3 COMPTIA CERTIFICATION IN DEMAND
In 2016, more than 5.2 million IT
jobs contributed to the U.S. economy with an additional 2 million new job
postings throughout the year. Peruse those posts, and you’ll find three CompTIA
certifications specifically cited as job requirements in thousands of
listings: CompTIA Security+, CompTIA A+ and CompTIA Network+.
CompTIA Security+
CompTIA Security+ is
the certification globally trusted to validate foundational, vendor-neutral IT
security knowledge and skills. As a benchmark for best practices in IT
security, this certification covers the essential principles for network
security and risk management – making it an important stepping stone of an IT
security career.
In response to CompTIA’s IT Career
Insights Survey, 93 percent of IT professionals said they regularly work with
security and cyber security technology. Even more importantly, according to
CompTIA’s Common IT Employability Skills study, 62 percent of hiring managers
in the United States indicated that candidates “must have” these skills to be
considered for the job. Hands-on and strategic involvement with security
technology makes CompTIA Security+ certification, as well as the forthcoming
CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CSA+) certification, a vital part of an IT
career, whether you want to enhance your skills for an existing job or apply
for a new one.
CompTIA A+
It’s a known fact that IT training
helps employees advance in their careers. The CompTIA A+ certification is
perfect for individuals new to the field and IT professionals in transition.
Because it tests a candidate’s knowledge on all fields of information
technology and not on one particular domain, the CompTIA A+ certification
is typically given more weight than other vendor certifications.
More than 23,500 job postings in 2016
required applicants to have CompTIA A+ certification. Validating the IT skills
required by the most common hardware, software and operating systems while
remaining vendor neutral, CompTIA A+ has long been a foundational
certification for IT professionals.
CompTIA Network+
Finally, more than 18,000 jobs posted
in 2016 required CompTIA Network+ certification,
a vendor-neutral, worldwide networking accreditation that validates an IT
professional’s ability to design, configure, manage and troubleshoot both wired
and wireless networks. Considering 92 percent of IT professionals in the United
States worked with this technology in 2016, CompTIA Network+ is a valuable
certification for almost any job applicant.
Although most online job postings do
not specifically list IT certification requirements, employers know IT pros
with CompTIA certifications are more capable of succeeding in their careers.
When accreditations are preferred,
CompTIA Security+ is the fourth-most-requested certification in job postings,
behind Certified Information Systems Security Professional, Project Management
Professional, and Cisco IT certifications. CompTIA A+ and Network+ ranked 8th
and 11th, respectively, according to the Burning Glass Technologies Labor Insights
study.
Clearly, CompTIA professional
certifications set job candidates apart in a competitive and constantly growing
job market—one the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects to grow 12 percent
in the network and computer systems industry over the next seven years.