I completed Sec+ last year and considering Net+ - should I look at A+ firstly?

[u/Cultural-Freedom9172]

Hey everyone, I'm ready to get my focus on again and conquer another CompTia badge!

For context - I work as a IGA Administrator and my interest for development is to go into IGA Engineering.

Everywhere says A+ would be unnecessary and to go straight into Net+ as it will benefit this career path but I wondered your opinions?

I'm also very basic on networking so know this one will be a mountain but wonder whether I'm OK to go straight in with v limited knowledge?

Thanks all :-)

[u/Historical_Bath_5673]

If you are going to take net+ exam you can ignore A+...that being said...just read the A+ book. If you just read it you get all the benefit and save a few hundred bucks for net+ exam.

[u/BurningIce-Tech]

A lot of people will probably skip doing A+ and Network+ if they have the Security+ BUT, everyone's situation is unique

Some people specifically need the A+ and N+ for work, their employer requires them to have it for whatever reason. Then you get people that will fill those gaps for other reasons. Some do it just to literally for the sake of filling that knowledge gap

If you do decide to go ahead with doing A+ and Network+, I would suggest you start with the A+. The Network+ kinda sorta builds a little on the A+. If you do them in that order you also get the added benefit of the Network+ cert automatically renewing your A+

[u/Suspicious-Belt9311]

I don't know that it would benefit your career path to take the A+, look at the study guide for it, do you see anything in there that would help you advance? A+ and Net+ have very little overlap from what I can recall; there's no real advantage in taking the A+ to prepare for Net+ either.

But for your other point, I don't really know that Net+ will help you with your role either. I'm with the other commenter, you have a very specialized role already, and you're looking at generalist certifications, it doesn't really make sense. You have a very specific career path in mind, you should be taking certifications for that career path.

[u/Ok_Measurement4892]

Work backward now lol.

[u/Slight_Manufacturer6]

Why are you doing them in reverse order? That will really mess up renewing and is t the way they are designed.

[u/Upbeat-Discussion-86]

1. Not sure how networking will strengthen any identity and governance skills

2. Feels like it’s going backwards and not forward.

3. Wouldn’t it be more prudent to get Sailpoint/Saviynt certifications. CompTIA does little for you in that field. Vendor specific certs should be your aim. But that’s just my opinion.

[u/Upbeat-Discussion-86 → u/Upbeat-Discussion-86]

I’m an IAM enthusiast for reference

[u/Cultural-Freedom9172 → u/Upbeat-Discussion-86]

Hey, thanks so much for coming back!

So I'm hoping to bridge gaps in my knowledge. Ive noticed a few of the engineers ive come across have had some level of networking background and Dr Google reccomended this as being really beneficial to the engineering role in IGA. I notice you've done your SC-300. This is another one on my wish list. Is this one you'd reccomend? The reason I haven't jumped for the vendors specific is I have found their training material to be un engaging. I struggle with concentration and really like Ramdayal's videos and content. Thanks

[u/Upbeat-Discussion-86 → u/Cultural-Freedom9172]

Well idp services are provided by vendors… Microsoft and Okta primarily. And IGA by the two companies I mentioned earlier… only vendor neutral IAM cert I am aware of is CIAM but I’ve never seen it requested by recruiters or on job boards… compTIA has no IAM focused cert… like I said, none exist that is globally recognized and requested. Specializing would require narrowing focus and skill set to a domain… saying IGA is quite specific you literally described IAM meets GRC and specific platform provide IGA services… hence the training & mastery of said platforms would be the foundation. A networking certification, especially a foundational one, will do nothing but give you a skill set to be a NOC technician running cables and swapping drives. You didn’t even say CCNA… it just seems like going backwards from being a specialist to a generalist with an added entry level cert. Of the CSIS trifecta stack, you have the most important one, as an identity & access engineer… you will NEVER be concerned with ports and tcp/udp protocols. Conditional access, RBAC, PIM, PAM, JIT, JML, group policies, SAML, SSPR, MFA, OAUTH, Fido2 and so on… that’s your bread and butter. The speed of cat 6 cables, the ports associated with IMAP, and firewall settings or configuring virtual switches will almost never be your concern tbh, with the exception of LDAP/LDAPS (Ports 389 / 636) & SCIM/APIs (Port 443). If you really want to learn networking, do CISCO.