MCSA or MCSE - Choosing Microsoft Systems Certifications...

Both the MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator) and the MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) are indications of an IT professional's skill set. Each certification comprises of a number of exams, where candidates have proven their expertise in different areas.

Becoming Microsoft certified is a great way to broaden your skills and knowledge base, and consequently increase your career opportunities. Professionals who are Microsoft certified can earn significantly higher salaries than their un-qualified co-workers and benefit from much greater job security. In the current marketplace, even established IT professionals are finding that they have to gain official certification, both to prove their abilities and to satisfy insurance and commercial employment requirements.

As the name suggests, an individual with an MCSA accreditation has confirmed that they can successfully implement, administer and troubleshoot a Microsoft Windows Network environment under the Windows Server operating system.

They must be able to install and configure professional Microsoft desktop operating systems, manage and maintain a Windows Server environment and implement and maintain a Windows Network infrastructure.

There are four MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) exams required in total to obtain the MCSA. Microsoft also allows and encourages the use of the CompTIA Security+ exam as one of these four, meaning students can gain a more varied and applicable skill-set for the modern marketplace.

A Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) on the other hand has developed the necessary skills to successfully plan and design a Microsoft Windows Network environment, as well as implement and manage the Windows operating system. To reflect this there are a total of 7 exams required - which build on the idea of the MCSA and add in several exams covering systems planning and design, as well as organisational security.

The MCSA and MCSE were developed by Microsoft to effectively guarantee that candidates have achieved proficient and professional levels of competency in Microsoft Windows operating systems.

The MCSA qualification generally leads to jobs in server administration, networking, senior support work and implementation engineering. In essence, the MCSA is aimed at people who want to become technical systems administrators, dealing with the day-to-day issues involved with the running of a medium-sized corporate network. This type of work will suit those who are well disciplined and enjoy problem-solving and diagnostic challenges. As an MCSA professional you can expect to have a lot of interaction with other people, and a very varied working life, as you never know what you're going to be doing from day to day. Adding the MCSA qualification to the CompTIA A+ and Network+ accreditations will springboard your career into full technical networking and systems administration.

The MCSE is primarily aimed at people who want to be designers, planners and project managers, and work at a more senior level. Those who aspire to be network engineers, senior network administrators, technical consultants, technical project managers and security professionals should consider this route.

It's an appropriate career path for those with creative, spatial and leadership skills, although these aren't necessarily required. The role will often involve management of both people and resources.

Many candidates achieve their MCSA certification and then work in industry as administrators and support technicians whilst they continue to study additional exams, to progress to MCSE and other specialisations - like security or messaging. (Care needs to be taken though when planning your career path - as this will often add at least one extra exam onto the route as not all the MCSA exams map to the MCSE requirements. If you wanted to be an MCSE, then the MCSA is not a pre-requisite, as although they utilise some cross-over exams, the goal is different.) Students can then progress their career into the design/planning field once they've gained some commercial experience and are fully qualified at the lower levels.

MCSE is perhaps one of the most globally recognised technical certifications in the IT industry today, and held at a considerable level of professional respect.

Whichever track is the best one for you, there are excellent career opportunities available for both MCSA and MCSE certified professionals.

Read on to investigate each in more detail...