Hi
I got a bachelor in Management Information System in 1988. Following that,
I got a MBA and followed doctoral studies in unrelated fields
(international management and political sciences). Since 1990 and up to
very recently, I worked both as university teacher and international
consultant in management.
During all these years, I not only closely followed technology changes and
self-trained myself to security, network, server deployment, vpn, backup
strategies, cms deployment, etc, but also regularly made few bucks with
small IT consultation contracts. I've also been the part-time IT
administrator of a small daycare for the last two years.
I always learned fast and by myself. It's almost a trademark for me.
I am looking for a career change. I'm fed up with teaching.
Although I am considered a "computer wizard" by many, the IT jobs I seek
unfortunately require more than "self-learning" abilities but real formal
certifications like MSCE. I want that certification.
As I understand it, I just have to self-study material at home and schedule
exams with PearsonVue to a local test center for a total cost of 750$
(6x150$) to get the certification.
Considering that I am already familiar with significant parts of the examen
content, that I can have free access to most self-training materials and
that I have strong abilities learning by myself:
1) do you believe self-learning is sufficent to get the certification?
2) what timeframe would be realistic to complete the certification? (my
guess is between 6 months at best and a year at worst)
3) Will the certification be automatically granted at the end of the sixth
exam or are there additionnal conditions/procedures to be followed?
Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge with me. I spent some time
reading MS webpages about certifications but some wordings and informations
are more confusing than enlightening. This is my first certification ever.