Future IT Trends

I recently read this post by Todd Lammle, he is a successful author of Cisco training material and study guides.

In this blog post, Todd puts an excellent spin on the argument for moving forward with the changing IT environment (especially pertaining to Microsoft's new platforms, Vista and Server 2008).

He states: "We´ve all heard multitudes howling about Vista creating wide variety of evils, so I´m pretty sure we´ll hear even more complaints as Server 2008 rolls out. But the thing is, it´s actually not Vista´s fault, or even Server 2008´s fault. Nope—it´s your fault! Why? Simple… You need to upgrade your network. This is the part I love about Vista and Server 2008, and it´s also the reason I´m writing a blog about Microsoft on my Cisco training web site! I see this as a true opportunity and so should you—an opportunity to get certified in these things so you will be poised, ready and able to cure the broken networks epidemic we´re about to experience!"

Although many people are doing almost everything they can to be up in arms about Microsoft's Vista (and at some point Server 2008), its still necessary to move forward with your training on these applications and continue to grow your skills and plan and run your migrations. As bleak as the short term looks for these apps, the stability of the long term future of IT depends on these changes. Todd is a guy whose opinion I would trust for the most part, because he's right most of the time, as far as I know... :)

PMP Salary Information

I came across some interesting salary facts about the PMI PMP certification and project management as a whole. Certification Magazine (of which I am subscriber and avid fan) publishes information each year from its Salary Survey.

The PMP has been a rising success of a certification for many years and these numbers back up that claim:

- Project managers earn an average salary of $85,850
- Professionals with the PMP certification earn an average of $96,7900 (December 2007)

The project management profession is definitely growing as is the PMP cert. Certfication Magazine should have their next salary survey out in December of 2008. I'm definitely anticipating another sizable jump in the annual salary for the PMP.

So all of this addresses the concern that I had earlier in the year about the rush of people achieving the PMP. I was concerned that this flood of newly certified people would drag down the value. It doesn't appear to be that way so much right now, but the 2008 salary numbers will definitely tell us more about this. I think demand for the cert may still be outgrowing the number of certified project managers. Looking good for the PMP!!

Goodbye MCSA and MCSE, Hello MCITP-SA

Is it time to say goodbye to the American Certification Icon that we know as the MCSE? Yes, I believe so.

For a very long time people have known about the MCSA and the MCSE certifications. These certs were ingrained in our minds by endless television and radio commercials from various training companies throughout the country since the NT 4.0 product was out. The MCSE has almost become a household name and without a doubt the most popular certification in the Information Technology industry. Inarguably the most popular certification ever and arguably one of the most valuable.

Now, the winds of change are blowing in more places than just Washington DC. As the White House transitions to a new regime, so does the leading Microsoft Systems Administration certification. Microsoft decided to redesign and rename their leading certifications for networking and sys admin. The replacement is, the MCITP or Microsoft Certified IT Professional.

To clarify, the MCSE and MCSA exams wont be retired until late 2009 or early 2010. However, the training classes available will discontinue. This should come as no surprise because, as we all know, when Microsoft wants to enforce their will to change something, they sure have no problem doing so (cut off support, etc.).

So now comes the era of the MCITP and in the forefront of popularity is the MCITP - Server Administrator. I am hearing from many of my training contacts from various companies that the MCITP-SA is selling like wildfire already.

The MCITP-Server Administrator is set up completely different than the MCSA and MCSE. This class offers more of a focus on Server 2008 and goes much deeper into that. It also completely leaves off the client piece, which I think is a good idea given the rumors of the pending cancellation of Vista as their leading OS platform.

There is some early information about the MCITP - Server administrator at Microsoft's website. You can also have a look at what Microsoft training schools are doing for the MCITP-SA.

So to sum it all up, look for this certification to catch on very quickly. It's a shorter class and involves less exam time than the MCSA and the MCSE. Its a more attainable certification than MCSA and MCSE as well. This is definitely an improvement given the fact that on average, people were struggling to get through the seven MCSE 2003 exams. Struggling so much, in fact, that there was a major decline in the number of people who had achieved the cert which also caused a decline in the number of people trying to achieve the cert (ie taking classes). I don't anticipate the MCITP - Server Administrator exams to be easy by any means, but, there are only three. So once you pass your first, you can already see the light at the end of the tunnel.