CompTIA Certification Training

The short answer

If you are trying to get your first job in IT, take A+. If you already have an IT job and want to move up, skip it and take Network+ or Security+ depending on where you are heading. That single distinction resolves most of the confusion, and almost nobody states it plainly.

The reason it gets muddled is that CompTIA publishes a suggested order, and a suggested order reads like a requirement. It is not one. There is no prerequisite between these certifications. You can sit Security+ without ever having held A+, and plenty of people do.

If you are trying to get into IT

A+ is the one that opens the door. It is the certification help desk and desktop support job postings actually name, it covers the breadth of the work rather than one slice of it, and it is written for people with no professional experience. Nothing else on this page does that job.

It is also the longest of the three, and it is two exams rather than one. That is worth knowing before you start rather than halfway through.

Take it if a hiring manager needs a reason to interview you. Skip it if you already have the job.

There is one step below it, and it is worth knowing about rather than being sold. Tech+ is shorter and cheaper than A+ and covers the ground before it: what the pieces are and how they fit together. If you are not yet certain IT is the field you want, it is a smaller bet than committing to the full A+ course.

If you already work in IT

A+ will teach you very little you have not already picked up, and the certification will not impress anybody who can see your job title. The two that move you forward are these, and which one depends on where you want to end up rather than on what order a chart puts them in.

If you want both and cannot decide the order, take Network+ first. Security+ assumes you understand networks, covers them quickly, and is easier to sit when that assumption is true. But if a job or a contract needs Security+ by a date, take Security+ and fill the gap afterwards. A certification you need now beats a tidier sequence.

If you have Security+ and work in security

This is the question the last section leaves hanging, and it is the one people ask us most. You passed Security+, you are doing the work, and the next step is not obvious at all.

For most people in security operations it is CySA+. It is the analyst certification: finding a real threat in the noise, responding to an incident, and running vulnerability management as a continuing job rather than a scan somebody ran once. Security+ establishes that you understand security. CySA+ is about doing it every day.

CompTIA suggests around four years in a security operations or vulnerability analyst role before you sit it. That is a recommendation rather than a rule, but it tells you what the exam assumes: it is written for people who already do this work, not for people planning to.

It is also not the same as PenTest+, which is the other place people go from Security+. CySA+ is defensive, finding and responding to what is happening on your network. PenTest+ is offensive, attacking systems deliberately to find what is weak. Both are reasonable and they lead to different jobs, so choose by the job you want rather than by which sounds harder.

If you need it for a contract or a clearance

Then the choice is already made and the question is only when. Security+ is the one named in most United States federal requirements, and the requirement usually specifies the certification rather than the training, so what matters is passing the exam by a date.

Tell us the deadline when you book. If the date is tight, that changes what we would recommend, and occasionally the honest answer is that the next public date is too late and you need something arranged.

Our contract vehicles cover how government buyers purchase training from us.

Going further

These assume real experience rather than just the previous certificate. Do not take one as your second CompTIA.

The short version

• Not sure IT is for you yetTech+
• No IT job yetA+
• Help desk, want to move upNetwork+
• Heading for security, or a contract requires itSecurity+
• Have Security+, working in a SOCCySA+
• Have Security+, want the offensive sidePenTest+
• Working across cloud platformsCloud+
• Years in already, want the senior credentialthe advanced level

The rest of the family

This page covers one decision, the path through infrastructure and security, because that is the one people get stuck on. We teach several other CompTIA certifications that sit outside it: Cloud Essentials+ and Data+ for people working with cloud services or data rather than administering them, Project+ for project management without the weight of the PMP, and AI Essentials for using AI tools at work.

Every CompTIA class and date lists them all with what is running.

Training a team

Certification training is one of the clearest cases for a private class. Everybody is working towards the same exam on the same timetable, the discussion can be about your own environment, and you are not paying for seats on somebody else’s schedule.

It is also the case where the exam voucher arrangement matters most, so ask about that when you ask about the class. We deliver online or at your offices, six people for on site and four for virtual.

How our classes are delivered covers what a seat includes and how organizations buy them.

Frequently asked questions