When I worked for Shared (4+ years ago) I had taken a number of certification tests and become certified. Nortel’s certification program was in it’s infancy when I first became certified. They had a number of support specialist certs (level 1), a number of expert certs (level 2) and an architect cert. Achieving the architect status was fuzzy back then. Microsoft’s certification program was fully developed and, at that time, it was moving from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 2000. About 7 years ago, I got myself certified on the NT 4.0 platform, and then I took the big leap from IT to Telecom. I still think it was a good career move.
Yesterday I made fairly large strides towards becoming re-certified to the level I was at when I left Shared. Since joining my current employer, I got myself re-certified on the Nortel voicemail platform as a specialist. Yesterday, I re-certified as a specialist on the Nortel PBX system and took my first Microsoft Cert (Windows XP; 70-270) towards my MCSE on Windows 2003.
In order to reach where I was at Shared, I need to take 5 more Microsoft Certs to bring my MCSE “current” to 2003. And then I’ll have to look at what it will take to start pursuing my MCSE on Vista. I also need to get my Support Expert on Nortel’s PBX and Call Center applications. All in all, I think it’s around 10 more tests.
The technology has changed a bit while I was “on the customer side” (i.e., working for a customer instead of a distributor, and a customer who fork-lifted their Nortel phone systems in favor of a competing product at that.) I’m doing my best to catch up with those changes as I move forward to complete my certifications.
Wish me luck.
PS, I have a post in draft about my trip to Vegas over the weekend, I just couldn’t focus on it with my plans to take 4 tests yesterday. I lacked confidence in my ability to pass the Windows XP test before taking it and was surprised at how high my score was in the “aftermath.”
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