While the CompTIA platform is more focused on certifying and educating IT professionals to help them build a career, CompTIA is also a prominent name as public policy advocacy and philanthropy. No wonder, the non-profit trade association has more than 3000 business partners and above 2000 member organizations.
Indeed, CompTIA certifications are always in demand and are playing a major role in shaping up the professional careers of IT enthusiasts. The certifications are about knowledge and grouped by skill set. Therefore, the certifications are divided into four main categories. These include infrastructure, cybersecurity, core, and additional professional certifications.
CompTIA Certifications Overview
The vendor-neutral certification program under CompTIA is considered as one of the best programs in the IT industry. In 1993, CompTIA excelled and developed the A+ credentials. Since then, it has successfully granted more than two million certifications to IT enthusiasts looking forward to building a career in the industry.
Last year, CompTIA further evolved and established an Infrastructure Career Pathway. The list of certification remains the same, but the vision has deepened. The new career pathway is designed keeping the real-world skills in mind that IT professionals need to learn to ensure success in the practical implication of supporting and managing IT infrastructures.
Here are the types of certifications under each category discussed earlier.
Core Certifications
These certifications focus more on building core foundational skills. There are a total of four certifications in this category:
- IT Fundamentals+ covers the IT foundation framework
- CompTIA A+ covers device connectivity and user support
- CompTIA Security+ covers basic-level cybersecurity skills
- CompTIA Network+ covers core system connections with endpoint devices
Cybersecurity Certifications
There are three cybersecurity certifications:
- CompTIA CySA+ offers a job role for a Cyber Security Analyst and covers IT security behavior analysis
- CASP+ offers a job role for CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner and covers designing and implementing security solutions
- CompTIA PenTest+ highlights penetration testing and covers vulnerability testing as well
Infrastructure Certifications
The certifications under this category are designed for complementing Network+ credentials. There three certifications are:
- CompTIA Server+ covers issues associated with administration and server support
- CompTIA Cloud+ covers virtual system administration, hybrid cloud, and deploying network storage resources
- CompTIA Linux+ covers Linux Operating System management and administration
Additional Professional Certifications
There are a number of credentials that do not really belong to either of the CompTIA career paths mentioned above. Some of these certifications that are worth mentioning include:
- CompTIA Cloud Essentials
- CompTIA Project+
- CompTIA CTT
- CompTIA A+ 901
Career and Job Opportunities for CompTIA Certifications
Now that you are quite aware of the certification categories and the types of certifications that fall into each, here are several career path options that you can open to yourself by obtaining one or multiple CompTIA certifications. These include:
- Network and Cloud technologies
- Information Security
- IT Management and Strategy
- Hardware, Services, and Infrastructure
- Web and Mobile
- Training
- Software Development
- Office Productivity
Of course, obtaining several certifications definitely, guarantee a brighter future in the industry. However, you must make a wise choice. For instance, network administration is one of the most popular career options in IT. Then, there is a career path for individuals with CompTIA Network and Cloud Technologies. The key is to advance your career by focusing on the core, fundamentals, and administration aspect of the IT infrastructure.
A great combination of certifications will be IT Fundamentals+, Network+, A+, along with Linux+ and Cloud+. You have picked one from each category, which ensures that you have the skills that any organization can utilize for the best.
On the other hand, if your area of interest is network security, keep your focus on certifications like CompTIA Information Security. It is one of the fastest evolving fields in the IT industry. To further advance your career, pick all four of the core credentials including A+, Network+, Security+, and IT Fundamentals. Additionally, you can also opt for all the cybersecurity certifications to boost your career scope in the field.
The best part is that you can always refer to CompTIA to seek a comprehensive breakdown on IT certification roadmap. It includes information about CompTIA certification as well as encompasses certifications from several other similar organizations such as Cisco, Microsoft, EC-Council, Mile 2, ISACA, and more.
CompTIA Credentials and Skill Set
Since CompTIA certifications cover a wide range of skills – such as virtualization or networking – the certification holders can find themselves a suitable fit for various job roles. However, the experience can work as an added benefit to land in the job of your dreams.
If you wish to learn more about how CompTIA certifications can help you build an IT career in the most suitable field, here’s another comprehensive breakdown for your reference:
- Network+ certified professionals are suitable for working in any network-related roles, such as support specialists, administrators, and network analysts. Additionally, they may also find suitable jobs as network engineers, network help desk technicians, and field technicians.
- A+ certified professionals can easily land in support roles such as support technicians, support administrators, and support specialists.
- Security+ certified professionals can find a variety of suitable jobs such as security, network, or system administrators, specialists, security managers, security consultants, and security administrators.
- CySA+ Security Analyst professional may engage in roles such as vulnerability or threat analysts, security engineers, analysts for security operations centers, and cybersecurity analysts.
- Server+ certified professionals can serve as a server and storage administrator, as well as a server/IT technician.
- Linux+ certified professionals can land in jobs like web administrators, network administrators, or Linux database administrator.
There is a variety of options, and these are not limited to the ones mentioned above. With the examples above, you can have a clearer overview of available careers with CompTIA training and certifications.
The best way to make wiser career choice is to limit them only by your determination, imagination, and interests to achieve your personal career goals.
