Joeritchey

I first thought about getting the MCSE back in May of 2001. At that time I decide against getting certified mainly because Microsoft had retired the NT certification. I was not ready to spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours on a certification that Microsoft would probably retire in a year. At this point Microsoft was offering the MCSE for Windows 2000 and Whistler (now Windows .NET server) was due to be released soon. Add to that the fact that most companies with established networks are running NT or Linux and are not about to go through the hassle of upgrading or changing to Windows 2000.

Then Microsoft reversed it's decision to retire the NT certification. This changed things for me considerable. Now I was more confident that I would not be wasting my time and money on a certification that would be worthless in a couple of months. Also by this time I had a chance to become more familiar with Windows 2000, and I realized that Windows 2000 isn't that much different than Windows NT. For the most part Windows 2000 just adds GUI interfaces to the same old NT tools. Windows 2000 even has some of the same security flaws as NT, (actually more; 74). Now it has come down to what will an MCSE do for my career. Microsoft will tell you that the MCSE will increase your worth as an IT professional, getting you more respect. Certifications do have their place, but in todays market IT managers are looking for experience and are weary of certs, especially MCSE's. But an MCSE added to experience will command a significant salary increase and I find that very attractive. From my experience, respect is gained more from your skills and actions rather then a framed piece of paper on your wall. But respect doesn't pay the bills, and anything that increase my salary by the amount the MCSE does is worth putting my time into.

Joe Ritchey

Braindroppings By Joseph Ritchey

We all think that windows suck. So if everyone hates windows so much why are so many of us using and supporting some version of it? Well the answer comes down to what the end users think they should be using. Yes that's right as much I hate to admit it the end user dictates what the market will produce. This is why TV shows and commercials are aimed towards the lowest common denominator. For some reason the end users think they should use the OS in the commercial with the Rolling Stones song or people flying around a field. Does anyone else feel like their having an acid flash back when they see those commercials or is it just me? It is me, isn't it?

The end users may have to groom each other and have to group together when predators come around, but there are more of them than us and they are the reason we have jobs. If we ran systems with bugless operating systems that were so easy to use that your hamster could setup and debug your corporate network, what would we do all day. Besides seeing how many brain cell's you can fry in an eight hour day wasting the guy in accounting in the latest version of Duke. Just be glad Mac's weren't as successful.

Joe Ritchey is a network administrator with a degree in Physics. Like all scientists, he has decided to document his experiences during the course of his studies and test. Joe has a keen insight on the world around him that will make this series interesting reading. The picture is of course, not Joe. But it will remain until he furnishes me with one.

Why I'm going to get my MCSE

November 7, 2001