MCSA/MCSE Usefulness

[slycer]

This kinda goes along the lines of the question the guy asking about the certs asked but, I am a System Administrator in the U.S. Navy who has about 5 years of experince and I am also pursuing a Masters Degree in Computer Infomration Systems. I am getting out soon and I am looking into getting a certification of some sort b/c most of the jobs I have been looking at say "must be a MCSE or equivalent". I already an MCP in 2KProfessional but I want to get the MCSA or MCSE. MY question is, is that ceritifiation REALLY needed to get a job in the SA job market? I would really hate to go through all of that work (not to mention the money I would spend) only to be able to walk into a company WITHOUT the cert and still land a pretty good job.

 

[dogbert2]

Depends on your skill set, life in the I.T. Market
in the civilian world isn't great at the moment. I've
been in IT for more than 20 years, been a system admin
for the last 5.5 years, and will finish a associate's
degree in about 4 weeks.

The wider your skill set, the better your chances are
for landing a job. If you are working on a Masters,
I assuming you have a bachelors already (are you an
officer?, if not, could you apply to OCS perhaps, and
be a 'mustang')?

Military I.T. does have some advantages over a job
in the civilian world, and the US gov't is always
looking for people who are qualified and hold a
security clearance (I know our local Univ here in
Vegas had a AD for a system admin w/bachelor's
plus a "Q" (Secret) clearance). Check

http://www.lvrj.com

and look at the Nov 24th edition under classified
employment (computers section)

 

[slycer]

Yes, I do have a Bachelors. It is in Graphic Design (another field I enjoy) no, I am not an officer. And I dont plan to be in long enough to really bother with it. I am an "IT" (information systems technician) I have several years of experince doing SA, but I dont have as much experience with servers/ and switches as I would like, but I have about 17 months to learn it. Are there jobs out there based on you level of expertise? Thanks for the web address. I will browse thought it and see what I can find. I actually had someone else tell me that getting a job in the DoD as a civilian is a good move. One b/c I can work just about anywhere and two,like you sad, being in the Military as an IT is a great advantage.

 

[KingE]

You will more than likely be working with Microsoft products in the civillian world, and so you have nothing to loose by getting atleast an MCSA. This is pretty much the best way in and with a military background you should have no probs. Get a spare machine or two and load win2server and play, and you'll get the MCSA cert in no time.

Then you can get a job and widen your experience and go deeper into SA or networking or dba.

 

[jtb]

Bill Gates, Ross Perot, and Michael Dell (among others) don't have technical certifications. Conversely, those with technical certs often don't make over $100K (certain Cisco and security certs aside).

Before you spend the time and energy to become certified, decide where you want to be and the path to get there.

If a cert will help, by all means do it! It _has_ helped me...
JTB
Solutions Architect
MCSE-NT4, MCP+I, MCP-W2K, CCNA, CCDA,
CTE, MCIWD, i-Net+, Network+
(MCSA, MCSE-W2K, MCIWA, SCSA, SCNA in progress)

 

[BlackHawk2]

Does Bill Gates hold an MCSE?
"Act before there is a problem. Bring order before there is disorder."
~The Tao Te Ching

 

[whitebomber]

I would say from you job description and lack of experience with win2000 server and switches etc., studying for and passing those exams is an outstanding way to learn. I've always used studying/passing an exam as a great way to learn material.

That was one of the greatest things I gained from taking/passing 210 and 215. I took these about 2 yrs ago and I'm still stuck in an NT world right now. However I use many of the skills I learned while studying and as we are starting our transition to win2000/winXP I'm finding it helpful also. In fact it's now motivated me to get cracking on 218 and attain the MCSA.

 

[algernonsidney]

I have found that the MCSE doesn't help you in the job market. I know that from experience.

Chris

 

[TheLad]

Getting qualified may not necessarily help you get a job, but from my point of view I consider getting qualified helps improve my knowledge as there is often stuff you learn that you never knew before. It's all about self improvement for me. -----------------------------------------------------
"It's true, its damn true!"
-----------------------------------------------------

 

[butchrecon]

An MCSE will not help out in todays job market without the proper experience to back it up. Its tuff, You get certified to get a job to get the experience, but without the experience you cannot get the job. An MCSE with 2 or 3 years experience and working in an environment currently where they do not setup advanced Windows systems probebly wont get a second thought from employers. On the flip side a tech with 5 to 7 years of experience setting up Server farms, and advanced Windows networks with no MCSE will have a better shot at getting the job. It boils down to who does the hiring and what thier criteria are. If they want someone with certifications but are not worried about large amounts of experience your chances are good. Certifications are tools to guage knowledge on products. James Collins
Hardware Engineer
A+ Certified Professional
Network+ Certified Professional
Microsoft Certified Professional