Certification Help

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Please help or advise

I passed the A+ and N+ and was starting to study 70-270 to work towards MCSA but I came across this article:

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=1751

is there any point in carrying on with 70-270 as it is based on XP?

I will also need to do 2 server exams as well which will take at least another year for the MCSA

The number 1 cert seems to be MCITP -

Should I start now?
I currently work in desktop support but would like to step up a level to earn more so what part of the MCITP should I be looking to study.

Thanks

 

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XP will be in use for a long time yet to be honest so don't let that put you off. In my opinion it is worth starting to study towards the MCSA or MCITP now. Make sure you get yourself a testing rig and a technet account as that gives you access to all of Microsoft's software to study on and comes in very handy whilst learning.

 

Considering XP is still the predominant workstation-based OS out there (and will continue to be used many years after it is no longer the predominant OS), I'll answer your question with a resounding YES.

 

TechRepublic do have some useful and interesting articles, unfortunately some topics seem to involve the writer leaving the real world and passing into a wonderful land permanently cutting edge tech. That list is a subjective view by one commentator, and is fundamentally flawed.

The 70-270 and the MCSA/E are still relevant and worth your study time, very few companies spend their time on the bleeding edge of technology. As a prime example I'm sat in the office of a company who still have 2 Win 2000 servers in operation and almost exclusively XP desktops (mines the only one that isn't XP), the last of our Win 98 PCs was taken out of service only about two and a half years ago.

Its incredibly surprising to find a guy who states a lot of experience with SMBs who thinks that the MCSE is on its way out, particularly when the economy is still in the crapper, you'll see Win XP and 2003 server around for a while yet and companies will want techs with the skills to support it.

 

This list is not comprehensive for the whole of the industry, it is also not a list of 'cutting edge' certs, it has also not been conducted based on any research, be that research good or bad. It is therefore nothing more than one techs opinion, which may or may not be valid. I usually find the comments on such blogs far more informative than the actual blogs themselves.

Quickbooks certification, why ? What about Oracle, SAP or Sage, hell even MCAS/MOS for Excel, surely more relevant ?

Not a single open source or developer certification ?

Linux certs pointless but Mac OS X certs not pointless ?

The get out clause of the 'catch all' MCITP and MCTS, these basically cover 100's of certifications and probably 70+% of the certification market.

CISSP but no serious security certs ?

Give me a break, these lists are pointless, but this one especially so.