   Cisco CCNA or Microsoft MCSE ?
  I graduated form uni last summer, and have a BSc Computing, and am currently employed at a small company as an IT Engineer. My role consists of maintaining the companies computers, while developing a PHP based internal order tracking system.Now, because its a small company, there is very little work involved in maintaining the systems, and the order system is almost complete, as such im not entirely sure what my role will be at the company.I would like to move on, possibly to work for a larger company as a system admin, although I might decide to stick to PHP development.My question is, assuming I do decide to go for the system admin / network admin kind of role, what would be the biggest benefit to me, a Cisco CCNA or a Microsoft MCSE? Or should I consider going for an honours degree instead?Anyone gained either certification?   
  microsoft certifications are generally more well known in the industry just due to the fact that almost any company has a machine running a microsoft product whilst cisco may be imporatant to the internet and the qualifications may mean you know a lot, however they sound more like they are targeted to cisco products when they are not.....approch a company, I have a microsoft certification... thats goodI have a cisco certification... we dont have any cisco products... it means I am good at networking... oh ok...Whilst big companies may know what a cisco qualification is, I would say microsoft sounds better to have.sorry, I am really tired, and hope this made sense!   ;  I have my CCNA and just have to take the MCSE to get it. I've found that they have both helped immensly at my job - wich is very similar to yours coincedentally. I do PHP app development and also maintain the computers/servers along with the 'real' IT guy.If I were to reccomend one over the other, I would say CCNA, although chances are you will be working with more Windows than Cisco stuff (just because computers are more common than routers/switches). I have found that the CCNA is harder than the MCSE, but my guess is there is a reason for that (read: monetary). Most of the time people will know what a MCSE is over a CCNA, so it would probably benefit you more (in the beginning) to have an MCSE.I did both certifications (at the same time mind you) and had very little issue with it, so I would reccomend both. Again, knowing what you are going to do helps a lot...being a Windows admin with a CCNA is good but being a Windows admin with an MCSE and a CCNA is much better. :)I hope that helped?   ;  The most important thing in regards to your certificate in networking is not whether it's Cisco's or Microsoft's, but whether you've retained all of that information, or learned anything at all.I find a lot of people in my networking classes after high school going on and getting their CCNA. Unfortunately these are the same people who landed a few networking and communications jobs over here in Winchester, Va and couldn't handle it. I learned so much more about networking then I did in class by applying for the job that they lost (without a certification period) and yet I am doing a better job and holding my own.CCNA's are not unknown, any business using a network will know what your talking about when you mention your have your CCNA. Besides, what else does Cisco do but networking? You've just earned a certificate from the largest router / communications product company stating you've been recognized as a network engineer. What more could you ask for?Certifications come and they go, they get updated and they get replaced. If your going with certifications you need to get as many as you can from different sources, and continue taking them in later years.   