Tag Archives: IT professionals

5 Highest Paying CompTIA Certifications

CompTIA is one of the most trusted providers of Information Technology certification. As an industry leader they help certify a generation of highly paid professional talent. Offering a handful of certifications, CompTIA prepares people who test with them for a lucrative career in various IT fields. We’ve compiled a list of the 5 highest paying CompTIA certifications to give you a glimpse into an incredible certification program. In this article you’ll find a breakdown of five simple certifications that open up new jobs in thrilling careers with very good pay.

Why CompTIA?

CompTIA offers high quality certification in some of the most cutting edge technological fields. They require continuing education, insuring that all certified individuals are up to date, and regularly update the certification programs. There are a few basic starter level certifications with CompTIA and some higher level ones as well. One of the best things about getting certified is that even with an entry level certification, the expected wages are more than $50,000 a year. This means investing 6-8 months in training and getting certified can net you a far superior paycheck than most first year jobs. So what certifications pay the most? Obviously the most complex certifications with the highest requirements pay the most, but for the purpose of this article, we’ll cover the professional certifications that you are likely to encounter early on. Jumping into certification can be a bit intimidating so we recommend checking out what the material is like online! You can do this for free and with any CompTIA exam with the resource we have right here. So what are the 5 highest paying CompTIA Certifications?

CompTIA A+: The Jack of All Trades

Clocking in at an average of $55,000, the A+ certification is an underrated way to get industry experience at livable wages with minimal training. An A+ technician is known as the jack-of-all trades in the IT world. They can work with a variety of Hardware and Software, setting up OSX, Windows, and Linux systems as well as networks. As a certificate, this is the base level of CompTIA and prepares you for numerous fields. It’s recommended to do A+ even if you want to enter into another field because the training is just so critical to a foundation in IT. For a couple months of study and two exams, this certification gets you into the industry and paid well.

Starting Wages: $55,000-70,000
Typical Jobs: IT Tech, Support Desk, Traveling IT repairman, General systems manager, IT Specialist

CompTIA Server+: For the Fixer

There is a huge need for qualified workers deep in the bowels of office complexes working on server technology. Often times the background jobs that no one really thinks about are taken for granted. Working in areas such as the massive server building at a large corporation such as IBM is a lucrative and enjoyable career path. While things are migrating to the cloud (Which we cover below) the cloud is a physical place. At the end of the day, the cloud is still a large server room somewhere hosting tons of information and data. Designing, implementing, and managing a server is a technical feat in itself. Few understand the nuances of picking one server software over another, spinning up VM’s, installing UPS and server racks. The deeper you go, the more important it is to understand all the nuances and underlying facets of servers. If you like tracking down something that is broken, server administration is for you. It’s an intense, fun, puzzling job that needs someone who can think through problems logically. The pay is great too!

Starting Wages: $70,000
Typical Jobs: Server Admin, Back-End administrator, IT specialist

CompTIA Certifications Server+

CompTIA CSA+: The Inquisitive Certification

Security is a growing need in IT and CompTIA offers low-level security certifications such as the CompTIA Security+, as well as higher-level certifications like the CSA+. The CSA+ bridges the gap between Security+ and CASP (A master level cert requiring 10 years of experience!). The CSA+ or Cybersecurity Analyst as it’s known, is a certification that teaches the latest techniques in securing computers from threats, analyzing how safe a system is, and even detecting threats and prior security breaches. As a certification, it’s great for those who strive to think through every aspect of a system set-up and create incredible, secure, environments. This field will only grow in the coming years and eventually be one of the most lucrative career options. CSA+ gets you on the right path and starts with a salary approaching six figures.

Starting Wages: $90,120
Typical Jobs: Cyber Security Analyst, White Hat, Cyber Security Systems Management

CompTIA Network+: The Builder Cert

Networking jobs are abundant in the industry. Whether it’s running ethernet cords across a building or connecting 40 workstations, every business needs a network and someone to run it. Networking covers a lot of the more nuanced factors with building and creating a system that allows the sharing of information across large distances. These networks are inherently complex and many things can go wrong during set-up. That’s why CompTIA Network+ offers the training and skills to connect computers and servers together across a building. Network administration can involve installing wire through the ceiling, labeling a switch that has been set-up poorly, and running back and forth to get the internet fixed during a system wide malfunction! When the network breaks down, no one can work, this means a Network professional is often on call. The awesome part about Network jobs is that you have the freedom to build and create a wide range of custom solutions. It takes a creative individual who loves building things.

Starting Wages: $90,280
Typical Jobs: Network Admin, Freelance Network Agent, Network Engineer (After getting some experience)

network administrator server room

 

CompTIA Cloud Essentials: For The Futurist

Cloud computing is an emerging technology and because of that, there exists relatively few in the space who are filling the vast need of designing and implementing cloud based systems. As an early adopter, this certification is great for those who see the future of technology migrating to systems that are no longer limited to a physical location. Those who understand the early adoption of cloud based tech will love the up to date training of the Cloud+ certification. While it used to be hard to find people looking for Cloud based techs, the prolific growth of the cloud market has made it far easier to find work with Cloud+. The jobs are stellar, paying very well and offering quite a bit of job security as long as you keep your skills up to date. Starting at six figures, Cloud based jobs are the future and very rewarding.

Starting Wages: $102,000
Typical Jobs: Cloud Sys Admin, Cloud Consultant, Cloud Product Manager, Cloud Systems Engineer (After much experience)

Thanks for joining us!

Thank you for reading through our guide on the 5 highest paying CompTIA Certifications. CompTIA is just a good choice, it’ll open up doors to new career paths and offers incredible income for the amount of time and money you need to invest. Hopefully you’ve seen a possible career path through this. If this article has helped you, share with us how in the comments below! And as always, check back later for some more unique guides on the Certification world and what you can do to progress in your IT career.

How to Start a Career in IT Without Any Experience?

Information Technology is one of the fastest growing career fields today. Currently IT jobs are also some of the highest paying and most rewarding jobs around. Still, we all have to start somewhere. Whether you want to program C++ applications at a Game Studio or fix today’s most challenging technical issues, careers in IT can be hard to get without a few tips and tricks. We put this guide together to help you jump start your IT career with limited experience so that you can be part of the best industry out there today. Keep on reading if you want to know how to start a career in IT without any experience!

It’s a Chicken and Egg situation

One of the most frustrating problems with working in IT is that most jobs require highly technical skills and a large amount of experience. But, that experience and skill is costly, thus even entry level positions may pay starting wages from $50,000 to $70,000 a year. With an investment of that caliber, many employers put up complicated requirements for even entry level IT roles. You may see requirements such as 3 years of experience, a Bachelors degree, and several certifications just for an entry level gig. So when you first start out and want to break into IT, you may be unable to find many jobs that don’t require experience. The problem for most people though, is that you need an IT job to get that experience! Add to this that employers often don’t understand what they want in an IT professional, and you have quite the mess to sift though. So how can you beat the odds and get hired without a degree and years of work experience?

Chicken Egg Situation

Be an expert: Educate yourself for an hour each day

If you want to know how to start a career in IT without any experience, it’s quite simple and starts with merely educating yourself at home. Just because you lack experience doesn’t mean you need to lack knowledge. The internet is full of incredible training programs, often free. Taking a few basic courses from Udemy or a free Microsoft education course can show you whether or not a specific field is for you. It can also teach you the same skills and training that top level employees learn. Granted, you won’t become an expert overnight and competing with Bachelors Degree quality courses requires a strong commitment. That being said, even MIT offers free online versions of its computer science course if you want to watch some lectures and learn the most intense technology related information out there. Even the most experienced employee will begin to lag behind if he isn’t keeping up to date, so you have a real advantage if you regularly educate yourself.

Online Courses Selftrain practice

Use what you learn and Earn a certification

Experience isn’t always a good indicator of job success; rather past behavior is. As an employer, I may prefer a qualified candidate to someone who is just “Good at computers,” with some experience under the belt. Suppose I had to pick between a certified candidate who had spent months training in a particular IT field, or pick a candidate with 1 year of general IT experience. While you may think experience always wins, certification is an intense and sometimes costly process. If you have a candidate who has managed to finish CompTIA or some low-level Cisco CCNA training, they have proven themselves to be capable of several incredible things. They study hard, understand high-level concepts without much supervision, and are very driven! There are hundreds of certifications but we recommend a general all around certification like CompTIA A+ where you will learn the Hardware and Software side of computers as well as troubleshooting. Even without experience, a CompTIA cert will net you a starting salary of $50,000 or more! The best way to look into a certification is to try out some of the free practice exams they have online, that way you can see what the exams are like and if the technical focus is something you’d want to enter into. You can find a TON of practice tests for the most popular certifications here.

Learn Microsoft Office Suite and How to Build a Desktop Computer

Most jobs require Microsoft Office to some extent. With a few hours and some practice you can learn every program that is in the Office suite to a level of proficiency that an employer loves. Whether it’s coding out formulas in Excel or using Word to create templates, this is just a great starter skill. Secondly, learn each component of a PC, and how to build one from scratch. This will inform you greatly on desktop computers and also give you the confidence to handle a TON of technical problems that you will encounter. It’s a simple, quick, impressive skill to have.

Workshop with a Resume Company

Many tech industry professionals filter out candidates for a job position before a living being even gets the chance to read the resume. Using learning algorithms and advanced tech, computers can sift through a TON of applications and weed out the ones that don’t fit the needs and desires of the employer. This isn’t without flaws. Great employees might be missed because they don’t fit a specific set of criteria, but that criteria might be flawed. For instance, someone with a lot of experience and technical knowledge may not know how to translate what they do to the industry terms a Vendor would want to hear. The modern Resume industry uses tons of industry jargon, “Works well with others” might be the same as “Cross-collaborates in a diverse setting,” but you wouldn’t know unless you had help. There are tons of companies online that specialize in helping you workshop your resume for proficiency.

Use This Knowledge to Get a tech-related starter job: Don’t be afraid to start small

If you think an entry level job for an IT career involves programming and high-level problem solving, perhaps you need to adjust your expectations! A career in IT may start at a Mom and Pop computer shop or simply being part of the Geek Squad at a local Best Buy. Most IT workers dedicate a lifetime to pursuing knowledge in a given field. Don’t overlook the level of on the job experience and learning you can get in a non-traditional IT role. The experience you gain from studying IT subjects at home and working towards certification heavily influences your ability to get an IT job. For instance, working at a call center to answer problems for a large company like Dell may give you the technical knowledge you need to progress in your career goals. In an environment like that, you may be able to even climb the ladder and enter into a better career path. So don’t discount little shops, call centers, the Apple store, or any other place where computers and service mingle! Those fundamental brushes with tech can open HUGE doors. These jobs rarely require experience and can give you enough knowledge to get a foot in the door elsewhere. The better your foundation in tech, the higher chance you can get hired without having all that technical experience. Use this starter job to propel yourself into your career goals! Keep learning and pursuing IT work.

IT workers programming

Thanks for Joining Us!

There is no secret key to getting a job without experience, those who want to know how to start a career in IT without any experience can be comforted by the thought that everyone starts at the same place. We all need to take time and equip ourselves with knowledge until we have the skills and abilities to climb up that occupational ladder. If this article has helped you, tell us how in the comments below! And as always, keep checking back for great articles on certification and the IT world!