Getting Certified

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Hi all

A little background of me... 26 years of age, based in the UK, and a Network Administrator for a medium sized company (2 and a half years).

All built 2008 R2, done a lot of transition, upgrades, SQL, Exchange.. the works! HyperV setup I performed, so as you can tell I have had my fair share of on the job learning as i go... It's only me and my assistant!

It is now time to get some Letters on my CV, they are willing to pay but most of this is self study, as i can't take a week off for training (Will impact the HA if all fails).

Not sure what I want to do, looking at the MCITP but finding out what I need to do or learn is a nightmare on the site. Also a lot are now saying this exam will no longer be avail by July next year... what happens then... Just new certs i presume?

I could maybe look at going down the lower end to start, A+ N+ etc...

And are the self study books from Microsoft worth it? Any others that I should be looking at?

Any and all help would be great

Ben

 

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The MS books seem ok to me, they often also give you an exam discount and an exam simulator.

Book the exams for a quiet afternoon at a local test site, if lucky you may even find a site open weekends.

 

Hi,

all good questions!

I'd say that in your position you are probably already well beyond the A+ and possibly N+ too.

The MCITP situation is a bit confused and, yes, there are changes next year but you should not let this put you off, who cares what the certs are called in the end, just so long as they give a good indication of a persons skill-set.

With your wide-ranging knowledge I'd go with learning a subject that you are most interested in/passionate about, and then expand from there.

Once you've started getting certified you may well get bitten by the bug and not want to stop!

HTH

 

Thanks guys.

Its knowing where to start, I am thinking a 2008 R2 as that is my main use at present.

But are there prerequisites for doing the exams, do I need to take another exam else where to do another?

The MS site is awful to find this out!

Ben

 

Hi again,

No, no prereqs other than to have been working with the technology for a while, just like all MS certs. It doesn't even matter in which order you take them generally.

For Server 2008 R2 I'd start by looking at the following:

70-640, 642 & 646; all needed for the MCSA Server 2008 Cert.

HTH

 

Well I am going to grab

MCITP Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Administrator: Training Kit 4-Pack: Exams 70-640, 70-642, 70-643, 70-647 2nd Edition Book/CD Package: Amazon.co.uk: Dan Holme, Nelson Ruest, Danielle Ruest, Tony Northrup, J.C. Mackin, Anil Desai, Orin Thomas, Joh

This should allow me and help me take at least 4 of the exams, then either:

Exam 70-620
or
Exam 70-624
or
Exam 70-680
or
Exam 70-681

Will have to see!

Ben

 

Just echoing RichyV's advice here. The 640, 642 and 646 are the core ones for Server 2008 R2 administration, so probably closest to what you do. You can self-study - as I did - and when you feel ready, get onto the Prometric site, buy a voucher and book yourself an exam.

To self study, the Microsoft books are probably best. They're the most thorough. They're also painfully straightlaced and unimaginative and so can be brain-achingly dull to read - so they should really be taken in small doses. The CBT Nuggets videos are much, much better at communicating concepts and ideas, but sadly, unless your company are happy to pay, or you have a couple of minor royals you can ransom back to a small but oil-rich country, CBT are expensive. And personally I don't feel they go into enough gritty detail to be your ONLY resource.

Whatever you do to study, IMO before the exam you should use MS TechNet a lot. It covers every in and out of 2008 and 2008R2. I don't think anyone could START learning from technet, but when you're about exam-ready, it's perfect for polishing up, for learning about every wart, issue and hidden way of doing stuff with server 2008. Before each exam, I basically built myself a little hut in technet and lived there for few days reading everything.
I passed all of them first time and felt technet was the biggest help. But I would never START with Technet.

Another point of interest. When you pass the final one in the track (and as RichyV said, order doesn't matter, I did 646 then 640 and then 642) you'll get both MCITP-Server Administrator 2008 AND MCSA:Server 2008.
In other words, you get one of the lifetime-of-the-technology but soon no longer available MCITPs and one of the expires-after-a-few-years but still shiny and new cloud certifications. So there's no reason to hold off.