Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator

Robert Crombie, Training Executive at the University of Strathclyde, writes about the latest addition to Microsoft's stable
In the last 20 years the Microsoft family of operating systems has been adopted by the vast majority of businesses worldwide to provide a platform on which to operate their IT infrastructure. One of the reasons for this is the large number of skilled and qualified people supporting these operating systems. Microsoft has been committed for a number of years to providing experienced IT professionals with certifications to prove their skills to potential employers. For new entrants to the IT industry, these qualifications confirm the ability of the individual to provide this support.
In recent years, the industry has seen a slowdown in terms of implementation of the new operating systems released onto the market for business customers. The newest business operating system to be released and adopted by the business community is Windows 2000 R. This operating system has been available for nearly three years and has now been adopted, at least in part, by a large proportion of businesses.
The greatest single enhancement Microsoft has made is the implementation of a directory database to store the resources available on the corporate network in a logical way. Microsoft's implementation of this is called Active Directory, which was first introduced in the Windows 2000 family. Of course, Microsoft was not the first company to introduce a directory of resources; Novell has had a directory service for a number of years, which works in a similar manner to the Microsoft version, and this was one reason why Novell held the lion's share of the server market.
Microsoft's approach to career certifications is continually to enhance the certification tracks available and it introduced the Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) qualification in the summer of 2002. The main reason was to provide a suitable qualification to IT professionals that support medium to large-scale networks.
Before the introduction of the MCSA qualification, professionals had the choice of either Microsoft Certified Professional (by passing one exam) or Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (seven exams). The MCSE qualification has always been regarded as the premier certification to achieve, and is suitable for people who administer medium to large-scale networks, and who are also involved in design and implementation. The latter are specialised tasks that are usually carried out by the most experienced professionals. Realising this, Microsoft introduced the MCSA qualification as an enhancement to the MCP qualification.
People working in IT normally have the goal of achieving full MCSE status, but most only complete a few of the necessary exams, and this is where MCSA comes in.
There are several plus-points about MCSA qualification. People can become qualified as MCP and use MCSA as their next goal because all the exams required to achieve MCSA also count towards MCSE. Another is that qualified MCSAs can enhance their IT career by obtaining other premier certifications such as Microsoft Certified Database Administrator or Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer. An MCSA can act as a stepping-stone towards these other, specialised, areas of IT.
A recent poll of IT professionals found that 45 per cent of participants were very interested in MCSA and 75 per cent planned to gain this certification either as an end goal or as a stepping-stone towards MCSE. Consequently, it was ranked number one in the poll. In fact, the vast majority of people working in IT will come to use this certification as their goal as few will become involved in the design of large-scale networks.
It is certain that Microsoft will continue to gain more ground in the operating system market, particularly in the server sector. In addition to this, employers will rely increasingly on individuals having gained a certification that is relevant to the systems they operate, to prove that they are able to get the job done.
With far fewer MCSAs and MCSEs in the job market than MCPs, and with greater competition for good people, the MCSA credential cannot be ignored. For those coming into the IT job market, traditional qualifications are just not enough. Employers are asking more and more from candidates and, with reduced training budgets, are placing greater emphasis on people who have either gained the certification or at least been trained to the MCSA standard and are working for the exams. Having more knowledge and qualifications than other job-seekers, and showing evidence of a desire to learn new skills is bound to increase the chances of gaining a start in an industry that offers a rewarding career.