Is MCTS better than MCSA/MCSE?

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Hi folks,

As per one of my friends, it is better to go for MCTS rather than MCSA?

What is your take?

Plz reply.

Regards,

Stolen Blessing

 

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I think they both have different objectives.

You need to look at what you wnat to do in your career, then see which of these will suit it best.

Im happy with my MCSA though

 

As said, it depends on what systems you using at the moment - if its Server 2003 and will be for a while then MCSA/MCSE is your target but if an upgrade is in the pipeline and 2008 is going to be used then maybe you should look at MCTS and MCITP

 

There is no option of 'better' here. MCSA/E are on windows 2000 and 2003, MCTS and MCITP is on 2008.
In 4, 5 years there will be no more option to get the MCSA, there will be only MCTS and maybe a new title invented by MS to the windows 7.0 specialists. Is a MCSA on 2003 better than a MCSA on 2000? No, he is specialized on another OS.
MS had other targets in the NT4 times. Howmany MCSE still know or have ever learned that a call to a wins server was 92 bytes? Howmany have worked with windbg? In NT4 we had to know these things. In 2000 MS decided that that knowledge was not needed to do the job on 2000, so they skipped it.
In 2008 they again schifted their goals for the examinees. Is it better? No, just diferent.

That said, what to go for? Well, that depends on what you need for your job.
If you are going to use 2008 and vista soon, I'd go for the new MCTS and MCITP certs. If you'll still be using XP and 2003 for the next few years, go for MCSA/E.

 

I always recommend certifying on the older certification (MCSA, in this case), and then upgrading to newer certifications (MCTS, in this case). A few years from now, your MCSA will look *really* good, whereas newly-minted MCTSs will still be being created.

 

I'm with BosonMichael on this one. Someone with old and new certs is assumed to be more experienced than someone with just the new ones. Of course, in reality you might have been flipping burgers for the years in between, but that's the perception anyway.

I'd equate MCTS with MCP though, as they're both single test certs. Which would then make MCITP like MCSA. Apparently IT professionals are moving up in the world.

 

I agree with BosonMichael. That's what I would do. Having the old cert would indeed make you look more experienced. Besides, almost all of us had some sort of encounter with Server 2003 or experience, so doing some study and getting the cert for it would be more comprehensive.

However, *I* don't know of anyone who has or have ever seen Server 2008. I might prob check MS website later on to see if they have any screenshots. But I believe that it will be alot more different than 2003. Seeing the fast downfall of Vista and all its issues, I doubt whether corporations would jump to buy Server 2008 just yet. So 2003 would definitely be around for some time (I hope), besides, I think that its more than sufficient to do the job.

So I would go with getting a cert on Server 2003 and then just do the upgrade exam (if you want it so bad). It'll be FAR LESS studying on the new stuff that might be more complicated to understand.