CompTIA Is Making a New Mark on the IT Certification Industry

Until this announcement on July 31, tech industry association CompTIA had exactly one practitioner/expert level certification: CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner, or CASP+. That is about to change, in rather dramatic fashion.

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In 2024, CompTIA will launch itself into the ranks of advanced certification providers with a three-pronged "Xpert Series product family" that will offer more complete certification ladders in three important areas:

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DataX — This credential will address advanced data science and analytics.
CloudNetX — This credential will address advanced network and system architecture design and management.
SecurityX — This credential, which is replacing CASP+, will address advanced security architecture, engineering, and cybersecurity readiness.

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(Notice anything different? Like a rancher with a new cattle iron, CompTIA is tweaking its widely-recognized brand, tilting the familiar plus sign used to identify all prior credentials into an authoritative "X.")

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As quoted in the afore-linked announcement, CompTIA's Chief Product Officer Thomas Reilly said "Each certification exam will validate deep expertise in job roles recognized as being at the expert level. Beyond validating technical skills, IT pros who earn a CompTIA Xpert Series certification will have demonstrated their ability to understand, implement and articulate advanced technology solutions in any business environment."

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Reilly also indicated that this effort is "a foundation for a broader expansion into expert-level credentials and learning." From where I sit, this means it's just a start and that CompTIA will probably add to its expert-level offerings in 2025 and beyond.

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I see this as a natural evolution of CompTIA's existing certification portfolio and its continued commitment to professional training and development across the entire skills and knowledge spectrum. It's not unfair to see this as a doubling down on CompTIA's coverage of key IT tools and technologies for its member organizations, industry, and other market niches.

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More About the Announced XPert Series Product Family Members

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What about those various planned initial offerings? Here's a bit more detail, with a registration link for those who might want to keep up with one or more of these upcoming offerings.. A good place to get started is on the Xpert Series home page itself, which includes the same kind of information.

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Again, and in more detail, those three Xpert Series credentials are:

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DataX: This one covers advanced data science and analytics topics. It aims to validate candidates' understanding and knowledge of data science and analytics, their abilities to build upon data trends, analytics and AI to make predictions and forecasts, and their skills and abilities to communicate such insights and undersandings to business stakeholders and executives.

The knowledge domain encompasses typical tasks and assignments undertaken by someone who fills the senior data scientist role. Thus, DataX completes a natural progression from the CompTIA Data+ certification.

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CloudNetX: This one covers advanced networking and cloud topics. It aims to validate candidates' skills and knowledge of advanced network and system architecture as it applies to designing and managing complex hybrid IT infrastructures and environments (including private and public cloud platforms, data centers, SaaS applications and integrations, and more).

The knowledge domain is built around typical tasks and assignments undertaken by someone who occupies one or more of the following architect-level roles: networking, infrastructure, enterprise, and cloud. Here, CloudNetX is a natural follow-on for Network+ and Cloud+.

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SecurityX: Again, this is a rebranded version of the existing CASP+ credential. Thus it already serves as what CompTIA calls "an advanced-level cybersecurity certification for security architects and senior security engineers charged with leading and improving an enterprise's cybersecurity readiness." As such, it aims to validate the skills and knowledge of security professionals who have 10 or more years of IT experience, and 5 or moreyears of direct, relevant cybersecurity experience.

The knowledge domain covers typical tasks and assignments undertaken by those who fill either (or both) of senior security engineer or security architect roles. On this ladder, the natural predecessor would be the Security+ certification.

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Further Updates as Events Warrant

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It's still a little early in the development cycle to tell exactly what the exam objectives will be, as well as forecast details on what areas of skill and knowledge they will drill into. But if anything, CompTIA is incredibly disciplined and meticulous in its research into job tasks and associated skills and knowledge requirements. Such details are certain to emerge as we head into 2024.

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Stay tuned! This ought to be interesting — and it's certain to give organizations like The Open Group, (ISC)², and ISACA a bit of heartburn as another major competitor jumps into their arenas.