IT Work MCSE progression....

spursn17

Hi, Been contracting as 2nd/3rd line for around 4 years and looking to progress as i feel i have become stuck in a rut now. i have been working in nhs/councils and current contract is just a monthly rolling but now im not too confident it will be extended for much longer, given the cuts that are due in public sector. just looking to see what would be best now. been looking at doing mcse but not sure if this will move me forward really. any advice???? cheers

DCFC79

Depends what you wnat to do or what area you want to focus on

moneyuser

MCSE is for older tech. You should look at the newer certifications if you want to go down the MS route.

caz2703

MCSE and other Microsoft certs are 10 a penny now. I knew a guy years ago who got MCSE, MCSA, MCDBA and all without touching the vast majority of applications being tested.

Personally if you are from a networking background I'd suggest Cisco or if you can persuade your employers try for Certified Ethical Hacker although reading your post this is probably not an option. Citrix is also an option and not that complicated once you get started.

If you want to add to your CV then do the MS certs by all means but it will cost you a lot of money to do it and you won't stand out from the crowd but at least you'd be on a par with them.

If you're 3rd line support then maybe you've used VMware? If not download a copy and play around with building servers, creating your own domain with DNS, add in Exchange and Citrix and see if you can build a fully working closed environment. Obviously you'd need copies of all the software but if you are still in a job maybe they have the software that you could do this in work and maybe suggest the benefits of VMware and/or Citrix to your employers?

spursn17

well citrix wise ive put config files back on to routers and thats about it. and vmware we use currently so had a little experience in that so i maybe look mdown that route.

cheers

gadgeteer_2

I agree. MCSE as a qualification is meaningless now. Ten a penny. I've had MCSE's who don't understand TCP/IP and can't even install a stick of RAM in a PC!

Nowadays, I'd look for experience over qualifications. That said, what would interest me is a proven experience of networking (eg. CCNP), not CCNA and other new technologies like VMWare/Citrix Xenserver.

A monkey can install Windows nowadays