Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer

I am a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer

I have taken and passed 11 tests so far to date, I have thankfully passed every test on the first attempt.

There are a couple of things that set me apart from the multitude of other MCSEs out there:

1. I have been an MCSE for almost three years, I originally Ceritied under Windows NT 3.51 and later upgraded to 4.0.
2. Out of the 11 tests I have taken to date, I only went to the class for one of those, I prepared for the rest of the exams through self study.

Below are some thoughts I have on the MCSE program and becoming an MCSE

The MCSE is becoming less and less valuable, it will soon get to the point where it is just like the CNE was a few years ago, Microsoft is as responsible as anypne else for this. The biggest reason that there are a lot of MCSEs out there who don't know what they are doing is the simple fact that anyone can easily become an MCSE if they only have anough money to sign up for the classes. While there are a few classes out there that actually teach you things you need to know the overwhelming majority of classes and training center out there simply spoon feed you the test answers. More often than not the instructors teaching the classes have little or no real world experience and do no more than regurgitate the "Microsoft Official Curriculum".

This is not to say that all classes and instructors are bad, I have seen some quite good instructors that teach you valuable skills as well as test skills but the fact remains that the overwhelming availablility of courses out there makes it too easy to get your MCSE

What should be done is to have an advanced certification that includes a hands on problem solving lab, similar to the Cisco CCIE program, this lab would separate the men from the boys. Also Microsoft needs to reverse it's course over the last few years and start increasing the MCSE benefits package, specifically the benefits that help MCSEs do thier jobs, some notable example are the 10 free tech support incidents and the one year TechNet subscription they used to give to new MCSEs.

For a couple of month there I actually wasn't an MCSE, I forgot that my Exchange 4.0 cert had been retired and with it so did my MCSE, I took the Exchange 5.5 test as soon as I realized and now I am an MCSE again.

Below is, in order all the tests I have passed to date.

1. Windows NT Server 3.51
2. Windows NT Workstation 3.51
3. Networking Essentials
4. Windows NT Workstation 4.0 ßeta exam
5. Windows 95
6. TCP/IP for Windows NT 3.51
7. Exchange Server 4.0
8. Windows NT Server 4.0
9. Windows NT Server 4.0 in the Enterprise
10. TCP/IP for Windows NT 4.0
11. Exchange Server 5.5