1st Certificate?

Hey everyone,

I've been looking for the past few days trying to find out which IT certificate I should undertake. I've just finished the 1st year of University and going into my second and am undertaking a ITO degree course (G560 BSc Information Technology in Organisations | Electronics and Computer Science (ECS)). I have no industry experience, but my job passion and interest is leading me in the direction of security and project management roles.

I was thinking of taking the CompTIA A+ then moving onto Network+, Security+ and finally Project+. I'll be studying purely from textbooks, tutorials etc.

Is this an effective route/plan or is there a better alternative? Also, is there a difference in undertaking either CISCO or Microsoft certificates and building up from them or do they require some sort of prior experience? Not really sure on the path I should be taking...

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Comments

Matt2

Can you clarify "project management"? Because it's separate from all the others. You could certainly become a project manager who handles those categories of projects. But you could learn/certify in project management outside of the others, before, in parallel, etc.

IIIMaster

If you want a job in security or govt go for the sec+. Getting your MCSA 2008 then 2012 will yield the greatest ROI. A net+ would not hurt but it you can study the material and be fine. Cisco is fine if you wish to go the pure Network Engineer route. But you may fine it hard to break into unless your a ccnp.

markulous

IIIMaster wrote: »

If you want a job in security or govt go for the sec+. Getting your MCSA 2008 then 2012 will yield the greatest ROI. A net+ would not hurt but it you can study the material and be fine. Cisco is fine if you wish to go the pure Network Engineer route. But you may fine it hard to break into unless your a ccnp.

What's the point of getting the MCSA 2008 and 2012? Why not just get 2012?

N2IT

Why not get just enough to get a job and start growing by doing?

You said you like security, security + seems to be a solid certification before moving onto the CISSP or one of those other speciality certifications. Project Management is not that easy. In IT project management you don't just become a project manager, you usually have to work in the industry for 3 - 5 years. Maybe from the tech side or the administrative assistant side. IMO 5 years of working at least and preferrably in one company. JMHO

jcp1856

no point in wasting time. jump straight to CCIE security and CISSP. never look back!