Mac guy seeking advice on Microsoft Certification

September 3, 2008 1:18 PM

My job will pay for IT Certification testing at a Prometric center, and I've been reaping the benefits for years. Being a Mac guy, I've got all the critical Apple certifications. As that's complete, I'm thinking of studying for some Microsoft certs. While I'm not a Windows wizard, I use XP daily and have ample study time. What's a good MS test to start with?
posted by porn in the woods to Technology (5 answers total)

Take the XP Workstation or Vista Workstation test. They're going to be your starting off point for pretty much any MS certification track.
posted by wavering at 1:24 PM on September 3, 2008

I'm on the MS training track and, yea, the 70-270 is where it is at; Vista if you know your way around.
There are other MS certs you can get to pad a resume, but the majority of them require server experience.

Another consideration might be CompTIA certification, namely A+ and Security+, which are both, regardless of their "vendor neutral" claims, Windows-centric though much moreso for A+.
posted by jmd82 at 2:24 PM on September 3, 2008

Response by poster: CompTIA Security+ is of interest - is this looked upon more highly in the industry than the A+?
posted by porn in the woods at 2:56 PM on September 3, 2008

Security+ can also be used as an elective credit for MCSE 2003 +Sec
posted by wavering at 4:40 PM on September 3, 2008

I would say Sec+ is more highly viewed that A+ (A+ being the bare minimum in most places to do break/fix stuff). However, its probably only highly viewed relative to a position related to it. If you are really serious about security certification the big daddy is CISSP. Again, only useful/valuable to positions related to Security.
posted by zennoshinjou at 6:17 AM on September 4, 2008