Virtualization Certification(s) - Is It Really Worth It?

First, let me say that I am a big proponent of technical certifications. That is the reason why I have my Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) Server Administrator, MCITP Enterprise Administrator and MCITP Enterprise Messaging Administrator 2007 and 2010. Once upon a time, I also had my Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), MCSE (precursor to MCITP), CNI and CNE.

Recently, I passed the Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Virtualization (Exam 70-659) and Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 (Exam 70-400). I plan to get my MCITP Virtualization Administrator so I'll need to take the Windows Server 2008 R2 Desktop Virtualization Exam (70-669) and Windows Server 2008 R2 Virtualization Administrator Exam (70-693) sometime in the next few months. As soon as the two exams for Microsoft Private Cloud Certification become available (Exams 70-246 and 70-247), I will also study and take those.

At the end of January, I attended the VMware vSphere 5: Install, Configure, Manage course and am currently studying for the VCP5 exam.

As I look at the costs in time and money to achieve these certifications, I started asking myself if it was really worth the time and effort to obtain all these certifications. At the end of the day, I did come to the conclusion that it was indeed worth it!

I'm pretty darn sure 90% (or more) of companies out there today are virtualizing their server workloads in one way or another. I am also willing to bet that not everyone fully understands how to manage the virtualization platform that they are using - whether it's the solution from Microsoft, VMware, Xen or any other smaller virtualization technologies. Training can definitely help and should probably be taken advantage of by more IT Professionals out there. The "next" level is then pursuing the appropriate virtualization certification from the vendor in question. Since quite a few organizations use Microsoft and VMware as their virtualization platform, I thought I would focus on these two and get my certification on both platforms.

On the Microsoft front, I opted not to attend any of the classroom training available as I have been working with the technologies for quite some time now and figured I didn't need to. I did study up a little on some of the technologies that I don't necessarily use on a regular basis in my current role. I like that fact that if I have true hands on experience with the technology, I have a valid chance at passing the exam. I may not agree with all the questions on the exam, but enough of it is pertinent to real world experience that I'm okay with it. With 20 / 20 hindsight, I do believe it is worthwhile to do some studying and reviewing of areas that I wouldn't necessarily use on a regular basis. As an example, installation of the free version of Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 is not something I would normally do on a regular basis. In fact, I wouldn't be installing the Hyper-V role on a daily basis either so it can help to brush up on installation items.

On the VMware front, I find it annoying that I have to attend a class in order to get my certification. It's one thing if the class were $1200 or $1500, but the 5 day vSphere 5 course costs $3500. Since I don't administer a VMware environment on a daily basis, the class definitely helped me. However, for those who have true hands on experience, I do find this high cost of entry to be quite annoying. Since I have virtualization experience, I was able to understand the VMware terminology and architecture in a short amount of time. My instructor did a great job of explaining the concepts and even went into additional topics that weren't part of the official courseware. I still need to pay my $225 to take the exam, but am confident that I will be able to pass it with some hard studying.

I'm curious what everyone else things about this topic. Please weigh in with your thoughts by posting some great comments on my blog post.

• Do you feel there is value in Virtualization Certification in general?
• Do you find value in Microsoft's certification?
• Do you find value in VMware's certification?
• Would you pursue both like I am?

Source: http://www.sys-con.com/node/2164899

MCITP, 10 Key Benefits

The MCITP is an abbreviation for the Microsoft Certified Information Technology Professional certification. This brief article will give you ten important reasons why the MCITP certification will boost your information technology career.

1. Microsoft Certifications have strong Competitive Advantages. Major employers prefer hiring a candidate with an MCITP certification over an applicant with a degree in information technology.

A Microsoft certification will grant you full industry recognition for your understanding and proficiency with respect to the operation of network servers and related equipment. This fantastic achievement grants you a distinct competitive edge in writing RFPs, maintenance contracts, and bids for networking jobs. The MCITP will improve your job search, assist you in obtaining promotions, and provide future salary opportunities.

2. Increase Return on Investment (ROI)

Employing Microsoft Certified staff members produces confident and productive employees. This equates to better use of technology on the job site. The MCITP provides secure and effective technology resolutions resulting in saving down time and eliminating performance risks.

3. Improved team and group Projects Deployment

Networking is an information technologies functional area in which, a team's skill level is directly responsible for a company's ability to compete effectively in the market place. Several studies have concluded 75% of hiring managers believe that certifications are critical to team performance. This fact is vital to an organization's productivity. Increased productivity translates itself into monetary compensation for the employee and the company who is fortunate enough to have this successful professional on staff.

4. Increased organizational performance and productivity

63% of hiring managers strongly believe certified applicants are more productive than their non-certified counterparts.

5. Certification creates a strong information technology staff.

Company's who employ a certified staff have discovered a strong boost in the company's work ethic. Certified professionals in many cases act as educators passing on vital information to staff members, which enables them to avoid costly mistakes, which may cause the organization to experience down time.

6. Improve customer satisfaction

66% of hiring managers firmly believe certifications improve the level of service and support in which customers receive from their organization. A Microsoft certification helps the individual understand the software products at a practical level resulting in easier understandable solutions offered to management.

7. Increased employee retention

45% of corporate employees agree that when their employers pay for certifications and exams, this benefit provides a strong incentive to remain at their current place of employment. Company loyalty is a rare commodity in today's environment. A Microsoft certification is a major building block to creating loyalty to a company or an organization.

8. Microsoft Certification Member Benefits

A. When you become certified you will receive Logos and Certificates that will identify your MCITP - MCTS status

B. When you pass those exams, you will be granted private access to an exclusive Microsoft MCITP, MCTS, MCPD, and MCSE Certification Members only Website. The information you will receive from this exclusive website will put you light years ahead of your competition.

C. Exclusive discounts on Microsoft products and services.

Over a period of years the discounts you will receive will pay for the cost of your certification.

D. Access to career related tools

Government contractors, educational institutions, the non-profit sector, and numerous small businesses will hire only Microsoft certified personnel because of their access to Microsoft product solutions.

E. You will receive Invitations to industry conferences, training sessions, and special events.

9. Satisfaction and confidence

Getting certified builds your self-esteem. The confidence you will have in your achievement will resonate in your job interview like a shining star, which will dominate the galaxy of competition you must face when applying for that coveted position.

10. Monetary rewards

Having Microsoft Certification's in your work resume portfolio will turn you into a key company asset. This achievement will translate into improved yearly compensation opportunities. All Microsoft certifications are recognized worldwide. You will be able to take them with you wherever you go.

The time for procrastination is over. Change your life by getting certified. If you have 10 or 20 years of experience, it must be documented. A Microsoft MCITP certificate is your solution for employment in this competitive job market.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6619350

An Insight on MCITP Training

The Internet is a veritable source of Microsoft Certified Information Technology Professional or MCITP boot camp providers. If you want to harness your skills and knowledge about Microsoft technologies, there is nothing more comprehensive than having an MCITP certificate. But first, a little understanding of what MCITP is all about will come a long way in finding the right training provider.

What is MCITP?

If you have an MCITP credential, it shows that you have the latest skills and expertise necessary for you to do your work effectively and expertly, using Microsoft technologies. Currently, there are 7 sub-specialties under the MCITP training certification.

There is the IT Professional- Business Intelligence Developer certification which demonstrates that you are an expert when it comes to designing analysis solutions, reports and data transformations. Some of the job responsibilities of a business intelligence developer are to design and carry out logical and physical database models, data warehousing, data marts, data analytics, data transforms and reporting solutions.

An IT Professional-Consumer Support Technician certification is a validation of your expertise and skill in a job that supports consumer desktop operating systems, mobile devices, desktop applications, hardware support issues and networking that are related to the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system.

Another certification offered in the MCITP boot camp is for IT Professional-Database Developer. It demonstrates that you are an expert in the design and carry out of relational database models as well as database storage objects. You also have the expertise to program servers using stored procedures, user-defined functions, triggers, CLR or Transact-SQL.

An MCITP training is also provided for IT Professional-Database Administrator who is in charge of installing or configuring Microsoft SQL Server. Included in his job expertise is to maintain or manage databases, database availability, reporting and recovery and user accounts.

Meanwhile, you can also be a certified IT Professional-Enterprise Messaging Administrator. It highlights your knowledge and expertise when it comes to the task of being the lead engineer in providing messaging solutions in an organization. Furthermore, it also highlights your ability to design and implement messaging solutions geared for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.

Another certification is for IT Professional-Enterprise Project Management with Microsoft Office Project Server 2007. This certification provides recognition to professionals such as project managers who use the Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007 and the Office Project Server 2007 for managing and supporting enterprise project management (EPM)-related projects.

Lastly, you have the option to be certified as an IT Professional-Enterprise Support Technician. This demonstrates that you have the knowledge, skill and expertise necessary to deploy and support the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. Your skills will be useful in deploying the Microsoft operating system, troubleshooting network issues and managing security.

When choosing an online MCITP boot camp course provider, make sure that it is recognized and accredited as Microsoft IT Academy which is a worldwide IT learning solution that enables connections to students, educators and communities.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6475232

MCITP Database Administrator Training - Clear the Certification Exam in a Single Attempt

Everyone in to the IT fraternity knows that MCITP certification is one of the best and worthy certification established and developed by Microsoft. However, achieving this credential is not a cakewalk, one need to study its courseware content thoroughly and gain extensive knowledge of the concepts, so that one may apply the knowledge and expertise in every sphere.

To attain MCITP certification, pursuing MCITP Database Administrator training is extremely significant, as one requires having total focus to learn the concept from the scratch. Seeking this certification is certainly an onerous job and candidates who require clearing the certification exam needs to develop clear knowledge and obtain certain abilities which can be achieve only in these training classes.

MCITP certification exam - a quick detail

In MCITP exams, participants are examined on the basis of certain particular abilities, basically the questions are set on mainly three major spheres. The particular domains on which these questions are based on are:

1. Designs on case studies - these questions are required to check the analytical abilities of a participant;

2. Simulations and virtual labs - which test the candidate's practical expertise in a given situation.

These Microsoft MCITP training programs, that enable and equip candidates to give MCITP exams, focuses mainly on the topics that are pertaining to active display screens, construct and reorder, drag and drop, sizzling space, etc, as related questions are always expected in the MCITP exams. In practice, it becomes as troublesome and confusing, as easy and comprehensible it is in theory. These topics have their own appropriate answers. Hence, the test is considered complicated and it needs specific skills from the candidates that are required to be mastered and understood, in order to fetch one enough score to get MCITP certification completed.

MCITP exam - things to consider

MCITP Database training lays a systematic research schedule which is pertinent to achieve this certification. Also, time management is a very vital aspect when you find yourself taking the practice mannequin tests. This training enhances one's theoretical and practical abilities and the MCITP certification, upon completion allows one to resolve actual and real life issues when on the work front.

Microsoft MCITP Training and Certification program - its benefits and advantages.

Developed and conducted by Microsoft, MCITP certification is awarded to the IT professionals to acknowledge them with the passport to begin their careers in networking. This certification is elite and well- appreciated by most leading IT corporations that incorporate Microsoft technologies and hire these esteemed candidates.

A proper Microsoft MCITP Training is thus mandatory to pursue to clear this certification exam at one go, mere studying on the topic does not help.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6693388

MCITP Training Bootcamp, the Best Way to Get MCITP Certification to Validate Your Skills

The Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) is one of the most valuable certification programs of Microsoft. This particular certification is hugely in demand, as it showcases comprehensive skills of the IT professionals. The certification displays logical and understanding abilities along with other technical expertise in the individual. After gaining MCITP training and certification, the professional receives a proof that he holds all the abilities to handle a particular job specific role of a database administrator or a business messaging administrator. The best way to gain this certification in a highly conceptualized manner is through MCITP training bootcamp.

Achieving the required merit in MCITP training bootcamp is rather a challenging process. To successfully accomplish the certification one needs to have a set of basic credentials. Basic knowledge of Microsoft Windows Operating System, concepts of RDBMS, database designing and basic knowledge of SQL is required.

On your way of acquiring MCITP training and certification, you also required to pass various Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist or MCTS certifications. MCITP bootcamp is intended to make a person industry ready to take new challenges as a database administrator. This means that you develop correct aptitude and hands on technical skills to position, create, delineate, and design different applications.

The job specific functions are crucial in the development of useful and credible technical projects in an organization. Server Administrator Certified Professionals: The MCITP, further propel you towards a future role, of: 

• Enterprise systems administrator
• IT systems manager
• Enterprise security administrator
• Systems architect
• Network administrator

Besides ensuring better position at the workplace, one also becomes a very important asset for the organization and can also expect a good raise in the salary.

To ensure quality education and earn the MCITP certification it is very important to choose from the best Microsoft qualified expert trainers. To make yourself abreast with the latest technology and claim your dream profile at your workplace, join MCITP training bootcamp today.

MCITP trainingand certification can be imparted using various methodologies these days, such as, online trainings besides getting trained by on-site and off-site trainers. One also can communicate with online trainers to get extremely beneficial inputs to achieve best scores in the exams. Starting from training materials, software to advance question, answers and practice testing software that facilitate candidate's knowledge and make one ready for the desired MCITP exam.

Training in a highly interactive manner is really helpful to get better understanding of the core concepts, instead of using conventional methods. Mercury Solutions Limited provides one to one non institutionalized sessions and also incorporates other contemporary methods to impart MCITP training and certification.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5997033

MCITP Training and Certification Course - Justify Your Credentials in IT Industry

Microsoft Corporation is one of the IT giants that prepare IT aspirants with success by its comprehensive and well structured training resources and streamlined certification programs. MCITP bootcamp training and certification is one such endeavour from Microsoft Corporation.

What Is MCITP training?

To help IT professionals stand out in the IT field, Microsoft has developed a highly viable and immensely accredited program, popularly known as MCITP certification program. This IT certification not only validates and ensures ones expertise level in the technology but also promises to beget greater success in future career prospects.

What are the job roles that one may pursue?

After acquiring MCITP bootcamp training and certification course, IT professionals are proficient enough to handle various job roles such as that of business messaging administrator or database administrator.

A detailed job profile may include building, designing, deploying, optimizing and operating various technologies. They are also required to prepare the design and make technology decisions necessary to ensure successful technology implementation projects.

Why need a MCITP training and certification course?

Strictly based on perfect technical aptitude -Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist or MCTS certifications are the stepping stones to achieve MCITP bootcamp certification. Every candidate is required to clear certain MCTS exams to get equipped with the most distinctive features of Microsoft. Being mandatory, on the way to accomplish MCITP certification, MCTS exams makes every IT professional enriched with skills and knowledge to perform certain tasks aptly when employed.

MCITP trainings are integrated with modules that contain comprehensive and detailed concepts to give equip IT participants a thorough knowledge and insight about the technology. To attain required career goals in life, this credential justifies ones credibility, besides highlighting a particular area of expertise required for a professional to stand apart from the rest of the crowd.

What are the various methods to get MCITP training?

On-site/ Off-site MCITP training course - Traditional comprehensive classroom IT trainings are hot favourite among IT aspirants. They get both individualized and group exposure, while sitting besides peers. Alternatively, one may also approach their employers to get Onsite MCITP bootcamp trainings. These training sessions are both boon for IT staff and employers, as it not only assists in achieving proper skill set required to be abreast with the rest in the market, but also gives IT professionals wider advantage in claiming better future prospects.

MCITP bootcamp program - The MCITP training bootcamp is an appropriate and effective way to accomplish MCITP certification for international participants. IT bootcamps are well structured and strategic way to impart quality IT trainings and certification courses.

Instructor led live virtual MCITP training course - To save your quality time and reap the benefits of Internet, this methodology gives you an added advantage to get yourself IT trained in easy steps.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6580691

Become an Expert in Real-World Skills in IT With MCITP Boot Camp Classes

MCITP boot camp classes are for those who want to gain real world skills that are necessary to take your career forward. Becoming a Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) is sure to highlight your skills in IT with the prospective employers. Just having some knowledge on the Microsoft technologies alone is not sufficient. You should have authorized certification in the skills you have to propel yourself in the global IT industry. Your MCITP certification will fetch you the jobs you have dreamt of anywhere in the globe. On your path to the MCITP certification you will also be completing a few Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) certification. If you are an aspiring professional you can enroll yourself for a MCITP boot camp so that you can equip yourself with the knowledge and experience needed to complete the MCITP certification.

There are many domains in which you can get MCITP certification. MCITP 2008 bootcamp for Enterprise Administrator for Windows Server 2008, Project Management, MS Office Project Server 2007, Database Administrator / Developer, Enterprise Support Technician, and Enterprise Messaging Administrator are all available in the industry. The MCITP 2008 boot camp has courses that are created by the experts who have been working in that software for many years. The knowledge they have gained is passed on to the students who have registered for the MCITP 2008 boot camp classes.

After successful completion of a MCITP boot camp you will be able to design, build, deploy, operate and optimize the technologies for a particular job that you do. You will be in a position to make decisions that are critical to the implementation of the systems. The MCITP 2008 bootcamp is conducted for a short duration and you will be learning a lot during this short period. In-house boot camps are conducted in some institutions. The MCITP 2008 boot camp costs you a few thousands of dollars but the amount spent on it is worth. Your MCITP boot camp fees include accommodation, food, and the course materials. Most of the MCITP boot camps come as a package where you will get all the facilities needed to successfully complete the MCITP 2008 bootcamp. This enables the registrant to focus mainly on the course rather than the accommodation and the food. All of these are taken care of when you register for a MCITP boot camp.

MCITP bootcamp is conducted in many cities across the country. Check the websites of the institutions for the camps in your city.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3063633