Finally!! Got my MCSE

[Larry]

Does anyone have their Cisco Cert. yet??? I'm studying for it right now...it makes MCSE look like a Compaq quick reference card on how to press the power button on your computer.... Mommy, I'm SCARED!!! BWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

[Mark F]

Most of the important points are covered in the Core Requirements material anyway. Some chapters in in Win2KPro, and an intire test named Network Infrastructure Administration (70-216). I'm sure it's also in Win2KServer, but I haven't looked in there yet; Win2KPro is keeping me busy enough.

Mark F.

------------------
OH NO, my retractable cup holder swallowed a DVD...
and burped out a movie

[Mark F]

Most of the important points of Net Essentials are covered in the Core Requirements material anyway. Some chapters in in Win2KPro, and an entire test named Network Infrastructure Administration (70-216). I'm sure it's also in Win2KServer, but I haven't looked in there yet; Win2KPro is keeping me busy enough.

Mark F.

------------------
OH NO, my retractable cup holder swallowed a DVD...
and burped out a movie

[RAB]

Mark F and Liquid Snake:
Get the Exam Cram Study guide on A+ and maybe the CD-ROM for it and study those. It might take two or three weeks at most, but that should be all you need to get through A+ Core and Dos/Win9x. The two exams are both 20 questions in an adaptive format. After studying the Exam Cram guides, I missed one question on Core and two on DOS/Win9x. Remember they are adaptive, so on the core exam I got some off the wall question about changing emulated drivers on a dot matrix printer using a dos command. You are bound to get some arcane question no matter how long you study, so don't just blow it off saying that you can do it without a little prep.

Larry: I might take that sometime soon, but from what I've seen, it doesn't look that hard after TCP/IP. Sure it will be harder, but not impossible. But I wouldn't dare try it unless I first had TCP/IP.

Everyone:
I think Jorden is talking about CompTIA's Net+ exam. Its the follow up to the A+ exam and covers alot of the same material that Network Essentials does plus a little on IP addressing.

As far as the new MCSE Win2k curriculum, exams 70-216 and 70-217 cover much the same ground as the old Net Essentials and TCP/IP. For those interested go here and click on the individual exams in the right hand column for an explanation of what they cover.
http://www.microsoft.com/trainingand...asp?PageID=mcp

RAB

[This message has been edited by RAB (edited 21 September 2000).]

[Jorden]

TCP/IP is found in depth in Network Infrastructure Administration, the book we'll be using untill the end of this week, before we step over to Active Directory

Damn, these past 2.5 weeks have flown past !!

Btw, that's what I meant, RAB. The new Net Ess Plus is CompTIA/MCSE. Sorry for the confusion. Should've taken the book alongside, when I typed that.

Jord.

[Byock]

I hope it means more there than in Utah...I have had the MCSE, A+, and Cisco CCNA for almost 2 years, and there are no jobs here. Let me know if they are hiring and I will move!!


The Chicken

[xortam]

Byock, don't you know better? You should be a NetWare CNE.

[EdSki]

Bit late, but Gongrats RAB!! ..Nice going

Mark F, dos commands may not be part of the mcse exams but those dos commands sure come in handy when making shell scripts..simple scripts will save u hours of work. Should be part of mcse track, but it isn't..quess M$ doesn't like you doing stuff the easy way

[foft]

I thought the MSCE was just certification that you are officially crap? Maybe this is because the only person I know who has MSCE and CCNA has the brains of a peanut though

BTW no offense intended, I am sure it is really hard! However if I were interviewing someone I would currently read the MSCE as a bad point.... Is there actually anything really useful in it?

(Someone who has been coding far too much for MFC this week.... Grrr Microsoft Arrrggg...)

[RAB]

Foft,
After job hunting for a week or so, I now see that networking jobs are not easy to come across despite Microsoft's insistance that everyone needs to be an MCSE. Employers want programmers: C+, Java, ASP, html, etc. But nonetheless, there is a need for people that know how a file gets from point A to point B. I have a good lead on one job and will be going for my third interview there next week I hope. Its in tech support, but I am willing to start there. I never said that an MCSE was a ticket to Easy Street.

I am curious why you programmers look down your nose at "meer" network engineers. Your post seems to indicate that. While I am sure that it took you a long time to learn your skills, do you not think that it takes both time and intelligence to learn networking? I'm sorry if you don't, but I've been helping people on this forum for three years now and how long have you been here? And how many post have you made that helped people solve a problem?

Sorry for the rant and Foft, I apologize that you had to take the brunt of it. But its hard for me to take comments like "I thought the MSCE [sic] was just certification that you are officially crap?" after spending the last five months studying eight hours a day to pass these exams. Its not easy. I might not be the most intelligent person on these forums, but I'm not a dummy either. Comments like "However if I were interviewing someone I would currently read the MSCE [sic] as a bad point.... Is there actually anything really useful in it?" don't help either.

Again, I'm sorry for this tirade, but you finally got to me. You and Lmbfdtk need to learn some manners. I'm just trying to get started as an IT professional after 18 years in commercial banking and your obvious distain for those of us that are not veterans of many years in the IT trenches was just not appropriate. I've made my fair share of dumb remarks on these forums, but I've always apologized when I was wrong.

RAB

p.s. Please don't take this to mean you are not welcome here. We need all the help we can get. But next time save the insults for those that truly deserve them.

[xortam]

RAB, Please don't take foft's comments and extrapolate them out to "you programmers". I've been doing software development since electricity was invented and I don't agree with foft's comments. Be confident in what you've accomplished but realize that its only a stepping stone towards your new career. Tech support or quality assurance are excellent ways to start learning products, the industry, and what problems customers frequently run into. Those lessons will serve you well if you decide to pursue software development. There's been high demand for IT personnel for years and you should be able to find some kind of junior position at a larger company. A large company will also be able to provide you with training. As I said earlier, you would have no trouble quickly landing a job in the Silicon Valley. I don't know what the market is like in your area but you may consider relocating to a more competitive location.

[foft]

Rab:
Please do not take my partially jocular comments as representative of the programming community at large.

I do not "look down my nose" at network engineers whatsoever. Indeed several of my good friends work at companies specialising in networks. BTW why do you consider yourself a network *engineer*? I hope that isn't based solely on the MCSE (some people study for many years to become a real network engineer - apologies if you did). OTOH I do look down my nose at commercial bankers

My comments were primarily aimed at Microsoft's *certification* (yeah I know I spelt MCSE incorrectly before - my mistake) which IMHO means very little. I also think the same about many degrees though...

In any case many employers rate such qualifications highly - so the MCSE should be beneficial. I do wish you luck finding work in IT. A career change after 18 years is a brave move. Just remember that you can not expect to know IT after only five months study - even if 8 hours/day. The more you know, the more you realise you will never know everything.

>I've made my fair share of dumb remarks on >these forums, but I've always apologized >when I was wrong.
Two points:
1) This is presuming I am wrong. Way OTT I would agree with, but not completely wrong.
2) Secondly you did not give me a chance to apologise. For the record I am sorry that you took my comments so harshly. I wish you had calmly and clearly explained why I was incorrect. Rather than dropping to the level of my (very childish!) post.

BTW listen to xortam, I entirely agree with the above comment.

[RAB]

After I made the post I realized I had overreacted, but like I said, your comments just hit me wrong. I don't normally get that mad about comments here and I will try not to again.

I realize that five months is not much and I don't expect to learn IT overnight. You are right, I am not yet fully qualified to call myself an engineer yet, despite what Microsoft says. However, I have been the LAN admin for about 8 years and I do know a few things about computers, so I think I have a little more experience than your average newly minted MCSE. We will see if employers agree.

foft, let's call it even. Your comments were a bit childish, but then again, so were mine. Give me a year and we will see where thing lead.

RAB



[This message has been edited by RAB (edited 24 September 2000).]

[Jeff]

Way to go!!! MSCE is very nice to have on one's resume. keep your certifications up to date as it shows you are staying current in your new carrer path. It is much like continueing education for other fields.

[EdSki]

Well Rab with 8 years experience you shouldn't have any problem finding a new Job (even without mcse)so don't worry...

-btw- Foft I agree that mcse certification doesn't make one a network engineer (it isn't even supposed to).. But it sure isn't useless. It provides a good base for the job of Lan administrator. Alltough it is not a substitute for experience..

For some reason if somebody mentions 'Microsoft' a lot of people make associations with 'incompetent'..mmm I wonder why that is

Grtz,
Ed




[This message has been edited by EdSki (edited 25 September 2000).]