Experienced but no certs

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 everyone, just found this forum and it looks like exactly what I've been looking for - a place to come and share information, have a laugh and hopefully get some help on my way to gaining some certs.

First, i suppose I should give you some info about me. I'm 27 and have 8 years experience within the IT sector. I have 7 years experience as a 1st line local support - supporting desktops, servers, networks, software etc in a large corporate environment. I then moved on to a 2nd line support role for servers - mainly Windows 2000 and Novell. I did this for 6 months and then just as I was learning loads, the role got outsourced! I am now working as a 2nd line support analyst, working on a public sector account supporting business specific software operating on an SQL 2000 platform.

I dont particularly enjoy doing this (as the software is very specific to the account) and want to go back to working within a server / network environment - specifically Windows Server and Exchange Server. However it appears most jobs that i have looked at require at least 1 MCP, so that is what i am aiming to achieve with a long term goal of the MCSE (although that will be a few years down the line).

I havent done any certifications before although I have studied for an open university course so i am used to self study. I know most of you advise to do the A+ and N+ first but to be honest I want to get stuck into an MCP - more specifically the 70-290.

I have a couple of spare PC's, 1 of which i was hoping to install Windows Server 2003 onto. However i am now looking at using VMware. My PC's spec is as follows:
AMD Athlon 3200+
1GB RAM
160GB HDD
256MB Graphics Card

Will this be sufficient to run VMware or am I better off installing the OS direct? Also I would be graetful for any other help / advice / encouragement you could give me at the start of this long journey!

TIA.

 

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.

Hello & Welcome,

As you say most of us recommend the A+ & N+ to get the grounding and understanding needed to progress, but with 7 years IT experience 1st & 2nd line I cant see a problem with going straight for the MCP if thats what you want.

Worth thinking about the self study method, much cheaper in the long run but it doesn't suit everyone, but as you say your comfortable with it so go for it...

nothing stopping you doing the MCP & A+

 

Welcome to CF, if you insist on starting with the MCP route it's best to start with the OS i.e. the 070-270 XP professional exam and then move onto the Server exam 70-290 etc. The reason being that there is a high overlap with the both exams above hence making the next learning transition a smooth one.

Utimately, the choice is yours and best wishes on which ever one you decide to tackle first

 

are you the same kopite from lethal hardware ?

grim

 

No sorry m8, just another Liverpool fan

 

Like Onoski recommends, it's a good idea to start off with the workstation OS exam (XP is 70-270) before taking the server OS exam (70-290).

Welcome!

 

Thanx for all your advice guys. Will look in to the OS exam first! Cheers.

 

Hi there and welcome