Ready For A Career Change ?
Travel The Microsoft Certification Route
Are you dissatisfied with your job? Do you want to find a new
one or at least make a move to another department within your
company? Do you need certifications in MCSE, MCP and any of
those other abbreviations? You need to sit down and decide what
career path you wish to take if you want to go the Microsoft
Certification route.
First of all, do you have any prior experience in the business
world? If so, no matter what you decide to do, whether it is
MCSE training or MCP training or anything else, you will be
ahead of others with no prior professional expertise. However,
if you choose to make a career change that is a complete 180
degrees from what you are doing now, you will have some trouble
finding gainful employment without some concrete experience.
For instance, if you are an Administrative Assistant and decide
to go for a Microsoft Certified System Engineer, better known as
an MCSE, you need to have some practical experience (the basic
requirement is about a year of previous experience) under your
belt before even starting your MCSE training. How could you go
about doing that? You have several options. Find a mentor.
Maybe another person within your company who has an MCSE could
give you pointers and some on-site knowledge into his job.
Volunteering through a nonprofit or some other community
organization could net you some valuable experience. Serving as
an intern, whether paid or unpaid, is another option.
A volunteer position or an internship also is beneficial for
those people with a fresh Microsoft certification but no
practical, hands-on experience. Practically every nonprofit
organization or community group has computers. Some of them are
small groups and others have computer labs (perhaps state-run
job placement places) with no budget to hire full-time staff.
You have got to think outside the box for ways to gain that
practical experience.
Networking mixers or social time is another great idea. You can
mingle with professionals in the field you are trying to break
into and find out about their internship opportunities. It is
the perfect venue in which to sell or market yourself. Check
out your local Chamber of Commerce for any local trade
organizations in the prospective field as a starting point in
this networking endeavor. Many times, you can find out some
priceless information about the ins and outs of your potential
area of certification. Learning from the experts could be an
eye opening experience for you. Heck, you could even change
your mind from braving those MCSE boot camps and the seven
tests for MCSE exams. Isn’t it better to gain that insight
before you spend the time and money?
Once you have completed your certification, whether it is
navigating through MCP courses or any other Microsoft
certification, be prepared to start from scratch in your new
endeavor. Just remember, anything having to do with technology
will change again in a year or two, so you have to keep up with
new trends and that means continued instruction. As long as you
travel the Microsoft route, you’ll be successful.
About The Author: James Croydon, Microsoft Certified
Professional and MCSE Certification advisor at f-Tech
Associates (
http://www.mcse-certification-hq.com ) publishes
other articles related to MCSE Certification at
http://www.mcse-certification-online.com and
http://www.mcse-online-course.com
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