Computers and Microsoft are just about one and the same to many individuals! Few people have not been influenced by Microsoft 'software' & operating systems, & with the MS global educational & school-programs, it is likely that no one in the foreseeable future will manage to avoid them even if they wanted to. The business was founded back in 1975, by the former 'college drop-out' Bill Gates. The company's earliest version of the Home Operating System Windows was produced in the 1980's. The operating systems that we all use nowadays are the consequence of quite a few evolutions of 'Windows' between now and then. We have always been offered the option of the 'Windows' home version & the Windows Professional version, with every up-grade applying to both Operating Systems. In network terms, 'Windows' 2000 succeeded 'Windows' 'NT'. After that came Server 2003 & the most current offering: Server '2008'. From the time 'Microsoft' began producing accreditation paths, there have been programs available for candidates to study how to professionally administer their operating systems.

The 'MCSA' & 'MCSE' serve essentially different purposes, despite the fact that they're generally talked about together. The MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator) is an accreditation specially designed for individuals who plan to build a career in server administration, networking & senior support careers. Effectively, it is for individuals who want to be technical systems-administrators, managing the day-to-day problems and activities associated with the running of a smallish to medium-sized corporate-network. You will get a lot out of this particular work if you are a highly organised problem-solver that likes a solid technical challenge. It is a really people oriented job with lots of variety, as the work intrinsically entails support and interaction with fellow network-users.

The MCSE, on the other hand, is centred on design, planning and project management; in other words a more high level of responsibility. If you like to get into network-management, senior administration, technical-consulting or project-management, or you intend to progress toward a higher-level IT security career, then this is the route to think about. The 'MCSE' is possibly not as well-known for it's teaching on creative & leadership problem solving skill-sets, which are also important for people working in senior technical jobs.

Undoubtedly you will already have worked out that understanding these certification tracks is not so very simple. Obtaining good industry advice should always be paramount before solely opting for the cheapest priced or 'bargain' bundle. The simple truth is there are several excellent inexpensive training methods available, & basically a number of really inadequate high-priced ones. You simply can not judge a training course on price alone. You need to be thinking about just how effective the training materials are, just how reliable is the help & support and how accurate are the exam practice software?

Studying time is generally seen as around 300-350 hrs for the 'MCSA' and 500-550 hours for the 'MCSE', presuming high quality multi-media training materials, round the clock admission to student support, & some decent exam preparation software. Should you have experience you could realistically do your training in your free time and achieve your accreditations in under a year. Without any experience it would be hasty to leap straight in. The 'Comptia' A+ and 'N+' really should be regarded as the starting place. There are various details of these training-tracks on the 'CompTIA' pages of this website. Add-on more or less two hundred hrs of training time, which is likely to take a minimum of 6 months part-time.

These days, there are actually very few Windows NT Server installations left, yet there are still quite a number remaining at Server '2000'. By far the most abundant is server 2003, with server '2008' still in it's early-days. This being so, the primary 'Microsoft' certifications continue to be largely centred on Windows Server '2003'. While the MCSA & 'MCSE' certifications have been in existence for a number of years now, (keeping up with 'Windows' server through it's development,) the Microsoft MCSA 2003 & 'MCSE' 2003 remain the main-stay of current MS Network certification. Because up-grade instruction for Server '2008' is actually accessible however, it is beneficial to bolt this on at the same time.

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