MSCE 2003 exams

tech

Ok im thinking of going off to a boot camp and getting my 2003 MSCE exams in 3 weeks, I currently have been working in IT for over 3 years now and have alot of experience in IT, Im just wondering has anyone on these boards got their exams and if so, is it worth your while in relation to more money from your employer ???

ando

f*ckin hell, your looking to get 7 MCP's in 3 weeks ???

ChipZilla

Doing a bootcamp/braindump/whatever you want to call it and coming out with an MCSE at the end is no guarantee you have a clue what you're talking about. Too many helpdesk phone jockeys got their MCSEs this way and devalued the whole thing in the eyes of employers, as these clowns couldn't tell you what a server looked like let alone having ever logged into one. If an employer had a toss up between a bootcamp MSCE and a guy with proven experience, he's going to pick the guy with experience. You haven't said what exactly you do in your job, so I'd say save your €2500 and start with something a little less optimistic like the new MCDST qualification and see how you get on.

tech

I work as a Field engineer working on servers, desktops, Backup solutions, Firewalls, Cisco Routers, for the last 3 years

Emboss

To do it in 3 weeks shouldn't be a problem, what will you learn in those 3 weeks, nothing.....what will it do for your CV

it will catch recruitment agenies eyes and HR love all that meaningless bullsh*t

It won't do any harm to have them and alot of employers DO actually think it means something.

If you have money/time to waste go for it.

or if someone else is paying for them

BogoBot

Most employers who know what a boot camp is would be a bit slow to hire someone straight from camp.

That said I reckon it would be worthwhile *if* you have the experience to back it up.

I'm sitting my 2k3 upgrade exams at the end of this month so I hope there's lots of demand!

Bogobot.

ColmOT [MSFT]

You don't have a hope of passing the exams in a 3 week bootcamp.

They are exceedfingly difficult, and require a very good knowledge of the UI as well as the technologies.

Save your money and buy the self-learn book kits (around €150 I think for the core exams) and do it that way. It'll pay off in the long run, because each exam is €140.

Colm (nearly MCSE - just 1 to go after 2 years!)

The Insider

Originally posted by tech
I work as a Field engineer working on servers, desktops, Backup solutions, Firewalls, Cisco Routers, for the last 3 years

I wouldnt bother with them then much better off branching away from windows, have a look at doing some red hat course, or if you are intereseted in the firewall side of things look at doing some checkpoint/cisco exams.

MCSE exams are not worth the paper they are written on, if you have 3 years worth expierence on the windows side of things and you want to move on, then look at the linux\firewall\security side of things, thats were the money\jobs are.

Emboss

Originally posted by ColmOT [MSFT]
You don't have a hope of passing the exams in a 3 week bootcamp.

They are exceedfingly difficult, and require a very good knowledge of the UI as well as the technologies.

Save your money and buy the self-learn book kits (around €150 I think for the core exams) and do it that way. It'll pay off in the long run, because each exam is €140.

Colm (nearly MCSE - just 1 to go after 2 years!)

That's absoloute CRAP, I know people who have done the full MCSE over 10 days.

The bootcamps teach you how to pass the exam, nothing else.

a group of _sales_ staff from an irish phone company recently passed the core exams in 5 days in my local test center, having NO previous expirience had never even SEEN windows 2003.

Not one person failed.

TCP/IP

Any idiot can be a MCSE it is a nothing qualification any more every joe soap has it. What you need is real world experience and also Linux and Cisco exams, this is the way foward.

I have done the MCSE, CCNA, NET +, A+, Linux + Server+ and six years hands on work that is were the real knowledge is.

ColmOT [MSFT]

Yes, you're correct, any idiot can learn the test ver batim and answer questions on it in the exam, but in the real world, I believe that only people who have studied the material and actually _understand_ the underlying technology will be any use.

It's the same for Cisco, RedHat Certifications...being able to think 'outside the box' is the key.

But my point is that ther eis no point in getting the qualification unless you can back it up in the workplace.
Employers are aware that it's easy to get the qualification, and if you state that you're MCSE but don't know how to configure DHCP scopes or DNS, then they'll get rid of you there and then.

But it's not so easy to get the qualification, and actually know the material and technologies involved.

Emboss

Originally posted by ColmOT [MSFT]
Yes, you're correct, any idiot can learn the test ver batim and answer questions on it in the exam, but in the real world, I believe that only people who have studied the material and actually _understand_ the underlying technology will be any use.

It's the same for Cisco, RedHat Certifications...being able to think 'outside the box' is the key.

But my point is that ther eis no point in getting the qualification unless you can back it up in the workplace.
Employers are aware that it's easy to get the qualification, and if you state that you're MCSE but don't know how to configure DHCP scopes or DNS, then they'll get rid of you there and then.

But it's not so easy to get the qualification, and actually know the material and technologies involved.

If you can back it up the workplace you don't need to do the exams in the first place as you have real world expirience,

what you might need them for is entry level work.
or to impress a clueless IT manager/HR which they're alot of out there

most employers are NOT aware that it's easy to get, it's very easy to get the qualification.

knowing the technologies involved does not come from reading ms press, or any other quick fix book.

it's this simple

if you want to get into an entry level job and want to work with ms technologies
and have 0 expirience an mcp or an mcsa <insert random bull**** exam>
will usually get you in.

at the end of the day it doesn't matter what your CV says if you can't last 5 minutes in a technical interview, what's the point?

the poster is looking for the benifites of doing 2k3 with 3 years plus expirience with other technoligies.

and the simple answer is it impresses SOME companies, if you know your stuff AND have MCSE's it should put you ahead of someone who doesn't.

So is it worth him doing them?

it won't do any harm and that's the bottom line.

ChipZilla

At the end of the day, it's not worth doing an MSCE if you're expecting some magical pay rise or promotion. No bosses I know would not hire somebody solely on the strength of having one either. They're sceptical of *any* person with an MCSE because, as I said earlier, muppets doing bootcamps f**cked things up for everyone else cos they couldn't back their bulls**t up with practical knowledge. I've done NT4 and 2000 MCSEs, and couldn't be arsed with doing the 2003 cos it would make no difference to my pay packet or job prospects. And as for impressing agencies or HR droids? Maybe. But these people aren't the ones who make the decision to hire you. The guy would will be your boss is. They can get your CV on the table, but you'll soon be found out if you're talking crap. Or am I just being cynical?

ando

Originally posted by tech
I work as a Field engineer working on servers, desktops, Backup solutions, Firewalls, Cisco Routers, for the last 3 years

Ditto, I'm doing the exact same job for the same amount of time but got an mcse in 2k by studying on my lonesum. Took just over a year. I've never heard of anyone doing the full mcse in 3 weeks but :eek: