Hiring managers keep repeating the same advice: show baseline troubleshooting skills and curiosity. The CompTIA trio can prove both, but the order matters depending on where you want to land.
Pick the Right First Badge
- Help desk or field tech? Start with A+. Emphasize hardware diagnostics, Windows imaging, and ticket hygiene.
- Network operations center? Launch with Network+. Pair it with Packet Tracer labs and pfSense firewall configs.
- Security operations center dream? Tackle Security+ once you can explain CIA triad trade-offs plus identity basics.
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Study Pattern That Works
- Read the official Exam Cram per domain.
- Capture notes as flashcards inside Notion.
- Practice with Professor Messer + Exam Compass, but do not memorize question IDs.
- Finish every module with a short Loom recording that explains the topic to your future self.
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Bundling the Certs
| Goal | Order | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Help Desk Promotion | A+ → Network+ | 10–12 weeks |
| Junior SOC | Network+ → Security+ | 14 weeks |
| Cybersecurity Apprenticeship | A+ → Network+ → Security+ | 20 weeks |
Round out the stack by contributing to open tickets in a community lab such as LetsDefend or DayOne. Screenshots backed by reproducible labs trump any certificate printout.
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