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Entry-Level IT Certifications That Pay Well: Your Fast Track to $70k+
If you have not chosen your first exam yet, start with entry-level IT certifications first. This page stays focused on which entry-level certs can raise pay fastest after that baseline is set.
Imagine snagging a $70,000+ starting salary in IT without any experience. Entry-level IT certifications that pay well, like CompTIA Security+, make this a reality for career changers. If you’re new to tech or switching jobs, this guide is for you - no degree needed.
If you already know your target role, use the IT certification roadmap to choose the right sequence.
A former warehouse worker can pass Security+ in eight weeks and land a SOC analyst role at $72k. A retail manager can earn her AWS CCP and step into a cloud support role within three months. These aren’t edge cases—they’re increasingly common, and the certifications making it happen are cheaper and faster than any four-year degree.
If you want the broader beginner shortlist, compare best IT certifications for beginners and beginner IT certifications after you have the baseline in hand.
The average four-year CS degree costs $100,000+ and takes—well, four years. A Security+ exam costs $392 and can be passed in two months. The math isn’t subtle.
Why Chase Entry-Level IT Certs Now?
Over 300,000 entry-level IT jobs sit open in the US right now. Certified pros snag 20-30% higher pay than non-certified ones.
For more on this topic, see our guide on best it certifications for beginners 2025.
For more on this topic, see our guide on it certifications for remote jobs.
Cybersecurity and cloud roles explode with demand. Employers in healthcare, finance, and government are especially hungry—these sectors face strict compliance requirements and desperately need certified talent to fill gaps fast. Grab CompTIA A+ or AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CCP)—no experience required.
Security+ alone opens doors to $60k-$80k junior roles. The Department of Defense requires it for contractors handling sensitive data, which means federal job boards are flooded with Security+-required postings that stay open for months. It’s a straightforward choice in 2026’s hot market.
Remote work has also turbocharged demand. Companies that once required local candidates now hire certified IT professionals nationwide, which dramatically expands your job search radius and increases offer competition in your favor.
The talent gap isn’t closing anytime soon. Cybersecurity Ventures projects 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs globally through 2027. Cloud adoption is still accelerating across mid-market companies that lagged behind enterprise during the pandemic. The window is wide open—and a cert is the fastest key to walk through it.
If security is your target, compare cybersecurity certifications after the first-cert baseline.
Which Certs Pay the Most?
CompTIA Security+ nets junior analysts $70k-$90k on average. From what I’ve seen, it beats most starters hands-down. Employers treat it as a baseline signal of seriousness—someone who passed Security+ can hit the ground running faster than someone who didn’t.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner pulls $85k+ for cloud support gigs. Think early improvements in booming cloud teams. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google all run massive cloud infrastructure, and smaller companies that migrated to the cloud during the pandemic still need ongoing support staff.
Cisco CCNA lands network engineers $65k-$90k starting. Solid for networking fans. Network infrastructure doesn’t go away—every company running offices, data centers, or hybrid environments needs people who understand routing and switching.
Google’s Professional Cloud Associate is another strong contender. It’s slightly harder than AWS CCP but commands similar pay, and Google Cloud is growing its enterprise footprint fast. If your target employers run Google Workspace internally, the GCP path can be a natural conversation starter in interviews.
CompTIA Network+ sits between A+ and CCNA on the difficulty curve. It pays $55k-$70k at entry level and serves as a strong stepping stone if CCNA feels like too big a jump right out of the gate. Many hiring managers at MSPs and regional IT firms treat Network+ as the networking baseline, the same way they treat Security+ for cybersecurity roles.
If you still need the baseline, return to entry-level IT certifications before adding a second cert.
Salary Comparison Table
| Certification | Avg Entry Salary | Top Jobs |
|---|---|---|
| Security+ | $75k | SOC Analyst |
| AWS CCP | $85k | Cloud Support |
| CCNA | $80k | Network Tech |
| Google Cloud Associate | $82k | Cloud Engineer |
| CompTIA A+ | $52k | Help Desk / IT Support |
| CompTIA Network+ | $63k | Network Support Tech |
Numbers from CompTIA reports and job sites show certified folks earn more fast. Glassdoor and LinkedIn salary data consistently back these ranges across major metro areas and remote roles alike.
Salary ranges also shift by industry. Healthcare IT roles with Security+ often pay a 10-15% premium over retail or hospitality IT because of HIPAA compliance requirements. Federal contractor roles requiring DoD 8570 compliance—which Security+ satisfies—regularly post $80k-$95k for entry-level analyst positions.
How Do Top Certs Compare?
Costs? CompTIA A+ runs $492 for two exams at $246 each. CCNA’s just $300. Security+ sits at $392 for a single exam—steep for one test, but the ROI on a $70k+ job offer is obvious.
Study time varies. A+ takes 3-5 months; Security+ wraps in 2 months with focus. AWS CCP can realistically be done in 4-6 weeks if you’re studying two hours a day and using the AWS Free Tier for hands-on practice.
Demand rules. Security+ hits 70% of cyber postings; AWS rides the cloud wave. Here’s the thing: in aws vs azure certifications compared, AWS edges for entry pay. Azure is more dominant in enterprise Microsoft shops, but AWS has a wider job market overall at the entry level.
Renewal matters too. Security+ and A+ require renewal every three years via continuing education or retesting. AWS CCP renews every three years as well. CCNA is also three years. Factor that into your long-term planning.
One often-overlooked comparison point is employer reimbursement. Many mid-size and large companies reimburse exam fees—sometimes before you’ve even passed. Ask during your job search whether prospective employers cover cert costs. Landing a help desk role at $52k with full cert reimbursement is a better deal than it looks on paper, especially if you’re planning to stack Security+ within your first year.
Pros and Cons List
- Security+: Pros—high pay, huge demand, DoD-approved; Cons—some math-heavy crypto bits require real study time. a strong option for security.
- A+: Pros—easy entry to IT support, widely recognized by MSPs and help desks; Cons—lower $50k-ish salary. Great starter, honestly overrated long-term.
- AWS CCP: Pros—fast study, cloud boom, pairs well with developer roles; Cons—less hands-on depth than CCNA, sometimes seen as a “surface level” cert by senior engineers.
- CCNA: Pros—respected by network teams, clear career path to CCNP; Cons—harder exam, more study time required upfront.
- Network+: Pros—vendor-neutral, recognized at MSPs and enterprise help desks, solid bridge to CCNA; Cons—not as differentiated as CCNA in competitive networking job markets.
For networking certifications roadmap 2026, CCNA tops the list after A+.
How Much Time and Money?
CompTIA A+: $492 total, prep in 3-5 months part-time. Use free YouTube labs. Professor Messer’s free video course is the go-to starting point—his content is clear, current, and genuinely exam-focused.
Google IT Support on Coursera? $49/month, done in 3-6 months. Leads to $50k-$60k help desk. The Coursera certificate carries real weight with hiring managers at mid-size companies and is a legitimate bridge if you’ve never touched IT before.
AWS CCP: $100 exam fee, study 1-2 months. Free tier for practice—major advantage. Spin up EC2 instances, mess with S3 buckets, and explore IAM roles without spending a dime. Hands-on exposure makes the exam concepts click much faster than flashcards alone.
Security+: Budget $392 for the exam plus another $30-$50 for a quality study guide like Mike Chapple’s or Darril Gibson’s book. Total cost under $500 if you use free resources like CertMaster Learn trials and Professor Messer’s practice tests.
CCNA: The $330 exam fee is the main cost, but the real investment is time. Expect 4-6 months of consistent study, especially if subnetting and routing protocols are new to you. Jeremy Cioara’s CBT Nuggets course is the gold standard for CCNA prep—it’s pricey as a standalone subscription, but Udemy alternatives from Jeremy himself run $15-$20 on sale.
Budget under $500? Stack CompTIA first. Scrum master certification review later for management jumps.
A realistic total budget breakdown for a complete beginner aiming for Security+:
- Professor Messer practice tests: $39
- Mike Chapple study guide: $45
- Exam voucher: $392
- Total: ~$476
That’s a full certification in a high-demand field for less than the cost of a single college credit hour at most universities.
What Study Resources Actually Work?
Free resources get underestimated. Professor Messer covers A+, Network+, and Security+ comprehensively on YouTube and his site. TryHackMe and Hack The Box are hands-on platforms built for security learners—both have free tiers that are genuinely useful.
TryHackMe in particular is worth calling out. Their structured learning paths like “Pre-Security” and “SOC Level 1” are designed exactly for certification students and career changers. Completing a TryHackMe path and listing it on your resume alongside your Security+ demonstrates actual hands-on exposure—something a lot of entry-level candidates are missing.
Paid resources worth the money: Jason Dion’s Udemy courses consistently sell for $15-$20 during sales and are updated regularly. Mike Chapple’s Security+ study guide is thorough and readable. Udemy also carries AWS and CCNA courses from trusted instructors like Neal Davis and Jeremy Cioara.
Practice tests are non-negotiable. Aim for 80%+ on practice exams before booking your real test. Boson and MeasureUp offer high-quality question banks that closely mirror real exam difficulty. Don’t skip this step—people who fail their first attempt almost always say they skipped consistent practice testing.
For AWS specifically, Stephane Maarek’s Udemy courses are consistently rated among the best. His CCP course walks through every service tested on the exam with clear diagrams and demo walkthroughs. Pair it with the official AWS Skill Builder free tier and you have a complete study package for under $25.
Study groups help more than most people expect. Reddit communities like r/CompTIA and r/AWSCertifications are active and supportive. Discord servers for Security+ and AWS also exist where members share resources, hold each other accountable, and post fresh job leads.
A simple study schedule that works for full-time workers: 45-60 minutes in the morning before work, one longer two-hour session on weekends. Consistency beats marathon cramming every time. People who study 45 minutes daily for eight weeks outperform those who try to cram the week before the exam.
Pick Your Perfect Cert?
Match your goals. Security? Sec+. Networking? CCNA via 2026 roadmap. Support? A+. Cloud with a soft landing? AWS CCP. The worst move is chasing whatever sounds highest-paying without connecting it to roles you’d actually enjoy doing day-to-day.
If you are optimizing for salary ceiling, compare highest paying IT certifications only after the entry-level path is set.
Tight budget under $500? CompTIA stack wins. Check job postings—Security+ dominates 70% of entry security roles. Search LinkedIn or Indeed for “entry level security analyst” in your target location and scan the required skills. You’ll see Security+ appear over and over.
In my experience, cloud like AWS beats Azure for pure entry pay in aws vs azure certifications compared. That said, if every major employer in your city runs Microsoft 365 and Azure AD, chasing AZ-900 and AZ-104 makes more local sense than defaulting to AWS.
Consider what doors each cert opens beyond the first job. Security+ leads naturally to CySA+, then CISSP down the road. CCNA leads to CCNP. AWS CCP leads to AWS Solutions Architect Associate, which commands $110k-$130k at the mid-level. Pick a cert that fits a career path, not just a starting salary.
If you genuinely can’t decide, do a quick exercise: search your target job title on LinkedIn and look at the “Skills” section of five to ten job postings. The certifications that appear most often across those postings are your answer. Let the actual job market tell you what employers want rather than relying on anyone’s opinion—including this one.
How to Stack Certifications for Maximum Pay
One cert gets you in the door. Two certs gets you a raise. The right stack within two to three years can push total compensation well past $90k even without a degree.
The most proven entry-level stacking order for cybersecurity: A+ → Network+ → Security+ → CySA+. Each cert builds on the last conceptually, which cuts your study time for subsequent exams. Passing A+ makes Network+ easier. Passing Network+ makes Security+ click faster.
For cloud: AWS CCP → AWS Solutions Architect Associate → AWS SysOps or Developer Associate. The SAA alone jumps average salaries by $25k-$30k over CCP-only roles. Adding a second Associate-level cert makes you genuinely competitive for mid-level cloud engineer roles within two years.
For networking: A+ → CCNA → CCNP. The CCNP is associate-to-mid-level territory and brings salaries into the $95k-$120k range for network engineers in major metros. It’s a longer road, but network engineering is one of the more stable and recession-resistant IT specialties.
Mixing tracks also works. Security+ + AWS CCP is an increasingly popular combo for cloud security roles, which are growing faster than either pure cloud support or pure SOC analyst positions. Cloud security engineers with both certs regularly see $85k-$100k at entry level.
Land Jobs Fast with Certs?
Build hands-on labs. AWS Free Tier for cloud; TryHackMe for Security+ attacks. Home lab setups using VirtualBox or free cloud accounts signal initiative to hiring managers in a way that a study guide highlight reel never can.
Resume hack: Quantify wins—“Resolved 100+ tickets in sims.” Target help desk at $50k, junior analyst at $70k. Include your cert prominently—put it right after your name in the header if you don’t have a degree. Recruiters scan quickly, and a visible cert abbreviation like “CompTIA Security+” catches the eye fast.
Apply to 50 jobs weekly on Indeed. Track progress—certs speed interviews. Create a simple spreadsheet with columns for company, role, date applied, response, and follow-up date. Job hunting is a numbers game and tracking prevents things from slipping through the cracks.
LinkedIn matters more than most new job seekers realize. Optimize your profile headline to include your cert and target role—something like “CompTIA Security+ | Aspiring SOC Analyst | Entry-Level Cybersecurity.” Recruiters search by keyword and a clean, cert-forward profile gets inbound messages more often than a blank or generic one.
Don’t ignore staffing agencies. Firms like TEKsystems, Robert Half Technology, and Insight Global place entry-level IT candidates regularly and often have relationships with companies that don’t post publicly. A quick conversation with a tech recruiter can surface roles you’d never find scrolling job boards alone.
Your cover letter matters less than your cert and your lab work, but it still matters. Keep it to three short paragraphs: why you’re switching to IT, what you’ve done to prepare (cert + labs + hands-on practice), and what specific role you want. Skip the generic templates. Hiring managers can tell in two sentences whether you wrote it yourself or recycled a LinkedIn template.
Wrapping Up: Top Picks and Next Steps
Entry-level IT certifications that pay well? Go Security+, AWS CCP, CCNA. They boost you to $70k+ fast. The market is real, the demand is consistent, and the barrier to entry is lower than almost any other professional field offering salaries in this range.
Next: Pick one, build a 2-month study plan on platforms like Coursera. Apply to 50 jobs. Track salary in 6 months—you’ll thank yourself. The only bad move is waiting for the “perfect moment” that never comes. Pick a cert, open a free account on the relevant platform today, and put your first study session on the calendar tonight.
The people who land $70k+ IT jobs within six months of starting aren’t necessarily the smartest people in the room. They’re the ones who picked one cert, followed a consistent study plan, built a basic home lab, and applied aggressively. The formula is repeatable. The only variable is whether you start.
