MCSE - how easy?

[Guest MSExchangeStudent]

Hi everyone

 

Just a question - how easy would you say is it to buy the MCSE set of books, self study it, ask friends and in forums what you dont know; and go write the exams WITHOUT registering at a educational organization.

 

....or would you advise to do it through a college, technickon, etc?

Obviously you need to have done the coarse to answer the question

[Guest Florian Frommherz [MVP]]

Re: MCSE - how easy?

 

Howdie!

 

MSExchangeStudent schrieb:

> Just a question - how easy would you say is it to buy the MCSE set of

> books, self study it, ask friends and in forums what you dont know; and

> go write the exams WITHOUT registering at a educational organization.

>

> ...or would you advise to do it through a college, technickon, etc?

> Obviously you need to have done the coarse to answer the question

 

There are specific .certification. newsgroups for your questions, just

to let you know.

 

I'm doing this self-study thing myself. It can be quite time-consuming

depending on what you know (where your experience is) and how strong

your expericence is. There may be fields you work on every day which

will be easy to learn but there will be fields you've not touched much

yet so they'll be more work in the first place.

 

It's up to yourself, how much you are of a diciplinite learner and how

much time you can dedicate to it. Why don't you just start off with a

client exam book, study it (Windows XP 70-270 or Windows Vista 70-620)

and see how far you get? The client exams are the easier ones

(especially Vista) so you should take one of those - just to get the

feeling of how those exams are - but don't get yourself fooled: the

server and design exams (design exams are needed for MCSE) are a lot

harder. Those questions can be tricky and nasty.

 

I wouldn't recommend doing this all the self-study-way if you're not

that much experienced.

 

cheers,

 

Florian

--

Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - Group Policy.

eMail: prename [at] frickelsoft [dot] net.

blog: http://www.frickelsoft.net/blog.

Use a newsreader! http://www.frickelsoft.net/news.html

[Guest MSExchangeStudent]

Re: MCSE - how easy?

 

Thank you that helped alot - sorry for posting in the wrong group

 

So, maybe i can give the easier ones ago myself (like XP and Vista) and

write those and enroll for the more difficult exams so that i can have the

help of a college if need be?What do you think?

 

 

"Florian Frommherz [MVP]" <florian@frickelsoft.DELETETHIS.net> wrote in

message news:%23zp7zKg1IHA.524@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

> Howdie!

>

> MSExchangeStudent schrieb:

>> Just a question - how easy would you say is it to buy the MCSE set of

>> books, self study it, ask friends and in forums what you dont know; and

>> go write the exams WITHOUT registering at a educational organization.

>> ...or would you advise to do it through a college, technickon, etc?

>> Obviously you need to have done the coarse to answer the question

>

> There are specific .certification. newsgroups for your questions, just to

> let you know.

>

> I'm doing this self-study thing myself. It can be quite time-consuming

> depending on what you know (where your experience is) and how strong your

> expericence is. There may be fields you work on every day which will be

> easy to learn but there will be fields you've not touched much yet so

> they'll be more work in the first place.

>

> It's up to yourself, how much you are of a diciplinite learner and how

> much time you can dedicate to it. Why don't you just start off with a

> client exam book, study it (Windows XP 70-270 or Windows Vista 70-620) and

> see how far you get? The client exams are the easier ones (especially

> Vista) so you should take one of those - just to get the feeling of how

> those exams are - but don't get yourself fooled: the server and design

> exams (design exams are needed for MCSE) are a lot harder. Those questions

> can be tricky and nasty.

>

> I wouldn't recommend doing this all the self-study-way if you're not that

> much experienced.

>

> cheers,

>

> Florian

> --

> Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - Group Policy.

> eMail: prename [at] frickelsoft [dot] net.

> blog: http://www.frickelsoft.net/blog.

> Use a newsreader! http://www.frickelsoft.net/news.html

[Guest Wiseman82]

Re: MCSE - how easy?

 

Hi,

 

Buy the books one at a time starting with the client os books. Make sure

you complete all the practice labs and have a good play about with the

technology - virtual pc/vmware will come in really handy. Book the exams

online when you are ready.

 

I signed up with a distance learning program and ended up paying a lot more

money than I needed to. The only advantage I had was a telephone support

line - I think I only used this twice and didn't get a proper answer on both

occasions and ended up figuring it out for myself. There was also a 1 week

workshop included in the price - this was a big waste of time. The trainer

was Chinese and spoke poor English. He was also lacking in experience.

There were 3 other people on the course with me - 2 of which were really

struggling with the course. The first day was a complete write off - the

second day they decided to split us off into two groups. Good idea, but it

was the same guy teaching both groups going back and forward between the two

rooms. To top this off the company went bust before I completed my MCSE and

I lost out on the last few exams. Might as well name and shame - the

company was called MicroTec and was based in London.

 

I don't regret doing my MCSE though - the first few MCP's got me my first IT

job as a computer technician (which also paid for the remainder of my MCP

exams). After completing my MCSE and gaining experience I was able to move

on to higher paid jobs.

 

I've been on a few courses funded by work - some are great. They are all

expensive when funding out of your own pocket though. Self study is

definitly a good option - can be hard work though and you need to be

motivated.

 

Hope this helps,

 

David

 

 

"MSExchangeStudent" <exchangestudent@newsgroups.com> wrote in message

news:%23jIek0g1IHA.3756@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

> Thank you that helped alot - sorry for posting in the wrong group

>

> So, maybe i can give the easier ones ago myself (like XP and Vista) and

> write those and enroll for the more difficult exams so that i can have the

> help of a college if need be?What do you think?

>

>

> "Florian Frommherz [MVP]" <florian@frickelsoft.DELETETHIS.net> wrote in

> message news:%23zp7zKg1IHA.524@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>> Howdie!

>>

>> MSExchangeStudent schrieb:

>>> Just a question - how easy would you say is it to buy the MCSE set of

>>> books, self study it, ask friends and in forums what you dont know; and

>>> go write the exams WITHOUT registering at a educational organization.

>>> ...or would you advise to do it through a college, technickon, etc?

>>> Obviously you need to have done the coarse to answer the question

>>

>> There are specific .certification. newsgroups for your questions, just to

>> let you know.

>>

>> I'm doing this self-study thing myself. It can be quite time-consuming

>> depending on what you know (where your experience is) and how strong your

>> expericence is. There may be fields you work on every day which will be

>> easy to learn but there will be fields you've not touched much yet so

>> they'll be more work in the first place.

>>

>> It's up to yourself, how much you are of a diciplinite learner and how

>> much time you can dedicate to it. Why don't you just start off with a

>> client exam book, study it (Windows XP 70-270 or Windows Vista 70-620)

>> and see how far you get? The client exams are the easier ones (especially

>> Vista) so you should take one of those - just to get the feeling of how

>> those exams are - but don't get yourself fooled: the server and design

>> exams (design exams are needed for MCSE) are a lot harder. Those

>> questions can be tricky and nasty.

>>

>> I wouldn't recommend doing this all the self-study-way if you're not that

>> much experienced.

>>

>> cheers,

>>

>> Florian

>> --

>> Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - Group Policy.

>> eMail: prename [at] frickelsoft [dot] net.

>> blog: http://www.frickelsoft.net/blog.

>> Use a newsreader! http://www.frickelsoft.net/news.html

>

>

[Guest MSExchangeStudent]

Re: MCSE - how easy?

 

It helped a great deal yes - thank you for the input :)

 

 

"Wiseman82" <nospam@nospam.com> wrote in message

news:A23952B0-2752-4623-8D89-817067F2B47E@microsoft.com...

> Hi,

>

> Buy the books one at a time starting with the client os books. Make sure

> you complete all the practice labs and have a good play about with the

> technology - virtual pc/vmware will come in really handy. Book the exams

> online when you are ready.

>

> I signed up with a distance learning program and ended up paying a lot

> more money than I needed to. The only advantage I had was a telephone

> support line - I think I only used this twice and didn't get a proper

> answer on both occasions and ended up figuring it out for myself. There

> was also a 1 week workshop included in the price - this was a big waste of

> time. The trainer was Chinese and spoke poor English. He was also

> lacking in experience. There were 3 other people on the course with me - 2

> of which were really struggling with the course. The first day was a

> complete write off - the second day they decided to split us off into two

> groups. Good idea, but it was the same guy teaching both groups going

> back and forward between the two rooms. To top this off the company went

> bust before I completed my MCSE and I lost out on the last few exams.

> Might as well name and shame - the company was called MicroTec and was

> based in London.

>

> I don't regret doing my MCSE though - the first few MCP's got me my first

> IT job as a computer technician (which also paid for the remainder of my

> MCP exams). After completing my MCSE and gaining experience I was able to

> move on to higher paid jobs.

>

> I've been on a few courses funded by work - some are great. They are all

> expensive when funding out of your own pocket though. Self study is

> definitly a good option - can be hard work though and you need to be

> motivated.

>

> Hope this helps,

>

> David

>

>

> "MSExchangeStudent" <exchangestudent@newsgroups.com> wrote in message

> news:%23jIek0g1IHA.3756@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

>> Thank you that helped alot - sorry for posting in the wrong group

>>

>> So, maybe i can give the easier ones ago myself (like XP and Vista) and

>> write those and enroll for the more difficult exams so that i can have

>> the help of a college if need be?What do you think?

>>

>>

>> "Florian Frommherz [MVP]" <florian@frickelsoft.DELETETHIS.net> wrote in

>> message news:%23zp7zKg1IHA.524@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...

>>> Howdie!

>>>

>>> MSExchangeStudent schrieb:

>>>> Just a question - how easy would you say is it to buy the MCSE set of

>>>> books, self study it, ask friends and in forums what you dont know; and

>>>> go write the exams WITHOUT registering at a educational organization.

>>>> ...or would you advise to do it through a college, technickon, etc?

>>>> Obviously you need to have done the coarse to answer the question

>>>

>>> There are specific .certification. newsgroups for your questions, just

>>> to let you know.

>>>

>>> I'm doing this self-study thing myself. It can be quite time-consuming

>>> depending on what you know (where your experience is) and how strong

>>> your expericence is. There may be fields you work on every day which

>>> will be easy to learn but there will be fields you've not touched much

>>> yet so they'll be more work in the first place.

>>>

>>> It's up to yourself, how much you are of a diciplinite learner and how

>>> much time you can dedicate to it. Why don't you just start off with a

>>> client exam book, study it (Windows XP 70-270 or Windows Vista 70-620)

>>> and see how far you get? The client exams are the easier ones

>>> (especially Vista) so you should take one of those - just to get the

>>> feeling of how those exams are - but don't get yourself fooled: the

>>> server and design exams (design exams are needed for MCSE) are a lot

>>> harder. Those questions can be tricky and nasty.

>>>

>>> I wouldn't recommend doing this all the self-study-way if you're not

>>> that much experienced.

>>>

>>> cheers,

>>>

>>> Florian

>>> --

>>> Microsoft MVP - Windows Server - Group Policy.

>>> eMail: prename [at] frickelsoft [dot] net.

>>> blog: http://www.frickelsoft.net/blog.

>>> Use a newsreader! http://www.frickelsoft.net/news.html

>>

>>

>

[Guest Jason A Ash]

Re: MCSE - how easy?

 

I realize I'm a bit late to this party, but...

 

I just recently (2 weeks ago) took my first MCSE / MCSA exam (70-290)

and passed. I've only done the self-study, picked up a box set of the 4

core exam books for the MCSE. One advantage I think I may have had is

that I've been doing some of the stuff in the exam, in the real world

now for a couple years, running a relatively small (40-50 stations +

servers) Active Directory network.

 

I guess, whether it would be "easy" or not, would depend in part on what

your existing skills are. If you do go the self-study route, follow all

the labs in the book, and try to get a book that includes a practice

exam on CD. This will also help give you an idea as to what you need to

work on more.

 

Good luck,

Jason A.

 

MSExchangeStudent wrote:

> Hi everyone

>

> Just a question - how easy would you say is it to buy the MCSE set of

> books, self study it, ask friends and in forums what you dont know; and

> go write the exams WITHOUT registering at a educational organization.

>

> ...or would you advise to do it through a college, technickon, etc?

> Obviously you need to have done the coarse to answer the question

[Guest MSExchangeStudent]

Re: MCSE - how easy?

 

You are not late at all...thank you for your input. :)

 

 

"Jason A Ash" <JasonAAsh@community.nospam> wrote in message

news:%237dDcxT2IHA.3600@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

>I realize I'm a bit late to this party, but...

>

> I just recently (2 weeks ago) took my first MCSE / MCSA exam (70-290) and

> passed. I've only done the self-study, picked up a box set of the 4 core

> exam books for the MCSE. One advantage I think I may have had is that

> I've been doing some of the stuff in the exam, in the real world now for a

> couple years, running a relatively small (40-50 stations + servers) Active

> Directory network.

>

> I guess, whether it would be "easy" or not, would depend in part on what

> your existing skills are. If you do go the self-study route, follow all

> the labs in the book, and try to get a book that includes a practice exam

> on CD. This will also help give you an idea as to what you need to work

> on more.

>

> Good luck,

> Jason A.

>

> MSExchangeStudent wrote:

>> Hi everyone

>> Just a question - how easy would you say is it to buy the MCSE set of

>> books, self study it, ask friends and in forums what you dont know; and

>> go write the exams WITHOUT registering at a educational organization.

>> ...or would you advise to do it through a college, technickon, etc?

>> Obviously you need to have done the coarse to answer the question