Dave's Thoughts on Pursuing the
Windows 2000 MCSE Certification

Now that the Win2K exams are active and the NT 4.0 exams have been retired, I'd like to share my perspective on preparing for this certification.

First of all, this can be a much more difficult certification to achieve than the MCSE NT 4.0 certification.  The previous certification eventually allowed for "paper MCSE's" who could read a book and then pass an exam.  People with no experience and little preparation could actually become an MCSE, especially if they were good at taking exams.

In order to upgrade the quality of the MCSE certification, Microsoft has tried to make the exams much more difficult.  These exams require some experience in networking.  Every exam is peppered with TCP/IP-related questions, which unfortunately the Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) books do not address in detail.  If you are weak in TCP/IP, then you should get a good book.  Chuck Botsford has put together an on-line presentation at http://www.learntosubnet.com that should prove helpful.  In addition to subnetting, you really need to understand the function and roles of DHCP, DNS, and, yes, WINS (for legacy purposes).

Like I said, with many NT 4.0 exams, one could read a book, and then pass an exam.  With Win2K, for some folks, I would recommend that you study for the first four exams before even taking your first exam.  Why?  Because you will find lots of Active Directory questions (especially as they relate to group policy objects) in your Win2K Professional and Server exams, but these are not discussed in detail until you study for the Directory Services exam.  But, if you feel you have a good grasp of Pro and Server, then, by all means, take those exams as soon as possible.

To become an MCSE in Win2K, I believe that you will need hands-on experience with the product.  I'll let you in on a little secret:  The folks that make the product and write the "official" books (Microsoft) are not the same folks who write the exams.  The exams are written by field engineers.  They are going to throw real-world problems and scenarios at you in the exams.  The best way to prepare for this is to work as much as you can with Windows 2000 Server and Professional.  If you don't have one, set up a home network.  You can buy PC's pretty cheap these days.  In fact, you can get some great deals at www.computergeeks.com (legacy stuff, I know, but great for a student's budget).

If you don't have any networking experience, I have found the first semester in the Cisco Networking Academy to be tremendously helpful for the beginner.  If you are a novice to networking, you might want to pursue the CCNA first.  Perhaps a better option would be to pursue the A+ and Network+ certifications, which would give you this much-needed background.  It may not get you the job you want right away, but it will get your feet wet in a much less frustrating manner than the MCSE will. I still believe, however, that the MCSE certification will give you more vocational options, as you will be able to cover a broader spectrum of networking jobs, from desktop support to network engineer.

I hope these "thoughts" of mine will help you in some way.  I've been teaching prospective MCSE's for almost six years now, and I was concerned with the higher failure rate for first-time test takers in Windows 2000 as compared to NT 4.0.  I hope that this brief essay will help lower that failure rate for some.  If this has helped you, why not drop me line?

God bless!

Dave