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Inquiry About Becoming a CompTIA Instructor

Shea Bennett
Rick Butler said:
One of the things I do for myself working in private sector Higher Ed is have credentials and certifications, not just in what I teach, but in general education practice. For example, schools that are affiliated with the CECU, educators have the ability to earn a credential called CHEP or Certified Higher Education Professional. It's not a difficult credential to obtain - one just takes online classes and gets the cert after completing a number of courses, maintaining it with two additional courses per year. It focuses on things like online and on-ground teaching, campus operations, financial aid, career services, and so on.

No one can "get 'em all", and getting tons of certs adds to the stress of maintenance, particularly if they are outside one's general thread of work. Since I'm not presently leading classes these days, I'm less focused on my instructor certs, and more focused on certs relating to platforms like Azure/365 and disciplines like security, IT governance and compliance.

When I was younger, I was more obsessed with getting certifications to validate myself, and more importantly, to push that "imposter syndrome" away, something for which I personally have always struggled, along with a long litany of self-esteem issues. As I've gotten older, while I still struggle with these psychological issues, I have at least learned that people will respect me or they won't - and it won't matter how many letters I have, hanging from my business card.
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Preach! I have had a number of younger folks new or at mid level in industry ask me about what cloud or Cybersecurity certifications they need. They expect some glorious answer, but after 25 years, I only study and focus on what applies to me at my current job or work or what I specifically will teach.

Life is short and time is so condensed. You can't spend your whole life and time studying for random exams. I'm focused on excelling in one thing and the other is for my own personal enjoyment and goals. For example, IT pays the bills. So I will focus only on what is necessary for maintenance or promotions or sustainment, but my long term goal is to end up running a Deli or a small diner and laugh and joke and talk with customers. I have zero desire to teach or be in IT when I retire. I don't even want to see a computer after 60.
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Inquiry About Becoming a CompTIA Instructor

Shea Bennett
Rick Butler said:
And just to add to what Greg said here - CompTIA used to have a Certified Technical Trainer credential, which was discontinued a few years ago. Personally, I'd love to see some kind of Instructor credential return, but for now, the best we can hope for is "a certified professional who teaches CompTIA certification courses." - an often thankless job that is also, sadly, credential-less.

Cheers

/r
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I second the thankless part!!!
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Why recertify?

Jose A Ruiz Marquez
Your post is so spot on on so many points. Repeating the same certification exam version after version often adds limited professional value compared to expanding into adjacent or higher-level domains that strengthen both instructional capability and real-world effectiveness. Like you, I hold multiple CompTIA certifications — A+, Network+, Security+, Server+, Linux+, Cloud+, PenTest+, CySA+, and CASP+. In my case, those credentials are largely tied to instructional requirements: if you hold the certification, you are eligible to teach the course; if you do not, you are not.

Over the years, I have renewed my CompTIA portfolio by earning other industry certifications rather than repeatedly sitting for updated versions of the same exam. This January, I renewed all of my CompTIA certifications with CGEIT. In the coming years, I plan to pursue CISM, renew CGEIT, and in doing so maintain my CompTIA certifications as well.

Let’s also mention market perception. Experience and certifications are needed, but, Cloud+ sounds good on paper, but employers are not asking for it. They want AWS or Azure certifications. Vendor-neutral cloud theory does not compete with platform-specific credentials in hiring decisions. PenTest+ is even more disconnected from reality. You are not getting a serious offensive security role because you hold PenTest+. I have OSCP and OSCE, and those actually carry weight in the field. Yet the university I teach for required PenTest+. At that point, you do not know whether to laugh or cry and end up not questioning their real credential knowledge, for what?. And CASP+, while solid academically, does not carry the same weight in the real world as CISM or CISSP. At the enterprise and executive level, those are the certifications decision-makers recognize. CASP does not move the needle in the same way. The same with Network+, I have CCNA renewed with CCNA Voice and they made me take the CompTIA Network+ test. Thank god I don't have to pay a dime on Cert Master / Test Out courseware or vouchers because they have the full Academic Partnership

Also, there are situations where once you have a CompTIA certification, you are generally good to go from a teaching standpoint. I have fellow instructors who still hold lifetime A+, Network+, and Security+, and they continue to receive classes to teach without issue. That alone says a lot about how versioning is perceived at the university level.
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Fulfillments... Are we no longer fulfilled?

Mitch Garvis
Hey folks!

I did not even notice it when I did not get a fulfillment package for my last couple of certifications. I was telling my students recently (they are doing Tech+ A+ and Network+) that when you earn a new certification CompTIA will mail you a hard copy of the certificate and wallet card. One of my students told me this morning that he asked for it and was given the option to purchase one, but they are not provided. Can anyone tell me when that changed?

Thanks in advance!
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A+ Certmaster Perform - Instructor Opinions on prioritizing labs assigned

C
Looking for any opinions on Certmaster Perform and the Labs for A+ (at this point specifically Core 2). I am finding with the course I am teaching for a company, I need to take some of the labs out of required ones that I assign to my students. I do not have them do the Challenge Labs already. Before I go through the labs again and determine these myself, is there a document somewhere or any forums/posts with opinions on the labs and which ones may be a priority?
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Why recertify?

Peter Bagley
Gregory Childers said:
I've been a technical trainer for 25+ years. I've taken more than 16 different cert exams from CompTIA and re-certified in many of them two, three, four, five, or even six times. I've even re-certified in two CompTIA certs that were "good for life" certifications. Mostly, this was due to requirements from end clients who wanted me to hold the most recent version of the cert exam that they wanted me to teach. It doesn't matter that I've passed Security+ in 2005, 2010, 2019, 2021, and 2023. They don't trust that my 25+ years of technical training experience, list of certs, and continuing education make me qualified to teach the latest version of the exam. Because they think that the exam is different now, since the version number changed.

Honestly, I never studied for recertification exams. By teaching the courses on a regular basis, I drilled the information into my long-term memory. Every time an exam versions, only 10%-15% of the exam objectives change, mostly because they gradually add new content. But the evolution of the exams is extremely slow. There are lots of topics on my first Security+ exam that are still on the most recent Security+ exam.

It's strange because the same clients don't seem to care that I've only taken the ISC2 CISSP, ISC2 CCSP, ISACA CISM, or any other exam only one time each. They only seem concerned that I've passed THE MOST RECENT version of the CompTIA exam, apparently because passing a previous version doesn't matter in their eyes.

CompTIA doesn't print the version number on the certifications. And they don't care if you renew the cert by taking the new version, or by racking up CEUs, or by passing a different industry cert. That's what I've been doing the last few years.

Out of all my current active CompTIA certs, the one that expires the soonest is in 2027, and the one that expires the furthest out is 2031.

I really have to thank CompTIA for all the free certs and the free and discounted Beta exams over the years. Honestly, if it weren't for them, I probably wouldn't have taken as many exams as I have over the years. The costs add up quickly. Students complain nonstop about voucher costs, when CompTIA is one of the most affordable options on the market. Go check the cost of ISC2, ISACA, OffSec, and GIAC exams if you don't believe me.

I have chosen NOT to take new versions of the exam for certs I already hold. I don't learn anything new by studying for a cert that I've already passed multiple times. I'm completely fine renewing my certs by getting different certs or by racking up CEUs from webinars, conference attendance, and other educational opportunities.

I've got vouchers for Linux+. DataAI, and I'm still waiting on a voucher for Data+ (which I let expire). I'm attending the SecAI TTT, and am looking forward to taking a crack at that exam to see if there's anything new for me on that exam. Mostly, I'm looking for new challenges, not just repeating old challenges.

For those who choose to pass version after version of the CompTIA exams, I wish you the best. If that works for you, I will not disparage it. It just doesn't work for me any more.
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Greg, I can appreciate your view of this subject because you are saying what all of us feel. I like that you are just maintaining the CEUs for the certs I have and moving on to other certs from different organizations. The plus to our field is that there is always something to learn, and the minus is that there is always something to learn. It is a double-edged sword.

Peter
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