Im thinking about doing Microsoft certification. In particular the Solutions developer stream. Are they worth anything? Do employers take them seriously, or are they worth Sweet FA in the eyes of potential employers?

cheers
Jon

brassOnes, im doing my MCSE at moment, and I'd say its worth it honestly.

Also, its all relative to what job you are going for if its worth it or not to the potential employer.

Brass, some anal employers will require that you have an MCSE or MCP

Personally i think it's a good course to do if you'd like to brush up on sysadmin or programming, otherwise it's your choice.

Some employers don't require it, some do.

note that MCSD is different to MCSE.
The SD is programming (C+ VB etc)
I know the MCSE is well regarded, dunno about MCSD??

Krome Studios my old employer regard certified programming very highly

Where do you get information on these from? Like what they entail, the cost etc?

any sort of cetification is good to have, MSCE, MSCD, and (to a lesser extent) MCP, are all a good thing to have if applying for a IT position.

f*** NO

wart, that doesnt really account as an intelligent opinion. would u care to elaborate and support this with evidence
we would be happy to hear your opinion

brassOnes

small world Einstein - my mate just started working there... what did you do at Chrome?

hey plague i have just finished my MCP which is the first of 7 exams of the MCSE. To become a MCP you must complete any one of the MCSE exams.

Prices well they vary. I did my MCP through Sarina Russo. It cost me $1145. I could have done it through Interim or drake for about $3200. The major difference between darke/Interim and Russo is that Russo is jsut you sitting in from of a computer nad having it talk to you as Drake/Interim gives you hand on experience at doing the stuff.

Something to think about. Can you afford $3000+ or does $1145 sound better. Your choice.

But MCSE costs about $7500 through russo or $9000-12000 through Interim or Drake. Personally i would do my full MCSE through Interim or Drake but if i was doing only 1 exam i would go through Russo. They all supply the books and exams vouchers but Interim and Drake also supply the software.

Justa though for you. I reasarched all this at about December last year when i deciced to do my MCP so i could get out of coles.

Btw i had my last day at coles on Saturday YIPEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Unreal. That sounds a tad expensive. Is there any way of doing it like on a HECS basis?

i believe that qut has started incorporating the CISCO course and the MCSE into their IT degree now, that is the only way you could get it on hex, or do what i did and get out a studetn loan

Koopz it's Krome and i'm not allowed to say =)

how long ago did he join the crew?

I'd say that the SD stream is held in higher regard than the SE, mainly because there are so many fewer certified MCSD's out there. There are a lot of instances of "paper" MCSE's, people who have the cert, but have no real world experience, and basically no clue about anything not directly covered in the certification.

The MCSD is a lot harder to fluke and just get it on paper like the MCSE, basically because some of the exams are aimed at people who have been doing the stuff for a long time, not stuff you can really learn out of a book.

Anyway, If you were to do it, the cheapest way is to go to Amazon.com, work out which books are best for the exams you want to do, and then go down to McGills and work out how much they are. Bear in mind also that each exam is at least $130 as well.

I keep meaning to do more work on my VC++ MCSD, but I just never get around to it, I don't know if it would help me anyway.

inside a month... :)

named Pete.

i figure once he gets over his Diablo addiction he'll be ok :)

how usefull will a current mscert be when XP arrives?

XP will be fully compatible with 2k MCSE.

or so microsoft says :D

i completed MCSE last year and have only just started looking for a job in the past few weeks...and the employers i have spoken to seem very surprised that i (being 18) have my MCSE qual. already and seem to regard highly of it.

if you want, next lan i can bring along the official micro$oft books and that gives you a pretty good idea of whats its actually all about. icq me 38211735 if thats the case.

also - i disagree with what Lyco said - MCSD is Solutions Developer (programming etc.) and MCSE is Systems Engineer (network/hardware specialist) and are very much dissimilar. and if you have done any of the exams - you would see that they are *very* fkn hard to fluke. esp 7 of them at $150 and exam... you *really* want to make sure you dont fail them.

i did my course at Southbank TAFE and the 32 in the 2 classes in the beginning - dropped to about 5-10 of us for the last subjects (TCP/IP and Proxy 2.0). so yes, there maybe a couple that have just the paper and little experience. altho those ppl are dedicated to getting exp. not just going along for the ride.

also...you have to consider, do you study NT4 (what most companies are/will be using for the next few years, or do you go with 2k ?) myself, i went with NT4 and from there i can do like 2-3 'fast-track' exams to give me the 2k qual. aswell - altho from ppl ive talked to, your employer should pay for that if he requires you to have that qualification if they are upgrading.

If u go through Drake they also provide lunch every day at Friday's accross the street =)

Drake also have financing avaliable for all courses...MCSE is $193 a month for 4 years.

I've been an MCSE for two years now. The trick with either certification is that it is a part of the overall picture.

Your experience, skills, certifications and personality is what the employer sees. An MCSE or MCSD will help, but you have to have something else to offer, or be willing to take an entry level position.

There are too many MCSE's out there that think that because they are an MCSE they can get the sort of job I have. My MCSE was a help to getting to the first interview, but a great resume was more important. I got to the second interview because I had a good professional manner, had lots of experience with job interviews and could tell a good story about my past experience. I got to the third interview because I had run MSExchange and IIS training courses for MCSE candidates with CTS training. I got the job because a couple of the other candidates had attended training courses that I had run.

Take from that what you will :)

Malth. (Sysadmin at a top five law firm).
MCSE
Compaq ASE

Koopz i wouldn't know him, i left in November and the newest employee i knew was some cool pom from Auran =)

Well I have my MCP and A+ Certification which I got from Dialog (comapny based in Milton).....cost me about $3000 for each I think and they took us to lunch on Park Rd every day (got to choose where as a class).

Id hafta say it was one of the best training centres Ive seen around and the good part is that they pay if ya fail an exam as long as ya get a trainer to sign ya off on it before ya sit it.