Many early and mid-career professionals have questions about IT certifications.
They wonder if earning one will help them meet their career goals, get them a promotion or raise and if the costs associated with the certification are worth it.
This guide will answer many of your questions about what IT certifications are available, how to choose a certification, and which ones may be a good fit for your circumstances.
Purpose of IT Certifications
IT certifications are an essential vehicle for improving IT skills to begin or advance a career in the IT industry.
Professional IT certifications demonstrate a skill level and a dedication to the profession. Having the proper professional certification often sets one job candidate above another.
Holding an IT certification will establish that you are qualified in the areas covered by the certification exam. It testifies that you have verifiable experience in the specific areas defined by the certification.
Benefits of a Professional IT Certification
Holding a certification that a potential employer values will weigh heavily in your favor when selecting a job candidate.
In addition to helping you find the right job, a certification can help you keep your job if tough times hit.
While there are some costs — most of which are associated with training classes if you need to brush up on some of the areas covered by the certification exam — in the end, you will earn more for having the certification.
Top IT Certifications
Below are the top IT certifications listed alphabetically.
This list will help you decide which certifications will advance your career by reviewing the descriptions, prerequisites, and job titles.
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
- The AWS Certified Solutions Architect certification is carefully designed to demonstrate a person’s ability to build and manage scalable systems on AWS. It is suggested for those with experience as a solutions architect with at least a year of work designing and implementing effective, scalable systems.
- Offered by: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Prerequisites: AWS indicates that it is helpful to have a solid understanding of scalable distributed systems and AWS services with at least a year of hands-on experience building and managing applications on AWS.
- How to prepare: There are several training courses and studying materials available from AWS to help candidates prepare for this certification.
- Common job titles this certification helps qualify for:
- Software Architect
- Development Operations Engineer
- Cloud Engineer
- Software Engineer
- Senior Software Engineer
- Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC)
- The Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) professional designation is designed for mid-career professionals looking to advance to the management or director level. It signifies a deep understanding of IT risk identification, assessment, response, and mitigation.
- Offered by: ISACA
- Prerequisites: At least three years of work experience performing the tasks of a CRISC professional. The work experience must be gained within the ten years preceding the certification application date. Candidates have 5-years after passing the exam to apply for certification.
- How to prepare: ISACA offers in-person and online training to prepare candidates to pass the CRISC exam.
- Common job titles this certification helps qualify for:
- IT Risk Management
- IT Control Professional
- Project Manager
- Business Analyst
- Compliance Professional
- Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)
- The Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) certification is designed for IT professionals who wish to demonstrate their knowledge and advance their careers to the management level. It reflects the ability to build, deploy, and manage a company’s security systems and indicates an understanding of information security governance, incident management, and risk management.
- Offered by: ISACA
- Prerequisites: At least five years of information security management work experience. The work experience must be gained within the ten years preceding the application date. Candidates have 5-years after passing the exam to apply for certification.
- How to prepare: ISACA offers self-paced test prep options, including an online review course, a sample questions and answers database, a study manual, and interaction with the CISM exam prep online forum.
- Common job titles this certification helps qualify for:
- IT Security Specialist
- Information Manager
- Chief Information Officer
- IT Security Officer
- Program Manager
- Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)
- Obtaining a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) certification provides an opportunity for people who audit, control, monitor, and assess their organization’s information technology and business systems to move in their careers. It proves expertise in IS/IT auditing, control, and security. The CISA is recognized worldwide as the primary information security audit control certification.
- Offered by: ISACA
- Prerequisites: At least five years of professional information systems auditing, control, or security work experience. The work experience must be gained within the ten years preceding the application date. Candidates have 5-years after passing the exam to apply for certification. ISACA allows substitutions and waivers for specific educational achievements.
- How to prepare: ISACA offers exam prep resources and a 10-question practice test. Passing their entry-level exam helps to prepare for the CISA test. There are online courses available for CISA exam prep.
- Common job titles this certification helps qualify for:
- IT Auditor
- Senior IT Auditor
- IT Manager
- IT Risk Manager
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
- The Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification is geared toward experienced security practitioners, managers, and executives that want to prove their knowledge of security practices and principles. It indicates the ability to effectively design, implement, and manage a best-in-class cybersecurity program.
- Offered by: (ISC)²
- Prerequisites: To qualify for the CISSP, candidates must pass the exam and have at least five years of cumulative, paid work experience. The work experience must cover at least two of the eight domains (see “How to prepare” below).
- How to prepare: Test preparation training for the CISSP exam is available from (ISC)² or other independent test preparation companies. The exam focuses on eight weighted security domains. A candidate should be well versed in each of these domains:
- Security and Risk Management
- Asset Security
- Security Architecture and Engineering
- Communication and Network Security
- Identity and Access Management (IAM)
- Security Assessment and Testing
- Security Operations
- Software Development Security
- Common job titles this certification helps qualify for:
- Chief Information Security Officer
- Chief Information Officer
- Director of Security
- IT Director/Manager
- Security Systems Engineer
- Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
- Obtaining a Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) certification gives the candidate the foundation needed to take their career in any direction. It is the first step in preparing for a career in IT technologies.
- Offered by: Cisco
- Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites to take the CCNA exam. To earn CCNA certification, a candidate must pass an exam covering a broad range of fundamentals.
- How to prepare: Cisco recommends that candidates take the Implementing and Administering Cisco Solutions (CCNA) v1.0 course.
- Common job titles this certification helps qualify for:
- Network Technician
- Network Administrator
- Systems Administrator
- Network Analyst
- Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP)
- The Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certification focuses on enterprise network technologies and is commonly the next step for those who’ve already earned a CCNA. To achieve a CCNP enterprise certification, a candidate must pass two exams; a core exam and one of the following concentration exams:
- CCNP Enterprise
- CCNP Data Center
- CCNP Security
- CCNP Service Provider
- CCNP Collaboration
- Cisco Certified CyberOps Professional
- Cisco Certified DevNet Professional
- Each of the CCNP concentration exams passed earns an individual Specialist Certification. CCNP holders can have multiple Specialist Certifications.
- Offered by: Cisco
- Prerequisites: While there are no prerequisites to take these exams, candidates often have three to five years of experience implementing enterprise networking solutions and understand the exam topics before taking them.
- How to prepare: Cisco provides the recommended training for the core exam and each concentration exam.
- Common job titles this certification helps qualify for:
- Network Engineer
- Senior Network Engineer
- Network Administrator
- Systems Administrator
- The Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) certification focuses on enterprise network technologies and is commonly the next step for those who’ve already earned a CCNA. To achieve a CCNP enterprise certification, a candidate must pass two exams; a core exam and one of the following concentration exams:
- Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC)
- The Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC) offers over 30 cybersecurity certifications in security administration, management, legal, audit, forensics, and software security. Each signifies an in-depth knowledge of cybersecurity strategies and processes such as cyber defense, penetration testing, digital forensics, and incident response.
- Offered by: GIAC
- Prerequisites: There are four levels of GIAC certification: introductory, intermediate, advanced, and expert. There is no prescribed “order” in which GIAC certifications must be earned; however, GIAC recommends that candidates master lower-level concepts before moving to more advanced topics.
- How to prepare: There are multiple ways to prepare for GIAC exams. GIAC has partnered with SANS to offer online training courses to correspond with the certification exams. GIAC suggests taking a few practice tests before the exam to understand better what to expect.
- Common job titles this certification helps qualify for:
- IT Security Specialist
- Security Analyst
- Information Security Analyst
- Security Engineer
- Systems Administrator
- Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect (GCPCA)
- Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect (GCPCA) certification demonstrates developing and managing cloud infrastructure. The exam for this certification was designed to assess a candidate’s knowledge in the following areas:
- Design and plan a cloud solution architecture
- Manage and provision the cloud solution infrastructure
- Design for security and compliance
- Analyze and optimize technical and business processes
- Manage implementations of cloud architecture
- Ensure solution and operations reliability
- Offered by: Google
- While there are no prerequisites, Google recommends at least three years of cloud experience, including at least one year working with Google cloud services.
- How to prepare: In addition to the recommended work experience, preparation for the GCPCA exam can be enhanced by prep courses offered by Google and others. Google makes practice exams available online.
- Common job titles this certification helps qualify for:
- Network Architect
- Security Operations Engineer
- Security Solutions Architect
- Google Cloud Engineer
- Senior Cloud Engineer
- Project Management Professional (PMP)
- The Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is designed for project professionals. It is especially suited for people seeking project management roles within software development and IT services organizations. The PMP certification validates a deep understanding of the interaction between people and processes in the business environment.
- Offered by: Project Management Institute
- Prerequisites: PMI provides two qualification paths for eligibility to become PMP certified.
- Path one:
- A four-year degree
- 36 months leading projects
- 35 hours of project management education/training or CAPM Certification
- Path two:
- A high school diploma or an associate’s degree (or global equivalent)
- 60 months leading projects
- 35 hours of project management education/training or CAPM Certification
- How to prepare: PMI offers exam content outlines, and several commercial entities offer PMP exam preparation courses.
- Common job titles this certification helps qualify for:
- IT Project Manager
- Senior Technical Program Manager
- Systems and Platforms Engineering Manager
- IT Project Specialist
Deciding Which IT Certification to Pursue
The most common way to determine which of the many IT certifications will help you attain your career goals is to review job posting requirements.
Look for jobs for which you would like to be qualified. If certifications are listed as either a required or preferred qualification, you know that’s a certification you should consider.
Most major career websites include a listing of preferred or required certifications for each IT job. Check out jobs you’re interested in at Indeed, Monster Jobs, CareerBuilder, or your favorite job posting site.
The Recap
IT certifications are an essential part of a successful career in the information technology field. Having the proper certifications will make you more employable and make achieving your career goals easier.
If workers at your company or in the vertical market in which you work are experiencing layoffs, having a certification can mean the difference between keeping your job or being forced to look for another one.
Often employers look at specialty skills and certifications when deciding whom they can keep and whom they must dismiss when making the difficult reduction of force decisions.
Most IT certification holders will testify that their professional designation has earned them more in promotions and raises than it cost them to achieve.
Increased pay is just one way an IT certification can be seen as an investment in your career.
Certifying organizations typically require active participation in industry events and activities. This involvement is enforced primarily through the establishment of continuing education credit requirements. These organizations have a stake in your success.
Their reputation is tied to the professional capabilities of their members. By engaging in classes, conferences, seminars, and other events sponsored by the organization, you gain networking opportunities that can help to further your career.
Frequently Asked Questions
The most recommended certifications for beginners in IT include CompTIA A+, Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals, Cisco’s CCNA, and AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner. These certifications provide foundational knowledge and are highly recognized in the industry.
The duration varies depending on the certification. Basic certifications like CompTIA A+ might take a few weeks to a couple of months, while more advanced certifications like CISSP or CCNP could take several months of dedicated study.
Yes, many IT certifications, including CompTIA, Cisco, and Microsoft certifications, offer online training and examination options, allowing you to study and certify from home.
IT certifications can significantly enhance career opportunities. They validate skills and knowledge, often leading to higher salaries, promotions, and new job opportunities in the field of information technology.
Preparation methods include self-study using books and online resources, enrolling in official training programs, and practical experience. Practice exams and study groups can also be very beneficial.