The IT Certifications Worth Your Time (and the Ones That Aren’t)
Every few weeks someone forwards us an advert for a four-thousand-dollar “IT certification bootcamp bundle”: eleven certifications, lifetime access, career guarantee. Almost nobody should buy one. Certifications do real work in an IT career, but only a handful of them, and only at particular moments.
The only test worth applying
A certification is not an education. It is a key that gets your application past a filter. So the question is never “will this teach me something?” It is “is there a filter in front of me right now that this key opens?” With no IT job yet, that filter is a recruiter screening two hundred résumés for a help-desk opening. Already working, it is usually a government contract, a vendor partnership your employer needs, or a promotion ladder naming a specific credential. If you cannot name the filter, you are buying a certificate to feel productive.
Study free, pay only for the exam
Whatever you go for, the learning should cost nothing to begin with. Every major certification publishes its exam objectives as a free public document, and that list doubles as your study checklist. Professor Messer’s full CompTIA video courses are free on YouTube, Microsoft Learn is free, and the AWS training portal has a free tier covering the fundamentals exams comfortably. Work through those until you are passing practice questions consistently, then buy something.
The honest caveat: the exam itself is never free, and the gap between free material and a paid voucher is where most people quietly stall. Paid courses buy one thing, deadline pressure. If you have started and abandoned the free material twice, a course you paid for may be the cheapest way to finish. If you have not tried the free path, you do not yet know whether you need the paid one.
The ones that consistently earn their keep
For a first IT job, the CompTIA A+ still carries the most weight for the effort. It is two separate exams, and after CompTIA’s June 2026 price rise they run around $274 each in the US, so budget near $550 for the pair. Network+ (roughly $399) is what we would add next, because networking separates people who follow instructions from people who can diagnose. Security+ (roughly $439) has the clearest financial return, largely because it satisfies a US Department of Defense requirement, so a whole category of contractor jobs will not read your résumé without it. Check current prices on the awarding body’s own site, since these moved twice in the past year, and use the academic store if you have a school email address.
If your target job is networking specifically, Cisco’s CCNA (around $300) beats Network+, though it is a harder exam tied to one vendor’s way of doing things.
The entry-level cloud exams are the unusual case where the price genuinely is low: Microsoft’s AZ-900 and Amazon’s AWS Cloud Practitioner each sit around $100. Neither gets you hired alone, and both are broad rather than deep. But they are the cheapest way to show you understand how modern infrastructure is bought and run, and they pair well with an A+ on a first résumé.
The ones to skip, or at least postpone
The CISSP is the classic mistake. It is a genuinely respected security credential, and it requires five years of relevant full-time experience across at least two of its eight domains. Pass the exam without that experience and you become an Associate of ISC2, with six years to earn the experience before it converts. That is a fine plan at year three of a career. At year zero, you have spent around $749 on a credential that will not describe you for half a decade.
Skip vendor certifications for products you do not touch and have no prospect of touching. Skip the eleven-certification bundles, which are mostly repackaged free material plus practice tests. And watch the wording: a certificate of completion from a training provider and a certification from an awarding body are different objects, and only one means much to a recruiter. Google’s IT Support Professional Certificate sits honestly in the middle: well-made, about $49 a month on Coursera with financial aid available, but course completion rather than a proctored certification. Treat it as preparation for the A+, not a substitute.
Nobody has ever been hired because of a certification. People get hired because a certification got their résumé read by a human who then liked how they talked through fixing something.
The bill nobody budgets for
This is the part the bootcamp advert leaves out. CompTIA certifications expire three years from the date you earn them. Staying certified means paying an annual continuing-education fee and logging enough continuing-education units inside that window, or sitting the current exam again. Most other major certifications work similarly. So a certification is not a one-time $274. It is $274 plus a recurring cost for as long as you want to keep claiming it.
The short version
Name the filter before you buy the key. Study with free material first and pay only for the voucher when practice tests say you are ready. For a first job, A+ then Network+ or CCNA, with Security+ if government or contractor work is anywhere in your plans, and a hundred-dollar cloud fundamentals exam as cheap reinforcement. Leave CISSP until you have the experience it describes. Ignore the bundles. And budget for renewal, because the certification you stop paying for quietly stops being true.
Frequently asked questions
Which IT certification should I get first?
The CompTIA A+ for most people aiming at a first IT support job. It is vendor-neutral, widely recognised by hiring managers, and it covers hardware, operating systems, networking and security basics. If your target is networking specifically, the Cisco CCNA is a stronger but harder alternative to follow it with.
How much do IT certifications cost in 2026?
After CompTIA's June 2026 price rise, A+ is roughly $274 per exam and it is two exams, Network+ is around $399 and Security+ around $439 in the US. Cisco's CCNA is about $300, and the entry-level cloud exams AZ-900 and AWS Cloud Practitioner sit near $100 each. Prices change, so check the awarding body's own site before you buy a voucher.
Are IT certification bootcamp bundles worth it?
Usually not. The large multi-certification bundles are mostly repackaged material that is already free, plus practice tests, and they rarely include the exam vouchers that are the actual expense. A paid course earns its keep in one situation only: you have genuinely tried the free material, stalled, and need the deadline pressure of something you have paid for.
Do IT certifications expire?
Most of the major ones do. CompTIA certifications expire three years from the date you earn them, and staying certified means paying an annual continuing-education fee and logging enough continuing-education units within that window, or retaking the current exam. Factor that recurring cost in before collecting credentials you have no use for.
Should I get the CISSP as a beginner?
No. The CISSP requires five years of relevant full-time work experience across at least two of its eight domains. If you pass the exam without that, you become an Associate of ISC2 and have six years to earn the experience. At around $749 it is a poor first purchase, and it makes much more sense a few years into a security career.