Looking for advice...

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Hi all,

I work as an IT/desktop support for a charity and have been for about 7 months. I have learnt quite a bit on the job and I want to take a course that will benefit the company and myself. My employers would be willing to help fund the course for me - depending on a couple factors.

It has been recommended for me to do Comptia A+, MCTS certification in Windows 7 and possibly Windows Server 2008. The cost for all three would be £1495 on a Blended Learning Virtual Instructor basis.

I would appreciate some advice. Thanks.

 

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sounds like a good plan. A+ is where i would recommend you to start. Thats the intro to everything and most other certifications build off of it in some way or another. In most cases, text books already assume that you have A+. I would also recommend throwing net+ in there as well. Alot of good material in those 2 certs that will help you in the long run.

 

If you work with Windows 7 and Server 2008 then that sounds like a sensible plan (perhaps with Network+ thrown in).
However, £1495 doesn't sound like a sensible price. A book, a set of quality practice exams and free stuff on the internet (like Professor Messer's free A+ and MCTS video courses) will cost less than £100 for each exam.
I don't know why a course would cost you 5 times more than study material you can buy off the shelf. I doubt the material is 5 times better because there just isn't 5 times the improvement to be made on the available material.

 

As soundian said, i wouldn't spend £1495 on a course, sounds expensive.

If you're working in an enviornment with all of this equipment already, just buy the study material for each exam, and book the exams seperately, it'll save yourself time, and your company money.

In regards to the windows server 2008 exam, there are 3 you can take to attain a mcts cert

MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Configuration Exam 70-640
MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure Configuration Exam 70-642
MCTS: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure Configuration Exam 70-643

However, if you say you're working on desktop support, i'm not entirely sure any of those would apply to you, and you may find it more of a struggle to study for, rather than, say, the MCTS windows 7 or A+ exams.

Either way, all the best with the certs whichever route you take

 

Hi guys,

As I'm the only IT guy at my company, I have to deal with everything including Windows 7 and Server 2008 although this was set up before I started.

If the materials and exams are considerably cheaper than £1495, this may be the way to go and would be a better option for my employers.

Just a few more questions as I'm trying to put something together for the managers at my workplace.

1. If I watch and understand Professor Messer's free A+ video's, would that be sufficient to pass the A+ exam? Would you recommend any other material?

2. Can you link to materials for the Windows 7 exam please?

3. I have Windows Server 2008 which I received as a student offer. I will be installing this in Virtual PC. What material would you recommend on setting up and configuring?

Any other info you can provide is appreciated.

Thanks for advice so far.

 

1. Maybe. I'd get Mike Meyers All-In-One book as well. As far as the A+ goes it's pretty much considered the bible round these parts.
2. Prof Mess has a 70-680 course as well. It's a new exam so quality training materials are a bit thin on the ground.
3. The internet.

 

I will concentrate on the A+ first and progress from there.

Thanks for the advice.