What are some benefits for having MCSE. Can I make a living out of it? I might go to skill tech, anyone knows the place?
Sure what exactly are you trying to accomplish? Systems Administrator position? MCSE is a great way to get started however the certification is a little dated, having to do with Server 2003 Network Operating Systems. You should try the new Server 2008 exam certs.
I got my MCSE in both NT 4.0 and Win2k when I was just starting out in IT 10 years ago. It used to carry a lot more weight than it does now. The market got saturated with 'paper MCSE's.' In other words, people that got certified but had no real world experience. If you don't have experience, it's pretty much useless these days. Certifications with experience can help, just like a degree with experience can help. If you expect to just get a job based on having an MCSE, you will be sorely disappointed. Those days are looooong gone.
It depends on what you want to do. If you want to go the networking route, there are the CISCO certs. If you want to go into security, there are certs like the CISSP. I work on the infrastructure side, web server administration to be specific. As I mentioned I got my certs early on. I haven't felt the need to get any since then. I'm now in a position where I interview people to join our team, and we rarely even look twice at certs or degrees on a resume. Experience is by far the most important thing. If you don't have that, you should stop worrying about certs and get some work experience under your belt somehow.
Which is true about even bs or ba's nowdays. Not to mention alot of those gigs got outsourced when america couldn't fill them.
So when you say work experience, he should start off doing help desk work? Your certifications paved the way for your job or did you have server experience before your certs? If OP is looking for server/admin work right now, companies are not going to hire someone with no experience and train them to become a server/network admin. No $ to shell out. The only work experience you can get out there if you have no IT experience is help desk contract/full-time jobs. I have seen so many of those jobs available, so that could be experience you can receive to get your foot into the IT field. But the highest you can go with help desk experience is becoming either a PC technician (i.e., Geek Squad, CompUSA) or handling desktop support. But if you want to go for the server/network stuff, I would hit the books, try and pass the MCSE/CCNA/MCTIP certs, and apply for internships/Jr. Level admin work to prepare you for that full-time server/network admin job.
Microsoft certificates are very easy to obtain. As long as you study the brain dumps, you can get the certificates without having any actual knowledge on the subject. So the industry really doesn't place much emphasis on those certs.
It's good to have some certifications under your belt because they will help you get an interview, but going all the way with an MCSE or MCITP 2008 is worthless without any experience. I would get a MCP or MCTS which requires you to pass one exam on the path towards your MCSE/MCITP. I would also recommend getting a A+ certification as another entry level certification. After getting some entry level certs in addition to getting some real job experience then I would pursue the MCSE. Certs really have lost their value though since they can all be cheated on with braindumps. Only try for them if you want to improve your knowledge or to challenge yourself. If you expect to get certified and then make $$$ then don't do it.
The ONLY reason the certs are useful is because most jobs these days are through head hunters/agencies. Those folks won't even call you if you don't have a cert. When you finally interview with the actual company, they won't care about your cert because they'll be looking for experience. But you won't get that far if you can't get past the head hunters. Get the cert(s). If nothing else, you might actually learn something while you are studying for it. ehgad!
Yeah, I meant helpdesk/PC Tech. When I started out the IT Market was incredibly hot. Almost anyone could get a job. Even so, I started out in asset management. That meant putting stickers with service tag numbers on computers. Then I moved up to the glorious world of patching systems for Y2k, then desktop support for a couple years, and then after about 4 years I finally landed my first server admin type job. I was fortunate enough that my first admin job was administering web servers and not just a general network admin, so I was able to develop a specialty which has served me well. My point was, everyone has to start out at the bottom unless they are extremely lucky. People had to start at the bottom even when the market was hot. I can't imagine what it's like now. That's why I was saying that certs won't help him one bit without the experience. Maybe something like A+ wouldn't be a bad idea since it is a true entry level cert. Or if you want to go the Microsoft route, explore what a previous poster said and get an MCP on Windows 7. Getting a full systems engineer certification these days with no experience would not be very helpful IMO.
Here is my take. I got my MCSE back in the NT3.51 days and now work at a Fortune 200 company as a Systems Architect. At the time I had no experience in IT so getting my MCSE was the doorway into this profession. Like others have said, however, an MCSE by itself these days is not that useful. When we hire people we look for experience and certifications. In addition we have a technical interview where an engineer or two will grill them on what they put down on their resume as well as stuff related to the job they are interviewing for. We also ask them other stuff just to see how deep/wide they are. When I do these interviews I would much rather hear "I don't know" as an answer than bull****. Or say something like "I'm not sure but here is what I think...". If you guess and get it wrong you are just digging yourself into a hole. Also, don't put down "Extensive Hyper-V experience" when all you've done is set up one server in a lab and played around with it. We have a very hard time finding people that really know there stuff. You'd be surprised how shallow a lot of people are. I think having "experience" alone is not the best factor as people tend to have very narrow knowledge of what they were doing. In other words, they get a job, they get good at that job but they tend to not know much about the "why" or "how" of what they do. Many don't try to grow too much beyond what's in front of them. It's hard because there is only so much time in the day but in this industry you HAVE to keep progressing. What I found about the MCSE was it forced you to learn about a lot of technology and the way it was designed to work. You also learned a lot about "why" it is like it is and what problems certain technologies are designed to solve. So, I would say getting your MCSE is worth while, however, you need to 1) find a way to get experience as well and 2) you need to actually "learn" the material and not just study braindumps. Or use braindumps to help pass the tests but not in lieu of learning the material. Get VMWare or Virtual PC setup on your computer, get Server 2008 installed (or two copies and network them) and really learn how to setup a domain or routing and remote access or whatever and not just answers to questions. Some things to focus on: Virtualization (VM Ware and/or Hyper-V) are very important these days. Have a good understanding of "basics": IP addressing, basic routing, user/group administration, get good at troubleshooting... Finally, I can't emphasize enough how important just being reliable and responsible are regarding the work place. Poeple can be such flakes! If you can do your job, show up on time and deliver your projects on time you will be golden. (PS. My fingers are COLD so apologies for typos!)
I got MCSE certified in Windows NT 4.0 and then, after I payed a bunch of money for training, books, and tests and spent a bunch of time studying and preparing, Windows NT was phased out and moved to 2000. I was frustrated because I'd pretty much wasted so much and I decided not to get MCSE for Windows 2000... and I'm glad I didn't because Windows 2000 was phased out, also. I don't recommened MCSE. It doesn't carry the weight that it used to. It gets phased too quickly. It feels like too much of a waste.
