MCSA/SE Still worth having?

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Not sure if this is the correct section, but if any mods wish to move, please do.

I have just passed my 2nd exam (70-620) after having passed 70-290 latter part of last year. I have a very busy day job with on-call and expected commitment to other overtime.

Therefore I am finding it hard to juggle study for exam and still squeeze time in with the Wife and friends.

So, my question, is having a MCSA or SE still worth it's weight in gold? Given there are a good number of candidates with some form of certification, does having them still appeal to employers ?

Given we are in a credit crunch, I guess having them is more important for the CV, but what I'm really getting at is their real worth in terms of getting you that next position.

From this you can correctly assume I am not overly happy in my current role (3rd level in a large financial organisation). The role is too narrow and in fact limiting given the size of the infrastructure.

 

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I would say it's deffo worth having, I'm in the same position as you fella, 3rd line support in a financial instituation and looking to get out, I've been using the same excuse for years about being too busy to study and so fourth, but now that I want to leave and make more money I have found the time to get the studying down, even just an hour a day is quite often good enough.

The way I see it is if you've got one guy with a load of experience and a bunch of certs and another guy with the same experience and no certs then your gonna go for the guy with the certs so you might aswell have them

 

Is it worth it's weight in gold? No. Is it worth having? Absolutely. Many employers still value the certification.

 

Thanks, I'm going to at the very very least get the 291 and an other to get the MCSA, then look for another job. I'd then probably just crack on and get the MCITP (as the Vista exam I've just passed counts towards that...so only the 2 exams to upgrade to a 2008 qual.

Yea, working in a large financial org sucks don't it ! And is no longer a safe job now either...!!

 

How much does an MCSE weigh?

 

Yep! its worth going for and having if you can attain it. I'm in the process of getting this as well but owing to lack of time and work being very busy its been its been suffering

However, my ultimate aim is to get it done and look for another job when the entire economy gets better. Cheerio and keep on keeping on

 

Being slightly synical here, but recruitment agents (UK based here) for IT are normally un-educated in the ways of IT, so if the end company ask for MCSE even for a first line position, then the agents will filter through every CV and only hand those on that have MCSE on it.

So if you don't have the right words on your CV for them to search for, you don't get put forward. So even if you have 10 years experience 3rd line, it doesn't make an ounce of difference to the recruitment agent, and they're normally the one you have to go to for a job - its not very often that companies actually advertise jobs themselves.

 

Yes, this is a source of frustration for me too.....you can't go directly to companies, you need to go through these irritating agency interviews, where they take your CV..roll it up and toss it in the filing with everyone else......yea, great service........puts you off looking else where........but I think things might be turning around for them....companies can no longer pay them the fees, so let's hope they go next !

 

Might be somewhat different over here... many companies don't want the hassle and cost of dealing with a recruitment agency, particularly with the turnover IT has.

 

Nice to find someone from the US that understands it is different in the UK. I wish more companies here recruited directly and sidestepped these recruitment agencies.

 

You are not being cynical you are merely stating a FACT.
normally un-educated in the ways of IT Spot On!
I often apply for jobs online and receive error messages advising me I applied for the job previously 2 months ago. The people they consider the best candidates are obviously not what the employer wants

 

ARRRRRRRRRRR
Its driving me crazy too!
Job hunting so I tell the agency that I'm an MCSA, the guy goes 'Meh' but then gets really excited when he finds out I'm an MCP.
How can you be an IT Recruitment Agency and NOT know that you need several MCP's to be an MCSA?

And these people are deciding my future?
Vermin for the most part. /end rant

 

It's definitely worthwhile. For one thing you have an easy upgrade path to MCTS: you can take a single 'transition your MCSA to Windows Server 2008' exam and be MCTS. You can then take another exam and become MCITP.