Is the Microsoft IT Support Specialist Professional Certificate Your Gateway to IT Success in 2024?

Introduction

In today’s digital world, where everything happens so fast and is computerized, there is a greater demand for competent Information Technology professionals than ever before. However, with many certifications available, choosing wisely how to spend time and resources becomes essential.

For aspiring individuals who want to join the IT industry at any point, consider the Microsoft IT Support Specialist Professional Certificate as their beacon. But is it truly the ladder to success it promises to be? In this blog post, we’ll dive deep into the actual value of this certification, helping you discern if it’s the golden ticket to kickstarting your career in IT support.

Is the Microsoft IT support specialist professional certificate worth it? In this article, I will discuss this brand-new certificate that everybody discusses. Then, we will go over all its essential aspects.

Like a general overview of the course, how long it takes to complete, the cost, the demand, the salary, the production value of the course, and the chances of lending you a job. What value does it offer? I have an overall score in my recommendation for it.

Overview

So, let’s review a general overview of the course; it just came out within the last month. It is a beginner-level course. You can start taking it at any time. As they say, it’s designed to launch your career as an IT support specialist and build job-ready skills for an in-demand career. Information technology is as little as three months and requires no prior experience.

So the certificate says it only takes about three months if you study it 10 hours per week and it’s a flexible schedule. So you can learn at your own pace.

Here’s a list of things that it says you’ll learn, and some of the skills you gain would be software:

• Configuration Network
• Protocols Computer
• Hardware
• Cloud Computing
• Troubleshooting

There are six different courses or modules:

• The first one is the introduction to computers.
• The second one is an introduction to secure networking.
• Essential aspects of software, Hardware, and data backup.
• Cyber security and privacy.
• The Microsoft 365 ecosystem.
• Technical diagnostics in troubleshooting techniques.

One valuable aspect of Microsoft is its ecosystem of different technologies. For instance, it owns one of the biggest cloud storage platforms, Azure, and tens of thousands of companies use it.

So getting this certificate makes you look good to companies because many of them probably use different Microsoft-related products.

Time to Completion

So let’s discuss the time to completion. It says it will take about three months at 10 hours a week. It’s also a flexible schedule. You can study it anytime, and almost all reports on Coursera certifications exist. All customer reviews typically say that you can finish it much faster than they report on the website.

So, six-month ones typically take one to two months, while three months might take more than one month or even less. Compare that to how long it takes you to get a bachelor’s degree, for instance, 5.1 years on average, or how long it takes you to do a boot camp, typically between 3 and 12 months.

That is good. When it comes to the time to completion, that’s incredibly fast. I’ll give this one a 9.5 out of 10.

Cost

Let’s discuss the cost. So college costs a hundred thousand dollars in boot camps, at least ten thousand dollars. So, how much does this certificate cost? Well, first of all, you get a seven-day free trial, where you can try it out completely free. Then, after that seven-day free trial, it costs $49 a month.

That’s not just for this certificate, but for many other certificates and classes, you can take to educate yourself and invest in yourself. So, when it comes to the cost, that’s also ridiculously good. So I will have to score that one 10 out of 10. 

Demand

Now, let’s discuss about the demand. So we will be talking about the kind of IT-related jobs and the demand for those jobs. So, computer support specialists, in general, according to BLS, are kind of clumps, a bunch of different careers together. They say they’re growing about 5% faster than average.

You see thousands of results if you search places like LinkedIn for IT-related jobs, such as IT support specialists. It’s the same thing if you search for a systems administrator. So, there is a good demand out there for companies posting jobs. So, the market seems to be pretty solid.

It doesn’t seem to be popping off the page, but with that being said, there are a lot of IT-related jobs out there, and they have tons of different titles. So it’s hard to accurately say what the demand is for all IT-related jobs or even all entry-level IT-related jobs because there are so many different ones, and they all have different titles.

But overall, IT is in pretty good demand. It is relatively easy to get into at the entry level. I’ll give demand a 9 out of 10.

Salary

Next is going to be salary. So, if you look up IT-related jobs and are closer to the entry-level, you do see IT support specialists who make about $55,000 to $86000 a year. Help desk technicians make about $47,000 to $71,000 a year, one of the most accessible jobs to land.

Network support specialists make about $79,000 to $131,000 a year, technical support specialists make about $54,000 to $89,000 a year, and system admins make about $78,000 to $137,000 yearly.

So the salary is excellent, mainly because you don’t need a college degree, you don’t necessarily need previous experience to get into some of these lower-level roles, and you can earn a six-figure salary within a few years. So the salary is excellent. I’ll give it 9 out of 10.

Production Value & Engagement

Next is the production value and engagement, and it’s hard to say at this point because people haven’t even gone through the entire course yet. After all, it just came out. But, Microsoft has 87 courses with 680,000 learners, and overall, the courses have excellent ratings.

People say perfect things about the courses; for instance, many talk about Microsoft and Azure. So, it’s tough to say regarding the production value and engagement. Maybe I’ll write a follow-up article at some point in the future. But I will have to give this one a question mark out of 10.

Chances of Landing You a Job

Next, let’s discuss the chances of landing you a job. So the truth is, you’ll need to do a little bit more usually than just the certificate itself to land a job, especially if you don’t have a college degree or any previous experience, right? You’re going to want to build a portfolio. You’re going to want to show.

Then you can do the things that you say you can do. Now, when it comes to IT, it’s much easier to land jobs in IT if you go to remote areas where there are few people with IT skills. So, if you’re willing to go to some small town in Kansas, it’s probably straightforward to get an IT job even if you have this certificate.

So if you’re willing to do that to build experience, maybe for a couple of years, and then you can move into a better job, that could be a good option. But with that being said, if you want a more desirable job, you’ll probably have to build your portfolio to land that first job.

That will involve doing projects, showcasing your skills, and applying them to many jobs. But the certificate does help, and it helps in several ways.

• First of all, the certificate is recognized and respected by companies.
• Second, people can find you through LinkedIn by searching for the certificate. So, if you have the certificate on your LinkedIn and resume, they can find it by searching it.
• Third, they offer exclusive perks like resume review, interview prep, and career support upon course completion. You also get a career certificate, which you can put on your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV.

So, there are some perks to doing this. But, it’s probably not going to land your job on your own unless you want to get a pretty undesirable job to start off or unless you want to apply to just a ridiculous amount of jobs until you finally get lucky. But it does help. I’ll give this one an 8 out of 10 score.

Value

Next, let’s discuss about value. So, for $49 a month, you get to try the first seven days completely free. Plus, in some cases, they offer scholarships. You get a whole lot. You get a puncher’s chance of landing a job, which gets you a good percentage of the way there.

You also want to have a portfolio, especially if you don’t have any experience, a degree, or any previous skills, but when it comes to value. A college degree takes you 5.1 years, costs a hundred thousand dollars, and you’ll probably get a job. A boot camp will probably take, I don’t know, six months, it’ll cost you ten thousand dollars, and there’s a, you know, you might get a job, this certificate.

This will probably only take you a month and cost you like $49, or maybe you, let’s say, take two months. It costs you $98, and you also have a puncher’s chance of landing a job. So, regarding the value, it is just incredible here. On top of that, I think many people don’t mention that you can audit many different skill sets and jobs.

You can dip your toe into what you would be doing at various jobs because that’s essentially what these certificates are. The company teaches people what skills they want them to know, right? It’s like so many skills people don’t know, and the company wants people to know.

So what do they do? They create courses on places like Coursera. They’re not making that much money from this compared to what they typically make, but they’re doing this because there’s a real need in the job market. So, regarding the value of this, it’s an absolute no-brainer. I’m giving it a 10 out of 10.

Conclusion: Embracing the Microsoft IT Support Specialist Professional Certificate for IT Success in 2024

To conclude, the Microsoft IT Support Specialist Professional Certificate is an important milestone if you want to move forward with your career in information technology. In terms of an all-inclusive syllabus, hands-on practical approach, and commendation from the industry, it helps you acquire vital expertise that allows you to do well in various positions of IT support.

By conferring this certificate, one can significantly increase their chances of getting employed and accessing many opportunities within the tech field. The Microsoft IT Support Specialist Professional Certificate is a strategic investment for your future success, whether you are beginning your journey into IT or need to improve your skills. Go ahead and embrace it before others consider what lies ahead in 2024.

After you take this course, you can take the MS900 certification exam and get a voucher for 50% off on that exam, which will also open even more doors for you. So, the overall score here, I’ll give this one a 9 out of 10. So far, initial reports are positive.

By the way, I have written an article about the Google AI Essentials Certificate that went viral. It’s called “A Deep Dive into the Google AI Essentials Certificate – Is It Worth Your Time?”. You can check that article, too.