MS advises doing 2008 over 2003??

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Hi

Anyone have any advice on MS server certificates, I was just away to work towards gaining the MCSA (system administrator) but now that's not achievable? I think or its the old MCSE that's not? So what now? MS advises doing the server 2008 exam...should I? Or is it still worth getting certified in 2003?

I think it would be beneficial to start on 2008 because what I learn in 2008 I can use in 2003 unless they changed the way active directory works, which I think not, but its mainly the interface has changed and new features? Am i wrong?

Any advice would be appreciated?

 

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Personally I never really bought the line 'certify on old and upgrade', too many exams to pass and too much money.

The only real advantage was the lifetime of the old certs was longer.

Now the whole thing is just one big mess IMHO, too much innovation around the latest technologies and not enough focus on core competencies and certifications.

Too much focus on marketing and re-branding, basically what you have with the MS cert program is an education program for technology run by marketing people, just doesn't seem to work for me. It focuses on benefiting MS over the individuals who have to study and pay to pass the exams and apply for jobs with recruiters.

MS have sold their cert customers down the river, puts me off chasing MS certs and spending months studying for them personally.

Looks like MS have finally come closer to my line of thought and are re-instituting MCSD and MCSE certifications, so maybe in 2-3 years time the mess will start to be cleared up. However doesn't help people who have invested in MCTS, MCITP, MCPD certifications much in the meantime, and I expect if there is an upgrade track it will be a huge PITA requiring either multiple upgrade exams or exams with such wide scope that they are almost impossible to pass.

 

I recently had this conversation with the training manager in the company I work for. They will not pay for me to get the old MCSA/E in '03 as many of the exams are being retired and it is 'old technology'. Never mind the fact that about 90% of our customers are using it

To be fair, the OS is almost 10 years old, so it does make sense for the long term. I am just a bit dubious about how much crossover there is with '03, i.e. will 2008 certs be useful in 2003 environments?

 

Not done 2008 MCITP, but expect fundamentals of AD, networking and security to be the same.

There is a lot of stuff in the 2003 MCSA that probably is of no relevance to your work environment either.

 

The 2008 certs will cover the same core areas but the focus will be on the new features and technologies within 2008. Recommending what to certify in is a personal choice really. I work with a mix of 2003 and 2008 so would only do 2008. Saying that i would find it hard to study a technology i never used in my job. So unless your company has no plans to upgrade i would side with the 2008 route.

 

I agree with DMarsh in the sense that Microsoft have really messed up with their certs. They should of kept MCSA and MCSE and updated the certs for newer platforms. The fact they are bring those names back but they stand for different terms is just further confusing people and more importantly recruiters. I would recommend going for the 2008 exams unless you work for a company that uses 2003 and has no intention short/medium term in updating their systems. As for me I won't really be doing many more MS exams until they make it clearer and scrap all this proposed upgrading every 2-3 years.

 

TBH I can't see the point in certifying on a product that went out of mainstream support back in 2010, sure you've got extended support until 2015 but by then the product will be over 13 years old, it would be like wanting to take the VCP 3 exam because it's still out there.

Also worth bearing in mind that Microsoft will be releasing a new Server OS late this year \ early next year, do you really want to then struggle through two lots of certification updates?

Personally speaking I would go for the 2008 certification, if you need to learn about 2003 then stick it on a VM and give it a go there instead.