5 Jobs You Could Get With CompTIA Project+

Project management is in high demand, and with 25% of IT job openings listing project management skills, it’s evident that more and more talent is being recruited for roles with these skills every year. Research shows that 25 million new project management professionals will be needed by 2030, and IT hiring managers are looking for IT pros who can participate in a project, write reports and communicate with IT project teams.

If you’re looking to use project management skills in your role, take a look at CompTIA Project+. The CompTIA Project+ certification validates the skills an early-career project manager needs.

With the median annual salary for CompTIA Project+-certified professionals in the United States and Canada being $104,360 – job outlook is promising. Keep in mind that there are many factors that influence salary such as location, job level, years of experience, organization size and more.

But you don’t have to be in project manager roles to use project management skills. Let’s take a closer look at the job roles that IT professionals who have CompTIA Project+ are qualified for:

• Project coordinator
• Quality assurance analyst
• Tier II help desk
• System administrator
• Business analyst

What Skills Does CompTIA Project+ Cover?

Before we dive headfirst into each of these job roles, let’s look at how CompTIA Project+ prepares you for these job roles. CompTIA Project+ covers the latest foundational skills demanded by hiring managers, preparing you for your next career move or to take Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

CompTIA exams are developed through an intensive process where professionals come together and discuss what knowledge, skills and abilities are required to perform certain job roles. That means you can be sure the topics covered by CompTIA Project+ match what project managers need to know to succeed in their roles.

After taking the CompTIA Project+ exam, individuals will have the skills to:

• Manage the project lifecycle
• Coordinate small- to medium-size projects
• Establish an appropriate communication plan while managing resources and stakeholders and coordinating project documentation
• Support the completion of larger projects within an IT environment

Learn more about basic project management skills you need for your IT career.

It’s no surprise that these are the exact skills covered by CompTIA Project+ (Check out the exam objectives for yourself – download them for free!). Organizations are looking to hire qualified professionals who know the ins and outs of project management.

5 Jobs You Could Get With CompTIA Project+

If you earn CompTIA Project+, you may be interested in one of the following in-demand IT jobs.

1. Project Coordinator

If you like to coordinate team work on projects, organize project details or assist your project manager using excellent communication and your growing project management skills, then a career as a project coordinator could be your next move.

A project coordinator is an entry-level, steppingstone position that helps the IT project manager coordinate project phases while keeping on task and on budget.

A project coordinator supports projects in the following ways:

• Coordinating team work on projects with a defined scope, start and completion point
• Assisting the project manager
• Coordinating project team activities and communication
• Organizing meetings and tracking project budgets and schedules
• Organizing contracts, files and reports
• Coordinating projects in construction, information technology or in other industries

The median advertised salary for project coordinators is $47,000 as of September 2022 – 3% higher than the median national wage in the United States. (Source: Lightcast)

2. Quality Assurance Analyst

If you are interested in developing and executing software test plans and have an admiration for problem-solving, then being a quality assurance (QA) analyst could be for you.

A quality assurance analyst supports their organization in the following ways:

• Creating test plans, scenarios and procedures for new software
• Identifying project risks and recommending steps to minimize those risks
• Implementing software testing, using either manual or automated programs and exploratory testing, and evaluating results
• Documenting and reporting defects or problems with software

The median advertised salary for QA analysts is $98,000 – 115% higher than the median national wage in the United States. (Source: Lightcast)

3. Tier II IT Support Technician

Once you’ve mastered your work as a Tier I IT support technician, you can move up to Tier II, where you are often met with more complex and difficult challenges while being able to straddle the technical world of IT and the practical side of customer service.

A Tier II IT support technician may also be advertised as a Tier II help desk technician or analyst, or even a Tier II system support technician.

An IT pro in this position is responsible for assisting internal or external clients in the following ways:

• Resolving complex issues requiring detailed systems and applications knowledge that have been escalated from Tier I
• Maintaining system capabilities by testing existing equipment and programs
• Trying out new systems and software
• Training users on proper use of hardware and software
• Managing and training Tier I support technicians

The median annual salary for Tier II IT support technicians is $42,034. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS))

4. Systems Administrator

If you are interested in working with the day-to-day operations of computer networks and keeping IT systems running, then systems administrator could be for you.

A systems administrator’s responsibilities include:

• Ensuring the organization’s hardware and software are working as intended
• Installing all applications needed to support the organization
• Updating systems when new software is released
• Maintaining user accounts and access

The median advertised salary for systems administrators is $81,000. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS))

5. Business Analyst

Business analysts observe companies and look for improvement opportunities. They help organizations identify problems, discuss solutions and implement change by conducting interviews, observing meetings and analyzing data. If you crave big picture problem-solving, a career as a business analyst could be your next move.

Business analysts supports their organization in the following ways:

• Analyzing a business process and making sure company technology is suited for the task
• Understanding stakeholder goals and implementing progress tracking methods
• Interpreting data analytics to inform business decisions

The median advertised salary for business analysts is $79,306. (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS))

No matter what your next career move may be, CompTIA Project+ can help get you there.

Looking for more about CompTIA Project+? Check out these articles:

• The New CompTIA Project+: Your Questions Answered

• How To Study for CompTIA Project+

• CompTIA Project+ 004 vs 005: What’s the Difference? 

If you want to land one of these jobs, CompTIA Project+ can validate your project management skills. Download the CompTIA Project+ exam objectives to start studying for your next career in IT.