Certifications Matter in IT

In July 2025, I earned the CompTIA A+ Certification, which gave me a strong foundation in IT Support. It’s considered the gold standard for entering into IT, and I can confirm that it greatly helped me.

After getting the certification, I began applying to jobs right away, and I got my first job as an IT Helpdesk consultant at Penn State Behrend.

I still work here today, and I can say that it has been a great experience and I plan to stay here for the rest of my college days.

I got my first internship at Process and Data Automation in January which I will talk more about in the next sections, but the A+ helped me a lot there as well. 

Before I graduate, I plan to get the CompTIA Network+ and Security+ as well. With those, I will have the entry-level “IT trifecta” that will allow me to land roles in various areas in the world of IT.

Experience > Education

This may be a hot take coming from someone who is in college, but work experience is far more important in IT than classes. My coursework in Information Systems is more about organizational/business skills rather than hard technical stuff.

I do want to stress, however, that I am ONLY talking about academia here. As I mentioned earlier, certs in IT are a great way to easily show of skills and portray confidence to employers. We are living in an era where people are rightfully questioning the worthiness of a college degree.

While I still think that it is better to have a college degree than to not have one, I basically never bring up my coursework in interviews. I’m always talking about previous projects I have worked on in the workplace, or any other IT-related experience. Sometimes I will bring up something specific from one of my classes, but it’s rare. 

There are a lot of people who think that the bachelor’s degree is just enough to get by, but it just isn’t that way anymore. You really have to apply yourself in the field and do outside learning as well. It sucks at first, but it’s worth it in the long run. 

You Don’t Walk in Knowing Everything

So far, I have had two IT experiences, my helpdesk job at Behrend, and my internship at Process and Data Automation.

While I’d say that I was more than prepared for the Helpdesk job, I had a much harder time adjusting at my internship with Process and Data Automation.

The Helpdesk job involves mostly just customer service and basic troubleshooting. I have been using Windows and MacOS for years, so I didn’t have much trouble with trying to fix any issues with people’s devices.

On the other hand, my internship gave me a lot of trouble. Process and Data Automation is an industrial controls engineering firm. That’s a mouthful, I know. Essentially, they maintain and deliver automation software to manufacturing companies (specifically for water bottles). I didn’t know the first thing about automation, but in the last four months, I can say that I am definitely more comfortable with it. Along with that, I learned a lot about server technology and VM management, which gave me a lot of transferrable skills.

All in all, just don’t be afraid to ask for help and don’t feel guilty about having to Google stuff!

Photo Credit

CompTIA photo: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/comptia-certification-guide-overview-career-paths-/

Server Photo: https://stockcake.com/i/futuristic-server-room_1337007_298818

Office Photo: https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/group-young-business-people-working-office_7621156.htm#fromView=keyword&page=1&position=0&uuid=b95ff3d2-5a5f-4058-8676-855eeb394b1c&query=It+department