5 SaaS Jobs the New CompTIA A+ Can Prepare You For

It’s alright if you feel a bit overwhelmed as you look for your first job. It’s hard to break into any career field, and IT is no different. Actually, IT can be worse than most career fields because of how fast the world adopts new technologies and raises expectations. It can sometimes feel like just as you get your feet under you and gain some knowledge and experience, the world has already moved on to something new. The current trend in the IT world is Software as a Service (SaaS) providers and apps. That’s why the A+ certification from CompTIA emphasizes SaaS familiarity in the new versions of its two tests. Thanks to its emphasis on SaaS, there are five entry-level positions in IT that are much easier to qualify for with the A+: Help Desk Technician, Technical Support Specialist, Field Service Technician, Junior Systems Administrator, and Associate Network Engineer. Read on and learn why the emphasis the CompTIA A+ puts on software as a service can help you earn one of those positions.

What is CompTIA and What is the A+?

CompTIA is a non-profit professional organization that creates tests and certifications for the entire IT career field. What makes CompTIA special is all their certifications are vendor-neutral, which means they are more interested in people being qualified in a job role and with technology generally, not in any one piece of hardware or combination of software.

The A+ is CompTIA’s entry-level certification for the IT industry. It covers a broad familiarity with the skills and knowledge that someone getting started in IT would need to know, regardless of what specific part of IT they have a job in, or what technology stack or suite they’ll work with. The A+ tests someone’s ability to solve problems creatively and get to the bottom of technology problems through troubleshooting, core technology familiarity and mastery of skills related to all fields of IT.

The CompTIA A+ certification covers nine major areas, the core skills that any IT employee needs: hardware components and devices; operating systems; software troubleshooting; networking and connections; device and network troubleshooting; security and vulnerabilities; mobile devices; virtualization and cloud computing; operational procedures and professionalism. The newest version of A+ emphasizes all of that with a particular focus on Software as a Service familiarity.

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Why is the Emphasis A+ Puts on SaaS Good for Entry-level IT jobs?

In October 2022, CompTIA updated the two tests necessary for earning the A+. As they’ve done every three years since 2001, CompTIA updated areas of the test to make sure the skills and knowledge they test are relevant and up-to-date. With this update, the two A+ tests 220-1101 and 220-1102 focus much more on software as a service applications and on understanding the relationships with specialized providers who supply SaaS programs.

In the wake of the pandemic crisis and the massive surge of work-from-home opportunities for companies and employees alike, more and more companies need the services of entry-level IT professionals who can understand, optimize and troubleshoot their remote employees’ hardware, software and connections. Typically, those services are provided in a SaaS model, which is why the A+ focuses on remote troubleshooting and understanding SaaS models and apps.

See also: 3 Most Important Skills Tested by CompTIA's New A+.

What SaaS Jobs Can the A+ can Prepare You For?

Combining the new focus of the CompTIA A+ on software as a service familiarity with its long-time trend of excellence in preparing entry-level employees for their first job means there’s never been a better time to get the A+ and land a job supporting remote work and SaaS services. Different companies might use different terms to describe these jobs, but the five jobs the A+ can help you toward are help desk technician, technical support specialist, field service technician, junior systems administrator, and associate network engineer.

Help Desk Technician

A help desk technician diagnoses and solves computer issues, trains end users in new technology, repairs hardware, and configures software. Although many help desk technicians work on-site, more and more companies are seeing the value in having remote help desk technicians. The A+ doesn’t just cover those skills necessary, it focuses on skills working remotely and ensuring you can identify and describe issues clearly while handling messy tech problems professionally.

Technical Support Specialist

Technical support specialists tend to address problems that rise above the level of quick fixes and problems with a fast turnaround. A technical support specialist maintains systems through component tests and active updates or configurations. They might even try out new software or stress-test equipment to test future deployments. The A+ emphasizes knowing when to troubleshoot and fix software, and when to turn back around to the provider and have them fix it because technical support specialists run into SaaS solutions and applications provided by third parties all the time. 

Field Service Technician

In the past, what made a field service technician special was that they physically visited sites to address problems. But field service technicians aren’t always going out in person to address problems. More and more, they’re jacks-of-all-trades who resolve difficult problems with multiple inputs. The A+ tests familiarity with untangling complicated problems and knowing how to accurately, succinctly describe them – like when a hardware component is competing with network settings, and neither are aligned with a SaaS solution. 

Junior Systems Administrator

There are some systems administrators who work with SaaS solutions more often than traditional software solutions. A systems administrator must be able to quickly identify when a remote software solution, for example, Outlook or Salesforce, isn’t working because it’s a problem on the provider’s end and not a conflict with their network or their company’s hardware. That’s not always easy to see, but the A+ tests that you can keep your network running with SaaS familiarity.

Associate Network Engineer

It would be a big jump to go from no experience to associate network engineer, but it’s not unheard of. And a network engineer would benefit from the SaaS knowledge the A+ covers because so many networks are now being developed and optimized to keep SaaS services running smoothly and uninterrupted. Earning the A+ proves to an employer that their new network engineer understands the relationships between SaaS providers and their own network and will keep everything running smoothly.

How You Can Prepare for the New SaaS Content on the CompTIA A+

CompTIA began the process of retiring 220-1001 (Core 1) and 220-1002 (Core 2) in April 2022, and as of October 2022, the 220-1101 and 220-1102 are the only versions of the A+ tests you can take. If you prepared for the earlier, retired versions of the test, you don’t have to start over from scratch. All of CBT Nuggets courses are broken up into short videos that address specific parts of each exam, so you can watch just the sections of the CBT Nuggets A+ training that are new to the 220-1101 and 220-1102.

Keep in mind that CompTIA didn’t add a new section to the exam, they only incorporated SaaS familiarity and emerging, changing technologies like IoT device security and scripting into the original nine sections of IT familiarity. So if it’s been a while since you prepared for the A+, you might want to start over from the beginning of an A+ course and make sure you’re ready.

Software as a Service applications and models are the new normal for more and more companies in the wake of the work-from-home rush. Entry-level IT professionals who understand SaaS solutions, how to troubleshoot them remotely, and how to recognize the right time to escalate issues to providers are more valuable now than they’ve ever been. The A+ certification from CompTIA is developed with that in mind and is perfect for someone looking for their first job in the IT career field. The best way to prepare for those jobs and the A+ test is with a CBT Nuggets course.