Requires Membership to View
To gain access to this and all member only content, please provide the following information:
By submitting your registration information to SearchSecurityChannel.com you agree to receive email communications from the TechTarget network of sites, and/or third party content providers that have relationships with TechTarget, based on your topic interests and activity, including updates on new content, event notifications, new site launches and market research surveys. Please verify all information and selections above. You may unsubscribe at any time from one or more of the services you have selected by editing your profile, unsubscribing via email or by contacting us here
- Your use of SearchSecurityChannel.com is governed by our Terms of Use
- We designed our Privacy Policy to provide you with important disclosures about how we collect and use your registration and other information. We encourage you to read the Privacy Policy, and to use it to help make informed decisions.
- If you reside outside of the United States, by submitting this registration information you consent to having your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States.
Microsoft realizes the benefit of certifications from other organizations. As a sign of approval and to show their support, they have made a few exams outside of the Microsoft family of certs eligible as electives for the MCSA credential. Since A+ is considered an entry level IT cert, it must also be combined with Network+ or Server+ to add up to one MCSA elective. Since A+ consists of two exams, one would have to take a combined three exams in order to benefit. But wouldn't it be better to take one exam and still get the same benefit? One option is to take CompTIA's Security+ exam as your elective instead. One and done as they say.
I highly encourage taking a non-Microsoft exam for MCSA elective credit. Achieving your MCSA states that you have a baseline of knowledge in Microsoft technologies, and frankly there are plenty of MCSAs in the world. So consider this example: An employer has two candidates for one job, and both have their MCSA. What sets them apart from one another? Perhaps one of them can also list a security credential without having to take any more exams. Security professionals are in high demand, so having both MCSA and Security+ can only bolster your resume.
This was first published in February 2007