Can you skip A+ and go straight to Microsoft certs?

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Hi, guys. Please, I need some advice. I've been studying towards A+ 700 series for several months now, and was planning to sit the exams in June. But because of the current financial problems I'm not able to fund these exams, which expire at the end of August. I also signed up earlier with one company for MCITP and have video training material. I heard that it's not necessary to be A+ certified in order to study for Microsoft exams. Is that true, or A+ is a prerequisite? If I have good knowledge of A+ material, but won't have the actual cert, can I just study for MCITP/MCSA and do these exams?
Any advice would be appreciated!

 

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No A+ is not a prerequisite. Microsoft certs are usually aimed at people who have at least a years commercial experience. Having said that, I skipped A+ and done MCDST (now replaced by MCITP I think) with a few months experience under my belt. I suppose it depends how well you already know Windows 7 before you should even consider doing MCITP.

 

Like you, I studied the A+ material, but never took the exams I now have the 70-680 cert, with no previous qualifications, and no actual experience (aside from my home lab setup).

MS certs are pretty difficult with no practical experience, so the A+ might be useful to get an entry level job, then study the MS certs while working with windows all day.

 

A+ and some good experience on your CV should allow you to talk your way into any 1st line role then work through the MS stuff once you've got some hands on experience. Note. your experience doesn't have to from a previous job.

If desktop and server support is something you love and would really want to get into perhaps try some volunteering first, maybe contact some local charities and ask if they would like a volunteer to help with their IT with A+ certification you can prove to them you are capable. Any kind of experience volunteer or not will help your chances of employment and give you greater exposure to business IT

 

Hi, guys,

in June last year I asked a question here if I could skip A+ exam and go straight to Microsoft.

Well, I actually did, and within several months I passed Active Directory, Network Infrastructure, and Windows 7 exams, and now working towards Server Admin 70-646. While on the course (class attendance), I was doing some work experience, and worked on physical servers not only virtual. In December I got a job as a Systems Engineer, with a quite good salary as for the beginning, currently in training as the job requires some Cisco knowledge.

I got this job not because I had extensive experience (which I didn't have), but because the company saw my enthusiasm, commitment, determination, and eagerness to learn. And I showed a great interest in the job (it was actually my dream-job).

So, it's not always a must to have several year experience to get an IT job (as I sometimes read on forums). You just need to be positive and committed, and never give up.

 

Im in the same boat. I think im going to skip the A+ and go to the Network+ then onto the windows certs after that. The reason being is if anything is broke, its either under warranty or they will just replace it. So as it stands its pointless where i work to do the A+.

Ed

 

While this is very true and I started out in IT with 0 experience, 0 certifications and 0 qualifications I would advise caution for anyone reading this. It's still an incredibly tough market out there and the more you can do to make yourself an enticing prospect the better. Certifications, Qualifications and Experience all feed in to making you an enticing prospect to an employer, neglecting any part of this calculation can leave you seriously stuffed in the long term.

Best of luck in your role and your new IT Career Sonic.

 

Josiahb, I agree very much with you that, of course, the best thing is to have education + certifications + experience altogether to get a job. And by no means whatever I said in my previous post meant you didn't have to worry about getting relevant experience: the more you get the better. But my post was addressed mainly to those who are very keen to work in IT and are passionate about it, but don't have enough experience - I tried to encourage them not to think it's not possible at all! But, obviously, if you can get experience, go for it. Sometimes it just happens - a company may employ you even when you don't have experience.