Pc skills vs Qualifications

[cunny]

Right guys heres my dilema, i can get mcse training for about 6k thing is through experience i prob know more.

I just want to hear from people who are mcse qualified to make sure its worth the 6k.

Cheers

PS dont want hearsay hesays

[chroma]

What exactly are you looking to do?
Im fairly sceptical of vendor specific qualifications.

MCSE seems atleast to me to be a complete waste of time and money on its own, that being said ive got a BSc in Comp Sci (thinking about a postgrad masters somewhere down the line)

However ive been clearly applying for widely different job roles (generaly software development than hardware and tech support roles).
When it comes to looking over CVs though i look first for broad spectrum training, experience, then their blurb, then i look for vendor specific as garnish and fluff, ive not seen a job where MCSE has been anything other than "candidates who also have would be of benifit" but like i said, different roles.

Add to this however that in no place ive ever worked have i seen a pure microsoft instalation, everywhere i wind up things are coupled together in draconian and often insane ways, unix systems with old ass token ring networks hooked into nt servers with windows, osx and even bsd terminals all needing maintained, (screw having to duct tape that all together on a daily basis) of course management never saw the problems with running such a nightmare "ghetto" operation.

Networks should not ever still run over coax and bnc connectors, but apparently in some places they do :argh:
you could easily drop the 6k on a solid HND and work towards a degree instead and see more returns from your investment.

[Devilfish]

An MCSE is generally an on the job qualification so experience usually comes with the certification. Would an employer discard a candidate for having an MCSE and no experience? Does it show that you are committed to getting a job in that field by getting the qualification beforehand? I think employers would be looking for experience more than the qualification but expect all experienced candidates to have an MCSE certification at the same time.

So it's kinda catch 22 - as is most of the jobs in the IT industry.

Saying that...MCSE is not the glory certification that it used to be, there are loads of people with this qualification. If you want to stand out, specialise. There are probably 1 CISCO engineer to every 10 Microsoft engineers so it would be a distinct advantage if you had a CISCO qualification.

[jfish]

forget these techie courses do the ITIL v3 course and then the Prince2 foundation course and then practitioner one

[jckw]

forget these techie courses do the ITIL v3 course and then the Prince2 foundation course and then practitioner one anyone got any of these courses as a download please

[caveman_nige]

I am going to go with Devilfish on this one.. He somes it up pretty much as I see it..

Having an MCSE can get job but you need the experience to put it into practice and for a company to let you loose on their networks.. Too many people have just sat down and downloaded the courses taken the exams yet have no expereince therefore watering down the qualification..

There is way more of a requirement for .net people thesedays and they get payed stacks... Many companies will pay to train you so long as you work for them for a year or two so the get the benefitand their mones worth out of you.. I know I guy who started doing one last year from an advert in the paper.. He will go far..

If however you have experience in the infrastructure support arena (as you asked about the MSCE in particular) and feel like going down the network route further, then like the boss says (see post 3) look into Cisco, they are harder but worth it. However within the network arena there is a growing requirement for people to work in network security which is a very interesting area.

However, experience is the key word,, get that even by starting on a helpdesk roll, train on the job and keep learning, its hard to stay on top of the technology but worth it. The only limit in the I.T. world is you..