What was that one cert, that you wanted the most?

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I had many over the years, but the first was easily the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer MCSE. It took me ages. Maybe 18 months to get and 8 exams. If you include the times when I drove to an exam center and failed… 70-291 was the killer exam for me. I maybe had to go and sit 10 exams to get it. Maybe 11. There was no remote option back then.

To get your MCSE back then meant a lot for your CV. I could start to look at what was the big bucks for me back then as a server engineer. Like 38k salary but it was all about the overtime and on call back then. I remember I’d batter these and take home a few grand more and be delighted with myself. I’d go to a test center and post on here if I passed or failed. What books I’d used. I can remember how good I’d feel coming out of the testing centers, many of which no longer exist.

Did you ever have anything like this?

 

The CCNA was one of the main certs wasn't it, probably still is I'd imagine. I remeber going for it with very little study and getting my butt kicked badly. I never sat it again ha ha

 

Same here... I started with the MCSE 2000, then did the upgrade exams to the MCSE 2003. That was THE certification to get. Since then, while I've done a wide array of certifications no other certification as peaked my interest as much since then. In recent times I think the next one was the CISCO CyberOps Associate (the new version of the CCNA: Cyber Ops).

 

I wonder how Microsoft got us so hooked! If any cert said to me now, its 7 exams to get, I'd think no way! Possibly just because administering Windows Server was such a hot job for many years. Possibly still is I've just moved onto other things. I wonder if it is now? It was certainly one of my most enjoyable roles. It was the first time I started to earn almost decent money. Still underpaid for years but did a lot better than what came before. Mainly because of the overtime and on call

 

Has to be the MCSE 2003 for me – why? Like many of us that studied for it I did it the right way with lab work and hard work. As we all remember lots of shortcuts back then to pass the MCSE in 7 days etc. with certain training materials.

Was good timing for me to do the cert as I was moving between server admin, windows network design and pre-sales working at a small IT company so I got to use everything I was studying day to day.

Changed days for me now as I just make sure suppliers and contractors are doing their jobs properly but I still take an interest in IT certification – once a tech always a tech!

Even found my MCSE 2003 review

https://www.certforums.com/threads/mcse-2003-review.25582/

 

Great write up Sparky. I would expect nothing less. That’s another thing that blows my mind. MCSE 2003. You passed yours in 2008. I passed mine in June 2010! 8 exams actually mine must have been to get the :Security

It blows my mind that 7 years after it was released. It was still a brilliant thing to get and costs so much time and effort. The hundreds of hours required. Hundreds of pounds required. Actually 8 exams. Some of which I failed so I’ll have paid over a grand just for the exams won’t I? I’m sure they used to be about £110. I could be mistaken. Mind you they used to give them away or do discounts didn’t they. Over the years

 

Yeah it always took some commitment to do the MCSE – I remember receiving the Server 2003 MCSE training kit from NITLC and initially thought there was no chance I could get through it all.

The Windows XP 70-270 didn’t seem to take too long to complete even though the book was massive whereas the 70-291 (small book) was a world of pain.

There was a voucher in some of the MS books for 10% or 20% off some of the exams if I remember correctly.

In terms of hardware I completed a Windows NT to Server 2000 and the IT manager I was working with at the time let me keep the old servers which could just about run Server 2003 – I had one setup with 3 NICs to I could test RRAS and eventually used it to help study for the ISA Server exam.

Probably sound old but the current lineup of exams from MS don’t compare to the original MCSE but that isn’t a bad thing. Way more products on the market than what there was back in the day so taking exams in whatever is interesting or will help with the day job isn’t a bad thing.