I am toying with the idea of doing MS certification, I have a fair bit of windows and networking knowledge, however, many companies request MSC.

Currently my job is looking really dodgy (I am currently on a 4 day week, looking like it might drop to 3 days in the near future), and having another string to my bow might be good to have something to fall back on, it's either that or try to get in the Police again

So basically, has anyone done MSC?, was it difficult?, how did you go about it?, the MSC website isn't overly friendly, and I would rather go direct if possible, rather than paying ££££'s to some shill "middle man" learning company.

Any feedback welcomed

Unless things have changed in the last couple of years, you have the choice of enrolling with someone who runs a course for the specific qualification you want ( the course fee should then include the test fee), or you can simply contact a testing centre and book yourself in for a test.
I haven't looked recently, but you should be able to find a list of the testing centres. I believe they are run by Vue and Pearson respectively, but you'd be best to check that via the microsoft website first.
Test fee's I 'think' are somewhere between £100-150. I sat mine in 2003, so the fee's will have gone up since then.

For someone with experience, simple buying one of the qualification books and studying up on the specifics it deals with, should be enough for most people to pass without too many problems.
Microsoft do their own range of study books for the various exams, although there are several other publishers as well. Most large bookshops should stock them, or you might even manage to find them in your local library.

Quote from danowat :

many companies request MSC.

More often than not it's certification or practical experience, unless you're trying to break into the middle of the market straight off the bat, in which case you'd really need to impress in the interview.

Quote from danowat :

So basically, has anyone done MSC

I've done certification for a handful of vendors, including MS. The basic two routes are:

1. Pay some company an obscene amount of money and then get everything all done, including exams and training.

2. Find out the content of the exam from the vendor website (http://www.microsoft.com/Learning/, for example), book the exam using an examination center (I used to use Pearson Vue and Thompson Prometric), study for the exam yourself, and then go in and do it. You can usually find study guides with the same name/ID as the exam on Amazon, etc.

In general terms MS exams are pretty straight forward, as with anything in life, provided you know your examiners and what they want.

Quote :

So basically, has anyone done MSC?, was it difficult?, how did you go about it?, the MSC website isn't overly friendly, and I would rather go direct if possible, rather than paying ££££'s to some shill "middle man" learning company.

I've previously worked alongside techies going for MSC's when I was a computer techie, although no employer ever put me forward on the grounds that I already seemed to know my stuff.

What struck me about the work they did is that it was often-times far more involved and technical than it ever needed to be, the theoretical knowledge required was far in excess of any practical use for it. For example I recall an engineer delving deeply into the registry to find stuff relating to some corrupted dll or other to identify a fault. Fine, but the net result was the same and that was Windows needed reinstalling, which I spotted within a minute of powering the thing on.

If you can prove you can do the job you dont need a qualification, experience always wins over an education in 100% of cases with the single exception of when the interviewer went to Cambridge or Oxford and still values their degree (pre-30 years old). As people from Cambridge or Oxford rarely climb the corporate ladder (at least not before they're 30) and have to start their own companies to get anywhere, I just wouldnt bother with an MSC.

It cant do harm to have it (provided you can demonstrate that your not about to waste 2hours over engineering in the field of fault diagnosis), if its available to you and isnt going to cost you much then hell why not? But you will find yourself learning stuff you will never use if you are any good at your job.

The tests are adaptive btw, so they focus on week areas.

I have a Microsoft Specialist certification, not sure where it differs to the MS Certification. My exam was based in Office though, so it was quite easy As far as I know it costs a fair bit to do it, I entered as part of a Microsoft schools competition though, so I got it for free (and subsequently got through to the Nationals and won a Xbox 360 )

I had access to MCSE / MCSA training CDs a long (long) while ago during my o' levels, and tbh, the hardest parts were AD and trick questions I've always viewed them as pieces of paper than evidence of actual practical ability, but if they help you get a job / promoted, why not

Quote from danowat :

I am toying with the idea of doing MS certification, I have a fair bit of windows and networking knowledge, however, many companies request MSC.

Currently my job is looking really dodgy (I am currently on a 4 day week, looking like it might drop to 3 days in the near future), and having another string to my bow might be good to have something to fall back on, it's either that or try to get in the Police again

So basically, has anyone done MSC?, was it difficult?, how did you go about it?, the MSC website isn't overly friendly, and I would rather go direct if possible, rather than paying ££££'s to some shill "middle man" learning company.

Any feedback welcomed

I did one at school yes it was mandatory

The other quandry is MSC in Vista or XP, obviously XP is older tech, but I reckon the majority of business's still use XP, heck, I've worked in places in recent years that were still using NT.

Yeah, all I've seen are those adverts on TV (You've probably seen them too xD)

I looked into doing the MSCE stuff when I was unemployed and the fee was something crazy like £850 for a few weeks course (most of which I probably already know anyway). Needless to say I didn't sign up.
They do guarantee you a decent-paid job at the end of it or the course is free, which was why I looked into it.

But judging by the quality of most IT departments, the course can't be all that difficult

Interesting. Please keep posting your experiences!

I've been considering a few Certs but obviously it'll all have to wait until I'm not studying full-time elsewhere.

I do agree with Becky that practical knowledge probably weighs more than pieces of paper, but they'll most certainly bump you up on the list when an employer are considering who to call to an interview.

Here's a few certificates someone with a job recommended me:

MCSE
http://www.microsoft.com/learn ... /windows2003/default.mspx

Security+
http://certification.comptia.org/security/

Linux+
http://certification.comptia.org/linux/

Cisco CCNA
http://www.cisco.com/web/learn ... urrent_exams/640-802.html

Yep keep these coming, I'm currently learning Active Directory for the MCDST (Desktop Support Technician) which is giving me a headache! I can't find anywhere that'll tell me what sort of things are on the current exam, just exams from 3-5 years ago! So knowing my luck I've been trying to learn AD for nothing over the last month.

However looking over the courses again I'm wondering if an MCSE would be a better way to go now, or if I should wait it out a few years and build up working experience first.

Quote from Dajmin :

I looked into doing the MSCE stuff when I was unemployed and the fee was something crazy like £850 for a few weeks course (most of which I probably already know anyway). Needless to say I didn't sign up.
They do guarantee you a decent-paid job at the end of it or the course is free, which was why I looked into it.

But judging by the quality of most IT departments, the course can't be all that difficult

The price is expensive if you go through a middle man, however, you can do it yourself on the cheap.

The course/s I am looking at run at, £25 for the course materials, and then £88 for the exam, which I didn't think was too bad.

Quote from felplacerad :

Linux+
http://certification.comptia.org/linux/

On the subject of Linux certification, LPIC seems to be the one of choice for employers at the moment.