Should I pursue A+?

As it stands now I have about 5 years helpdesk support and 2 years doing some junior networking. I plan on passing my CCENT within the next month and am pushing to have my CCNA before the cutover in September.

I plan on moving more towards the networking side of my career and really have no interest in fixing PCs anymore.

That being said is it worth getting my A+ just to have more on my resume? Or should I skip it altogether. Looking at the criteria I could brush up over a weekend and pass no problem, but there is of course the money I would have to spend on it.

Thoughts?

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hoktauri

Maybe N+

DoubleNNs

Skip the A+.

I heavily attribute my entry into the IT field to getting my A+. However, you not only have 5 years of help desk experience, you have networking experience. Your foot is already in the door.. and the rest of your leg too. And unless you want to move backwards towards working on fixing computers or going back to help desk, any info on it that you don't already know is probably something you won't need to know too intimately going forward.

If ANYTHING, maybe brush up on the Net+ material w/o taking the exam - but even that seems like a waste of time for someone in your position.
I'd say just focus on getting your CCNA before the Sept 30 cutoff date, then work on getting more mid-level exp/certs.

If you want to go back towards CompTIA, the Security+ seems to be the only cert worth it for you, and then maybe use that to move into the CCNA-Sec.

Just my .02.

jmfd

DoubleNNs wrote: »

Skip the A+.

I heavily attribute my entry into the IT field to getting my A+. However, you not only have 5 years of help desk experience, you have networking experience. Your foot is already in the door.. and the rest of your leg too. And unless you want to move backwards towards working on fixing computers or going back to help desk, any info on it that you don't already know is probably something you won't need to know too intimately going forward.

If ANYTHING, maybe brush up on the Net+ material w/o taking the exam - but even that seems like a waste of time for someone in your position.
I'd say just focus on getting your CCNA before the Sept 30 cutoff date, then work on getting more mid-level exp/certs.

If you want to go back towards CompTIA, the Security+ seems to be the only cert worth it for you, and then maybe use that to move into the CCNA-Sec.

Just my .02.

Thank you for your insight. This is where I was leaning towards but I wanted to have some backup.

Good to know I am heading in the right direction

Darril

I echo DoubleNNs. His answer is right on target.

Good luck with the CCENT and CCNA.