New to IT

uche917

Hi everyone,

i want to join the IT world but do not know where and how to start.
My question is - Is Comptia the best certification for a beginner and also what next after that
Secondly I want something that is not core IT.
If i want to do salesforce, can comptia help me in better understanding salesforce. Cos everything i see in salesforce sounds and looks so foreign for now
Another question is - [FONT=&quot]Is Comptia A+ the same as other A+ certifications or is it df
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Please advice me on whats best

Joseph

TheFORCE

There's no such thing as "best" in IT. There are too many paths one can take and what is best depends on the path you take. For general good foundation you could say that Comptia certs are a good start for someone new to be exposed in IT, it not necessarily the only foundation block though. Do you have a degree or pursuing a degree in IT?

tmtex

#1 if you say "Cos" good luck on getting a job. CompTIA A+ is the only A+ as far as computers, yes there could be XYZ Cert out there that adds A+. Also A+ has nothing to do with Salesforce

AndersonSmith

I agree with TheFORCE that there is no such thing as "best" in IT. The CompTIA certifications do however lay the groundwork and provide the fundamentals for many of the paths one can take in the IT field so my opinion is that they're very valuable for a beginner with very limited or even no knowledge of technology whatsoever. As far as something that isn't "core IT", I'm not sure what to tell you there other than that if you're interested in selling technology rather than working with technology, having a better understanding of it certainly helps, but if that's all you're interested in then I wouldn't probably waste my money on getting a CompTIA certification, but that's just me. Good luck!

uche917

TheFORCE wrote: »

There's no such thing as "best" in IT. There are too many paths one can take and what is best depends on the path you take. For general good foundation you could say that Comptia certs are a good start for someone new to be exposed in IT, it not necessarily the only foundation block though. Do you have a degree or pursuing a degree in IT?

I have a degree in psychology, but want to move into IT. have no background of IT at all

uche917

Thanks for taking time to reply. I have a degree in psychology, but want to move into IT and have no background of IT in any way.

uche917

Thanks AndersonSmith. I want to with work Technology and i have a psychology background. That's why I want to know how to start and where to start.

TheFORCE

CompTIA A+ and the CompTIA trifecta (A+, Security+, Network +) are vendor neutral certifications, they teach you the fundamentals of computers and IT, meaning you can apply that knowledge to any type of system. Always a good thing to have that knowledge as a base.

The Salesforce certificate is vendor specific, meaning that whatever you lean regarding Salesforce 90% of the things will only apply to Salesforce. This is not a bad thing, this means that you can become an expert on their technology and start specializing on their software. Personally, I have seen many jobs required salesforce skills. But its always good to know general IT stuff so you can have a better understanding of how the vendor products work. So in the end it is your choice to pick a path, whatever you do, do it well and you should be fine.

UrbanBob

I have a degree in psy also. You can start with A+ but I would just apply to a bunch of help desk and tech positions. Try your local collages and schools. I didn't get my A+ until i was ready to leave my first job and my second job didn't care about them. They still appropriated that i got them tho

p@r0tuXus

For certifications I'd have a look at this. I found it pretty cool. It doesn't cover every certification out there and it's only one company's take on it, so YMMV.

https://certification.comptia.org/docs/default-source/downloadablefiles/it-certification-roadmap.pdf?sfvrsn=16

For practical experience, get some cheap machines (I mean CHeeeeeap...) from like Craigslist or ebay, toy with them, get familiar. I'd recommend a subscription to ITpro.TV as they just revised their membership fees due to an increase of subscriptions. Now's a good time to strike that iron.

Also, for applicable work-experience, start somewhere at a helpdesk or tech-support. You might do well to look for an ISP that has tech-support. They'll probably press you to make sales while you're fixing stuff, so you can leverage your psychology knowledge and make some decent comission. Thing is, don't let up on your studies with ITpro.TV. That'll be your ticket to learning stuff people around you won't know to show you. They also give you practice exams so you can ready yourself for cert exams. The road is steep but with the right gear and drive, you'll move right along.

Good luck!