ajax_andy

This thread's taken an interesting turn. I have considered studying CISCO before but never follwoed through with it. Which of the 2 would be the best course to study?

I wouldn't go that far but from a development pov I usually ignore them and look at job history above all else. The thing about the MS quals is that you can get the answers off E-Bay which everyone knows so there is an air of distrust. Of course if you know your stuff anyway then that's okay as it would only take 5 minutes to work out someone was completely clueless. Ok thats something I didn't know... quite worrying in some aspects that the qualification isn't as well thought of as I expected. Still my main goals for studying it are: 1) I am a qualified IT Lecturer but my current role at the college doesn't involve teaching. My IT knowledge is rapidly becoming obsolete so I need to find something that will bring me back up to date. 2) Ideally i'd like to become MCSE qualified, quit my job and sign up as a Microsoft trainer (using my teaching experience as the main selling point on my CV) and earn £35k a year... Happy days!

That does sound like a waste of money like! Speaking from a teaching point of view (thats the profession i'm in) that kind of learning experience is shockingly bad!

Wow that companies expensive lol! I think i'll be going down the self taught route and just buy the books, download windows server and set up a mini network in the house. Just out of interest I'm presuming Windows Server 2008 is the current platform most businesses will be using, but I can only find training packs for 2003. Is the MCSE based on 2003 now obsolete? The self tought route is the best like I say, make sure you set up a home lab as practice is essential Aye QA are expensive but that's for their training courses . Work have sent me on them a few times for Ms server and Exchange and stuff, they are good though. What I meant it, QA is the closest examination centre, the price of the exams are the same everywhere and last time I checked there are roughly £100 per exam. They have scrapped the name MCSE for 2008 and created a new acronym MS Technology specialist or something. Most companies getting new servers will obviously be looking at server 2008 or exchange 2007, but loads of places still use server 2003, and alot of technology jobs still ask for server 2003 certification. Its up to you though Ok thats really helpful, thank you! I think i'd be best off learning 2003 as tbh i've not touched networks since 2000 and even then that was only briefly. If I learn 2003 then i'm sure the step up to 2008 wont be that big anyway so its the best place to start. I'll ask at work if they will pay for my exams if I teach myself should they refuse the £1,000 course I was looking at. Would you say its fairly easy to teach yourself using the training packs? How long did each MCP take you to learn?

Wow that companies expensive lol! I think i'll be going down the self taught route and just buy the books, download windows server and set up a mini network in the house. Just out of interest I'm presuming Windows Server 2008 is the current platform most businesses will be using, but I can only find training packs for 2003. Is the MCSE based on 2003 now obsolete?

Thanks I looked in to that but learn better when taught by someone actually standing there teaching me. It might be the only way forward though so i'll put in a thing at work to ask them to pay for it and see what they say. Cheers! I was going to mention cost - an outsourced course will cost a lot - I looked at one about 6 years ago that was more than £2k wheras the training kits are about £100. Of course if you can get your employer to pay thats the best way. I did it self-taught. Yeah 'm hoping to get them to pay for it but i'm not convinced they will!

I did MCAD/MCSD and found it okay - haven't tried MCSE. Cool, did you do yours on-line or using the training packs?

Has anyone studied this using the packs or on-line training? I'm wondering how easy it is to learn these things if you aren't actually sitting in front of Windows Server? Does the on-line training put you on a mock windows server to practice your learning?

Thanks I looked in to that but learn better when taught by someone actually standing there teaching me. It might be the only way forward though so i'll put in a thing at work to ask them to pay for it and see what they say. Cheers!

Does anyone know a training organisation in the north east that teaches MCP & MCSE courses? I'm really struggling to find anywhere and any help would be appreciated.

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