View Full Version : MCSE courses?
shadowdr
09-04-01, 03:10 PM
i had seen an earlier post encouraging someone to take the classes for this certification.i found a few sites offering classes and a few offering study at home course,which is what i want.can anyone tell me where to go to get an affordable study at home plan? i think shadow had mentioned one for 2500.00 allthough i am not sure what that included.
sonmeone please help , i wish to get started as soon as possible.thanks for any replies in advance.
jeff
I would not recommend taking a do-it-yourself at home course due to the intense nature of classes. If you have a question, who you gonna ask?
I would check your local paper and go in to talk with somebody about classes. I sat in on a class being held at a local place, liked the teacher/curriculum and then signed up.
shadowdr
09-04-01, 04:00 PM
well,,,mebe but 2500.00 i've got 10,000.00 i dont!
i just need something i can afford.
KeyboardCowboy
09-04-01, 05:20 PM
Originally posted by shadowdr
i had seen an earlier post encouraging someone to take the classes for this certification.i found a few sites offering classes and a few offering study at home course,which is what i want.can anyone tell me where to go to get an affordable study at home plan? i think shadow had mentioned one for 2500.00 allthough i am not sure what that included.
sonmeone please help , i wish to get started as soon as possible.thanks for any replies in advance.
jeff
i live in ontario canada, and i am presently doing a co op with the deperpment of education, and my boss, went through a 3 year mcse course i don't know who mentioned a price of 2500 but i can assure that they are NOT THAT CHEAP, no matter what anyone has told you, my bosses course cost him $22,000, yes that is right twenty two thousand
shadowdr
09-04-01, 05:33 PM
well i probably misread or misunderstood but mebey i can find some more affordable alternatives.with the kids getting closer to college age i wont have much money for my own education.
Check your local junior college if you have one. They sometimes offer computer classes for cheap.
Burning Phoenix
09-04-01, 08:42 PM
I've heard of this Microsoft certification thing for a long time now but never really knew what it was about. I never cared! Now that i'm sick of contracting and I want to get more into computers for a living why doens't someone explain to me what they teach in those classes that i already might not know about? Also how can you use this knowledge into what type of career? I for one would like to self teach myself this instead of spending the money. I'm a fast learner. I've taught myself HTML and am have started JAVA, DHTML , and C++. I have read up on Assembly but never got to far with that yet. I haven't perfected any of those langauges though. I only have time for them in the winter when i don't work much.
cyberey66
09-04-01, 08:51 PM
My brother is MCSE now. All he did was spent a few hundred on the books and read them. Then took all the tests. So a study at home course might work. He knows someone thats taking the classes and they don't know anymore than he does. I guess it all adds up to if you want to spend the money or not.
reading books can get you the cert on paper, if you're motivated enough..however, paying the money for a class gives you lab times, an instructor who knows what you'll need to know and nifty ways of doing it (and knowledge of troubleshooting issues)
Also, you'll likely have access to all the NT5 platforms..hands on experience will count more than a "paper cert" for most places
if you wanna be MCSE you'll want to know workstation and server and advanced server and possibly datacenter server...that server software is expensive...and can be hard to use if you don't have any help...
another thing, a small online/book course could be using a different version or have some patches applied that you may/may not have..You'd be amazed at what a one little patch can do for messing everything up...
*sorry for the speech*
cyberey66
09-04-01, 10:59 PM
I guess your right about it being easy to get the cert. My brother didn't even have his own computer when he got MCSE. It's kinda funny he's an admin at HP and he just recently bought his first computer.
well... i dunno...
i'm on the same path....
and if you go down to your local "box-store bookseller"
they have several choices of
"complete MCSE course study guides"
avg. cost for a set varies, like $200-$400 or so.
much better than buying into a course :)
and each test is $100 to take, and theres like 7.....
so study long and well :)
this is all recollection, i hope its pretty close to correct.
Get the workstation and server software, two PCs that will run w2k (nothing fancy, P2s maybe) at home, and get a study guide and do the exercises. Order pizza when studying, and take a vacation to Toronto once you pass the exam(s). Then you'll have enough left over to buy me a GF3 or Radeon 8500 for making this suggestion :).
I am a seasoned classroom student of networking, and I don't know squat because of it.
Originally posted by n2
avg. cost for a set varies, like $200-$400 or so.
much better than buying into a course :)
and each test is $100 to take, and theres like 7.....
so study long and well :)
this is all recollection, i hope its pretty close to correct.
I have a Coriolis book (collecting dust) that covers the exams from barnes and noble for $60 and software for my exam(s) by year's end.
There's actually only (4) exams for windows 2000. They don't even offer the old NT 4.0 tracks anymore.
Shadow рс
09-05-01, 12:00 AM
I agree with some others here..........on NT it was somewhat easy, but on 2k it's very difficult. Unless you're a natural, you're probably going to have a lot of questions that books don't explain well enough.
I love Que and Cybex books however. Very well written and extremely detailed.
Originally posted by Shadow рс
I agree with some others here..........on NT it was somewhat easy, but on 2k it's very difficult. Unless you're a natural, you're probably going to have a lot of questions that books don't explain well enough.
I love Que and Cybex books however. Very well written and extremely detailed.
I agree, the rub is that in order to gain the sort of experience necessary to pass the test you need a job in the field, but in order to get that job you need the certification.
That's why I learn the testing and beat that, it's impossible for me to learn all that I need to know from my current station in life and my job.
Transcenders exams are critical.
Kingslayer
09-06-01, 01:15 PM
The biggest piece of help that I can give you is to take everything you know about Windows 2000 and networking, and forget it!
Trust me.
There are 3 ways, and 3 ways only to build a network. The right way, the wrong way, and the Microsoft way. And the only thing that matters in the MCSE courses is the Microsoft way.
I am two classes into it, and believe me, I have found myself argueing with the instructor on easier ways and better ways of doing things in this class, and he reminds me everyday, that although I am right, it doesn't matter, because it's not the Microsoft way. That's why they call it the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, not the Kingslayer Certified Systems Engineer.
Originally posted by Kingslayer
The biggest piece of help that I can give you is to take everything you know about Windows 2000 and networking, and forget it!
Trust me.
There are 3 ways, and 3 ways only to build a network. The right way, the wrong way, and the Microsoft way. And the only thing that matters in the MCSE courses is the Microsoft way.
...That's why they call it the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, not the Kingslayer Certified Systems Engineer.
LOL!!! That's the truth! Heard that in a NT course years ago :).
There's also the Cisco way, which is usually 1000X more complicated than anything you've ever heard of in your life but it will work.
Originally posted by rugby
There's also the Cisco way, which is usually 1000X more complicated than anything you've ever heard of in your life but it will work.
LOL!!!
Ain't that the truth :)
Also, on my previous post, I may have sounded like the books were worthless...I didn't mean to sound like that
A couple good books can go a looooong ways, but they still can't cover everything (not in any amount of pages you want to read..anyway)
So, if you can't find a class around that's reasonably priced, try getting a couple good books, maybe an extra pc to play with...
I would only recommend you stay away from any books geared at getting you certified only, they'll be of less worth (usually) than a book geared towards teaching you how something works in a general way...
geeze, all I type these days are novels... :(
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