MCSE Certificates - Launching Pads For Career Growth
MCSE, the acronym for 'Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer', is the most famous and a prestigious Microsoft certification. IT professionals with MCSE certificates are considered quite capable to carry out analyses on the requirements of a business with regard to Microsoft based information systems, make a blueprint of the needed infrastructure, and also implement it.
Presently, based on the product lines, two tracks of the MCSE certification are on offer, namely Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003. There are different sets of exams you will have to appear for these two different tracks of the MCSE certification.
To acquire a certification in MCSE 2003, you will need to pass seven exams. Out of these seven, six are core design exams and the balance one is an elective exam. Out of the six core design exams, one will be a design exam, one a client operating system exam, and four exams on networking.
For the MCSE 2000 track also, you will need to pass seven exams. However, the composition is slightly different from that of MCSE 2003. Out of the seven exams for MCSE 2000, five are core examinations, and two are elective exams. Another MCSE certificate known as MCSE NT 4.0 was also on offer earlier. Though this certificate is issued no more, the ones issued previously are still valid. A candidate was required to pass a total of six exams for this certification. Out of the six, four were core exams, while two were elective exams. The predominant topics for these examinations are computer networking infrastructure, network security, active directory, Microsoft SQL Server, and Microsoft Exchange Server. Certain other topics cover general networking related content and certain Microsoft products are also part of the curriculum. As far as the prerequisites to take the MCSE examinations are concerned, Microsoft Corporation recommends that the candidate should have a minimum experience of one year in the implementation and maintenance of desktop operating systems. In addition, the candidate should also have a minimum experience of one year in the design of network architectures. However, the real average experience of candidates taking these examinations reveals an entirely different picture. One of the surveys conducted by Microsoft Certified Professionals Magazine found that it was 5.9 years for MCSE candidates and 7 years for MCSE + Internet candidates. The curriculum of the MCSE certificate program is prepared and implemented taking into consideration the job-related functions of various IT professionals who use Microsoft Windows and other back office applications. Network engineers, network administrators, systems engineers, windows systems administrators, security analysts, Microsoft website administrators (also known as webmasters), and e-mail administrators are some of the positions MCSE certification holders are usually designated as. The demand for MCSE certificate holders is high and so are their financial rewards. The average salary for an MCSE with an experience of 3 to 9 years is $ 52,700. So, candidates should acquire the MCSE certificates and achieve the career growth that they dreamed about.
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