Maximum PC

I want to get Microsoft Certified and take exams 70-620 and 70-623. The $125 per test and the Microsoft Second Shot stuff is nice, but I don't think I'll get in the front door of the test site because of my age. I've seen the stories of all those people even younger than me taking the test. I work in a computer repair place where I fix viruses, troubleshoot problems, redo operating systems, and it's all the stuff I do on a regular basis. I have a bunch of questions. The exams are essentially on vista and I know about every way around it here and there.

1) Should I try to get certified at my age or wait later?
2) Would the exams be harder than what I'm already doing at work?
3) Getting paid $8/hr, should I ask for or expect a raise if I get certified?
4) Should I take different exams than those I want to or take any afterward?

A lot of questions and I know it would be good to get certfied, but I'm not sure what would happen next of if I should not try to get it until I'm older.

If you're working for a smaller repair shop or Geek Squad, having an MS cert might be beneficial, but don't be surprised if you don't get a raise.

The exams you're looking at taking are part of the MCTS, or Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist certification, which is basically just saying you're very well versed in the installation, configuration, and troubleshooting of Vista. The cert would do very well for a DST or Helpdesk type position, but for a retail job, an A+ will suffice.

Because of your age, you won't be getting into any white-collar IT position, and since you're cert is overkill for all the jobs you can get right now, I'd wait. Keep up with the tech, refine your skills, and learn new ones. If you keep it up, by the time you're 18 or 19, you'll more than likely be able to step into an entry level IT position, rather than farting around at a fast food joint while you're going to school.

I'm not saying take the job over school, but with a full-time, IT job that will pay twice as much as any retail computer job, you'll be able to support yourself, and still take college courses at night, weekends, and/or online.

Personally, I am not sure I would want to take tests on Vista right now with Win7 right around the corner. Talking about paying for obsolescence. Sure, a lot of it will carry over, but you get what I mean?



1) What is it going to get you? What do you expect out of it? Do you plan on going to college?

2) Yes, because there's some study involved. Usually they go into the less common things that you won't encounter in troubleshooting/tech support.

3) It really depends on your workplace. In this economy, I would not expect anything. To be honest, what you've listed that you're doing is an entry level job. It would not be improved by the cert, and what you're doing can be done by a lot of kids out there that are techy inclined. ie. They can fire you and get someone to replace you pretty easily if you "get uppity". On the other hand, if your workplace is a bit more corporate, they may post jobs like leads or managers and list the requirements you can go for. Again, this depends on if you are going to college. They're not going to want to hire you for a job if you are going away in a year.

4) This *really* depends on your plans for the future. In terms of jobs, when HR looks at it, a Degree > Certs > nothing. Especially if you get your cert now, and go to a college, then get a job 4 years later, your cert will be 4 years old, tech changes, etc. may make it obsolete. Vista probably won't be around for the most part for example.

Jcollins brings up a good point that I missed.

Firstly, Vista is very popular with home desktops, and with Windows 7 just soon to be released, many Vista users will jump ship for 7, and many XP users who're waiting Vista out will be upgrading to 7.

Secondly, Vista is a rarity in the corporate world. Some executives might have it on their laptop or something, but most of the office workers are still running 2000 or XP. I also doubt you'll see Windows 7 in the business world much either. When it comes to complex things like an enterprise network, if it isn't broken, don't try and fix it. I doubt many office rigs will be updating from XP or 2000 just to get some new features that probably aren't necessary.

[quote="I doubt many office rigs will be updating from XP or 2000 just to get some new features that probably aren't necessary.[/quote]

Oh they will be updating to win 7. Microsoft will kill XP it's already had like 3 stays of exection. The new PCs they buy pretty soon will only be Win 7. That and MS will stop making security patchs for xp at some point.

Thant and with server 2008 and some of the new 2010 server products coming out you can bet some updating is coming down the pipe. But your right not all will do it. But I bet the majority will go to win 7 at some point.

Oh they will be updating to win 7. Microsoft will kill XP it's already had like 3 stays of exection. The new PCs they buy pretty soon will only be Win 7. That and MS will stop making security patchs for xp at some point.

Thant and with server 2008 and some of the new 2010 server products coming out you can bet some updating is coming down the pipe. But your right not all will do it. But I bet the majority will go to win 7 at some point.[/quote]

Of course the offices around the world will have to dump their beloved XP installs someday. I didn't say that upgrading wouldn't happen, but that IT managers won't drop XP like a bad-habit just because 7 is good. So long as XP is still getting security patches, it's staying where it is. When that time comes, many businesses might find that migrating a ton of users into an entirely new OS just isn't nearly as feasable as you might think. I know at my work, several apps I use daily are built in-house and would probably break in anything besides XP. Maybe some companies will find Linux suits their office. Where I work, only a few top people have Vista on their laptops and nicer desktops. Everyone else has XP Home.

Holy necropost Batman!

In my corporate environment, we're still on Win2k and IE6. We're just getting XP now on some of the newer computers, so I don't expect to see Win7 for a long time. It isn't cheap to upgrade 50K+ computers just for the OS.

This. The last comment most specifically.

The only reason a company will upgrade it's computers is if the benefits outweigh the cost. I know for my work, I don't think Vista or 7 offer enough added functionality to make upgrading our 110+ machines worth the while.

(Plus, almost all of our machines are early P4s with no more than 1 Gb RAM. 7 or Vista would run like crap.)

Since no one really answered your question I will give you the full breakdown.

1) @ $8 hr. you should ask for more $$ now. That is just a little over min wage; ask for at least $11 or $12.

2) Any of these exams are not as easy as you think no matter how long you have been doing this. Microsoft, CompTia, Cisco, etc... They all will try and trick you or confuse you. The exams are very passable, however, don't expect to not buy a book, do a bunch of test questions and expect to pass; won't happen!

3) Should you take it now? Yes take it now. The reason why is the more experience you have taking these example the more you will become familiar with, their structure and the type of questions asked. Also it does not hurt to have multiple certs. I have my MCTS for Active Directory, MCTS for Network Infrastructure, CSSA, Network+ and A+ starting early is not a bad thing. I should have started earlier.

4) If you fail it is not a bad thing either. All that means is that you need to study more and you are weak in certain areas.

5) If I were you keep doing the deskside but try to get into the server areas as it is what will make the most $$$ as you progress.

1)I would try to get certified, when you reach 17/18 with a little more experience more jobs will *hopefully* be available to those who are qualified. Furthermore, I gotta be honest, life will get in the way to taking those tests, even if it is the $125 you can no longer afford.. Its what happened to me with my later certs, I know the knowledge just no dough for the cert.
2) The exams will be harder than your probably expecting, go to websites and take some practice exams (their are free ones out there) and see how you do, if your not getting at *least* 85% I wouldn't take it till you study more.
3) Don't expect the raise. I would bring it up, so the boss's are aware, but don't expect any raises until promotions are available.
4)It's good to be a jack of all trades, but I would focus on the ones you want and are gunning for, when a position is ready that may need the cert, then go for it, that way your not wasting money on certs that you don't utilize

And here I thought going from min wage to $11/hr was a huge jump.

If all the OP does is healing sick computers than he should consider himself lucky. I do some IT stuff at my job, but the majority of my workday revolves around providing Technical Support to customers. I love when I get an hour or so to do my monthly PC maintenance on my section of the building. Dealing with activating software or walking someone through installing Flash gets really old quick.

I think it may be best to continue to study and refine your skills.
Also it's a good idea to visit websites and take practice tests to help
you have a better chance at passing the exams in the future when you are ready.
Good luck:)