How important is CompTIA A+® Certification?

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

How important is CompTIA A+® Certification, in terms of UK employment and recognition?

Is it has popular as MCP or essential with UK employers?

 

Oh man! Ad-blocking software has been detected! :'(

This website is run by the community, for the community... and it needs advertisements in order to keep running. Blocking our ads means your killing our stats!
Please disable your ad-block, or become a premium member to hide all advertisements and this notice.

The A+ is reconised to UK employers although it is or should be your first cert on your run of many other certs.

put it this way. You start of with GCSEs then A levels then a HND then a degree

So in terms of IT certs you would start of with A+,N+ then MCDST

Just the other day I saw a job advert for an IT technician in a school near me and it said that unless you had the A+ you would not even be considered for the position N+ was also desirable

JUst to add studying the A+ will be invaluable to learning other certifications such as N+ as the N+ builds up on the little bit of networking you learn whilst doing the A+ and the N+ also helps with studying the MCDST in parts too

 

A degree in IT, you wouldn't go for a cert that is that basic?

 

yes you would, have you studied the A+? if not then do not undersetimate it. I did a HND in business computing but couldn't afford to top up to the degree and I learned things on the A+ that I didn't learn whilst doing the NVQs, GNVQs and HND.

A degree doesn't mean a hell of a lot these days but the more qualifications and certs you have then that is more ammo to fire at an employer when going for a job.

 

My thoughts...

It would depend on the level of experience you have already. If you only have a degree, it's probably a good idea to get it. I have a degree. but on my degree i spent 7/8 months working for a company in IT support, hands on real world experience, so when it came to getting a job when i left uni i got a job pretty quick as i had experience to put down on my CV rather than a cert.

I think basically what i'm saying is if you have experience working in the right part of IT already i don't think it would be a massive loss to your CV. Without experience however, its the thing that might just get your foot in the door.

 

Its not as black and white as GBL makes out I'm afraid. A number of factors have to be taken into account when considering these things:

Firstly, is it relevant to your career? There isnt necessarily any point in wasting time obtaining the A+/N+/etc if you are getting into Development for instance. Dont make the mistake of attempting to fit square pegs into round holes and forcing the believe that anyone in IT should have certification x.

A+/N+ are vendor neutral certifications, designed to display a level of ability in their respective fields. Vendor neutral does not, however mean that it is universally recognised. Plenty of employers havent even heard of Comptia, let alone their certification tracks.

In every case, experience trumps certification. Without a shadow of a doubt. Is it worth getting a cert if you already have experience? It certainly cant hurt, but that doesnt mean its a must. Without experience, certifications can give you the edge against a similar candidate however.

You have to remember that theres a big difference between degrees and certifications. Namely that degrees show a broad knowledge of an area (IT). Certifications show a more focused knowledge on a smaller sub-field.

Do you need a cert to make progress? Nope. Not at all. I have only a single cert I was sent on by my employer. Ive started other certs but so far have never sat the exams. Why? because I dont need to. I've gotten into my job on merit, not paper.