Unsure on whether or not to pursue compTIA +A or coding boot-camp

BasedThot

Hello everyone, first time poster here. Currently working in manufacturing as a laborer, not thrilled about my career, looking to breakout. I've earned an entry-level Python cert. and have been working my way through Crash Course Python and kinda getting stuck on the last segment on Django. I also know the basics of HTML. Recently came across IT and found it pretty interesting as well. Wondering which path would yield me better job prospects; comptia or a coding boot-camp, or perhaps a community college certificate in one of those areas, that way I can at least get some credits out of it if nothing else. As mentioned before I work full-time and would prefer to stay that way while I work on building a skill set. 

JDMurray

Being a coder pays a Helluva lot more than any job you can get with an A+. Getting good at coding takes a lot of practice, so the sooner you start the sooner you will become proficient. If you do have a mind for coding, go with that career path until your brain tells you that it's too old to code any more.

BasedThot

JDMurray said:

Being a coder pays a Helluva lot more than any job you can get with an A+. Getting good at coding takes a lot of practice, so the sooner you start the sooner you will become proficient. If you do have a mind for coding, go with that career path until your brain tells you that it's too old to code any more.

Okay, thanks! From what I've read it sounds like A+ would be lower risk (cheaper and can be obtained quicker) but lower reward/lowering paying jobs while programming is higher risk, higher reward.

The manufacturing plant I work for recently hired for an IT position and I felt foolish for spending as much time as I have programming as I didn't have any of the qualifications for it. The wage range for the position was 18-28$ an hour, which I'd consider decent money even on the low end. 

JDMurray

Can you talk with the hiring manager for that IT position and ask what the specific qualifications might be for future openings? You can use that information to guide what you should study in IT (such as Cisco networking, Microsoft servers, Cloud services, etc.) for future job postings.

BasedThot

JDMurray said:

Can you talk with the hiring manager for that IT position and ask what the specific qualifications might be for future openings? You can use that information to guide what you should study in IT (such as Cisco networking, Microsoft servers, Cloud services, etc.) for future job postings.

I could bring it up but the Indeed post listed Associates, A+ and Security+ as preferred. 

Mooseboost

So, from an ROI perspective - the coding boot camp will be the best return. CompTIA has some great certifications but the A+ has not been highly valued for a number of years, even after refreshes. On the other hand, in most areas coding experience will be valued. Even if you are aiming for IT support specifically, I would rather take a newbie who can automate some things with scripting rather than an A+ certified guy who has some theory on break-fix but no experience. Coding will be an immediate benefit and all of the tech knowledge from the A+ can easily be taught on the job.

From the IT starting perspective - you are most likely looking at being on the help desk if you want a support role. This will include some break-fix but at tier 1 - it is a lot of AD work (creating new users, password resets, etc) and general support (go plug this thing in, talk to this user about X, troubleshoot xyz). From the coding perspective - you could land a junior role in the dev space and the coding boot camp will help with that because more often than not you will leave the boot camp with sample apps made to start building a portfolio.

Any tech certifications you have will benefit you if you don't have experience because it shows an effort on your part and a desire to learn. Would I throw sysadmin or network engineer level work at a new tech guy because he is certified? No, I wouldn't - but I would be more likely to start pushing tasks to him if his on-the-job performance matched the certifications he came in. They will definitely get you recruiter calls because of keywords. Don't get too hung up on certifications at entry-level though. For ROI, again IMO, I think security + and some coding would do you better than straight A+.

volfkhat

If you want to be a Desktop technician... then go for the A+ certification.

If you want to be a Coder... then go for the boot-camp.


But if you don't know what  you want to be.... (maybe you simply heard that IT is the place to be).... then  you may have a bigger problem.

Good luck!