MCT Success Story: Timothy Peters
MCP Success Story
Changing careers means taking risks—especially if you’re already bringing in a good income—but it also means the possibility of a happier future. For Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP) Timothy Peters, the risks paid off. He took a “leap of faith,” as he calls it, and quit his high-pressure but lucrative sales job in order to earn his Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) and Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD) certifications. Now he is happily employed developing applications and glad to have left the sales world behind.
A Return to Computing
After a decade in sales, Peters was at a crossroads. He was seriously burnt out on the seven 10-to-12 hour days he was working every week as demanded by his job, and he wanted a new career. So Peters returned to an old interest: computing. He had paid his way through college with a computer programming job at a small firm and, as he considered a career change 10 years later, he knew he wanted to return to his original interest.
First Peters needed to study and catch up on the latest development languages and software. “It had been 10 years since I’d touched anything related to programming, and a lot had changed,” he says. In a year, he was fluent in the latest languages, but realized that just getting up to speed on the most recent technology was not enough. “Potential employers had no way to judge what I knew,” he says. “I wasn’t going to be hired as a developer without a degree or something that proved my skills.”
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Peters learned that certification would give him the proof of his skills and knowledge that he needed to be hired. Going for a Microsoft certification was an obvious choice. “Microsoft is the dominant platform for established businesses today,” he says. “Getting a Microsoft certification ensured a much broader base. I wasn’t going to pursue something that had a small niche in the marketplace when I could pursue something that I thought had a higher demand. I guess sales experience will teach you that: You don’t want to be in sales with a limited market; you want a broad market.”
The Leap of Faith: Going for Microsoft Certification
As soon as Peters began to research Microsoft certification, he realized that he would not be able to sustain his sales job and achieve the MCSE and MSCD certifications in a short time frame. He discussed his options with his wife, who encouraged him to pursue his dream. That’s when he made his leap of faith and resigned from his job to study for the certification exams full-time. “My wife was very supportive,” he says. “That was a big part of it.”
Peters enrolled in New Horizons Computer Learning Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a Microsoft Certified Technical Education Center, to study for his MCSE exams. “I didn’t have the hardware necessary for hands-on learning,” explains Peters. “So I went to school to have access to networks and be hands-on with the training.” Once he completed the six-week course at New Horizons, he took all the exams in sequence and earned his MCSE certification.
From there, he pursued the MCSD certification. “I was able to do more self-study for the MCSD,” says Peters. “Since it dealt with programming languages, I could use one or two machines, experiment, and do everything I needed to truly get the hands-on experience necessary to acquire the skills for those exams on my own.” He used Microsoft Press Study Guide Books, third-party texts, and test preparation materials to conduct his self-study.
But Peters wasn’t just a student during this time. He studied during the day and operated a lift truck in a carpet factory at night in order to bring in some money. “That was a huge change, going from a corporate, coat-and-tie position to working in a factory,” he muses. “It’s just something that I felt I had to do.”
The result of this hard work was that, in less than a year after he quit his former position, Peters held his MCSD and MCSE certifications and was ready to start his new career.
First Try: A Start-Up
Just as he hoped, Peters’s Microsoft certification enabled him to become employed in the high-tech industry. In fact, he was hired by the first company that interviewed him. Efforts Systems in Chattanooga was a start-up run by an acquaintance who wanted his company to be a Microsoft Certified Partner. To get that certification, the company needed to have two MCSDs on staff. “I needed a job, and he needed a second MCSD,” says Peters. “It was a perfect match.”
Unfortunately, Peters was hired at a time when businesses were reluctant to go ahead with new projects because of world events and a downturn in the economy. “Many businesses showed interest in the things that we could do for them, but they had things on hold because nobody knew what would happen,” he explains. After six months, the company failed because of a lack of business.
Undaunted by this unexpected turn of events, Peters started interviewing again. Shortly after, he was hired by OSI Systems to be an application developer. OSI Systems offers products and services designed to optimize the revenue cycle for hospitals.
Certified—and Well Prepared
Now Peters spends his time working on projects as varied as creating an internal knowledge base application to manage OSI System’s products to creating a huge database to collect data from the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services and Healthcare Finance Administration.
No matter what the project is, Peters feels that his certifications have prepared him well for his current job. In many ways, Peters feels more prepared than if he had received a standard IT college degree. Studying for the certification exams gave him a solid understanding of database design and Microsoft-specific knowledge: “Since we work in a Microsoft-specific environment, the information I delved into for my certification really helps.”
Unlike his first high-tech job, Peters sees this one continuing strongly into the future. “The company is looking at developing more and more application products for customers,” he explains. “So they’re hiring more application developers and building and supporting more products. There’s very good potential here.”
Although he’s already proven his skills, Peters hasn’t given up pursuing certification. He’s currently working on his Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA) certification, for which he needs to pass one more exam.
A Different World
All in all, Peters’s career change has been a positive experience. He even predicts that, in a few years, his income will match what he used to make in sales. “I don’t see it as a step down in any fashion,” he says. “I see it more as a lateral move with a lot more sanity and a lot fewer hours.”
While he admits that he does sometimes pull a classic developer’s all-nighter, he still finds that his new career suits him better. “We sometimes stay late and do whatever we have to do to get the project done, but it’s not like that continuously,” he explains. “You don’t have to worry about your income being dependent on your ability to convince someone that they need your product, as much as having a skill that an employer finds extremely valuable.”
“It’s a whole different world,” Peters says. And he credits his certification as being the ticket to this new and better world: “I don't believe I would be where I am now without Microsoft certification.”