Working in the help desk has long been touted as the standard entry-level position for IT and even cybersecurity careers. While no two career paths are exactly the same, in my discussions with various IT professionals, the vast majority of them got their start in a help desk or similar entry-level IT position (myself included). Working at a help desk exposes you to multiple different aspects of IT, technology, and corporate environments, which makes it perfect for getting the on-the-job skills that are essential for more advanced roles. If you’re curious to hear more about the benefits and what a help desk tech does, check out this blog, “Why You Should Work The Help Desk.”
Working in the help desk may not be for everyone, and if it’s not up your alley at all, it’s definitely possible to land other roles in tech and security without specific help desk experience. However, in more challenging job markets (such as the current tech job market in most of North America), this becomes even more difficult due to increased competition from applicants with ranging levels of experience paired with an overall growing interest in cybersecurity and tech roles in general.
This increase in competition has made it challenging for individuals to stand out, especially when looking for their first tech role without any prior experience. One way to demonstrate your skills without on-the-job experience is through certifications.
In this blog, we’ll take a look at three of the most significant entry-level IT certifications and how they can help you land your first IT role. Regardless of your experience level or where you are in your IT career, certifications can be an important tool to demonstrate your qualifications and help you stand out from the pack.
Do You Need a Certification to Work in the Help Desk?
A common question for most people searching for IT and cybersecurity roles is, “What certifications do I need, and are they absolutely required?”. There are too many variables to give a concrete answer, such as the job requirements, how much a hiring manager values them, and even specific regulations for some industries that may require at least one or more certifications.
Your own skill level, education, and experience also play a large role. Generally speaking, the earlier on in your career you are, the more valuable certifications are as they can help prove your skills and technical proficiency when you don’t have job experience or formal education. This is especially true for beginner entry-level roles such as help desk when prospective applicants may not have any formal technical education or previous IT job experience.
Criteria for Certifications
In my experience, certifications should do at least 1 of 2 things (if not both). The first is that they have the industry recognition to help you stand out and land an interview based on the certification reputation alone. The second is that they force you to learn and execute skills and demonstrate the knowledge you would need to perform in a job and can be showcased in an interview.
Top Help Desk Certifications
CompTIA A+
Industry Standing
I’ve listed the CompTIA A+ first because as far as industry recognition goes this is by far the most recognized and in-demand certification. This is specifically true based on the frequency it’s listed on help desk job postings, and the recognition it has from HR screeners and hiring managers.
Content
The CompTIA A+ is designed to cover a large foundational knowledge base of topics required to excel in entry-level IT positions. This includes hardware, software, operating systems, networking, security, and troubleshooting. The required knowledge base has grown so large that the certification is now broken up into two examinations: the Core 1 (currently 220-1101) and the Core 2 (currently 220-1102). In order to obtain the certification, you must pass both exams.
The exam content is vendor-agnostic and focuses on general IT concepts. While this can be a positive as it doesn’t lock you into a specific technology, it does mean that the exam itself and most study materials for it are theoretical in nature instead of showing specific examples or skills.
Study Materials
There are recommended study materials and official study materials that can be purchased for the A+, however, the exam itself does not include any training. In my experience with CompTIA exams, most people find using third-party training (both free and paid) to be the best resource to prepare for and pass the exams.
Practical Aspects
Like all other CompTIA exams, the A+ exams are composed mostly of multiple choice questions that involve identifying the most correct answer out of a list of options. The exams also contain 3-6 Performance Based Questions (PBQs). PBQs for the A+ are commonly simulations that are described by CompTIA as “an approximation of an environment or tool, such as a firewall, network diagram, terminal window, or operating system. They typically have restricted system functionality but are designed to allow for multiple possible responses or paths.” These are designed to test real-world applications and problem-solving skills.
While I have not taken the A+ exams, I have recently taken the CompTIA Security+ exam, which included multiple PBQs. In my experience, these were browser-based simulations that did an okay job of testing overall understanding of core concepts or skills but were very limited in their simulation of a real-world environment; sometimes, there is no substitute for the real thing.
Summary
The A+ is the main player in the entry-level IT certification game. It’s been around for a very long time, garnered major HR clout, and landed on almost every help desk job posting that I’ve come across. This isn’t only because of how long it’s been around. It tests a very wide range of in-depth knowledge that can help you excel in IT positions. Just like any certification, it’s not an absolute requirement most of the time and will be listed alongside other certifications as suggestions or nice-to-haves. While the A+ contains a practical component, the exam focuses more on the recall of knowledge rather than the application of technical skills for the performance of the on-the-job tasks of an IT professional.
Google – IT Support Professional Certification
Industry Standing
An alternative option to the A+ is the Google IT Support Professional certification. While this certification doesn’t yet have the same level of industry recognition and frequency of landing on job postings, it does carry weight based on the Google name alone. In addition, Google has partnered with some other major employers to have them recognize the certification.
Completion of the certification also opens up access to the Google hiring consortium which is designed to be a pipeline to link companies up with Google career-certified candidates. In addition to the IT Support Professional certification, Google has multiple career certifications such as Cybersecurity, UX, Data Analytics and Project Management.
Content / Study Materials
The Google IT Support Professional covers a similar range of topics as the A+, including troubleshooting, networking, operating systems, system administration, and security. One of the most notable differences between the Google certification is that instead of passing an exam, students must complete the five courses that make up the certification:
- Technical Support Fundamentals
- The Bits and Bytes of Computer Networking
- Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User
- System Administration and IT Infrastructure Services
- IT Security: Defense Against the Digital Dark Arts
Each of the courses consists of video-based lectures, text-based readings, multiple-choice quizzes, hands-on labs, and some additional assignments. To complete each course, you must view all of the material and pass the quizzes/assessments. Some of the assignments are more open-ended and not graded or are peer-reviewed. At the time I took the course, there was an academic conduct contract that was required to be signed in order to receive the certificate.
All of the course material is hosted on Coursera and accessible through a subscription and can be completed at whatever pace works best for the student. This means that the price is variable depending on how long it takes you to complete it at $49/month. Google notes that on average students take 3-6 months to complete the certification.
Practical Aspects
At the end of the 5 courses, instead of writing a final exam, there is a capstone project that consists of a practical IT troubleshooting case study that applies skills from each of the courses.
Summary
Overall, the Google IT Support professional does an excellent job at introducing core IT concepts and fundamentals to those with very little to no tech or computing experience. In my opinion, it is geared towards more entry-level students than the A+ certification. The content provides a broad overview of topics, offering a general understanding, but it lacks sufficient detail to fully apply to on-the-job tasks.
For example, there is a section on the components of a PC and how to build one, however, only some steps are shown and not with nearly enough detail for a student to troubleshoot PC hardware issues or build a PC. Personally, I think it is an excellent precursor to those who are new to IT and want to ease into the A+ exams or for non-technical folks like PMs or managers who are looking to gain a broader understanding of IT concepts.
TCM Security – Practical Help Desk Associate (PHDA)
Industry Standing
The TCM Security Practical Help Desk Associate (PHDA) is the newest entry-level IT certification on the market and offers a unique exam style that focuses solely on performing common on-the-job tasks of a level-1 or entry-level help desk technician. As with any new certification, industry adoption and addition to job postings comes with time and exposure to hiring managers. However, the TCM name itself and its older certifications have strong industry recognition and adoption in job postings.
While the PHDA may not yet have the same industry recognition as other certifications, it does provide certified hands-on experience with real-world scenarios and tasks. This can translate very well in interviews when being asked about experience with specific scenarios or technologies, particularly when candidates don’t have on-the-job IT experience.
Study Materials
The PHDA is accompanied by the Practical Help Desk (PHD) course, a 17+ hour course composed of multimedia lessons with video and text resources, quizzes and hands-on challenges. The PHD curriculum focuses on the core topics and hands-on skills required to start working in an entry level help desk position. These include:
- Intro to IT
- Intro to Computing
- Desktop Computer Components and Repair
- Installing, Replacing and Troubleshooting laptops
- Operating Systems
- Virtualization
- Windows
- Linux
- Networking
- Security
- Remote Support
- Ticketing
- Windows Active Directory
Over 7 hours of the course are hands-on activities and labs where students are encouraged to follow along with the instructor and complete the tasks shown on their computer or locally hosted labs.
One unique style of lesson in the PHD are the ticket interrupts. These are challenges where the course is “interrupted” by an incoming ticket that focuses on topics or skills being taught in that section. The instructor will read out the ticket and students are encouraged to pause the video and attempt to close the ticket themselves. The ticket interrupts feature real-world, common tickets handled on the help desk. If you’re curious to see more about the Practical Help Desk, it’s offered as part of the TCM Academy free tier, which means you can access the entire course free of charge (no credit card required).
Content
Like all TCM Security exams, the exam itself challenges students to perform common real-world tasks that closely simulate activities and tasks performed on the job. In the PHDA, students are placed into the role of a level-1 help desk technician, completing an 8-hour shift. They are given access to a remote environment designed to mimic a small to medium business corporate environment, which uses Active Directory and contains both Windows and Linux hosts. In the environment is a ticketing system with tickets assigned to the student.
Practical Aspects
In order to pass the exam, students must perform the tasks requested in the tickets in the remote environment and then professionally respond to and handle each of those tickets. After completing the tickets, students must document their steps in the format of a knowledge base article that could be followed by future technicians to save time when completing common tasks.
Summary
The unique exam style of the PHDA, which puts students into a “day in the life” of a level-1 help desk technician, proves that those who pass the exam have the skills and know-how to succeed in a help desk. While it doesn’t yet have industry recognition on name alone, it can be an excellent interview tool or discussion point to prove that you have hands-on experience or have used specific technologies.
Conclusion
Getting a job without industry networking depends greatly on the strength of your resume (to get interviews) and the knowledge and experience you can demonstrate during an interview. Certifications with strong industry recognition can help get past some HR filters, but if you don’t have the know-how to show your ability to do the job, then the interview process may be a struggle. Keep in mind that certifications are not an either/or proposal – many professionals have several under their belts – but if you do have to make decisions about which to pursue based on time or monetary constraints, the value of skills developed during the process of becoming certified should carry some weight.
We designed the Practical Help Desk Associate certification to equip IT/Cyber career hopefuls with the skills to stand out in an entry-level IT role, so give it a look and see what you think.
About the Author: Andrew Bellini
My name is Andrew Bellini and I sometimes go as DigitalAndrew on social media. I’m an electrical engineer by trade with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and am a licensed Professional Engineer (P. Eng) in Ontario, Canada. While my background and the majority of my career has been in electrical engineering, I am also an avid and passionate ethical hacker.
I am the instructor of our Beginner’s Guide to IoT and Hardware Hacking, Practical Help Desk, and Assembly 101 courses and I also created the Practical IoT Pentest Associate (PIPA) certification.
In addition to my love for all things ethical hacking, cybersecurity, CTFs and tech I also am a dad, play guitar and am passionate about the outdoors and fishing.
About TCM Security
TCM Security is a veteran-owned, cybersecurity services and education company founded in Charlotte, NC. Our services division has the mission of protecting people, sensitive data, and systems. With decades of combined experience, thousands of hours of practice, and core values from our time in service, we use our skill set to secure your environment. The TCM Security Academy is an educational platform dedicated to providing affordable, top-notch cybersecurity training to our individual students and corporate clients including both self-paced and instructor-led online courses as well as custom training solutions. We also provide several vendor-agnostic, practical hands-on certification exams to ensure proven job-ready skills to prospective employers.
Pentest Services: https://tcm-sec.com/our-services/
Follow Us: Email List | LinkedIn | YouTube | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
Contact Us: [email protected]
See How We Can Secure Your Assets
Let’s talk about how TCM Security can solve your cybersecurity needs. Give us a call, send us an e-mail, or fill out the contact form below to get started.