network administrator?

Question

Can I make good pay as a network administrator with only MCP certification?

Answer 1

You cannot make a large salary without experience even with an MCSE.

You need to take a part time or internship position with a company, even if you get your MCSE. Without experience, you are what's called a "Paper MCSE". When I started in the IT field, I went to a 4 month MCSE school. None of the students had any IT job experience. I didn't want to get my MCSE and look for jobs as a "Paper MCSE", so I took a part time, low paying job with a small software company as their network administrator while taking the classes. If necessary, I would have worked for free as an intern. By the time I was finished and had completed my MCSE, I could apply for jobs as an experienced MCSE, and the company I worked for offered me a full time position. 7 years later in the field, I am now an IT Manager at a larger software company and earning an above-average salary in this field.

By the way, out of the 12 students in my MCSE class, only myself and one other student got hired immediately after earning our MCSE. Both of us had the foresight to take part time/internship positions before expecting a full time position in the field.

Answer 2

Without years of experience, you can't. You'd have to start small, with a small company. You've got much better odds to go ahead and finish your MCSE. The starting salary doubles right off the bat. Then, with a year or two of true systems engineering under your belt, you can write your own ticket.

Answer 3

You need expirence, trust me the last thing you want to do is get in over your head and have everyone breathing down your neck. It also depends on where you live. Around here MSCE doesn't mean much :(