Skip A+ and N+ and jump straight to MCSE?

[zafeer20]

Skip N+ and A+ and go straight to MCSE
I'm a senior in high school and I am looking into doing IT, currently I'm reading a Microsoft Comptia A+ training kit book in order to study for the exam I wish to take after I graduate. I am planning on going into networking most likely and I was talking to some guy about it and he said I should stop reading A+ forget about that and go straight to MCSE I asked him shouldn't I get a N+ first and he said no MCSE is a bigger and more prestigious certification and it covers the N+ and more. Is that a good thing to do? I just want some other persons advice on it. I was thinking that I should start with the small certs and slowly move on to bigger certs, but he said just start on MCSE, is that too big of a jump? Thanks for the help

 

[Lexluethar]

The guy you spoke with is an idiot. Net+ isn't covered in the MCSE, and the MCSE he's probably referring to hasn't been around since 2003. Walk before you run, don't be an idiot.

Continue reading the A+ at least and FINISH the certification by passing both exams. Baby steps. Once you get that far see what your next step is at that moment.

No person with sound advice would advise someone to start off big in the certification world. No one with your interests in mind would. It's too easy to get discouraged and give up, MCSA / MCSE are every hard to obtain with no experience in the field. MCSA covers 3 hard exams, each would require a month or two of hard core studying. MCSE covers 5 exams which with no experience would take probably 6 months to pass all five if not a year.

Both MCSA and MCSE also cover multiple topics, you can be an MCSA in Server 2008, Windows 8 / 7, SQL and a few others. You can be an MCSE on multiple other topics.

MCSA Certification
MCSE Certification

Do yourself and your sanity a favor, walk before you run. Take the A+, pass then decide your next step. If you want to do networking I would do A+, then Net+, then CCNA.

 

[zafeer20]

The guy you spoke with is an idiot. Net+ isn't covered in the MCSE, and the MCSE he's probably referring to hasn't been around since 2003. Walk before you run, don't be an idiot.

Continue reading the A+ at least and FINISH the certification by passing both exams. Baby steps. Once you get that far see

No person with sound advice would advise someone to start off big in the certification world. No one with your interests in mind would. It's too easy to get discouraged and give up, MCSA / MCSE are every hard to obtain with no experience in the field. MCSA covers 3 hard exams, each would require a month or two of hard core studying. MCSE covers 5 exams which with no experience would take probably 6 months to pass all five if not a year.

Both MCSA and MCSE also cover multiple topics, you can be an MCSA in Server 2008, Windows 8 / 7, SQL and a few others. You can be an MCSE on multiple other topics.

MCSA Certification
MCSE Certification

Do yourself and your sanity a favor, walk before you run. Take the A+, pass then decide your next step. If you want to do networking I would do A+, then Net+, then CCNA.

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate you going into detail about it. I'm currently reading this book for A+ CompTIA A+ Training Kit (Exam 220-801 and Exam 220-802):Amazon:Books. Do you have any other books from personal experience that you would recommend or is this book good to read up on. Thanks again

 

[Lexluethar]

Professor Messer's CompTIA N10-005 Network+ Training | Professor Messer - CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+, Linux, Microsoft Technology Training

This guy has hours and hours of free, QUALITY videos.

 

[office politics]

whats a good timeframe to study for a+?

maybe

smart person - 3 months. but never longer than 6 months?

I suggest setting an ideal date to take the test. Schedule your studies based on that. take some practice tests. look for a voucher for a discount on the exam(s).

 

[Lexluethar]

Ya A+ shouldn't take but a month IMO. Someone with computer knowledge maybe a few weeks.

Microsoft exams are the ones that take multiple months IMO.

 

[blackberrycherry]

Wow thanks for the link to professor messer. This is an awesome website. I cant believe that all those videos are free. That's awesome!!!

 

[SirCyber]

professor messer is incredible, and everything lex said is absolutely true. I would like to add that if you are planning on getting into networking that it's best to get your A+ and N+, then go onto Cisco certs. in the networking world, Cisco is almost the best you can do imo. as you are a HS student still, your focus areas are still wide, wide open. going OS specific vs vendor specific may serve you better. I always point people to CompTIA because they are vendor neutral.