As Microsoft sells more NT seats, will that drive up the need for more MCSEs to keep those servers humming?
Numbers Game
As Microsoft sells more NT seats, will that drive up the need for more MCSEs to keep those servers humming?
- By Linda Briggs
- August 01, 1999
After finishing up last
month’s salary survey extravaganza, I’m still in calculator
mode. That, plus email from readers and ongoing comments
in our online discussion forums at www.mcpmag.com
got me thinking about a topic that seems to lend itself
to controversy: Just how many MCSEs is enough?
Current numbers from Microsoft show that at press time,
there were about 143,000 Microsoft Certified Systems Engineers
worldwide. Wow. Explosive growth. But is that really that
many MCSEs?
Sure, it’s a huge number if you compare it to August
1996, when there were just over 11,000, or August 1997,
when there were around 26,000, or August 1998, when we
reported 58,000 MCSEs worldwide. But sometimes fast growth
can distort perceptions. Let’s look at some other numbers
to put that 143,000 into perspective.
According to recent comments by Microsoft President Steve
Ballmer, about 35 percent of all new business PCs will
ship in 1999 with Windows NT as the desktop. Since 1999
worldwide PC shipments are estimated by research firm
IDC to reach roughly 100 million, that’s almost 35 million
new Windows NT workstations. I see lots of NT desktops
for someone to connect, configure, support and maintain.
Who better than an MCSE?
Also according to Ballmer, Windows NT server volumes
shipping have grown to over 2 million a year, making NT
by far the most popular new server platform. Sounds like
plenty of servers to migrate systems to, get applications
running on, set up firewalls and proxy servers for, arrange
domains and groups around, and plenty more, as you well
know.
According to an IDC study that we reported on last December,
certified individuals, on average, administer 13 servers.
If we divide that 2 million new NT servers shipping a
year by 13 servers per individual, that’s 154,000 workers.
And that’s just to support servers currently shipping
each year; it doesn’t figure in support of other BackOffice
products, or systems already in place, or even the extra
work required for Windows 2000 migrations. And that server
number is sure to rise.
If an MCSE is the benchmark of an individual qualified
to support those servers, do we really have enough? In
that context, 143,000 isn’t a lot, is it? Granted, you
probably won’t want to certify every IT staffer in the
office as an MCSE. Some won’t need that level of qualification.
Still, you’re going to want plenty of people with the
sort of knowledge that the MCSE title implies, along with
the requisite experience, of course.
I believe the numbers point to a time when being certified
by Microsoft to configure, install, and support Windows
NT will be a given for those who work with NT and BackOffice
on a regular basis. The MCSE will become something that
any serious Windows NT administrator has. Period.
Your challenge, which is really no different than it’s
ever been, will be to distinguish yourself by what you
can do for your company or client.
Think I’m way off base? Do you long for the days when
you were the only MCSE in town? Or have you seen this
train pulling into the station for some time now? I’m
at [email protected].
About the Author
Linda Briggs is the founding editor of MCP Magazine and the former senior editorial director of 101communications. In between world travels, she's a freelance technology writer based in San Diego, Calif.