Chad Crawford - Monday, April 24, 2017 1:20 PM

Thom A - Monday, April 24, 2017 7:18 AM

Sorry to disappoint you Brandie, but going for something "on topic" too.

I'm considering doing the Microsoft Certifications sometimes in the "near" future, and wanted to check if people feel that they are worth the time. Also, unsure where is best to start. Is it best to start at MTA anyway, or is there any problems with starting higher (does, say MCSA, have MTA as a prerequisite)? MTA does seem to be the "entry" level, and personally feel my skills are above that, but I also don't know what to expect at each level.

Any sweeping statements are welcomed, I'm not looking an essay answer, just a little guidance. 🙂

Thanks guys/gals!

I look at certifications as one leg on a four legged stool:
--Experience
--Education
--Certification
--Community (blog, forum activity, speaking, etc.)

Any one of them alone isn't sufficient to stand on its own.  For example, if all you have is a degree I can't tell if you have any practical experience.  But if you have a degree and 3 years experience, there must be at least a little something to it.  The more legs on your stool and the longer they are, the better off you are.  I think you could benefit from certification.  A potential employer could look at 3.5 years on your resume and wonder if it was 3.5 years working with SQL every day, or was it just incidental contact with the database?  Is it 3.5 years of doing the same thing every day, or 3.5 years of handling a variety of issues and you know the server very well?  Since the certification covers a broad spectrum of topics, if you are able to obtain it it, it will lend credibility and depth to your experience and gives a potential employer more information about what you are capable of doing.  Plus, if you're up against someone else who also has 3.5 years experience, you'll win the coin toss :-).

I personally use certifications as a forced study program.  It keeps me up to date and stems the leakage of information out of my head.  I also have an employer who cares about continual improvement and progression, so it helps validate my progress there too.

Chad

PS - I should note that I have run into people who think that certifications are worthless and the only people who get them are those who can't prove their skill in any other way.  I am most definitely not in that camp and we agreed to disagree on that point, but you should know that the opinion does exist should you run into it somewhere.  When I run into someone like that (which is rare), I shrug and tell them to test me themselves.