The demand for security professionals has never been higher. Organizations are desperate to hire people who understand cybersecurity, and they’re offering salaries that reflect that desperation. But there’s a problem: everyone who wants to move into security is asking the same question, which certification should I get? And the answers you get are all over the place, ranging from “Security Plus is essential” to “CISSP is the gold standard” to “you don’t need any certifications, just experience.” The reality is more nuanced, and it matters because you’re going to spend months of your life studying for whatever certification you choose.

Let me give you something useful: a practical map of which certifications actually open doors and which ones are mostly resume padding. I’m going to be honest about what each one proves, what barrier to entry it has, and whether it’s a sensible first step or a dead end.

CompTIA Security Plus: The Baseline Everyone Still Expects

Let’s start with CompTIA Security Plus, also known as Security+. For a decade, it’s been the closest thing to a universal entry-level security certification. The U.S. Department of Defense requires it for certain government contracting positions. Federal agencies use it as a baseline credential for hiring. Most large organizations ask for it on security job postings, even if they don’t strictly require it.

Here’s what Security+ actually proves: you understand basic security concepts, you know how firewalls and encryption work at a theoretical level, you understand authentication and authorization, you know what common attack vectors look like, and you’ve studied for a standardized test that CompTIA administers. It’s breadth without depth. You won’t be an expert in anything, but you’ll have a working vocabulary that your peers can assume you have.

The practical reality is that Security+ is not optional if you want to work for the federal government or federal contractors. If that’s your target, you need it. If you’re looking at corporate security roles, it’s become less of a hard requirement and more of a nice-to-have. Organizations will interview candidates without it, but all things being equal, they’ll prefer someone with it because it signals that you’ve taken the certification seriously enough to study for it. It’s a straightforward starting point, especially if you’re coming from a general IT background and looking to specialize.

The test costs around $400, and you’ll probably spend 20 to 40 hours studying for it, depending on how much security background you already have. If you’ve worked in IT for a few years, you’ll recognize a lot of the concepts. If you’re coming from outside IT entirely, you’ll be learning a lot of new material. The test is offered online and at testing centers. It’s a managed exam, which means you’re taking it under supervision to prevent cheating. You can study using exam prep books, online courses, practice tests, or a combination of all three.

The CISSP Problem: Valuable but Gated

CISSP, the Certified Information Systems Security Professional credential from ISC2, is the most prestigious security certification in the industry. Organizations respect it, it’s hard to earn, and CISSP holders command higher salaries than people with other certifications. It’s also completely impractical as a first certification, and you should not pursue it until you’re ready.

Here’s why: CISSP requires five years of security experience before you can even take the exam. If you take the test without the required experience, you have six months to acquire that experience before your certification lapses. So you’d have to pay for the exam, pass it, get the experience, and then reapply. It’s designed to separate people who actually work in security from people who just studied for a test.

The value is real, but the gating is deliberate. ISC2 set the requirement because they believe security professionals need real experience in the field. They’re right. The CISSP covers ten domains of security knowledge: security and risk management, asset security, security architecture and engineering, communication and network security, identity and access management, security assessment and testing, security operations, software development security, security and privacy program management, and physical and environmental security. That’s a lot to know at a theoretical level, but it’s only useful if you’ve actually lived it.

If you’re currently working in IT and thinking about moving into security, CISSP is a legitimate long-term target. Start accumulating security experience now, and in three to five years, when you have real security background, sit for the CISSP. The exam itself is expensive, around $700 to $800, and the annual membership fee is around $125. But organizations will value it because it signals that you’re serious about your career in security and that you have meaningful experience.

CySA Plus and PenTest Plus: The Mid-Level Options

CySA+, the CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst certification, sits between Security+ and CISSP in terms of difficulty and prestige. It’s designed for people who have some security experience and want to move into a more specialized role as a security analyst. It covers threat intelligence, vulnerability management, incident response, and tools that a security analyst would actually use on the job.

PenTest+, the CompTIA Penetration Tester certification, is for people who want to get into penetration testing or offensive security. It covers the methodology of testing systems for vulnerabilities, running actual attacks in controlled environments, and writing reports about what you found. Both of these certifications are harder than Security+ but accessible to someone with a year or two of security experience.

The value proposition is that they’re more practical than Security+. You’re not just learning theory; you’re learning skills you’ll actually use if you take a security analyst or penetration testing role. Organizations don’t require these in the way they require Security+, but if you’re applying for a role in vulnerability management or penetration testing, having CySA+ or PenTest+ on your resume signals that you know what you’re doing.

The caveat is that both of these assume you have some security background already. You shouldn’t try to jump straight from IT into CySA+ without some experience in a security role first. You’ll struggle with the material because it assumes familiarity with security operations.

Cloud-Specific Security Certifications: The Growing Opportunity

If you’re building a security career in 2023, you need to understand cloud security. Most organizations are running at least part of their infrastructure in the cloud, and cloud security is a completely different animal from on-premises security. AWS has the Security Specialty certification, Microsoft has the Azure Security Engineer Associate, and Google has the Google Cloud Security Engineer. These are not entry-level certifications, but they’re becoming critical for security careers.

The value here is that cloud security is newer than traditional security. There are fewer people who understand it well, which means there’s less competition and higher salaries. If you already have some security experience and you have cloud infrastructure experience, cloud security certifications are a smart move. You’re not just learning another certification; you’re learning skills that are actively in high demand and short supply.

These certifications assume you already understand cloud platforms and you have some security background. They’re not beginner-friendly, but if you meet those prerequisites, they’re valuable career moves.

ISC2 CC: The Free Entry Point

ISC2, the organization that runs CISSP, created something called the Certified in Cybersecurity credential, or CC. It’s a deliberately entry-level certification that costs nothing to sit for. You study, you take a test, you pass it, and you’re certified. There’s no five-year experience requirement and no annual membership fee required to maintain it, though ISC2 would prefer if you join.

The catch is that nobody really knows what CC means yet. It’s too new. But the value is that it’s free, and if you pass it, you can credibly claim that you’ve passed an ISC2 certification. Some organizations see it as a legitimate stepping stone to CISSP. Others see it as a placeholder. The truth is probably that it’s genuinely entry-level, it costs nothing, and there’s no reason not to pursue it if you’re interested in security, especially if you’re coming from outside IT entirely.

If you have zero security background and you’re trying to break in, CC is worth a shot. You’ll learn the basics, you’ll have a credential, and you’ll have spent no money and gotten something back. From there, you can move to Security+ or into a security role with hands-on experience.

The Hard Truth About Certifications

Here’s the thing you need to understand: certifications are not a replacement for experience. They supplement it. An employer will hire a Security+ certified candidate with two years of security experience over a CISSP holder with zero experience, every single time. The certification proves you studied, but it doesn’t prove you can do the work.

This is why hands-on lab work matters as much as the exam. Don’t just study from textbooks and practice tests. Find labs where you can actually set up firewall rules, configure authentication systems, run vulnerability scans, and see how these systems actually work. Many of the certification prep courses include lab environments. Some organizations offer free lab access. HackTheBox and TryHackMe are platforms where you can practice hands-on security skills for pretty cheap. When you actually run a vulnerability scan, interpret the results, and understand what each finding means, you learn more than you would from reading about it in a textbook.

The hiring reality is this: if you have a certification but no experience, you’ll be a junior candidate. If you have experience but no certification, you can often get hired anyway, especially in roles where the hiring manager cares more about what you can actually do than about your credentials. The combination, certification plus hands-on experience, is the strongest position.

Which One Should You Actually Get?

Start with Security+. It’s the most recognized entry-level certification, it’s attainable without extensive background experience, and it’s worth your time. Most organizations will ask for it, and having it removes a barrier in the hiring process.

From there, you have choices depending on your target. If you want to work in government or federal contracting, you might already be done with Security+. If you want to go deeper into security, get a year or two of hands-on security experience, and then decide if you want to pursue CySA+, PenTest+, or CISSP. If you’re interested in cloud security, learn a cloud platform first, and then pursue cloud-specific certifications.

And honestly, if you have solid IT experience and you’re good at your job, you can talk your way into a security role without any certification at all. The certification just makes it easier. It’s a ticket that signals you’ve taken the time to learn, but it’s not a substitute for actually knowing how to do the work.

The IT skills shortage applies in spades to security. Organizations are willing to hire and train people who show aptitude, even if they don’t have every credential perfectly lined up. But having a certification, especially Security+, removes friction from the hiring process. It signals that you’re serious, that you’ve studied, and that you have at least a working vocabulary of security concepts.

The path forward is to pick a starting point, stick with it, and combine certification study with hands-on experience. The certification alone won’t get you a job. The experience alone might. But together, they create a powerful signal to potential employers that you’re ready to work in security.