Is it better to take individual IT certificates or enrol in a full course? 

I am looking at changing my career to something on the IT > Cyber Security spectrum. There is a world of choice out there and without having a degree the common consensus appears to be ‘get some certs’.

CompTIA is the most prominent organisation in terms of ‘industry standard’ certificates but there are many others like CISCO, AWS, ORACLE and more. On top of this you can find organisations who offer training for these courses: Codecademy, Esme Learning, TheKnowledgeAcademy, TheTrainingRoom etc

OR you can go down the university route with part-time/full-time diplomas, certificates and fast tracked MSCs (if you already have a degree or work experience) but these will cost you a lot more.

Looking at the official CompTIA website the pricing for the exams themselves you are looking at the £200 mark. TheTrainingRoom offer a course, amongst others, called Cyber Security Technologist which includes: ITF, A+, Network +, Security +, and a choice of CySA+ or PenTest+ for a total of £2995.

So roughly £2000 extra. For this you get structured learning, a tutor and after completion guaranteed job interviews with a Career Support Officer. It’s well worth noting that in this course you will only take one exam for the final certificate which, assuming you pass, then gives you the certificates for all the subjects. This is just one example of a training organisation but I think it gives a good idea of what the difference is between taking individual certs and a full course.

Attempting to do A+ off your own back is a reasonable prospect in my opinion but when you get into Security+ and CySA+ then I think you would be really struggling to learn effectively and continuously. However there are other options for tuition than an organisation such as TheTrainingRoom for example an online enterprise called ITProTv and they cover all the certificates in question here, and many many more. 

Their training model is primarily video based although they do have Job Resources and Learning Coach listed in the Resources menu. I enquired about the Learning Coach and it transpires that it’s not the same thing as a tutor, which TheTrainingRoom provide but simply someone who guides you through the learning process rather than the actual course content. This is a big difference if you have any tricky parts of the course which you are struggling to understand. ITProTV do provide a forum which is constantly monitored and replied to by their IT professionals. It’s up to the individual to decide which system they would prefer for the money.

The Premium Plan at ITProTV is $499 (£361) a year. This should be plenty of time for most people to complete the five certificates so you effectively spend £1634 for a tutor and the post completion job interviews that TheTrainingRoom provides. Seems like a lot.

To summarise, the best option for most people would be to buy the CompTIA exams individually and pay for separate online training. It saves you money and keeps your options open should you complete the first certificate(s) and then decide that you want to head in a different direction with your learning.