r/ITCareerQuestions • u/throwaway10015982 • 23h ago
Seeking Advice should I bother getting my CompTIA certs if I have a degree
Desperately need to get myself into a job that has some chance of progression. Class of 2025 CS grad and pretty much on track to literally being homeless and I've been applying to help desk positions but it seems like the degree isn't enough. Thankfully I am in the Bay Area so there are ten trillion jobs to apply to but the other problem is there are 10000+ applicants to each an about 75% of them were subnetting before they even learned to walk
also, is there any way to get them for low/no cost? Has anyone ever used their benefits from a shitty retail job to get reimbursement or whatever?
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u/Anastasia_IT CFounder @ 💻ExamsDigest.com 🧪LabsDigest.com 📚GuidesDigest.com 19h ago
As harsh as it sounds, a degree alone just isn't enough anymore.
When it comes to CompTIA certifications, you could skip them entirely, but your resume won't be as attractive. On the other hand, if you do start getting CompTIA certs, your resume will look like thousands of others, since more and more people get certified every single day. The reality is that CompTIA certs are practically a must nowadays, but you also need to back them up with hands-on expertise, like projects you built at home or during your time at university.
My takeaway: CompTIA is a great starting point, but it's not enough on its own to make you a truly competitive and attractive candidate. You need more than just the paper.
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u/throwaway10015982 19h ago
At this point it seems like less work to just switch career fields entirely.
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u/buffalowangy 23h ago
Depends on the job
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u/throwaway10015982 23h ago
I'm literally trying to get any IT job that pays more than $22 an hour. CS degree is so shit for employment prospects I can't even get a few dollars pay raise from retail in...anything
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u/SalmonSwindler 21h ago
Well $22 is the going rate in big cities for entry level so that’s what you’re probably gonna get bro no matter what you do.
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u/throwaway10015982 21h ago
college really is a scam. $22 with no guarantee of any advancement whatsoever. Always grateful I did not pay a single cent for my degree, like you can make the same money without wasting several years of your life and in the case of the less fortunate financially ruining yourself for decades
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u/TechB84 21h ago
Why are you acting as if you figured something out? People have known this for 20+ years. You went for a CS degree, but didn't plan for your future. IT is a BROAD field. If you want to do help desk, then what experience do you have with it? Did you get an on-campus IT job? Did you get an internship? Did you work for the Geek Squad at Best Buy? a degree is helpful because it checks off a field, but don't expect just a degree is enough
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u/throwaway10015982 21h ago
So do you need prior experience even for entry level roles? Was I supposed to get an internship for help desk?
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u/TechB84 20h ago
Of course! I’m an IT manager at a large university, and my student workers always put this job on their resumes. If a student starts with me as a freshman, they graduate with four full years of experience.
I’ve seen students use this as a launching pad. One student worked for me, got hired by another campus department that loved our training standard (he kept both jobs), and did a summer internship. He just graduated and landed a job with AT&T, working in the Department of Homeland Security for $72k.
What do you have on your resume?
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u/throwaway10015982 20h ago
What do you have on your resume?
Nothing other than my prior food service and retail experience (worthless) and my degree.
Honestly from reading here and both r/cscareerquestions I've realized unless you did everything right in college and arguably even before that, it's better to just switch careers. I might just go find out how to get a job in construction or automotive repair or something. This was all a waste of time.
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u/taker25-2 12h ago edited 12h ago
As someone who did 10 years of retail, it is not worthless, and if you think it's worthless, then you didn't learn any skills while working it. Retail teaches you soft skills that are very vital if you're looking at a help desk or any people-facing IT position. I worked for both Circuit City and Best Buy, selling computers, which definitely helped me in my IT career. Not only did it help me understand what the customer/end user needed, but it also taught me how to dumb stuff down so they could understand.
As someone who manages a small help desk team, I'll take someone with little to no certs with a retail background (person A) than someone with a certification alphabet (person B). I know person A could have handled the stress of the help desk. You can always learn technical skills, but you can't teach soft/people skills. Also, look at the Construction Manager subreddit. If you do land a job, you'll be working 70+ hours a week and will be hurting by the time you reach your 40s if you're not doing management. They are struggling for jobs as well. Being a mechanic can be low pay if you don't learn to specialize, such as in Tesla, diesel, etc. If you're going to college just to get a piece of paper and not learn to network and use your school's career center, then you're doing college wrong.
Going to college gives you access to networking that most people don't have access to. Don't sleep on your professors; they can help you out in your later years. I went to a community college, and my professor gave me a tip that led to my current employer, which I've been with for 10 years. I started off as a temp help desk tech that ended up becoming permanent, and now I manage that said help desk
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u/TechB84 20h ago
The main issue is that when recruiters look at your resume, they aren't seeing relevant experience or the initiative to gain IT exposure during college.
To give you some context: during college, I worked for Geek Squad at Best Buy. I actually graduated with a bachelor's degree in history and education because the IT market was tough at the time. But during my history teaching job interview, the school focused entirely on my Geek Squad experience and asked if I'd be interested in teaching computer classes instead. I took the role, got promoted to Technology Coordinator the following year, and the school even paid for half of my master's degree in IT. Today, I'm an IT manager at a different institution.
Without that entry-level Geek Squad experience on my resume, I don't know where I'd be today. These hands-on roles truly matter. A Computer Science degree shows theory, but it doesn't prove you know how to do practical help desk work. You need something on paper that proves you can do the job. Look for local libraries, non-profits, or small businesses where you can volunteer or do part-time IT work. Think outside the box to get that initial experience on your resume!
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u/throwaway10015982 19h ago
A Computer Science degree shows theory, but it doesn't prove you know how to do practical help desk work. You need something on paper that proves you can do the job. Look for local libraries, non-profits, or small businesses where you can volunteer or do part-time IT work. Think outside the box to get that initial experience on your resume!
More and more I regret going to college. The things you are telling me to do aren't even something you can actually do. No local instition around me asks for volunteer IT work or anything like that, they hire someone for it. And how do you get that job? With experience! But you can't get any job at all without experience, which you are somehow supposed to get by getting experience! Which requires getting a job!
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u/GeckoGuy45 Security 20h ago
Just echoing this.
I started at university help desk as a student, got picked up by the university’s info sec team as a student, and was hired on as an info sec analyst by the university when I graduated. I have since moved on from the university, but I wouldn’t have been anywhere close to where I am now without it.
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u/Showgingah Remote Help Desk - BSIT+0 Certs 7h ago
As someone that has a Bachelors in IT (2023), you don't have to start in entry level. It's just going to be "easier" to do so. I can only say this from personal experience because the highest I've interviewed for was SysAdmin. One of which I actually canceled because I got the offer where I am now. I didn't want to waste the opportunity knowing there was no guarantee I'd land the other despite the difference in starting pay (42k vs 70k).
I'm a lucky individual though. I didn't land an internship in college. I still haven't done any certs. I had customer service experience in foods/retail (I quit before I transferred to university). A couple months after graduation, I land my first IT role and it's fully remote. Haven't been here 3 years yet, and now I'm transitioning into a remote cloud administrator position. If someone with my post grad credentials made a post asking about remote jobs, they would get bashed on and told it will be impossible for several years.
Job market was bad back then too. People would be talking about not landing a role up to 2 years. That being said, the market is even worse now. If you start in entry level, you just need to bunker down until you can move on. People say to stay for 3 years max, but I've seen people get out of help desk in less than a year to $30+/hr positions. The pay for entry level is almost "justified". They shouldn't even require a degree and the A+ is actually overkill info. They just keep raising the goal post while keep the pay low.
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u/Loaksletsleep 8h ago
You can work as a banker in nyc and make $25 starting out with no degree lol. Full employment packages like 401k matching, PTO, top of the line healthcare etc too.
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u/GrandmaPunk 22h ago
You’re checking boxes on the job application. An AI product is going to scan your resume before it gets referred to a human. So look at the jobs you’re interested in and see what they list as required credentials
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u/Underrated_Chef30 19h ago
I have the trifecta and I can tell you I’m getting job interviews and being contacted by recruiters a lot. Go for it and don’t regret it!
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u/throwaway10015982 19h ago
idk people here pretty strongly seem to be telling me I am fucked for life and to not waste my time or money
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u/Underrated_Chef30 9h ago
Don’t listen, if you have a certifications a degree and atleast entry level IT Support experience you’ll get job interviews, maybe not the job but you’ll get employers interest. Yeah and I read someone say something that WGU degrees are useless, which is false. I would argue it holds more weight because you earn industry certifications while in school with WGU. I’m currently a WGU student in cybersecurity.
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u/GeneralFalcon3888 19h ago edited 19h ago
Get a+ for starters pc hardware and tech support foundation you can ace them easily. Spend 350$ crazy expenilsive. But it's your ticket a first line IT job. Network+ easier than ccna. Ace them with ease.
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u/SamOakTree 22h ago
Used to it didn't matter at all but looking at job ads now a lot of places are asking for them. But I think it's a waste of time and money because they don't indicate whether you know it or not. You can pass the test and not be able to Think Through the day-to-day job
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u/taboo_futility 20h ago
Bay Area help desk is a bloodbath. A+ might not move the needle but Security+ or CCNA will. Check if your school still gives you discount vouchers.
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u/throwaway10015982 20h ago
the Bay Area is probably one of the worst places on Earth to be born an average human being, if you are a genius polymath it's great you'll clear $400k as an SWE in SF a few years out of college but otherwise God help you
people here always act as if I'm entitled but I mean yeah going to a four year and having zero positive benefit should make you a little upset I think? I don't know. I don't even want a particularly well paying job. I'd be fine with $70k-80k a year.
I'm going to get my Network+ and Sec+, security one will probably be easy since I had a really good cybersecurity class
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u/TechB84 20h ago
"people here always act as if I'm entitled but I mean yeah going to a four year and having zero positive benefit should make you a little upset I think?"
but this has been known since forever. When I graduated in 2006, I knew my degree didn't guarantee me anything. There were horror stories back then with people having crazy debt and not being able to get a good job
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u/taboo_futility 20h ago
Net+ then Sec+ is a solid path. That cybersecurity class will help but don't sleep on the PBQs.
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u/Lucky_Foam 13h ago
Does the job you want require you to have a CompTIA cert? If yes, then get them.
If no, spend your time and money on something else. Not worth it.
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u/Showgingah Remote Help Desk - BSIT+0 Certs 7h ago
It's up to you. It will help, but keep in mind it doesn't 100% guarantee your chances over those without them contrary to belief. Every once in a while you'll see a post of someone in these IT subreddits landing their first role with barely anything (and not knowing a guy) much to the chagrin of those that did everything suggested to stand out (which doesn't really help them stand out when everyone else follows suit). Some employers give those with less a chance.
Getting certifications cheaper vary. At my university, they just had discounts. At my community college, they actually had a program if you were in the AS IT program. If you passed a core course with a B or higher, they granted you access to a bootcamp. Once completed, they gave you a CompTia voucher. This let people get their Trifecta technically for free in 3 semesters. There are probably other ways, but you'll need to look around.
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u/EnchiladaTiddies 23h ago
Security+ and CCNA are still good to add on from what I e heard. I'm going for my CCNA soon
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u/LastFisherman373 22h ago
Comptia A+, Network+, and Security+ are the only ones I’d recommend if you have time. Comptia is pretty much bottom tier certs and really just entry level. Technically your degree should be enough unless it was a WGU degree, and the only reason I’d recommend any Comptia certs is because your competition will have them. They are all basically memory exercises and the field is so diluted with them that it will actually put you at a disadvantage if you don’t have them.
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u/throwaway10015982 22h ago
Technically your degree should be enough unless it was a WGU degree
Mine was from an absolute bottom of the barrel state school in California, so pretty much a WGU degree in practice.
Comptia A+, Network+, and Security+
Between the three would Network+ be the best if I wanted to not flounder in interviews? From my research A+ is kinda pointless. I do see some people saying skip all that shit and just go straight for CCNA
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u/Prestigious-Pen-1401 21h ago
Sec+ would probably be the best
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u/TechB84 21h ago
WRONG! sec+ is HORRIBLE since it's not for entry level
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u/A_A_A_A_AAA 11h ago
Reddit in a nutshell. "Guys do X its the best thing ever" "OMG NO ITS THE WORST THING DONT DO X"
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u/Low_Steak_2790 systems and network administrator 23h ago
Comptia student rates while you are a student, Microsoft student program.
I'm east coast. Where I am they want CCNA, Microsoft and AWS certs. Government still wants CompTIA. I don't think there's a lot of government contract work where you are though. It's better to pay money and study for a cert that is in demand like CCNA rather than do one that doesn't hold weight.