I did my first (vocational) IT exam in 1999. This was after an annual appraisal from my (then) manager, who said “I’ve spoken to lots of people, and they’re all very impressed with your work. However, there’s no way for me to quantify your performance, so you don’t get a pay rise.” Based on that, …
Tag archives: CompTIA
CASP+ (CAS-004)
In Feb 2023, I took CompTIA’s CASP+ (Advanced Security Practioner) exam, and I passed first time. I used Jason Dion’s Udemy course to prepare for this. That was the only specific training that I did for this exam, but I also spent the previous 6 months preparing for the OSCP, and I have prior knowledge/experience.
Project+ (PK0-005)
In April 2022, I did a beta exam for Project+. The beta exam was PK1-005, and then the “real” exam was released as PK0-005 (which is what shows on my exam history at CertMetrics). Beta exams aren’t free, but they’re significantly cheaper than a normal exam. In this case, it cost me £30 rather than …
Server+ (SK0-004)
In May 2020, I took CompTIA’s Server+ exam. This certification is “good for life”, i.e. it’s not part of the CE program and I don’t have to recertify. As with all of CompTIA’s exams, there are no formal prerequisites, but they advise you to have A+ first (or at least know the material that’s covered …
CySA+ (CS0-001)
In March 2020, I took CompTIA’s CySA+ (Cybersecurity Analyst) exam. Along with PenTest+, this bridges the gap between Security+ and CASP. In simple terms, PenTest+ is about “red team” activities (attack) whereas CySA+ is about “blue team” activities (defence). This certification was launched in 2017 as CSA+, but it was rebranded in January 2018 because …
PenTest+ (PT0-001)
In April 2019, I took CompTIA’s PenTest+ exam. Along with CySA+, this bridges the gap between Security+ and CASP. As the name suggests, it’s all about penetration testing. This is a relatively new exam, and it’s still on the first release (PT0-001). Because of that, it’s not very well known, so I haven’t seen any …
Security+ (SY0-401)
In November 2016, I took CompTIA’s Security+ exam. NB I did the SY0-401 syllabus; CompTIA replaced it with SY0-501 in October 2017, so some of the info in this blog post will now be a bit out of date. In brief, I think that this is a worthwhile certification. It emphasises breadth rather than depth, …
CompTIA CE
In 2007, I passed CompTIA’s A+ exams; that gave me a qualification which is valid for life. In April 2012, I enrolled in the CE (Continuing Education) program. In April 2015, I passed the Network+ exam, which gave me the Network+ ce qualification (valid for 3 years). Since I was within the deadline, I could …
Network+
I recently sat CompTIA’s Network+ exam. I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, and as I mentioned in 2012, passing this exam would give me 2 new qualifications: A+ ce and Network+ ce. I did pass the exam, but the CE side of it was sufficiently complex to warrant a separate blog post.
CompTIA exams
Back in 2007, I passed the CompTIA A+ exams. Since then, there have been a few changes to the way these exams work. Unfortunately, CompTIA haven’t done a very good job of explaining it all; it makes volume licensing seem clear and simple by comparison! In brief, if you currently have the A+, Network+, or …