CompTIA or Cisco? - Should I get the CompTIA A+/Network+ OR the Cisco CCNA/CCENT - Microsoft MCSA?

Key Takeaways

what's going on guys welcome back to network chuck now I get this question a lot should you get your CompTIA A+ network plus security plus server plus or should you go for your Cisco CCNA or your Microsoft's CSA and that's a great question and I'll give you a hint I didn't listen to the same advice I'm about to give you and I wish I had a [Music] real quick this video is sponsored by I&E they are a fantastic IT trainers so if you're ready to get your cisco CCNA C sense where your CCMP or you just want to learn some Python I&E has all this great training going there you can buy individual packages or get an all-access pass Keith Bogart man range trainer so check them out I'll put a link up there and a link below they sponsor this video I use them for my training they are amazing so check them out so let me start with a little info about my story I started studying for my CompTIA A+ back in 2011 at this point in my career I had zero IT experience like most of you guys here I googled around looked at forums and tried to figure out hey how can I break into the IT industry and on every forum I found that a plus was the place to start that's how you got your start 19 I started studying from A+ I watched Mike Myers and his training course those great let me introduce you to my little friend the man in the Box now at this point I didn't know I wanted to be a network engineer I just wanted to get started I needed a career now here's the funny part I actually got my first IT job without my a plus it was as a staple as easy tech you I think they're still around it's kind of like off-brand Geek Squad and you know what I also got my second IT job without an A+ certification now during this time again I was still studying while studying for my a plus certification I just had now that second job was as a junior helpdesk tech I mean Alice at the bottom Rome the very bottom which is was fine actually it was fantastic for me at that stage in my career so when I got the second job thought you know what let's finish up the A+ so I would actually come in before my shift started is kind of the best time to get some good study time in without interruptions and I would sit there pop up in my a plus book and I would study now again another tidbit of information I highly recommend you doing this why because when you're there early first of all you're there early so that's like extra points for you second management and higher-level IT staff will see what you're doing they'll see that hey that guy he's a he's a hustler he's he cares about his career he wants to move up so the next chance or the next opportunity that opens up for a position on the higher tier or if you're if you're wanting to become a network engineer or a system admin who are they gonna think of they're gonna think of you right and most companies especially the company I'm at and the companies I've been at they they love to promote from within they prefer it that way so anyways the network engineer there at the time he saw that I was studying from a-plus and he goes hey why are you studying for that why are you doing that how it's kind of taking it back I mean why wouldn't I study for my A+ it's a great step in my career and that's what I told him I said hey I'm I'm trying to move up in my career I'm trying to better myself he said do you know what position and a plus certification will get you it'll get you a help desk position you already have that so why are you trying to get assert designed to get you a job you already have and you know what that was a great question so I said okay what should I do and he advised that I should skip the A+ I just skipped CompTIA and dive right into Cisco go right into my C sent my icnd1 half of the CCNA and you know what I did I didn't do it I didn't listen to him at all I wish I had instead I thought you know what I I've got it all figured out you know like anyone who doesn't know anything I thought I knew everything I kept studying for my A+ and I got it I got my A+ I was so excited and you know what happened to my career you know what happened to me at that company once I got my a plus nothing nothing happened why because I was already on the helpdesk and that cert was designed to help me get there but I was already there pointless oh I wish I would have listened to his advice so now what does that mean for you what should you do should you go for your a plus should you go for your network plus or should you go to a vendor specific search should you go for your CCNA or CCENT or a Microsoft cert or a Linux cert or whatever this really boils down to two very important questions where are you at right now and to where do you want to be I'm gonna go ahead and make this statement right now if you are already on a helpdesk or you're in some kind of IT role where you're repairing computers or you're you're supporting users and some kind of IT capacity don't go for your a plus if you already have it great if you don't have it and you're thinking about going for you or you're the middle of studying for it no stop doing that go for a vendor specific cert go for your Cisco sirs CCENT CCNA those will benefit you so much more now before I get the naysayers I mean yeah the a plus it's a great certification it really is it teaches you a ton of stuff about computer repair about operating systems and everything it's really great and I love my training and I used it I even tried to start my own little IT support company and stuff but that didn't work out and it truly is a really valuable cert for people who want to become helpdesk guys or who wants to stay on the helpdesk you want to continue a computer repair who want to start their own company I mean I I know guys who've done that and that's that's fantastic if that's what your passion is but since you're watching this video I'm guessing that that may not be your path that may not be what you want I'm thinking you want something more now what if you're not on a help desk what if you don't have any IT experience and you're starting with zero you're starting from bottom and you have no knowledge this is a situation where I maybe wouldn't totally discourage getting you're a plus because like I said it is a great sir and it does teach you a ton of things now why would I recommend that because it's very rare that you can get a network admin job or a network engineer job or a system admin job without having a little bit of computer knowledge already or without having been in a support role a helpdesk role or a tech role or some sort of role below the how the system admin or network admin the the natural progression to network engineer or system engineer is from a helpdesk role so if you don't already have that type of experience to help you move up it's very difficult not impossible but very difficult so whenever people ask me hey how do I become a network engineer how do I become a system engineer I always tell them the same thing find the company with the room for growth that has the technologies you want to play with so find a company that is a Cisco shop or a Microsoft shop get on their help desk I don't care how low you start if you're a hustler it won't take you long then move up but that's the progression it's very very hard to move into a system admin role or a network engineer role without any IT experience it just it's it's very hard if so if you have no idea now it's your job it's your primary goal to find a job that will help you get that experience and then a plus I think is the best way to give that type of role because you're gonna be doing desktop supports and a lot of roles like this are looking for people with they're a plus that's the job description they've post on these job boards that's the keyword search is going to come up with people trying to find your resume so that kind of set up that first part I just covered the only time I can really justify giving an A+ certification the only time I can really advise you doing this is to land your first IT job that's it that's it and that's just sometimes now Chuck what do you mean now what if you are already pretty computer savvy I mean what if you you've meshed computers you feel pretty confident and supporting desktop so you remove viruses even know a little bit about Active Directory and things like that you've got the skill set to work on a helpdesk role anybody I mean really if you have customer service experience you qualify for a helpdesk role so that it's just you need your A plus or something that gets you in the door but if you already feel confident in your abilities to troubleshoot basic computer issues I would say go ahead and skip the CompTIA pac-man go ahead and jump into your Cisco stuff or your your Microsoft stuff no I know you're thinking hold up Chuck what wait what you just said that to land your first IT job you need a a plus certification yeah I do think you need that but if you already have that knowledge that you feel confident in that role getting your CCNA definitely Trump's your A+ so if you apply for help this job and you have your CCNA or you have your MCSA you're gonna be above the candidates who just have their A+ it's a leg up you see when they see that you have your CCNA they assume you already know everything else but again if you don't already feel comfortable in the realm of desktop support or IT in general go ahead dig deep get your a plus that'll give you the groundwork the foundation into IT computers everything you need to get that first desktop role go for it that's what you need so that kind of cover you know where are you at now what are you doing now where are you at now what's the best path for you now it's this is gonna be about where do you want to be now again some people just really love the help desk I mean it's it really is great if you if you love interacting of people if you love talking to users if you love solving those types of problems if you if you just love that people front line interaction that's that's your that's your sweet spot I think getting your A+ in that situation is perfect it'll make you a better tech it'll keep your skills relevant renewing that A+ every three years I think it's a great idea but since you're watching this video I'm gonna assume that you don't want to stay on the helpdesk I'm assuming that you want to become a network engineer that you want to become a Microsoft System admin or a Linux admin or all of the above right but if you see yourself becoming something above a helpdesk support role or ìit support technician skip CompTIA if you don't already have it skip ace a vendor-specific cert will be way more valuable to you than a CompTIA cert now don't get me wrong I love comps here I got the A+ back in the day it's expired now I currently hold a security plus a great sir but I would never recommend this to someone that is wanting to really advance the career and get the most bang for their buck now a lot of people think that you have to get these like a plus certs to be able to qualify or have enough knowledge to tackle the CC of a Cisco search of the Microsoft starts that's not true I mean it really isn't the entry level of Cisco and Microsoft certs they're designed for you they're designed for new Tech's who are trying to break into the industry if you're wanting to get your C sent its cisco certified entry-level network technician it's designed for you do not be afraid to jump into that because you can learn it you can do it they give you the groundwork in the framework start basically they're there no prereqs for this and again I can't emphasize this enough they are way more valuable than the A+ jobs if they see that you have a CCNA if they see that you have a Microsoft cert man you're gonna be put to the top of the resume pile guarantee and if you're currently working in a desktop support role if they know you have your CCNA or you're working towards it that's gonna open up doors for you I was actually promoted to junior network admin just because they knew I was working on my CCNA just because they knew that now you may be thinking oh hold up shut what about Network Plus what else server plus hey you know what those are great certs and they teach you some great things about networking they cover the basics and they covered server stuff as well but you know what also does that cisco certs what else Microsoft sirs these things already do that for you skip the network plus skip the server plus vendor-neutral starts Wow great and their own right because you get a good overview and we can we can debate the hello day along but for me it really comes down to one thing what's the most valuable thing for me what's going to advance my career the most do you have a finite amount of time should you spend your time studying for a cert that may get you somewhere or starting for a surf that I know got me some weird I know will gets you somewhere and when you think about it it just makes sense like a Cisco sir like this see sent they cover everything you'll learn the network plus they give you the network foundations the basics of a network and what that although all the other elements involved but at the same time they give you the hands-on experience and knowledge to work with Cisco equipment and guess what Cisco is a network leader I mean they you'll be you'll be hard-pressed to find a company that's not using Cisco there are others but we won't talk about them and the same thing goes to Microsoft right most people most companies use Microsoft so getting a Microsoft cert they'll cover all the basics of servers with you and you'll be learning how to use a Microsoft server which is more much more than likely you're going to be using at the company the way I see it entry-level certs for Microsoft and Cisco they're gonna give you the same exact thing as CompTIA certs but on top of that you're gonna learn how to use their vendor specific stuff which would give you a leg up because they're the leaders in the IT industry it's just a bat not to mention they are way more valuable on a resume they just are now I know this will probably discourage some of you who are already studying for their A+ or maybe you just got your a plus you're really excited about that don't be discouraged and if you're still if you're like three-quarters of the way through studying for your a plus finish it up it's not gonna hurt you it's a great asset for you and if you just cut straight plus again it's awesome it's a great asset for you but this the point of this video is for those who are trying to decide between a Cisco or Microsoft certain verses the CompTIA cert a gehen CompTIA is a great vendor neutral cert but I don't think it's the best thing for your career if you want to make a lot of money if you want to advance as fast as you can and be as valuable you can as you can be to a company get those vendor specific certs you will thank me for I promise you well guys that's about it if you haven't already subscribe I post videos periodically I try to be consistent but you know life gets in the way thanks so much for sticking with me if you need some Cisco training resources I list a lot of great resources on my website Network Chuck comm put a link up here linked below now I know for a lot of you I and II may just be too much money for you to spend on a certification training totally get that very popular training and I actually posted on this the new CCNA study group I created on Facebook I asked guys hey what's your favorite training source everyone said you to me if you don't know you to me is at the place where you can go and you can buy training for various topics pretty cheap and the best training I've seen on there for so far for a CCNA is Kris Bryant CCNA training course so I'll put a link up here in a link below it's worth it guys check it out it's not very expensive at all so if you need some good training to get your feet wet start getting your Cisco CCNA this is it check it out if you have any questions or comments oh you need some help let me know hit me up on Facebook hit me up on Twitter hit me up in the comments below I try to answer every one so if I if I missed your comment forgive me I'm busy I'm sorry and I know I said I wouldn't mention everybody who got their certifications or pasture certs I'll do that here in the next coming videos there's a lot of you guys youyou're you guys are busting it out getting your CCNA getting your A+ getting your Linux Plus knocking at your CCMP Congrats to all you guys actually I chased things up a bit I kind of mentioned this on Twitter I am the changing gears from getting my ccmp and I'm actually going for my CCNA collaboration it's more beneficial for me right now I always advise people should always get the certification that's gonna benefit you the most where you're at right now that's what's going to help me the most right now so I'm going through that it's awesome I love voice and again I mentioned we do have a CCNA study group on Facebook so link below on that we're already in there we're already posting wrong encouraging each other so check that out as well and if you want an awesome mug like this and actually a t-shirt I'm not wearing right now but it says like show IP interface brief if you love to rep your Cisco commands check it out I listed on my site and guys that's about it I so appreciate you watching and sticking with me you guys are an encouragement to me you helped keep me motivated to get my certifications and I hope I can do the same for you let's get certified together catch you guys next time [Music]