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  • #2222285

    MCSE 2003 2008 or CISSP

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    by sirdivine99 ·

    I have my MCSE NT 4.0 cert and I’m preparing to take the 2003 exam before is retired,manwhile windows 2008 is released. Am confuse if I should forget about the 2003 exam and take the 2008 class plus the cert? or forget about the mcse and go in for the CISSP course. Any good tutorial DVDs around and what do you advice?

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    • #2639657

      Clarifications

      by sirdivine99 ·

      In reply to MCSE 2003 2008 or CISSP

      Clarifications

    • #2639627

      My advice

      by kjell_andorsen ·

      In reply to MCSE 2003 2008 or CISSP

      If you want to work with MS Technologies I’d say the 2003 MCSE is still worth it. I just completed mine and I expect it to be useful for many years as I doubt Server 2003 will be phased out any time soon nor are the exams scheduled to be phased out.

      There won’t be an MCSE for server 2008. Instead there will be various more specialized MCITP (Microsoft Certified IT Professional) certifications, the cloest to the “traditional” MCSE will be the MCITP: Enterprise Administrator. Just like you have to take several MCP exams today to obtain an MCSE you will have to take a number of MCTS (Microsoft certified Technology Specialist) exams to become an MCITP. You used to have to do at least 7 different exams to become an MCSE, the number has been slightly reduced so you now need a total of 6 to become an MCITP: Enterprise Administrator.

      The CISSP is a different beast altogether, and I wouldn’t do an either/or comparison to the MCSE or the MCITP. The CISSP is for security specialists, or to be specific mainly for Security Managers. It is Vendor neutral and tests knowledge in several different security knowledge domains. To obtain it you have to already have several years of verifiable work expeirence in some area of information security and you must be sponsired by an existing (ISC)2 member (someone already CISSP or SSCP certified).

      Any of these Certifications can be valuable. Aside from the obvious value they bring to your resume, chances are that while studying for them you will learn a few new things (I know I did). At the same time they have their limitations, the Microsoft ones especially tend to focus on teaching you to use MS solutions that you would never do ina production environment.

      • #2639565

        I’ll second that.

        by enigmav8 ·

        In reply to My advice

        I totally agree. Get the MCSE 2003. Because of the certs maturity, materials are extremely abundant. For quite a few years yet that’s what recruiters and managers will be looking for and will still be very marketable. Server 2003 is a good solid solution and will still be the majority in shops for years yet. Exchange and other products will upgrade much quicker than the OS.

        ALSO, remember the upgrade path to the next level MCSE is usually much smaller like only a few test and sometimes even just two. So there’s no waste at all right now. In another year or so this might be a different story.

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