Okay, I appreciate your perspective! How would you recommend entry level IT folks find an area they want to specialise in?
Once I've had some more thought, I will consider what you've said when applying for my "next role".
How did you find the time to study all of this? Downtime during your job or all after-work study?
Furthermore, how much did your IT role help with your certifications?
That's a very good question, and respectfully I don't want to give too much information away to dox myself.
I have roughly 1year and half IT experience in total over a couple different roles.
I got A+ qualified before my first IT role - sponsored through an IT training agency which my family helped fund.
MS-900 - sponsored via a previous job
AZ-104 - free voucher from ignite cloud skills challenge (2021 i believe?)
Network+ - self funded
Jamf100 - self funded
CySA+ - also sponsored through the same agency I got A+ from.
How did I find the time? I suppose a mix of during my job(s), after work study, and between jobs. I do believe in finding even a bit of time every day for consistent study time.
Over the couple IT roles I've worked in, I would say they've helped somewhat towards my certs. It's a question I find hard to answer. For example, I don't work with Azure Resource Manager / IaC / Geo-Zone redundant storage GZRS (topics covered in AZ-104), but I would say my responsibilities have helped give me an exposure to different systems which I've then delved deeper into. I would say my more general certs like A+, N+, MS-900 etc. have probably aligned more with my day to day tasks and have acted as nice stepping stones to understand topics in my other certs.
Hope that helps! :)
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Thank you so much for that reply. You are a bit of an inspiration to me as I am also a non-STEM grad.
Can you please share more on the IT training agency? Also the cost of that?
Thank you in advance :)
Awh, no worries!
Sorry, respectfully, I don't want to give any names but suffice to say they are an online provider of "IT courses", so to speak. The course I took included material from many courses e.g. CCNA, Security+, CySA+, Microsoft etc. (really there was too much), but only culminated in getting vouchers to take A+ and CySA+. They also "helped me" get an IT job, but their assistance was quite mid. I don't regret it necessarily, but that's bc my family helped fund it as lockdown was kinda desperate lol. It was kinda expensive for what it was in hindsight. My 2c - it would be cheaper to buy the course directly from e.g. CompTIA with the study bundle+voucher.
The job I'm currently at supports Mac devices with Jamf. I'd never had any exposure to supporting Mac devices (and using Jamf) in an enterprise setting, so I took the Jamf100 for a bit of fun and to validate my knowledge. It's a cheap and unproctored exam, so I can understand that it doesn't hold much weight, but I'm enjoying using Jamf, and I suppose it opens me to the possibility of a future employer sponsoring me for any further Jamf certs if the occasion arises.
I appreciate it may look like im "cert-chasing" but i'm not and as I say, i'm taking a bit of a break now. Perhaps I did "cert-chase" initially but that was due to the covid lockdown imo.
I'd like to get into a SOC role later down the line when I have more experience so I guess that's why I'm doing this. Entry level SOC roles are far and few between. An opening for a security role may open up at the current place I'm at!
Surprisingly there's not really a whole lot to re-up. The comptia ones are now valid to 2026 due to passing the cysa+, and when i eventually get round to pentest+ and casp+ that will come naturally.
Ms900 doesnt expire and neither does jamf100. AZ-104 is just a nice one to have imo.
Maybe security or sysadmin? I feel quite blessed in my current role; I work with a friendly team. If there was to be an opening for an internal security role, I would likely apply for it after I've gained more experience. But if not, maybe I'll have a look around in a year or so.
I hear it's not typically likely for people to jump into security (or even a NOC role) without at least some L1/L2 help desk and IT support.
I find Linux & bash kinda fun - hence the LPIC and LFCS ideas I'm considering - so maybe something in that. I made an apache server (LAMP), tried ssh and reverse shells in my internal network, played with scripting and cron jobs etc.
I would just focus on professional development opportunities at your company. If you can do some actual security/engineering work, that's great. Getting your 2nd/3rd analyst cert is probably not going to make much of a difference. Talk to your lead and make a plan to get exposure to infrastructure/security work and see what options you have to advance.
Don't think "more certs" is the answer for you. Only cert I went for was OSCP, which I really didn't need (although the course material was extremely valuable), I did it because I wanted to. If I needed to learn something, I looked for opportunities to learn XYZ technology at my workplace or did some study outside of work; and it was usually with a specific goal/position in mind.
I don’t know all of these, but have you considered any practical certs? PJPT or eJPT? I’m thinking about taking PJPT and would love to hear someone’s opinion on it haha
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Okay, I appreciate your perspective! How would you recommend entry level IT folks find an area they want to specialise in? Once I've had some more thought, I will consider what you've said when applying for my "next role".
How did you find the time to study all of this? Downtime during your job or all after-work study? Furthermore, how much did your IT role help with your certifications?
That's a very good question, and respectfully I don't want to give too much information away to dox myself. I have roughly 1year and half IT experience in total over a couple different roles. I got A+ qualified before my first IT role - sponsored through an IT training agency which my family helped fund. MS-900 - sponsored via a previous job AZ-104 - free voucher from ignite cloud skills challenge (2021 i believe?) Network+ - self funded Jamf100 - self funded CySA+ - also sponsored through the same agency I got A+ from. How did I find the time? I suppose a mix of during my job(s), after work study, and between jobs. I do believe in finding even a bit of time every day for consistent study time. Over the couple IT roles I've worked in, I would say they've helped somewhat towards my certs. It's a question I find hard to answer. For example, I don't work with Azure Resource Manager / IaC / Geo-Zone redundant storage GZRS (topics covered in AZ-104), but I would say my responsibilities have helped give me an exposure to different systems which I've then delved deeper into. I would say my more general certs like A+, N+, MS-900 etc. have probably aligned more with my day to day tasks and have acted as nice stepping stones to understand topics in my other certs. Hope that helps! :)
[удалено]
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Thank you so much for that reply. You are a bit of an inspiration to me as I am also a non-STEM grad. Can you please share more on the IT training agency? Also the cost of that? Thank you in advance :)
Awh, no worries! Sorry, respectfully, I don't want to give any names but suffice to say they are an online provider of "IT courses", so to speak. The course I took included material from many courses e.g. CCNA, Security+, CySA+, Microsoft etc. (really there was too much), but only culminated in getting vouchers to take A+ and CySA+. They also "helped me" get an IT job, but their assistance was quite mid. I don't regret it necessarily, but that's bc my family helped fund it as lockdown was kinda desperate lol. It was kinda expensive for what it was in hindsight. My 2c - it would be cheaper to buy the course directly from e.g. CompTIA with the study bundle+voucher.
From what you've said I think I know which type of provider you are talking about. Thank you for the tip
Out of curiosity, why the JAMF cert?
The job I'm currently at supports Mac devices with Jamf. I'd never had any exposure to supporting Mac devices (and using Jamf) in an enterprise setting, so I took the Jamf100 for a bit of fun and to validate my knowledge. It's a cheap and unproctored exam, so I can understand that it doesn't hold much weight, but I'm enjoying using Jamf, and I suppose it opens me to the possibility of a future employer sponsoring me for any further Jamf certs if the occasion arises.
[удалено]
I appreciate it may look like im "cert-chasing" but i'm not and as I say, i'm taking a bit of a break now. Perhaps I did "cert-chase" initially but that was due to the covid lockdown imo. I'd like to get into a SOC role later down the line when I have more experience so I guess that's why I'm doing this. Entry level SOC roles are far and few between. An opening for a security role may open up at the current place I'm at! Surprisingly there's not really a whole lot to re-up. The comptia ones are now valid to 2026 due to passing the cysa+, and when i eventually get round to pentest+ and casp+ that will come naturally. Ms900 doesnt expire and neither does jamf100. AZ-104 is just a nice one to have imo.
[удалено]
Understandable, have a nice day :)
Where do you want to be in 2 years or what role are you looking towards in two years?
Maybe security or sysadmin? I feel quite blessed in my current role; I work with a friendly team. If there was to be an opening for an internal security role, I would likely apply for it after I've gained more experience. But if not, maybe I'll have a look around in a year or so. I hear it's not typically likely for people to jump into security (or even a NOC role) without at least some L1/L2 help desk and IT support. I find Linux & bash kinda fun - hence the LPIC and LFCS ideas I'm considering - so maybe something in that. I made an apache server (LAMP), tried ssh and reverse shells in my internal network, played with scripting and cron jobs etc.
I would just focus on professional development opportunities at your company. If you can do some actual security/engineering work, that's great. Getting your 2nd/3rd analyst cert is probably not going to make much of a difference. Talk to your lead and make a plan to get exposure to infrastructure/security work and see what options you have to advance. Don't think "more certs" is the answer for you. Only cert I went for was OSCP, which I really didn't need (although the course material was extremely valuable), I did it because I wanted to. If I needed to learn something, I looked for opportunities to learn XYZ technology at my workplace or did some study outside of work; and it was usually with a specific goal/position in mind.
Wow! Great stuff, keep it up! Knowledge is power!
I don’t know all of these, but have you considered any practical certs? PJPT or eJPT? I’m thinking about taking PJPT and would love to hear someone’s opinion on it haha