MCSE? CCNA? How To Choose The Best Computer Certification For You

When you're choosing which computer certification to pursue next, you should also be formulating a plan for your career. Your time is precious, and you should never choose to pursue a certification because it's "hot". There are some hard questions you should ask yourself before deciding to pursue the CCNA, CCNP, CCVP, CCSP, CCIE, MSCE, or any of the many other vendor certifications that are out there.

Why do I want this certification?

This is the biggest and most important question you should answer before you spend a dime on books or classes.

If your primary goal in earning a certification is the money you feel companies will throw at you after you get it, make sure to do your research first. Basing your certification pursuits on a salary survey can lead to some serious frustration on your part. Don't get me wrong, I like money. J But those surveys can be very misleading. There's really no such thing as an "average" salary in IT. Job responsibilities and requirements vary greatly from company to company, to the point where a "network admin" may make $25K at one job and $75K at another. You can see where such variations in pay can lead to some misleading statistics. (And if you're thinking of attending a tech school whose main pitch is "look at all the money this cert can get you", ask a lot of questions about how they arrived at this amount.)

A positive answer to this question works wonders. If you have a plan for your career, you'll know how this certification can fit into your plans. If you don't know what you're going to do with it when you get it, or worse, don't have a plan for your future, you may be wasting your time. Ask yourself the hard questions now � you won't regret it. find
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How does the vendor protect my investment of time and money?

Let's face it: earning your certification costs time and money. You've got to set time aside to study, you'll need books, perhaps a class, etc. If you're spending that money and time, it should be to make yourself more valuable in the workplace.

The vendor should also have a vested interest in keeping your certification valuable. Take Cisco, for instance. I was at a bit of a career crossroads a few years ago. Should I pursue my masters degree, or pursue the CCIE? I took a strong look at both choices, and I knew that Cisco works endlessly and tirelessly to protect the value of their certifications. While other major vendors have made strides to do so, I felt Cisco did the best job of protecting the value of their certifications. That's why I felt secure in the investment of my finances and time into a major Cisco certification, and I've never made a better decision.

Before making a major investment into a computer certification, consider the steps that a vendor does or does not make to protect your investment.

Computer certifications have helped me tremendously in building my IT career. By asking the right questions, and taking a hard look at your motives and plans before pursuing a given certification, they can do the same for you.

Requirements of Becoming MCSE Certified

The MCSE certification is one of the most popular certifications in the IT
industry. Through this certification, IT professionals gain the ability to work
proficiently with Microsoft Windows platforms and carefully configure, install,
and maintain Microsoft operating systems. It is an accomplishment that is
recognized throughout the IT industry.



In order to earn this certification, candidates are required to pass seven
tests, or in other words gain seven different titles. There are four titles
which deal specifically with networking; such exams are 70-290, 70-291, 70-293,
and 70-294. Through these exams IT professionals and MCSE students will be gain
specialized training working with the Windows 2003 Server infrastructure.



The next portion of the core exams required deal specifically with operating
systems. Microsoft offers a few different options to students to choose from;
however only one is required. Tests 70-270 or 70-210 both deal with installing,
configuring, and administering Microsoft operating systems; however 270 deals
specifically with XP, while 210 works with Windows 2000.



The last portion of the core examinations focuses around design. Again,
Microsoft offers two different options for students to choose from, but only one
is required. The first is exam 70-297, which teaches students to design a
Microsoft Windows server 2003 active directory. The other choice is exam 70-298,
where students work more with designing security for the Windows server 2003
network.






Once the core exams are mastered, Microsoft requires one elective course. There
are 17 different elective courses offered by Microsoft which can be selected;
however it is only necessary to pass one. Microsoft reports that MCSE electives
can also be substituted by other Microsoft certifications, such as MCSA 2000 or
MCSE 2000. There are also some third party certifications which can serve this
same purpose; however if this is something you are considering, follow up with
the Microsoft website to double check.



Earning the MCSE certification will require a lot of work; however the benefits
will be felt throughout your career as an IT professional. There are many
different routes one can take in preparing for the MCSE certification, for
example candidates can choose to attend boot camps, distance learning programs,
or take a self-paced training program. If the MCSE certification is something
which interests you and your career, TestOut has created a MCSE certification
course to better prepare students through the use of multimedia technology and
simulations. Become MCSA, A+, Server+, or CCNA certified and improve your
career. Mike Allen writes about technical training for IT certifications. find
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A Word About Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE)

The IT professionals generally face the most challenging roles in the decision making jobs. In the networking field many Microsoft Operating System Software are implemented through the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer certification (MCSE) on the desktop and server. The professionals who sort out the problems of networking technology including software & hardware are on very high demand in the IT industry.
With the development in the networking technology it is important to get skilled in the desktop & server software market by strong MCSE Course training courses. And with the increasing growth of technology, there is increasing demand of MCSE experts. The MCSE certification courses cover the different software, hardware and networking subjects to meet the rising demands of their IT professionals.
The Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) certification courses are widely recognized IT industry certification courses. In the IT job market Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) candidates are the most sought.

The MCSE courses are designed for competent and qualified systems administrators, network technicians, database administrators, desktop support personnel, network engineers, system engineers, technical support engineers, system and network analysts, technical consultants and other IT professionals who install, configure and troubleshoot network systems in medium to large organizations. For electronic business solutions, the MCSE course help in learning to design and implement the infrastructure
Therefore the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) is the most popular certification course in the world.
The Testkingdom MCSE Pack contains following series of courses for the MCSE certification.

MCSE 2003 Training,
MCSE 2003 Certification

70-210 Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Course for the IT professionals.
The 70-210 series of Windows Server 2003 Network Planning MCSE Course is designed to assist in learning or gaining knowledge and skills required for installation, including remote installations and upgrades, administering resources and shared resources, and monitoring and optimizing your Windows 2000 Professional system, managing disks and hardware, networking, using TCP/IP, managing users and groups, and system security, desktop configuration etc.

70-228 SQL Server 2000 Admin Course conducted for the IT professionals.
The 70-228 series of MCSE Course is designed to assist in learning or gaining knowledge and skills required for Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition, installation of SQL Server 2000 and configure advanced options, create a disaster recovery plan, manage databases and objects, and troubleshoot data integrity issues, automate tasks, extract and secure data, and optimize performance

70-229 SQL Server 2000 Database Design course conducted for the IT professionals.
The 70-270 series of MCSE Course is designed to assist in learning or gaining knowledge and skills required for developing a logical data model, retrieving and modifying data using Transact-SQL and XML, designing and implementing the database and objects, programming business logic (stored procedures, functions, views, triggers), using indexes and views, tuning and optimizing data access and designing a database security plan, creating and maintaining tables, Designing and Implementing Data Integrity, Implementing Indexes etc.

70-270 MS Windows XP Professional course conducted for the IT professionals.
The 70-270 series of MCSE Course is designed to assist in learning or gaining knowledge and skills required for managing resources and hardware, attended and unattended installations, desktop configuration, networking and security, and monitoring and optimizing. It also covers the Installing of the Windows XP Professional, Adding Hardware to Windows XP Professional Clients, Resolving Boot Process Issues, Configuring the Desktop Environment, Configuring Internet Explorer and Supporting Applications, Configuring Windows XP Professional to Operate in a Microsoft Network, Configuring Windows XP Professional for Mobile Computing etc.

70-290 MS Windows Server 2003 Administration Course conducted for the IT professionals.
The 70-290 series of Windows Server 2003 Administration MCSE Course is designed to assist in learning or gaining knowledge and skills required for managing disks & hardware of the server, controlling & configuring the resource access, managing terminal & web services, managing accounts & recourses, apply of server management tools, monitoring of performance and security, creating & implementing disaster recovery plan etc.

70-291 MS Windows Server 2003 Network Management Course conducted for the IT professionals.
The 70-291 series of Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure MCSE Course is designed to assist in learning or gaining knowledge and skills required for Managing, Maintaining and Implementing of Network Infrastructure for the Microsoft Windows Server 2003. This series includes the networking models, classless subnet masking, IP addressing and routing, client address configuration, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Domain Naming System (DNS), Windows Internet Name Server (WINS), Virtual Private Networking (VPN), Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) Services. Moreover it comprises the security templates understanding, software updates, network activity of monitoring and troubleshooting and LAN routing etc.

70-293 MS Windows Server 2003 Network Planning Course conducted for the IT professionals.
The 70-293 series of Windows Server 2003 Network Planning MCSE Course is designed to assist in learning or gaining knowledge and skills required for planning and implementing role of server, server security, routing, network infrastructure, remote access, network security, server availability and security infrastructure. This course also assists in learning the maintaining of network infrastructure.

70-294 MS Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Course conducted for the IT professionals.
The 70-293 series of Windows Server 2003 Network Planning MCSE Course is designed to assist in learning or gaining knowledge and skills required for the work of directory services and their role in networking, concept of directory in the Microsoft's Active Directory, Domain Name System (DNS), forest and domain structure, site topology and replication, computer account strategies, Group Policy and user, group and organizational unit, structure and delegation of administration.