Far too many companies only look at the plaque to hang on your wall, and avoid focusing on what you actually need - which is a commercial career or job. Always begin with where you want to get to - don't get hung-up on the training vehicle. It's possible, in many cases, to find immense satisfaction in a year of study only to end up putting 20 long years into a tiresome job role, simply because you did it without some decent due-diligence when it was needed - at the start.

It's a good idea to understand what industry will expect from you. What particular exams they will want you to have and how you'll go about getting some commercial experience. It's also worth spending time assessing how far you'd like to build your skill-set as it may force you to choose a particular set of certifications. Look for help from an experienced professional that 'gets' the commercial realities of the area you're interested in, and who can give you 'A day in the life of' synopsis of what duties you'll be performing with each working day. It'd be sensible to ensure you're on the right track well before you jump into the study-program. There's really no point in kicking off your training only to find you've gone the wrong way entirely.

The 'MCSE' route also features messaging and security as 2 specialist tracks. Depending on which preliminary 7 MCPs are preferred, this could require an extra one or two more 'MCP' examinations. If you are focused on one of these specialisations then it is practical to think about this from the beginning - as it then means only 8 examinations are required, rather than 9. Upgrade examinations have now also been brought out by MS, (exam 70-648 for the 'MCSA' & exam 70/649 for the 'MCSE') for Server 2008 'MCTS' ('Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist'). We would suggest you should consider adding one of the above into your training-package. This will not only future proof you to a certain degree, but will also open up additional job prospects.

Sometimes students assume that the traditional school, college or university track is still the best way into IT. So why then are qualifications from the commercial sector slowly and steadily replacing it? With an ever-increasing technical demand on resources, industry has had to move to the specialised training only available through the vendors themselves - for example companies such as Microsoft, CompTIA, CISCO and Adobe. This frequently provides reductions in both cost and time. Of course, a certain degree of associated knowledge has to be covered, but precise specifics in the particular job function gives a commercially trained person a real head start.

It's rather like the advert: 'It does what it says on the tin'. The company just needs to know what they need doing, and then match up the appropriate exam numbers as a requirement. Then they know that anyone who applies can do the necessary work.

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