MCSA Office 365 certification

I may be a bit biased here, because the MCSA as a whole was fairly important to my last job.

I worked at a very large hosting provider that resold O365 and supported it. It was very important to management and marketing to be able to say we had Microsoft certified support folks. This not only made a difference in how we sold and marketed out products, but I saw it first hand help countless amounts of my co-workers.

The company actually invested 4 weeks of lab and prerp work for their employees to go and train to pass the MCSA. It was basically a top to bottom here is what you need to know, here is how you approach the test type of a thing. I was the first person to pass the exam, and then was tasked with putting together that training. So I spent a good amount of time developing a curriculum and lab work around the exams, and ultimately over 60 people had passed their MCSA when i left for a new job.

Those who had passed it either could more easily get raises and promotions internally, or several of them switched companies for a 40-50% pay increase.

I agree as a whole, if you know your stuff, do you NEED an MCSA? no. But its 100% worth the investment, and it can also help out allot. I see it as a college degree in the IT world. Do you need one? no not at all. We all know many successful people that do not have one. Does it hurt? No, if anything it probably opens up a few doors towards upwards mobility and promotions that may be harder to open without it.

If you happen to be in the Chicago area, I will actually be doing an MCSA training workshop at SharePoint Fest come December!