When starting in the realm of IT there are many different places that one can go and many different places one can start to climb the IT ladder. So the biggest question we get a lot is I want to start doing IT stuff, but don’t know where I should start. We recommend that if you are just starting a career in IT, we would start with the Comptia A+ and Network+ exams.
The A+ exam is in 2 parts, one that covers the hardware, and the second part covers the software. At the time of this writing each part of the A+ exam sits at $219.00/exam. The A+ is only valid for 3 years from the date of passing both parts of the exam. You can renew the exam for another 3 years by taking continuing education credits, retaking the A+ exam, or taking the Network+, or security+ exams. The A+ exam is the basis for a lot of help desk roles that use it to determine if someone can troubleshoot hardware or software.
The Network+ exam which we mentioned as another starting point is a good introduction to the networking side of things. This exam will give you an overview of how a network operates and how all things connect to a network without being vendor specific. Therefore, a lot of entry level IT jobs say A+ and Network+ recommended. The Network+ exam costs $319.00 for the single exam. This exam is again only valid for 3 years and can be renewed by doing continuing education, retaking the Network+, or doing the Security+ exam. This may seem like a lot of money at first, but it’s just a basic starting point. Some of the exams do get cheaper depending where you want to go or where you want to focus your attention. From here, you have several options if you want to progress beyond just a helpdesk role. And who knows, if you get a job doing helpdesk your employer may even cover exam costs for future exams, so you won’t have any future out of pocket expenses.
If you want to pursue Microsoft certifications as a career goal and go down towards the Microsoft Certified Systems Associate/Microsoft Certified Systems Expert (MCSA/MCSE) route there are a lot of exams and paths you can take. Each of the MS exams cost ~$165/exam which isn’t as much as the CompTIA exams, but these exams are designed to be higher level than just introduction to Microsoft. I currently hold a lot of Microsoft Certifications, so as I write this I can tell you I started paying for these exams when they only cost $125/exam back in 2006. In the past 12 years, so I’ve seen the costs of these exams increase twice. There are many specialties you can choose when getting an MCSA/MCSE. Unlike the CompTIA exams, an MCSA is valid for life but once the track is retired it will be moved to the legacy part on your MS transcript. These exams give you many options and many paths to take, and it is up to you to decide what is most interesting about each MS area and then take these exams and pass them. To tell you that these exams are hard would be an understatement. Without the proper preparation for these exams, you will likely fail on the first attempt. You will need to prepare for these exams like you would prepare for a final exam in college if you expect to pass them.
The last thing I want to cover is the other major player in the certification game Cisco. They are focused on networking and one of the biggest vendors of networking equipment in the game today. The good news is that there is a starting point for these exams and that is the CCENT exam. This exam will cost you $165. There is a second part of the exam that will cost you another $165, but will get you the full Certified Cisco Network Associate (CCNA) by passing both. You can take the CCNA as a single exam for $320, but we don’t recommend that unless you have a lot of experience with Cisco equipment. Cisco exams are timed, and you only have a fixed amount of time to complete the exam. We aren’t allowed to discuss a lot about the CCNA exam here due to the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) we were required to sign when taking the exam. However, we can direct you to the Cisco website where you can find out more about the exam objectives. Again, there are also Cisco specialties after earning your CCNA. You can take more Cisco tests to earn your certification in those specialties, but like all the certification exams they are only valid for 3 years from the passing date of each exam. For example, there are professional level exams from Cisco called the Certified Cisco Networking Professional (CCNP) and CCNP specialties you can take. These are quite a bit more expensive and we know less about these exams because we haven’t taken the CCNP and higher-level exams, yet.
With that said, only you can decide which track or which path is right for you. We hope with this information you are now better armed and more able to make the right decision on how to start your path toward becoming an IT superstar. We hope that you understand that there is no one path fits all for everyone. Some may feel more comfortable doing helpdesk, others being MS Certified or others more interested in a Cisco Networking future. If the decision about which path to take was easy, there wouldn’t be so many certifications out there to choose from. We hope this will at least make those decisions easier for those of you reading this and it gives you a better idea what to expect from IT.
Jason
