Now that Windows 2000 has appeared in the market, what becomes of all those that have spent a fortune gaining NT4 MCSE accreditation? Microsoft themselves have decided to remove NT4 MCSE from its approved certification programme and accreditation will be revoked by the end of 2001.
Imagine, having spent all that time and money as we all know how difficult and time-consuming MCSE accreditation is and for many technical professionals, this is a very much sought-after qualification.
Without doubt Windows 2000 is an improvement over NT4, but because of the improvements that 2000 has, does make implementation much more difficult. NT4 will still be around for some years yet as there are organisations who are still implementing this version without even considering upgrading for at least the next two years, so these skills will still be in demand.
There will also be those organisations who will be looking into upgrading to Windows 2000, thus making technical people Windows 2000 MCSE qualified also in demand.
The choices available are to either take the whole course again which would prove quite costly, otherwise to take the appropriate modules that would convert the NT4 accreditation into Windows 2000. This would require taking a one-off examination but ensuring that you possess some the valid electives such as SQL 7 and exchange 5.5 that will remain until the end of next year. Microsoft do however recommend that to do this a good working knowledge of the system is needed, at least six months with extra reading.
Prices will vary between those providers who are Microsoft accredited training providers and to the costs incurred to upgrade from NT4 to 2000. This will have to be considered shortly before NT4 becomes too outdated and that the whole certification process (I believe seven in total) has to be completed again.
Would it still be useful to complete NT4 accreditation now and then take the upgrade module so that you have a combination of both skills that may be useful for those companies making the transition from NT4 to Windows 2000.
If you are MCSE accredited what are you going to do about it
