Certifications to Pursue After A+, MBA, and CISA

greentiger29

I've worked a few years in IT helpdesk positions and managed to get an IT auditing job through my MBA program, which I have been in this position now for over a year. I have a BA in a non-IT (Information Technology)/IS (Information Systems) area and a general MBA with no specialization. I have a CompTIA A+ certification that will expire soon unless I pursue another CompTIA certification and I passed the CISA exam as a work requirement last year, but still need to get enough IT auditing work experience before I can apply to get the CISA certification.


I'm hoping to pursue the following certifications to keep my skills in the workforce marketable. Of course, there's always time and budget constraints so I'm trying to decide which one to pursue first or completely skip. The first two would help renew the A+ certification that I have although I'm not sure how relevant they would be since my career trajectory shifted from a helpdesk position to an IT auditing position. Both the Network+ and Security+ would have beneficial knowledge for an IT position.


- Network+
- Security+
- PMP
- CISSP (probably later down the line)


Any recommendations for which certifications to take (or ignore) and in which order? The order listed above seems to be how people may go about getting the certifications from a helpdesk career path.

Thanks in advance!

yoba222

You don't need to take another cert to renew your A+. Just do some online video courses or whatever that would count towards CE (continuing education) units. But I think you're right that it isn't all that relevant of a cert for your anymore.

I think the Security+ would benefit an auditor. I felt the Network+ helped me in understanding stuff on the Security+. The PMP, eh; you'll need several thousand project hours to qualify.