSP is a cert you get for new job opportunities and/or a bigger paycheck, don't make the mistake of thinking that it will actually teach you anything useful.

Also, no one "slides right through" the CISSP.

That is exactly my thought. I'm actually pursuing the CISSP to shore up my managerial aspect of my resume (qualify for DoD 8570 IAM's or IAT 3) while the CCNA: Security is to update my CCNA. So while I believe I would probably pick up a thing or two while pursuing these two certifications, I'm not using them to "learn" anything new; they're more to endorse the work I do now and have done in the past.

Also, if you read my post closer, you'll notice I said "slide right through into the CISSP." My implication is that I will be using CCNA:Security as a warm up for the tougher CISSP exam.

spicy ahi

yuddhidhtir wrote: »

why two members posting the same thing? r u the same person. Actually it grabbed my attention. may be an honest mistake.

No, I only posted the original. I don't see the second similar post anymore so I'm guessing the moderators eliminated the fake post.

griffinalice29

Doing MCSA would help you continue better in the existing job and since there is discussion of 2008, there is more scope for MCSA. You can look out for your future growth and think about doing CISSP, but keeping the present in mind. I wish you my best of wishes for your future endeavor.