Some people have been taking the Vista certifications and maybe I should try one now that I’m a little more familiar with it. The only annoying thing is that I guess you need to know about the new programs that come with Vista. Applications like Mail, Calendar and some others I think. Since I use Outlook and the MS Office Suite at work I don’t have any clue about those other programs.

Another idea is getting some non-Microsoft certifications. Security+ and Network+ come to mind as those are areas I’m interested in. I also hear that the Security+ can be used as an elective on the MCSE track. My friend Christian is thinking about Security+ so I may do it with him. Security is something very important these days of course, so having a paper that says I know something about it could help.

Just getting my thoughts out there. I’ll be busy on show site for all of July of course so no test taking during that time period.

Reall, I was quite surprized to see a Congratulations screen at the end of the test. I’m not upset that I passed of course but I feel I don’t know enough yet based on the questions I was asked to really deserve the title. This is what annoys me about certifications. Just possessing a piece of paper doesn’t show that you know how to actually do what the exam was about — it only shows you can pass a test. People say they know this but it was certainly a requirement for a lot of jobs I applied for and received no response from when I had no certifications.

So my plan is to keep learning about Server 2003 and take 70-291, Implementing, Managing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Infrastructure, sometime in the next several months. Work should be getting a bit more hectic soon so I won’t have as much time to study as I have. Feels weird studying for 2003 when Longhorn is just around the corner but hopefully I’ll get my Server 2003 MCSE and start to learn Longhorn and eventually upgrade. Until then it’s the 2003 MCSE track for me.