Any Lotus or Microsoft Certified in here? I would like to ask some questions please...

[stingbandel]

Hi, if there is any Lotus certified in here, I would like to ask if you took any courses before taking the test? Which one is better, be a Microsoft certified or Lotus certified (in term of getting a job and salary)? I am thinking of taking the Lotus certified for the admin one. Thanks

Darno

 

[purplehayes]

I just picked up MCP certification the other day. So far I landed a six-figure salary, a company car and keys to the company wash room.

I say go with Microsoft.

PH

 

[stingbandel]

purplehayes: I am sorry I didn't know anything about MCSE but what exactly do you learn when you took it? Did you learn like networking, admin, programming or what? Did you take any courses before you took the test? if you did, did they offer you a job once you passed the test? LMK. This course is really expensive so I don't want to waste it. Thanks

Darno

 

[stingbandel]

up..

 

[warcleric]

sting: you learn NOTHING from taking these tests. Go get some experience and take the certs later, if you are just breaking into the field, then go get A+ and do Helldesk or mom&pop computer store work first, then worry about MCSE. Personally if I was looking for a cert that meant something I would go for a CCIE. That one still gathers some respect on your resume, the others are just jokes.

 

[stingbandel]

what is CCIE? As far as experience, I do have experience. I already graduated with CIS degree and did have a job related to e-commerce project in the real world with a real company. The reason why I want to take this is so I can get a better job easier. So do you still think that it's not a good course? LMK. Thanks

Darno

 

[stingbandel]

please give me more input since I need to decide whether to take it or not today so please please respond to this and free bump ttt is greatly appreciated. Thanks

Darno

 

[Shazam]

<< keys to the company wash room >>

Phew, good to see you don't have to go in the parking lot

 

[shiner]

There is nothing in the world worse than a paper MCSE. Well...maybe Communism but that's still pretty close.

Get some experience with the Microsoft server OSes, do some reading to brush up on what you don't know, then go take the tests. That's the way I did it and I can easily say that I can run circles around the other Network Admins we have that are nothing but paper tigers.

I'm also a Novell CNE but there's really not much use for it around here. Novell is something that you REALLY need practice on before you take any tests.

Back when I worked for a University they sent all the Net Admins to get Lotus Notes Certified. Actually they flew a guy in from IBM for quite a while(can't remember how long) and he taught us. After that we took our certifications tests and those that passed became Lotus Notes Administrators. I haven't used that cert ever and doubt if I could do a damn thing with Notes if my life depended on it. In fact when I've had job interviews since then I've had people ask me why I even bothered getting a Lotus Cert.

Right now I'm working on my CCIE and it's hella tough!! If you don't feel confident startign out on the CCIE track go for the CCNA, it's not that difficult to get.

Ok...I got a little long winded. I guess my main point was to get some hands on time with the products you want to get certified in. As far as the most valuable certs, Microsoft and Cisco win that by a long shot.

 

[burnedout]

I'll agree with what shinerburke and warcleric say. Except that a Solaris admin cert can open a few different,niche doors too.

With the exception of A+, get the experience first and then take the tests. A+ is easy.

I took three of the older MS tests five years ago while I was still in the Army. Haven't had the time to take the rest. Always fixing hosed up 'puters.

Some knowledge of Linux, particularly the command line, doesn't hurt either. Case in point........ the company I work for. They weren't about to shell out the thousands required for purchasing and licensing MS Exchange. All our mail goes through RH 7.1. Yeah, calendaring is a big work-around. And so is auto-responder. However, using Linux saved us a lot of money in that respect.

And I'll strongly agree with shinerburke about paper MCSEs too. Some shouldn't be allowed to turn on a switch.

In response to your original question between Lotus and MS, I say go with MS because of it's wide spread integration in small and medium sized businesses.

 

[LuckyTaxi]

mcse blows...u need real world experience

 

[Nevo]

I passed 27 of those Microsoft tests.

If you think I'm an expert in 27 Microsoft products, I got a bridge to sell you.

I do, however, like all of those letters after my name!

-Nevo, MCP, MCP+SB, MCP+I, MCSE, MCSE+I, MCSD, MCDBA

Shoot... I oughta fill out the paperwork to get my MCT.

EDIT: If you do want to get a Microsoft certification, I believe that the MCDBA certification does have value. I really had to learn SQL Server stuff to pass that.