Certifcations

They are nice and a good supplement to self-study (http://www.cbtnuggets.com/webapp/videos) but they will not cover everything you need to know to pass a cert exam. Excellent study tool while at work tho.

 

A word of warning.

I don't want my having found the time to post here this once to be misinterpreted as an indication that I'm done with my other stuff and am now able to get caught-up around here; but if I don't do this right now that it's fresh on my mind I'll forget... so here goes:

Firstly, let me get this out of the way: Someone in these forums -- I can't remember where -- posted that they inquired by email about the program and never heard back. For what it's worth, I inquired the other day and heard back within hours. Then I asked two follow-up questions and heard back equally fast or faster regarding both. Just wanted to get that on the record so no one will think CSU doesn't follow-up on things. I'm not saying that I don't believe that whomever posted, earlier (wish I could remember where), that CSU was negligent was lying or anything. I'm just saying, for what it's worth, that my experience was somewhat more satisfying. Just wanted to get that out of the way first.

Secondly, and more to the point: I wanted to caution everyone interested in any of the CSU IT Masters programs to not just assume that if one has one's MCSE, one will automatically get credit for one-half the program as has been widely reported around here. Any 'ol MCSE which was earned by passing any 'ol MCSE exams may or may not be eligible for any CSU IT Masters course credit.

There are twelve (12) courses that one must complete and pass in order to earn any of the four (4) CSU IT Masters degrees. Six of the twelve courses are normal, masters-level courses in management or finance or marketing, etc. -- just like any other masters student would be required to take for any masters degree. The other six courses, on the other hand -- the ones that are numbered beginning with "ITI" -- are equivalent to one ore more very specific MCSE exams. In other words, only certain MCSE exams will map to (i.e., will satisfy or be eligible for credit against) certain CSU courses that are numbered "ITIxxx".

For example, to obtain the Masters of Management in Information Technology (MMIT) (MCSE-Windows-Server-2003 stream), one must take the following CSU courses:

Subject: MGT571 Contemporary Management Practice
Subject: HRM571 Managing People in the Information Age
Subject: MKT571 Marketing for IT Managers
Subject: FIN571 Managerial Finance
Subject: MGT572 Managing Organisational Change
Subject: MGT573 Strategic Practice
Subject: ITI555: Operating System Essentials
Subject: ITI556: Supporting a Network Infrastructure (I)
Subject: ITI557: Supporting a Network Infrastructure (II)
Subject: ITI558: Active Directory Infrastructure
Subject: ITI559: Designing Active directories and Network Infrastructure
Subject: ITI516: Administering a SQL Server

The six courses, above, whose course numbers do not begin with "ITI" are the normal, masters-level courses that one must take no matter what.

But the six "ITIxxx" courses shown above are the ones that one may get credit for if one has one's MCSE; but, only certain MCSE exams will map to (may be counted as credit against) them. WARNING: The titles of the "ITIxxx" courses don't necessarily match-up to their equivalent MCSE exam names, so you can't go by that, either.

In fact, the following specific MCSE exams actually map to (i.e., will satisfy) the following CSU "ITIxxx" courses required for the MMIT/MCSE-Win-Server-2003 degree:

CSU Course ITI555 = Microsoft exam (70-210 or 70-270) and 70-290
CSU Course ITI556 = Microsoft exam 70-291
CSU Course ITI557 = Microsoft exam 70-293
CSU Course ITI558 = Microsoft exam 70-294
CSU Course ITI559 = Microsoft exam 70-297
CSU Course ITI516 = Microsoft exam 70-228 or 70-028 or 70-229 or 70-029

So, as you can see, if you already have your MCSE, but if you did not happen to obtain it by passing the very specific Microsoft exams which you can see, above, will map to the required CSU courses, you may find yourself coming-up short and having to either go ahead and take whichever CSU courses your MCSE exams won't map to; or, perhaps better (and certainly cheaper) yet, go back and take whichever MCSE exams are required to map to the CSU courses you need... even if you already have your MCSE and don't actually need to take any more Microsoft exams (for any reason other than to be applied to CSU courses, that is).

Of course, those who have not yet obtained their MCSE and who believe they may one day seek the CSU MMIT (or, alternatively, its MNSA, MSD or MISS degrees) is in the perfect position right now to build his/her MCSE such that it will not only be an MCSE they can use today, but will also be one built from exams that will map perfectly and exactly to the necessary CSU courses.

Though I've used the MCSE as my example here, similar situations exist with regard to any of the CSU IT Masters degrees which follow the Cisco or Checkpoint or CompTIA or any other vendors' streams.

To learn more about the CSU program and precisely which courses one has to take for precisely which degrees; and, more importantly, which industry/vendor exams map to which CSU "ITIxxx" courses, point your browser at the following special link which most people who visit the CSU IT Masters main site can't easily get to:

http://www.itmasters.info/course/info_pack_main.htm

Hope everyone finds this useful. Now I gotta go.