If you were starting in IT from zero today, would you choose AWS or RHCSA first?

There's some good advice here already, I'll try to add something that's not already been said. 1. You're asking in a linux sub, you'll likely get skewed results favouring RHCSA, but even so it's still correct. The fundamentals of linux are incredibly relevant, pervasive, and transferable. The concepts of services, sockets, firewalls, packaging, local storage, etc. transfer well to the other domains (networking, etc.) so while it's a linux domain cert, there's a lot of transferable skill in it. Compare to CCNA, etc where it's networking focused, and while it's fantastic at that, it's not going to teach you much about storage, filesystems, etc. Put another way, there are focus areas of IT that have different knowledge paths to them. If you have an interest in a particular area, focus on that area's relevant cert path. That said, there's also a lot of value in having MULTIPLE domain knowledge for example, so RHCSA/RHCE + CCNA + AWS Associate is a well rounded skillset. 2. Red Hat's certs, as well as a few other vendors, test on direct proficiency with the technology. So it's a bit different than the multiple choice test based certs. It's a practical assessment/validation of knowledge. Those have more value than their peers and while aren't "direct experience", they validate that direct experience. Compliment these certs with the job experience and it's a very compelling combination. 3. Skip all of the COMPTIA certs unless the role you're after specifically mentions it. I know some hardware repair stores want A+ to validate the type of work they do. But in a general IT sense, they're not that relevant to the broad market. 4. There's a financial curve here also. If it costs you $250 to get COMPTIA stuff, might as well build your skills at the comfortable entry points. Vendor training & Certs can go for $5000+ pretty easy, so while those options might be most broadly recognizable and industry relevant, they might not be practical to start out with until you get a job and can earn some money.