Or is there a reason why I am telling you NOT to become CompTIA A plus certified? Let’s find out.
Hi. My name is Christoph Puetz. I am a Senior IT Manager and I have over 22 years of hands-on IT experience. Here, in this video, I will tell you who the CompTIA A+ certification is for and who should think twice before spending time and money on becoming A+ certified.
One of the most popular IT certifications is Comptia A Plus. Thousands and thousands of people have used the A+ certification to get into information technology. It is one of the most recognized and valued IT certifications out there and I frequently recommend it to people who are thinking of getting information technology. But who is this certification actually for and what value does it provide?
There are two benefits that CompTIA A+ provides. The first benefit — Studying for this certification gives you a very structured approach to gain foundational IT knowledge — this can help a lot with going after roles in system administration, networking, or when trying to become an analyst. These roles have an emphasis on other areas, but that structured study approach that CompTIA’s A+ provides can make your life so much easier.
Now let’s take a look at the second benefit — Becoming actually certified in CompTIA A+ can be a career starting event if you come from a non-IT field and need to get some initial IT job experience before really making IT a career (outside of a help desk that is). Other than a potential employer requiring you to be certified and I am mostly talking about managed services here, these are the only two reasons to consider the A+ certification. — I put a lot of value and emphasis on the foundational knowledge as I believe that if you want to have a competitive edge and secure long-term employment in information technology, a strong foundation is so important. — now let’s look at the career changer aspect of this a bit more.
If you come from a non-IT field and want to break into IT using CompTIA A plus and aim for a help desk or service desk type of role, then these are roles or job titles you want to be on the lookout for:
Service Desk Analyst, Data Support Technician, Help Desk Technician, Desktop Support Administrator, Technical Support Specialist, End User Computing Technician, Field Service Technician, Help Desk Technician, Associate Network Engineer, System Support Specialist —
Phew — a long list of job titles and you will certainly find more out in the wild as many companies make up their own job titles as well.
What all these roles have in common is that they are often a successful gateway into an IT career. The key is to build up some really foundational knowledge and then you pair it with just a little bit of work experience before you can move into other areas of information technology. The CompTIA A+ certification can be a game-changer for you as you would benefit from the industry recognition that it carries.
CompTIA A+ covers foundational knowledge about hardware, operating systems, related troubleshooting, networking, and more. All these skills one needs to have when working in these help desk or service desk-related roles or maybe not?! Except for a small number of employers, nobody expects you to be certified in computer repair anymore and that is a big portion of what A plus covers. So, again – CompTIA A+ is a great fit. — But who else is this certification for? — If you want to work in IT but go straight into system administration or maybe into a data center related role A+ can be a key certification for you as well. — So, what are your thoughts? Are you interested in the A+ certification?