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| Yup, all done! |
The answer to that question depends entirely on what someone wants to do with their IT career. I chose Network+ then Security+, both also offered by CompTIA. Like A+ they are both more focused on high level concepts and ideas within their realms. They have provided me with a good foundation to build more skills on top of, and are broad enough that I can apply them in most situations I find myself in.
The wonderful, and less-than-wonderful, thing about IT certifications is there are a lot (Googleing IT Certification returns 64+ million pages). Many, many organizations and companies offer certifications on their hardware, software and methodologies. The challenge you face is which one do you want to pursue? You is to sit down and determine what path you want to take. Hardware or software? Administration or network engineering? Programming or management? Or some other combination?
Another, equally important question, is what do you want to do? Does it make sense to earn your A+ if you are going to become a programmer? Will your current or future job make use of the skills you learn, or is this just something you want to do?
The trick is to figure out what you want to do, what will help you get there, and then, as Nike says, Just Do It.
For those of you interest in Microsoft certifications there are MANY paths to take! Microsoft offers certifications for Technicians, Server Administrators, Programmers and more.
CISCO also offers certifications on their hardware. If you are interested in network engineering, these are a great place to look.
CompTIA has an extensive line of vendor-neutral certifications. I personally found them a great place to get started and helped give me a broad knowledge of IT.
