Microsoft Study / Certification

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Hi All,

I've been working with Cisco gear in a pre-sales capacity supporting our European VoIP sales engineers for the past 4 years.

In this time I managed to certify in CCNA/CCNA Voice/CCNP, but now want to move on. I've been contemplating the CCVP, but cannot see the point of studying any more Cisco certs at this point.

Trouble is, a lot of the jobs I'm shooting for require some level of Microsoft experience with servers etc. I've put a few together in my time when in the company's lab, but would like to explore further and maybe shoot for a certification.

Would someone be able to advise what may be best to pursue? I've seen the entry-level certs MSDST etc, but have no desktop support experience (only Cisco networking). What would you recommend? Any advice greatly received - many thanks in advance.

-Chris

 

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Hi Chris, judging from your current Cisco hands on experience and now looking to cover some areas of Microsoft you'd be better off going for the MCSA, which covers servers and networking the Microsoft way and plus you get to sit for a client operating system i.e. Windows XP Pro or Vista.

Whichever you do decide to go for get as much hands on practical lab experience using VMware or VirtualPC. Best wishes and lets know how you get on

 

Just to add further, whilst having Microsoft skills is great, one thing to consider with the MCSA and MCSE is that Microsoft are expecting you to have between 12 - 18 months experience with the product you're testing with.

I would perhaps also have a look at something like the Comptia Server+, it's more aimed at Servers in general and doesn't just do the Windows platform.

More information on the Comptia Server+ 2009 objectives can be found here

 

Thanks for the advice guys.

I'll get myself a copy of Server+ and get reading / practicing.

-Chris