MCSA vs. Experience

markulous · March 2015

So I have a bit of a dilemma. I think I know which way to go but want to get some feedback.

I got my first help desk job about a year ago. About 7-8 months in, I got promoted by being the lead help desk guy where I essentially manage the guys I worked with and take their escalations (and it came with a nice bump in pay). I'm hoping to finish WGU here pretty soon (hoping within 4 months) which this position helps with. There's some downtime that allows me to study for school/certs. I'm aiming towards the sys admin route so wanted to get an MCSA and eventually a MCSE (after getting experience) and maybe some VMWare certs depending on things. However, at any time I have a great opportunity:

The opportunity is that I can transfer over at any time (maybe I have to train a replacement, so after a couple weeks of deciding) to another area of the company. It's still a remote help desk role, however it is MUCH more technical. I now deal with one company but the majority of the work is end-user related. There is basic server stuff (password reset, add/remove security groups, etc) and some basic O365/Exchange stuff, but that's about it. Transferring to the other department would give me hands-on experience with basically everything server related (Exchange, AD, DHCP, SQL, etc) and I'd get to deal with thousands of different companies rather than just the one client.

The downside would be that I wouldn't have any time at all to study (which would delay the time to get my certs significantly) whereas the job now I have quite a bit. I wanted to get my MCSA after WGU (which my company would pay for). Should I try to get that first then transfer or just transfer right after WGU? Pay/benefits/etc is exactly the same.

TR4V1STY · March 2015

Why do more work for the same pay? Take advantage of the low work load in order to accelerate your studies

networker050184 · March 2015

I'd do the better work. Learn more plus I hate down time at work. I'd rather have interesting, challenging work to keep me occupied for eight hours. Sacrifice and study a few hours in the evening and weekends.

ScrawnyRonnie · March 2015

I would transfer now for the experience. When you finish your degree, use the time you were studying/doing homework for school to study/lab for the certs (unless you do homework during downtime at work

). They should come easier after having a few months of real world experience.

markulous · March 2015

That's kind of what I'm leaning towards (taking the more experience). I feel with 6-12 months in that position I can command a larger salary because of the experience I get. Not many places let you get your feet wet on their servers/routers so I think it's a good opportunity. I should be able to get to either get promoted here after that or move on to a junior sys admin (or something of equal value) to get even more experience.

Chitownjedi · March 2015

Its funny, I work with a whole bunch of Sr. Engineers who took the position that we are in specifically to have more time to cert up and go back to school... to each it's own... I just enrolled back in school and Im pursuing my MCSE in Private cloud....

Once you become the man/women its hard to find time to blast through degrees and certs... i doubt the opportunity goes away for you to move over if you got your degree and certs finished, and some other place will be out there that will give you a shot if they don't... I get experience is king.. but Time is a valuable.. valuable commodity

Deathmage · March 2015

Me personally. I'd go for the better job.

See I had the exact same dilemma about 2 years ago. I was studying for the MCSA before the CompTIA Trifecta and I wasn't ready for it however the reading prepared me for a much more important aspect of system administration, sys admin soft-skills.

See now I'm 2 years later I'm now doing MCSE: SI based work 24/7 and I do it will relative ease.

My problem had never been the knowledge or experience it's like you stated finding time to get the certifications.

In this instance for you, experience is greater than MCSA. If you know the basics you'll do fine. I presum you have a Nak for troubleshooting? ....

If you have troubleshooting skills and basic system administrator skills experience will only come naturally.

I hope this helps.

anhtran35 · March 2015

To each their own. However, as the use above stated, "Experience is KING". By taking the other job you will be able to touch AD, Exchange etc...which gives you hands on experience to assist in your MCSA/MCSE journey. Additionally, you can study during your off hours.

networker050184 · March 2015

Chitownjedi wrote: »

Its funny, I work with a whole bunch of Sr. Engineers who took the position that we are in specifically to have more time to cert up and go back to school... to each it's own... I just enrolled back in school and Im pursuing my MCSE in Private cloud....

Taking some time to relax and take some classes as a senior engineer is a little different than chilling in the help desk. A year of busting his butt with that good experience and he'll land that engineering role he can sit back and enjoy the good salary and have a little free time to explore education. My opinion anyway.

Deathmage · March 2015

networker050184 wrote: »

Taking some time to relax and take some classes as a senior engineer is a little different than chilling in the help desk. A year of busting his butt with that good experience and he'll land that engineering role he can sit back and enjoy the good salary and have a little free time to explore education. My opinion anyway.

Completely agree +1 Networker

Jon_Cisco · March 2015

Your a year into your career and being offered a better opportunity. I don't think there is any question what you should do at this stage. You can study for certs whenever but it's the opportunities they generate that are the real payoff.

Good Luck!

markulous · March 2015

networker050184 wrote: »

Taking some time to relax and take some classes as a senior engineer is a little different than chilling in the help desk. A year of busting his butt with that good experience and he'll land that engineering role he can sit back and enjoy the good salary and have a little free time to explore education. My opinion anyway.

Yeah I think that's what I'm going to do. I have a couple good certs at the moment anyway. This is what I was leaning towards when I initially posted. I need to break that experience barrier in my opinion. As of right now I don't think any other company would give me that level of responsibility based on my resume. Even with my promotion and certs my technical resume is rather weak.

Deathmage · March 2015

markulous wrote: »

Yeah I think that's what I'm going to do. I have a couple good certs at the moment anyway. This is what I was leaning towards when I initially posted. I need to break that experience barrier in my opinion. As of right now I don't think any other company would give me that level of responsibility based on my resume. Even with my promotion and certs my technical resume is rather weak.

it's all how you market yourself; I don't have some of your certifications but yet I can do them without a problem. It's all how you sell yourself and how you perform that will be a cornerstone of your success.

Once you take that leap of faith, your momentum is endless. As most know I took mine in September and it's been positive ever since...

markulous · March 2015

Deathmage wrote: »

it's all how you market yourself; I don't have some of your certifications but yet I can do them without a problem. It's all how you sell yourself and how you perform that will be a cornerstone of your success.

Once you take that leap of faith, your momentum is endless. As most know I took mine in September and it's been positive ever since...

While that is true, I can't lie about what I've done or what technology I've worked with. In my current role, it's all basically end-user related, which after a year gets pretty repetitive. This new position will help quite a bit with that.

I honestly can't wait to make the transition now. I thought about it hard this weekend and it's definitely something I want to do. I don't care that it doesn't pay anymore, I get to be challenged more and learn a lot.

dave330i · March 2015

Switch to the server side, and figure out a way to squeeze in some study time. Your studies will better complement your work and you'll get a better, deeper understanding of what you're doing.

Zartanasaurus · March 2015

I can't think of a single reason to ever stay in help desk. It's clear you're motivated, so get out.

RHDS2K · March 2015

The time to study for certifications and do homework on the job is awesome.. That's how i studied for my MCSA.. With that being said, an MCSA and only helpdesk experience isn't going to be all that helpful. If you know you want to be a sys admin, take the other job and just find time to study at home. Making the leap from helpdesk to systems administration is arguably one of the hardest leaps in IT. If you have an easy opportunity to take that role, do it now to build your resume!

N2IT · March 2015

Take the experience path if at all possible. So much more valuable.

MCSA vs. Experience

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