Another MCSE 2003

I passed my last MCSE exam on Feb 1st. It took me a year to finish the last 5
exams and three years in total to get to the MCSE. I work as a Network
Administrator and I knew nothing about installing servers, installing
Exchange, GPOs, AD, DNS, DHCP, etc. I had an opportunity to set this all up
from the ground up at my job. I had no plan but I had a lot of preparation
guides, installation guides, design guides, etc that I download and read from
Microsoft. My employer paid for one course which was for the 70-294 exam and
that exam I took a year later! I was too busy setting up the network. In
short, I earned my stripes getting the MCSE even though I didn't use every
technology covered on each exam (i.e Remote Access, VPNs, etc) but I tried my
best with Vmware to recreate the environment for learning. My question is
this, I want to move ahead into the systems architecture field and do more
intermediate systems work. Any advise on the best way to go about that? I
want to certify for Exchange 2007 and get a head start on Windows Server 08
as well.

Michael
Thu Feb 21 09:54:01 CST 2008

"Lina" <Lina@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:3F49F736-9C08-4232-8C35-9B59C69C1C53@microsoft.com:

> I passed my last MCSE exam on Feb 1st. It took me a year to finish the last 5
> exams and three years in total to get to the MCSE. I work as a Network
> Administrator and I knew nothing about installing servers, installing
> Exchange, GPOs, AD, DNS, DHCP, etc. I had an opportunity to set this all up
> from the ground up at my job. I had no plan but I had a lot of preparation
> guides, installation guides, design guides, etc that I download and read from
> Microsoft. My employer paid for one course which was for the 70-294 exam and
> that exam I took a year later! I was too busy setting up the network. In
> short, I earned my stripes getting the MCSE even though I didn't use every
> technology covered on each exam (i.e Remote Access, VPNs, etc) but I tried my
> best with Vmware to recreate the environment for learning. My question is
> this, I want to move ahead into the systems architecture field and do more
> intermediate systems work. Any advise on the best way to go about that? I
> want to certify for Exchange 2007 and get a head start on Windows Server 08
> as well.

You rock. Congrats.
--
Michael D. Alligood, MCITP, MCTS, MCSA, MCDST
The I.T. Classroom - http://www.theitclassroom.com/
CertGuard, Inc. - http://www.certguard.com/

Big
Mon Mar 03 21:01:24 CST 2008

On Feb 21, 9:10=A0am, Lina <L...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> I passed my last MCSE exam on Feb 1st. It took me a year to finish the las=
t 5
> exams and three years in total to get to the MCSE. I work as a Network
> Administrator and I knew nothing about installing servers, installing
> Exchange, GPOs, AD, DNS, DHCP, etc. I had an opportunity to set this all u=
p
> from the ground up at my job. I had no plan but I had a lot of preparation=

> guides, installation guides, design guides, etc that I download and read f=
rom
> Microsoft. My employer paid for one course which was for the 70-294 exam a=
nd
> that exam I took a year later! I was too busy setting up the network. In
> short, I earned my stripes getting the MCSE even though I didn't use every=

> technology covered on each exam (i.e Remote Access, VPNs, etc) but I tried=
my
> best with Vmware to recreate the environment for learning. My question is
> this, I want to move ahead into the systems architecture field and do more=

> intermediate systems work. Any advise on the best way to go about that? I
> want to certify for Exchange 2007 and get a head start on Windows Server 0=
8
> as well.

Congrats. I'm starting the same path as you, and I am finding the
same thing, its hard work. I took my 70-270 a month ago and according
to the materials I had I was fully prepared, scored a 584. so back to
the drawing board, but going with the MS self-training material, lot
more information there. Thanks for the encouraging story.