MCDST Equivalent??

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 Guys,

I'm planning out a roadmap for my career change into IT and am currently in the process of getting my A+ and N+.

My next step was to get the MCDST, but this has been discontinued, so what is its replacement? The reason I ask, is because I have no experience in IT, and if someone else applies for the same job as I do and also has no experience but has MCDST then he/she has an obvious advantage over me.

I'd like to level the playing field a bit so would appreciate any advice on what I can do instead of the MCDST after I finish the A+ and N+.

Many thanks!

 

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.

I guess the closest thing at the moment would be one of the client exams (XP/Vista/7) and possibly MCITP after that. Bit harder than MCDST and not quite the same thing unfortunately.

 

The closest in terms of difficulty seems to be the 620 (Vista). However it is the least useful of the three client exams.

 

MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Support Technician on Windows 7 Exam 70-680 + Exam 70-685

MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator on Windows 7 Exam 70-680 + Exam 70-686

MCITP: Consumer Support Technician on Windows Vista Exam 70-620 + Exam 70-623

MCITP: Enterprise Support Technician on Windows Vista Exam 70-620 +Exam 70-622

MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT Professional)

 

Have a look at the ITIL.

 

The MS stuff is quite a different beast to ITIL though.

ITIL is about the processes etc, the MS certs are about the technology.

As someone posted above, look at the various MCITP certifications and see which one fits best for what you do, or want to do.

However with no experience you might find it tricky (and many on here will say don't do it without the working experience to back it up until the cows come home).

 

Many thanks Mercury for the info provided, I'm thinking of doing the Desktop Support Tech as I think this may level the playing field for me when I apply for 1st line jobs.

At Monkeychops: You suggest I don't do any of these exams? Then in your opinion how would I level the playing field? As mentioned in my OP, if someone who has exactly the same background as me except that he/she has an MCDST, and applies for the same job as myself, wouldn't I be at a slight disadvantage for the position? I would have thought that doing the MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Support Technician on Windows 7 Exam 70-680 + Exam 70-685 would at least help me a little?

Once again, thanks guys for your input on this! Don't know where I'd be without CF!

 

No sorry, quite the opposite infact!

Whilst I see on here a lot of the time people saying don't do xyz cert as you don't have the background experience, it'll do more harm to your application than good etc, I would not always agree with that (depending on the cert).

For an entry-ish level cert like this then I would say it'd be a decent thing to do (and I'm not belittling it or anything, I don't have anything like this!), especially if you're looking to start up a career in this area.

Get a book or something and see if it's something you can understand and follow ok, and if it all seems ok go for it.

 

Yep completely different from MS but they are looking at certs that will help them get a job and the ITIL is an easy, cheap and quick exam to do and will look good on the CV.

 

You're welcome. Get your self the official Microsoft press book/s to study from, Amazon are normally pretty good on price.

Good luck with the exams!

 

Thanks for all the input guys (and girls!)

So I've now come to the conclusion that after doing the A+ and N+ my next step would be to do the MCITP Enterprise Desktop Support Technician on Windows 7 Exam 70-680 + Exam 70-685. I think this should level the playing field a bit for me!

I am considering doing the ITIL but maybe thinking that too many certs on my CV for an entry level job might be a bit of an overkill!