The company is paying.. what cert would you reccomend me?

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

Hi,
I would like to have your opinion on a couple of matters, I am very new to the IT industry I have only worked on a tier 1 service desk for the last 18 months where my technical involvement was nothing more than very basic troubleshooting (no remote assistance). Since I have been there I have finnished my MCDST It is expected at my work for desktop support roles to open up shortly so I am waiting to see..Now that I have finnished my mcdst I am looking at my next cert I have been informed that the training budget at my work is being under utilised and that if I was to go to them saying I wish to this course/exam they may well go for it I know that my work has spent thousands on people to do 1 week courses before, paying for accom etc. So my question is what is a widelly regarded certification that you would reccomend? bare in mind my limited experience. I was thinking maybe an active directory crash course? An Itil Cert? It doesnt have to be something I want to spend the rest of my life doing I just want a 1-2 week max course that is going to complement my IT careeer (no matter which specific direction I go)

your thoughts

 

thanks for your reply, yeah I know I'm not going to master anything in a 1/2 week course but as there is a training budget at my work that I should use plus i would get a week off work I think that I should make the most out of it,Perhaps If I was to do a server 2003 foundation course this would be beneficial as I will most likelly go on to do mcsa eventually.

 

thank you both for some great advice , The 70-270 is a definate possibillity and would make sense based on my mcdst study experience, What concerns me about doing any server 2003/2008 courses is I know nothing at all about servers as i have never even navigated the server 2003 operating system for more than 5 minutes so i may wait till i start work in a desktop support role that i may start with server stuff. Is there any exams that go towards both the mcsa and mcse that i could study on a short course? even if It doesnt end in me sitting an exam. just something that teaches me some geninue skills/knowledge that is going to help me in an it career. thanks again

 

Errrr..... well I'd avoid Vista courses and exams then !

How about an introductory SQL course and maybe an introductory linux course ? I'd leave getting actual certs until you have some experience though.

Why not look at what various learning providers like Learningtree, QA, MS, etc can provide and pick a couple and run them past your boss ?

 

looks like the best option is for me to do the 70-270 , it seems very very close to the material for the 70-271 and it will count towards both the mcsa and mcse. I now need to find a place that does the 70-270 in a 4-8 day course with an exam at the end near Cardiff.

 

Its easy to find college nightclasses for the 70-270 for £500 or you can self study.

I wouldn't blow a £2k+ training budget on it. I'd pick something more unique, challenging and interesting to maximise the benefit of the training.

 

think im just going to self study for the 70-270 the material seems well within my grasp for self study and hold off until I am hopefully promoted to desktop support where I can see which of the mcsa exams (after the 70-270) I will study for next and hopefully work will be cool on sending me on a foundation course after I have gotten my hands a bit dirty.

 

hiya,
The e-academy have a good reputation for classroom stuff mate. Haven't sat in on anything myself (taken most of my exams there) but a friend's company use them for all ms stuff and said they are good.
Welcome to cf by the way!

 

If the company is paying, then why not recommend creating a study area for all the staff, get a spare PC or 2, some network kit and some mspress and sybex books, that way the company will get much more value for money, providing other staff are willing to self learn, you could even get it organised as to have a 1-2 hour per week study period instead of having the full week off, it would work out roughly the same period over the year but would be more beneificial as long term learning is more effective than a quick course.