Company will only pay $3200 for MCSE course: sgstns?

[newyorkny]

Hi guys,

I had my heart set on a Thompson 10-day course that cost upwards of $10,000. My company put its foot down on that.

I should add that I am a fairly experienced Windows admin, so I am not starting from scratch here by any means. Also, I want to go for MCSE/MCDBA at one crack.

With a budgeted tuition of $3200, does anyone feel comfortable recommending a class with:

-- short, boot-camp style classroom instruction (10 days sounded good)
-- excellent documentation (the Thompson study guides were lovely)
?

Is it possible to study effectively from an online course (at or below the budgetted number)? If so, does someone have a suggestion?

Thank you very much in advance.

NY

 

[buddafish]

for each exam in mcse track,

i bought a book , read-it, digested the concepts, took the trancender test, then the real exam

move next

total cost per exam = about 400 bucks.

7 exams for mcse = 2800

if you have real job experience, then the trancenders may not be necessary. this will save about $125 per exam.

it can be done with a $3200 budget.

 

[NickFerrar]

Yeah I think you'll have to go with the book/self-study route with a $3200 budget.

I did a bootcamp myself, but as you say they're pretty expensive - also the one I did was 14 days and we were working 16-18 hour days, I can't see how you could do it in 10 days without killing yourself in the process!

Not sure what your company's policy is regarding training but if it's not already a requirement (it is where I work) then offer to lock yourself in for say 2 years of the course cost (for the $10000 course) i.e. so if you leave in the first month after certification you pay the company £10000 which gradually decreases to $0 over 24 months.

You could also try the "if I get an MCSE2003 then I don't need to do more MS certs until 2007/2008 when Longhorn exams are around" and budget $3000 a year for that giving you enough for the bootcamp up front

As for on-line courses, I think it very much depends on the person. My company has a deal with a major online course provider so we have a huge range available to us, personally though I haven't found them much use.