News and Updates

IT Worker Shortages Reaching Critical Point

Steven Ostrowski — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:38:54 GMT

The shortage of skilled information technology (IT) workers is fast approaching a critical point where it could negatively impact industry growth and prosperity. That dire message was delivered today by speakers on an IT workforce panel at CompTIA Colloquium, the annual gathering of leaders in the IT training and certification industry.

The current supply of skilled IT workers in the United States is simply not enough, said Tania Lavin, market research manager, Allegis Group Inc. She cited a recent survey of IT executives, who were asked to identify their biggest barriers they face in successfully completing their initiatives and projects. A full 56 percent said the biggest barrier is the lack of staff.

One industry that’s starting to feel the pinch is healthcare.

The transformation of the nation’s healthcare system with an infusion of new IT solutions may be hampered by a shortage of qualified workers, according to Norma Morganti, executive director, Midwest Community College Health Information Technology Consortium. She cited a recent study that showed in the state of Texas alone, there is projected to be a shortage of 10,000 health IT workers by 2013.

“This is the crisis that’s brewing out there,” she added. “When it comes, it’s going to be very impactful.”

Morganti also sounded a positive note about the health IT field. Healthcare providers were fearful that IT workers would not understand healthcare and would be unable to support the meaningful use of electronic health records. “What they’re finding instead is that they can take people with great IT skills and teach them about the healthcare environment to work effectively,” she said.

IT Skills in High Demand

The toughest IT jobs to fill? Lavin said there is a severe shortage of enterprise architects, cloud architects, data architects, security specialists, business intelligence specialist and mobile application developers. In the past three months job postings for security analysts have increased by 51 percent; computer support specialists, 34 percent; and systems analysts, 33 percent.

“It takes about 3.4 months to fill some of these hard-to-fill jobs, compared to 56 days for IT jobs overall,” Lavin added.

And the need isn’t going away. More than one-third of employers are adding headcount, according to the December 2011 TEKsystems IT Executive Outlook Survey.

The situation is even bleaker in Europe, said Alejandro Debenedet, international business relations director, PeopleCert Group. At a time when 23 million people are out of work in European Union countries, and the youth unemployment rate standards at 21 percent, there is a shortfall of people to fill 500,000 high-skilled jobs. That number is projected to reach 700,000 by 2015.

Lavin said companies are using more temporary hires to fill job openings and are offering higher salaries for some high-level positions. Companies also plan to train existing staff in new IT skills, but it’s unlikely they can address all their needs simply through retraining.

Debenedet outlined a three-tier pyramid of skill levels that are needed to address the issue:

Reading writing, math, science, IT literacy, language and other basic skills at the foundation level,
Occupational skills related to the specific needs of the job market at the mid-level, and
Global knowledge economy talents at the pinnacle.

“The time to act is now,” he urged. “We need government, industry, training organizations, all stakeholders working together.”

Fake It Til You Make It

Lisa Fasold — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:15:31 GMT

Yes, your organization has or should have a branding plan for itself, but do you, personally, have a branding plan for you and your career? How are you preparing to move up the career ladder? Have you set a goal for yourself and then created a brand for yourself to help you achieve that goal?

These questions were front and center during the Advancing Women in IT Community breakfast at the CompTIA Annual Member Meeting this morning in Chicago. To a packed room of 60+ women and men, Kyra Cavanaugh, president and founder, Life Meets Work, discussed how you can move up in your career by developing your own brand. She offered several key steps:

Look around at others. Analyze their brand. Decide what you want your brand to be. Cavanaugh related how when she first walked into corporate conference rooms, she didn’t have a voice or brand. She first had to determine what she wanted it to be.
Align your brand with your mission. With a mission, you can’t say “yes” to everything. Do the things that support your mission. Saying “yes” to everything can mean saying “no” to yourself and what you really want your brand to be.
Don’t take no for an answer. Follow the little voice in your head. Know that you can do anything.
Fake it til you make it. Act like you belong. When Cavanaugh launched her consulting business in an industry that she did not have any history with, she gave away things for free and slowly built a bridge to the future while she learned who was who.
Never go to a networking event with a friend. You have to get out and network. Cavanaugh bemoaned the lost art of information interviews. She had reached out to people that she wanted to be like in her industry and learned how they made it. She also went to every networking event possible. She recommended walking into the event, getting a non-alcoholic drink and picking out people who are already engaged in conversation and then joining the conversation.
Be brave. It’s not easy to network and build your own brand, but believe in yourself and be bold.
Be generous at first, but only to a point. Eventually cut back and learn how to negotiate to support your value once you’re more established.
Be authentic. Speak the truth – don’t bash the competition, but make your brand authentic to whom you are.
Evolve your branding and networking efforts to fit with what you need. Consider blogging, posting videos or presentations, or network outside your organization to get your brand out in front of your target audience.

Selling the Importance of IT Training to Employers

Leslie Hague — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:38:30 GMT

The IT training industry needs to stress the importance of hiring skilled workers and providing additional IT training to the employer audience, speakers at CompTIA Colloquium said on Tuesday. It’s an audience that is sometimes overlooked, Terry Erdle, CompTIA executive vice president of certification; and Cushing Anderson, program vice president for research firm IDC, told attendees.

“We haven’t necessarily sold this to the employing world, that if they get a skilled person, it’s much better for them long-term,” Erdle said. “And certification is a good metric of that.”

While some employers worry that additional training and certification will lead employees to pursue a new job, the data shows the opposite – that employees who get professional development stay at their jobs, Erdle said.

Even a small increase in the skill and dedication metric of a project team can dramatically increase the chances of success, Anderson said, citing IDC research. “You don’t need to move (the skill level) a lot to get a lot of impact,” he said.

It’s the type of message the IT training industry should be delivering to employers, he said. “Well-trained teams perform better,” Anderson said. “I don’t think we market to this enough.”

Both Erdle and Anderson also commented on more demand for more online, self-directed training options as opposed to traditional classroom and text-based delivery models. “There’s a younger audience that communicates in different ways,” Erdle said. “We have figure out how to engage that. I think it’s a big mistake to just take yesterday’s training and slap it on an iPad.”

Always Dress to Impress

Jim Staats — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:36:00 GMT

In the often byzantine route that is today’s professional job interview process, nothing is ever simple, but how you dress comes incredibly close.
Unemployment figures are still high and the economy remains down, so if you’ve received those oh-so-wonderful sounding words, “We’d like you to come in for an interview,” consider yourself among the chosen few.

Now, just don’t blow it with your attire.

“First impressions can be lasting impressions, so be sure that your appearance isn’t distracting,” said Colleen Hughes, vice president of human resources for CompTIA.

She said the basic expectation for a candidate for an IT position is to be clean, neat and well put together. Simple rules, it would seem.

“The apparel of candidates for an IT job would be nice slacks and a dress shirt for men and nice slack or skirt with a sweater, blouse and jacket for women,” Hughes said.

Asked if attire played a different role in interviewing for an IT position when compared to other industries, Hughes saw no difference.

“An individual should dress in clean, net, well-fitting clothes appropriate for the level of the position he or she is interviewing for,” she said. “While a suit would most likely not be the normal attire for an IT job seeker, nice slacks and a shirt would be proper. It is always better to over dress than under dress.”

IT pros - they of the polo shirt and khakis addiction group - may not always be singled out for their fashion sense, but this is clearly an occasion where what one wears matters.

In a recent survey conducted by York College’s Center for Professional Excellence, human resource professionals were asked about mistakes made during job interviews and “wearing inappropriate attire” was listed as the top “interview killer.”

Another bit of qualitative data on the matter may be viewed in some quarters as dated, but the message clearly hasn’t gone out of style - unlike some fashion trends during the interval.

According to 2008 research done by Robert Half Technology, more than a third of the CIOs surveyed suggested IT professionals should wear a suit for a job interview.

Survey respondents all agreed it is better to err on the side of caution and overdress rather than showing up too casual.

Hiring manager CIOs advised candidates unsure of how to dress to ask their prospective hiring manager, recruiter or HR contact about the dress code.

As noted in a post titled, “Don’t Let Your Appearance Hurt Your Job Search,” on the Jobfully Blog, “during a job search you meet new people more often and are regularly creating a first impression.

“As a job seeker, you are selling yourself,” the post goes on suggest. “You are a package. Your achievements, credentials, experience and promise of future value are the great product inside the box. Your appearance and presentation are the outside of the box.”

The posting suggests that interview candidates really need just one or two good quality ensembles that project professional looks. Assemble a networking or first interview outfit and a variation on it and ask a good friend to weigh in with an evaluation.

Hughes said in all cases of attire, make sure not to wear anything distracting.

“The focus needs to be on the interview and the candidate,” she said.

What someone wears to an interview “can quickly speak to their judgement and common sense. If a candidate comes to an interview with a frayed polo shirt and sneakers on, it shows a general lack of awareness and respect,” added Hughes.

She concurred with her peers on the value of prior research on a prospective employer’s culture and dress code.

“An applicant for an IT job in a law firm may want to consider a sport coat, while an applicant for a job at Zappos could probably be much more casual,” Hughes said.

The following is a general list of interview attire options for men and women, culled from various professional recruitment firms.
Men’s interview attire:

Suit (solid color - navy or dark grey)
Long sleeve shirt (white or coordinated with the suit)
Belt
Tie
Dark socks, conservative leather shoes
Little or no jewelry
Professional hairstyle
Trimmed nails

Women’s interview attire:

Suit (navy, black or dark grey)
Suit skirt, length allowing you to sit comfortably
Coordinated blouse
Conservative shoes
Limited jewelry, nothing dangling
Professional hairstyle
Neutral pantyhose
Light make-up and perfume
Manicured nails

How Can We Train IT Pros for the Third Platform

Lisa Fasold — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 14:45:54 GMT

With a jam-packed room of CEOs from IT training companies during Colloquium today in Chicago, CompTIA discussed how as a group we can solve the IT skills gap quandary. Speaker Cushing Anderson, VP of worldwide project-based services research, IDC, also broadened the discussion to how trainers can best equip their students and clients to prepare them for the 3^rd platform now coming of age in the IT industry.

As CompTIA Todd Thibodeaux explained to the training audience, Colloquium is really a conference to bring the association and the trainers together so that we can learn from each other and grow the industry and the IT workforce.

As Thibodeaux went on, while the economy has slowed down, the 2008 economic downturn masked one of the biggest times of creativity in our industry with the advent of managed services, cloud computing, healthcare IT, connected networks and connected applications. During that timeframe, individuals have become their own IT managers, as the industry struggles to answer the question, “If your personal phone is your primary computing device, who is in charge of making it work?”

The pool of students going into IT careers is shrinking. Teen interest levels in the IT industry is lower than before the IT bust. At Colloquium, we will tackle, “How can we turn that trend around?”

CompTIA A+ certified IT pros make $5k more per year in their first job than people graduating from college with a social science degree. And, newly certified IT pros are much more likely to find their first job at a faster rate than students graduating with a social science degree. Yet that higher salary and faster job acquisition still aren’t motivating students into IT training.

Thibodeaux also implored the attendees to show kids and parents how non-math/science students can still consider an IT career.

As Anderson broadened the discussion, he addressed how the IT industry is moving to the 3^rd platform era. The 1^st platform focused on mainframes. The 2^nd platform involved PCs, the Internet and client/server systems. The 3^rd platform revolves around mobile devices and apps – mobility, analytics, social networking, cloud and mobile apps – pushing technology to apply to a specific business or consumer problem.

Anderson said that more smart mobile devices than PCs shipped in 2012. There were 26.8 billion mobile app downloads in 2011. By 2016, there will be 137 billion.

As new global players emerge in the 3^rd platform, China also became a larger tech market than Japan this year. China is now second in the world (U.S. is the largest market).

In 2012, 80 percent of tech spending will be on 2^nd platform products and services (20 percent will be on the 3^rd platform). But spending on the 3^rd platform will grow by 15 percent by 2020 versus 2.5 percent for the 2^nd platform. The 2^nd platform will remain flat – it’s keeping the lights on in the CIO world – but we also must embrace the 3^rd platform where the larger tech changes will come, explained Anderson.

In 2012, there are five large providers for public cloud offerings – this will grow to 40 by 2020. Who will be the third platform providers?

Second platform incumbent leaders (e.g. Oracle, SAP, HP)
Emerging market local heroes (e.g. Infosys, Alibabe)
(Re)born on the 3rd platform upstarts (e.g. Google, Amazon)
Industry-centric “business-as-a-service” (e.g. MetaScale, Panoptix, OptumInsight)

Anderson urged the training audience to help their customers align training behind business objectives. Regardless of IT focus, IT is a fight for relevance in the 3^rd platform. He said, “Your client’s innovation leveraging the 3^rd platform innovation requires training which supports:

Urgency: new training modalities and techniques to support knowledge now,
Competencies: scale, community and context,
Competition: changing uses and adoption models of IT.”

To close the IT skills gap within the 3^rd platform era, we must prove that a trained person is better than an untrained person or untrained application – an application will work better with a trained person helping it.

IT Certification equals Flourishing Career

Janet Pinkerton — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:40:29 GMT

For Dujon Walsham, passing up university in favor of taking IT certification trainings was a great decision. Five years after receiving his first professional certification (CompTIA A+), he has multiple CompTIA and vendor-specific certifications under his belt, and his career in the United Kingdom is flourishing.

His current job involves helping companies like eBay and British Airways adopt cloud computing systems, and he receives several calls per day from companies like Microsoft and Barclays asking him to come and work for them.

Studying IT at college, he recalls, “I felt like I was only scratching the surface. It was great in theory, but didn’t really teach me the interesting side of IT, such as the actual details of how computers work. Then I came across CompTIA A+, which was exactly what I was looking for. It’s a more career-focused IT qualification which assesses the skills the IT industry actually wants.”

For more information about how commitment to earning IT certifications can open up a new world of job opportunities, read Walsham's personal success story.

Weekly Word on the Street: Computer-Related Employment to Rise 22%

Jim Staats — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:46:27 GMT

Takeaway of the week is computer-related occupations are projected to have a 22-percent increase in employment according to the U.S. government. However at least one government official is already pointing the finger at the dearth of IT pros for U.S. cybersecurity challenges.

U.S. Report: Healthcare and Mobile Technology to Boost IT Jobs

Employment in all computer-related occupations is expected to grow by 22 percent by the year 2020, U.S. officials said.

According to the biennial update of employment projections released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), healthcare IT and mobile networking growth will be big boons to this workforce increase that will help some IT sectors more than others. Software developers will be the focus of the greatest demand during this period of time forecast - growing in numbers by some 28 to 32 percent - a Computerworld report on the findings states.

The report noted that U.S. programming roles in the coming decade will be hit hard by offshoring, likely putting in peril the U.S. stature as the worldwide leader in IT, insiders noted.

“The BLS projections are a bad sign for the U.S. IT graduates from universities,” said Victor Janulaitis, CEO of research firm, Janco Associates. “Those numbers do not cover the net growth necessary to give all of the graduates jobs.”

Other tidbits from the report findings:

Demand for database administrators will rise along with the ever-growing pile of big data that today’s technology can pull.
Both healthcare and security needs will help boost demand for IT managers, but cloud computing system designs could render that increase somewhat temporary.
Computer programming, most susceptible to offshoring, is estimated to show the weakest amount of growth.
Mobile networks and healthcare will also be responsible for beefing up the ranks of systems analysts.

Generation Gap Blamed for Cybersecurity Slips

A senior U.S. official suggested the growing threat of cyber-attacks across the globe stems from technology-deficient policymakers in various countries with a sea change coming.

Rose Gottemoeller, acting under-secretary for arms control and international security, told an audience this week at Estonian IT College that higher-ups in many countries “barely even know how to use an email,” an IndustryWeek article reports.

“The change will come with the new generation,” she said in her address at the Baltic nation considered to be very technically-savvy.

The nation, home to NATO’s cyber-defense center, has, however, also seen first-hand the damage that can be done in a cyber-attack. Russian hackers were likely to blame for a nasty bit of damage inflicted during a 20078 dispute with the region’s Soviet-era masters in Moscow.

Gottemoeller said governments across the world should incorporate open-source IT and social networking into arms control verification and monitoring.

“New concepts are not invented overnight, and we don’t understand the full range of possibilities inherent in the information age,” she said.

Considering a career in IT security? Learn about CompTIA Security+ certification.

Where Silicon Valley Startups Go, Investors Follow

Just the latest in a long line of sure signs that Silicon Valley once again is seen as the goose that lays the golden eggs: a recent event showing off dozens of startups drew a record number of investors and other interested individuals.

The well-known Y Combinator incubator program for the first time was shifted from the company’s Mountain View office to the nearby Computer History Museum where an estimated audience of more than 450 clogged the space to hear pitches from 66 teams, a Reuters report noted.

Turnout for the event, known in some circles as the geeks version of the Kentucky Derby in which the burgeoning businesses are the gazed-upon show horses, is the latest signal that the region is deep in the midst of an investment craze.

Though what may have helped bump up numbers for the startup program was that founder Paul Graham squeezed the program into a one-day event, another first. Investors at the event were able to log into a software program to schedule separate meetings with startups, outside of the main stage presentations that drew loud applause in many cases, according to attendees.

How CIOs See Things

New technology, security issues and better business focus are some of the key issues facing today’s chief information officers.

That’s some of the more pertinent news to come out of a moderated discussion among three individuals holding this position for some of the country’s biggest firms published in the Wall Street Journal.

Those involved in the discussion included D. Michael Bennett, of security giant BAE Systems Inc., Steve Randich, of Citigroup, and Wayne Shurts, of food retailer Supervalue.

Asked to share what they see as some of the more important technologies to emerge in the past year, answers included mobile computing, an increased business focus and more sophisticated cyber-attacks.

The leaders all agreed that addressing security threats remains paramount, but varied in their route to accomplish this. Responses included monthly awareness training via short email cartoons, integration of all security tools and controls and a deeper focus on workplace demands caused by mobile devices.

Advice for Young Women Starting their Careers

Janet Pinkerton — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:00:00 GMT

On Sarah Pang’s first day working for Illinois Sen. Alan Dixon, in the early 1980s, she asked the senator what her responsibilities would be. “Are you willing to take out the garbage?” he asked.

Pang said yes and didn’t take offense. “I knew exactly what he meant,” says Pang. “He wanted to know ‘Are you willing to do what it takes to make the place successful?’”

Currently senior vice president of CNA’s corporate communications and public affairs and co-chair of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's transition team, Pang advises young women launching their careers to think hard about what’s best for their employers and find ways to help the organizations run more smoothly and efficiently.

Other tips from Pang:

Work hard, and know your stuff: “I might not be the smartest person in the room, but I try to be the most prepared person in the room….People will almost always let you out-work them.” Being first in the office and the last to leave is not a healthy long-term career advancement career strategy, Pang notes. “But starting out, that’s the first way people notice you.”

Look for ways to control paper and process. Early in her career, Pang would volunteer to take meeting notes and keep agendas. “Those kinds of things helped my bosses, but also gave me a reason for being in the room,” says Pang. “Over time, it was a way to prove that I had more to offer.”

Continually seek and accept more responsibility: “People will turn to hard-working folks,” she says. “You learn from getting assignments.”

Know Your Company’s “Playbook:” Learn its vocabulary, its structure, its goals and processes. “You should know the terms, so you don’t have to play catch-up all the time,” she says. “You want to be able to quickly understand the issues and know what’s taking place.”

Where the IT Jobs Are

Janet Pinkerton — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:42:00 GMT

North Carolina has become a hotbed for IT jobs; Denver, Atlanta and Chicago keep growing and St. Louis has emerged as one of the top IT job markets, according to TEKsystems.

Below is TEKsystems ranking of the top 10 markets where it has seen the most demand for IT workers. The company reports that the majority of IT worker demand is in specialized job roles: business analysts, project managers, .NET developers and mobility application developers, for example.

Across the 10 top IT job markets, TEKsystems Market Research Analyst Jason Hayman sees common denominators driving IT job growth: industries—such as healthcare, finance and energy—responding to new regulations or legislations. “They have to hit new levels of efficiency or reporting, and/or they’re moving information from paper forms to electronic storage,” says Hayman. “In all of those instances, that’s were people need IT. That’s where we are seeing demand.”

North Carolina boasts not one but three markets in TEKsystems Top 10 IT Job Markets: Greensboro (#1), Raleigh (#3) and Charlotte (#8). TEKsystems has seen the region’s demand for IT workers has grown steadily for three to five years.

Hayman notes the Greensboro market is growing in synergy with the Raleigh-Durham’s Research Triangle Park, thanks in part to the region’s cheaper, skilled labor; lower cost of living, pleasant climate and large university systems (UNC, Duke). “It continues to become a hot, growing city,” says Hayman.

Denver (#2) has seen steady IT job growth for many years, as more companies and workers migrate out of Silicon Valley. Telcom and finance have been strong for years, but Denver cultivated a cleantech/alternative energy industry that’s now augmenting its energy sector. In addition, Hayman notes, the Rocky Mountain lifestyle is attracting a lot of Gen-Y professionals filling the demand for IT. “It’s become the hip new place.”

Supported in part by the energy industry, IT jobs in Texas in general have remained immune to the recession, and Dallas emerges as #4 on TEKsystems top markets for IT jobs list. Hayman notes that “As energy and utilities are hit with green legislation, they’re hiring IT workers and IT companies to help them cut costs and make their systems more efficient and effective—to make sure emissions and security features on an automated pipeline meet EPA standards, for example.”

Government mandates with aggressive deadlines are also driving health care companies’ demand for IT workers, as can be seen in Atlanta (#5, a big healthcare, telcom town). Among both healthcare providers and insurers, “Companies just can’t get enough IT workers with healthcare experience,” said Hayman.

IT systems support the financial industry’s need for increased transparency (as required by the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act) and faster transaction processing, and that drives IT job creation. “That’s where New York’s IT job market (#6) really benefits,” says Hayman.

In the Baltimore/Washington, DC, market (#7), healthcare and financial firms, plus government and its contractors help drive IT employment. Fort Meade is transforming into an intelligence center, with the expansion of the National Security Agency and the establishment of the U.S. Cyber Command. “They’re installing lots of new facilities, and we expect that to drive a big spike in IT job demand that will eventually level off,” says Hayman.

This is the first time that St. Louis (#9) appeared on TEKsystems top IT job markets list, and Hayman sees an increased IT hiring activity among St. Louis manufacturers and healthcare companies.

As an IT market, Chicago (#10) is similar to New York City, with its large finance and insurance sectors.

TEK Systems’ Top 10 IT Job Markets

IT Job Demand Rank	City	Estimated IT Market Size (millions)	Important Local Industry Sectors Driving IT Job Growth
1	Greensboro	$42	Health care (Cone Health, High Point Regional Health System, UnitedHealth Group, Aetna), financial services (Bank of America, Lincoln Financial), manufacturing (P&G, Volvo Truck, Ralph Lauren, RFMD) and mail processing/freight logistics (U.S. Postal Service, UPS).
2	Denver	$317	Finance (Wells Fargo, eWise, Western Union, CNA Financial), Telecom (Qwest, CenturyLink, Sprint Nextel), Cleantech (Vestas, GE, SMA America, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, juwi, Ascent Solar), IT startups (Aventura, DataLogix); Aerospace (Ball, Boeing, ITT, Northrup Grumman); and Healthcare (Denver Health, HealthONE, Exempla, Centra, Kaiser Permanente, Anschutz Medical Campus and the Fitzsimons Life Science District)
3	Raleigh	$132	Government (NC, Wake County, U.S. EPA), IT (new IBM Data Center, Cisco, Avaya, Red Hat), healthcare (WakeMed, Rex), business intelligence/process (SAS Institute, RTI Int’l, ACS/Xerox), pharma (GlaxoSmithKline), and Telcom (Verizon Business).
4	Dallas	$487	Energy/Utilities (Ambit Energy, Chesapeake Energy, Denbury Resources, Pioneer Natural Resources) and Telecom (AT&T, Ericsson, MetroPCS, Samsung, Verizon)
5	Atlanta	$603	Telcom (Verizon, AT&T, and a cadre of mobile application developers), and healthcare (Center for Disease Control, McKesson’s Healthcare IT division, UnitedHealth Group, Emory Healthcare)
6	New York	$924	Finance (J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, Citigroup, INTL FCStone) and Healthcare (New York City Health and Hospitals Corp., MetLife, NYLife, TIAA-CREFF).
7	Baltimore / Washington	$1,100	Government (Federal, state and their contractors such as BAE, SAIC, Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, CSC), healthcare (MedStar, Inova, GBMC Healthcare, LifeBridge, MedStar, University of Maryland Medical System, Johns Hopkins), Finance (HSBC, T. Rowe Price, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, PNC)
8	Charlotte	$146	Finance (Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citco), healthcare (Carolinas, Novant), and Energy (Siemens Energy, Duke Energy)
9	St. Louis	$151	Finance, (Wells Fargo, Edward Jones, ScottTrade), Legal, Manufacturing (Emerson Electric, Jost Chemical, Monsanto) and Healthcare (Express Scripts, BJC, SSM, Tenent, Mercy)
10	Chicago	$510	Finance (Chase, Bank of America, GE Capital), Manufacturing (Illinois Tool Works) and Insurance (Allstate, Aon, CNA)

Source: SIA (Staffing Industry Analysts) and TEKsystems proprietary data

Shoring up the First Line of Defense

Jim Staats — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 21:04:00 GMT

In Wallace Wakefield’s line of work, it’s almost redundant to say that security is of the utmost importance. Nevertheless, Wakefield, who works in IT management for the U.S. Department of Defense, remains vigilant about ways to upgrade his knowledge and skill set in this vital sector. He thinks he’s found the latest key ingredient.

As an early beta tester for the new CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) certification, Wakefield recounts the profound benefits.

“Any time you can validate what you know with what you should know and fill in the gaps, it is a solid step to self-improvement and professionalism,” said Wakefield, 46. “Holding the CASP (certification) along with the CompTIA Security+ (certification) requires you to fill the gaps on the short areas not used in your day-to-day (duties). In addition, it further shores up your current knowledge and brings a sense of pride knowing that you are able to validate your knowledge level.”

Charged with maintaining proper accreditation for all processes and products encountered within his sphere of influence, Wakefield said he’s been present as the role of security has grown from a small part of fledgling efforts to such a significant piece of today’s precise and ever-changing DoD certification procedures.

“The balance between security and operations has finally become the norm versus the extreme in either direction,” said the resident of San Antonio, Texas, an IT veteran dating back to his work on micros and WANG mainframes in the mid ‘80s.

“Security and IT is a logical flow, and my background developed the logical thought process that enables my success,” Wakefield said.

No matter if he is reviewing software updates, hardware selection, documenting systems and processes or maintaining the DoD certification and accreditation of systems, Wakefield said “whether I want it to or not, security has become the primary piece of everything I do.”

Indeed, he said his greatest career challenge was maintaining the broad level of knowledge required just to do his daily duties in such an evolving professional environment.

Wakefield took great pride in applying his Security+ knowledge along with day-to-day duties to pass the CASP exam “with minimal extra studying of targeted areas.”

He said the CASP does require extensive study into areas and domains an entry-level person would not normally touch, but an IT professional with the proper experience would benefit from the program to “fill in the gaps and jumpstart their career faster than just on-the-job training. It’s always good to make sure you know what you need to know and are still relevant.”

Weekly Word on the Street: Indian IT Outsourcing Boosting U.S. Workforce

Jim Staats — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:29:08 GMT

Takeaway of the week is we actually can survive a batch of seven days touching on the current IT job market without invoking the topics of cloud computing and big data. Some critical news this week discusses how Indian outsourcing efforts are helping U.S. workforce activity and the lack of IT skills could be the tipping point for spiraling youth unemployment in Europe.

Study: Indian IT Outsourcing Helps Boost U.S. Workforce
Outsourcing by Indian firms in the U.S. is helping to boost the employment of U.S. citizens and local job creation overall, so says a new national study.
Although Indian outsourcers employed 107,000 staff stateside last year, local hiring within the U.S. has more than doubled within the past five years, according to findings in the study done by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), released this week.

The study, apparently, is aimed at reducing criticism of stateside offshoring amid the continuing high unemployment rates in the U.S., according to a recent article in Network World.

The number of U.S. citizens hired within these parameters makes up about 30 percent compared with less than 10 percent just four years ago, said Som Mittal, Nasscom president.
Indian companies are not only creating jobs in the U.S. and investing in local firms, but Mittal said findings indicate they are also heavily involved in activities aimed at boosting the local workforce.
Outsourcers are adding to U.S. staffs to help with value-added services like consultancy to U.S. customers, domain expertise and offer assistance within the same time zone.
Mittal notes that deregulation within the Indian IT sector over the past couple decades to constitute a large market for U.S. IT equipment and services companies.

Europe: Lack of IT Skills for Youth Signals Trouble
The young folks in European countries may be adept at video games and mobile phone multitasking, but a lack of basic computing skills could spike unemployment levels to come, new research shows.
The European Commission figures estimate a shortfall of graduates with IT and digital skills that otherwise could make them more employable in today’s economy to reach 700,000 by 2015. Countries likely to be hit hard include Britain, France and Germany.

With increased unemployment figures across the continent, these new figures are especially troublesome with youth unemployment becoming a particular concern, a new Reuters report notes.

Jobs for highly-skilled candidates is estimated to rise by 16 million by 2020, while positions held by low-skilled workers will drop off by about 12 million, according to the Commission.
Antonio Tajani, European commissioner for industry and entrepreneurship, said, “Young people need to appreciate the professional aspects of the new digital world.”
He recently launched a series of events called “e-skills week” to bring added attention. European Union officials are working hard to reverse this trend and build up IT skills among the younger generation in order to make them more attractive candidates for the workforce of the new frontier.

“Supply (of skilled workers) has become a bottleneck for growth in the tech sector, creating a leaky pipeline that threatens to hamper European innovation and global competitiveness,” said Tajani.

Federal Focus on Cybersecurity
Protecting federal IT systems against cyberattack has become an increasingly visible goal among officials within the Obama Administration. Howard Schmidt, the administration’s cybersecurity coordinator, has instilled an agency-wide goal for all pertinent sectors of the government to focus on safer Internet connections, system monitoring and authentication, according to a recent article in InformationWeek based on White House blog posts.

Schmidt has set a goal of achieving 95 percent utilization of crucial cybersecurity capabilities on IT systems in those areas by 2014.

Federal cybersecurity incidents have risen dramatically over the past several years, a fact helping to drive renewed security efforts.

He was joined by experts from DoD, Homeland Security and the National Institute for Standards and Office of Management and Budget in identifying these cybersecurity priorities, given limited federal budgets of late.

Considering a career in IT security? Learn more about CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner certification.

Executive Networking 101
Say you’re an executive curious about external opportunities, but you’re unclear how to network without being too exposed. Luckily, a tip sheet has been presented for you in the form of a recent CIO-Asia article.

First bit of advice dished out is to always review every item you send out. The worst thing is to rush through a networking process that isn’t fully thought through.

Review your list of contacts and prioritize by level of trust, initiating contact with your most trusted core first and work your way outward.

Whatever you do, don’t burn bridges regardless of how tempting it may be. Social networking makes the world an even smaller place than before.

When you do reach out to one of your contact, be direct and specific in your requests. You need someone to do more than just ‘keep you on their radar screen.’

As an example, in an overture to a former colleague, ask that person the names of three companies he or she respects so you can tailor your research. Such an interaction is much more likely to stick in the mind of the other person in the event something does come up.

Become more of an online presence. Tools such as LinkedIn updates, Amazon reading lists, industry webinars and professional networking groups are constantly being viewed and considered by those around you.

How Fast Forward and IT Certifications Got an IT Career Back on Track

Janet Pinkerton — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:00:00 GMT

In early 2010, Melanie Moody had IT skills, having worked in the field for decades, but her skills were outdated because she had left her last IT job in 2005 due to health reasons. Fast Forward, a community technology center in Columbia, S.C., helped Moody earn CompTIA A+ and Network+ certifications to resume her IT career.

“Technology moves so fast in the IT field, when I tried to get back into it, I had a hard time; my knowledge was behind,” says Moody, who worked as an office manager for two years before being laid off in January 2010.

Amid recent high unemployment rates, employers can be choosy about who they hire. After she was laid off, Moody was determined to earn her IT certifications.

“You really have to have something to make yourself stand out,” she says. “By having the certifications on my resume, I would be one step up over some of these other candidates. “

In the spring of 2010, Moody learned that Fast Forward had partnered with CompTIA’s Creating IT Futures Foundation to offer online IT training and exam vouchers, and she quickly applied to the program and began to earn her A+ and Network+ certifications. In August of 2011, Moody was hired as a systems operator for Intralot, the company that administers the South Carolina Education Lottery.

Now in its 13^th year, Fast Forward offers technology programming to veterans, seniors, preschoolers and adults with special needs, using federal, state, local and private funding sources. Over the past five years, Fast Forward has administered roughly 150 scholarships—primarily for veterans— through the CompTIA Creating IT Futures Foundation.

“It’s really changed a lot of lives in this area,” says Fast Forward Executive Director Dee Albritton.

Moody came into Fast Forward’s program with experience repairing computers and helping people use computers. Out of high school, she earned a two-year certification in computer technology from an Atlanta technical school (Control Data Institute in Atlanta, which since closed). Her IT career included work as a computer technician for several companies in Atlanta and seven years as an IT support technician for the South Carolina Department of Mental Health.

Even with that background, Moody says, “I really believe the certifications helped me to get the job I have now.”

She has high praise for Albritton and the Fast Forward staff. “They were instrumental in helping me get the job I have now,” she says. “At one point, I was really struggling financially and had to turn off my Internet access. But I was able to come in to Fast Forward and get online to take my classes.”

Now Moody is preparing to take the CompTIA Security+ exam in April. She wants to continue to improve her IT knowledge and skills and increase her earning potential. The next goal? A Cisco certification.

“A Cisco certification is one of the best you can have right now in this industry, but it’s pretty expensive and time-consuming to get,” she says. “That’s why I was so thrilled to get the certifications I have now through Creating IT Futures and Fast Forward. These certifications are going to help me back into a position where I could pursue other certifications on my own.”

Certification, not College Classes, Secured Vet’s First IT Job

Janet Pinkerton — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:00:00 GMT

An IT career was something Derrick Graham pursued for years, completing online-college level IT classes while enlisted in the Navy and working as an aircraft mechanic. But it wasn’t until he completed CompTIA certifications required by Department of Defense Directive 8570 at a New Horizons Learning Center in Durham, N.C., that Graham won his first IT job.

“I didn’t get my first break until after obtaining Security+, which met one of the DoD Directives,” says Graham, now a help desk analyst with the U.S. Army Reserves (USARC) at U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. “It was a process.”

In 2010, after five years in military service, Derrick Graham had to decide whether re-up with the Navy for an aircraft-centric career, or transition out of the service and pursue IT, the field he had long preferred, full time.

The economy was in recession. But Graham thought he had an advantage because—despite moves from naval air stations in Brunswick, Maine, to Jacksonville, Fla., and tours of duty in Qatar and Djibouti, Africa—he had steadily taken college-level IT classes at Southern New Hampshire University and Jacksonville, Florida Technical College and online, pursing a bachelor’s degree in information technology through Walden University.

“I was almost done with my degree, I thought I’d get out, and I should be fine,” recalls Graham, explaining that he liked the diversity of opportunities, growth and the security of the IT job market.

But after his discharge on Sept. 15, 2010, Graham was only offered contract aircraft mechanic jobs, most in Iraq or Afghanistan on a four-month rotation. “Every time I went to a job fair (seeking an IT job), people would say, ‘we need you to have certifications,’” recalls Graham. “They were looking for someone who has A+, Network+ or other certifications.”

So Graham put his degree on hold and started working on his first certification: CompTIA Network+, an exam he successfully took (despite not having the A+ credential) soon after finishing a networking course.

He was interested in taking a course with his local New Horizons’ Computer Learning Centers, but was not able use his GI benefits until after October 2011, when the Post 9/11 GI Bill non-college degree (NCD) program came into effect, and the New Horizon’s Durham, N.C., location was approved as a GI vocational training center.

“For me, the selling point (in working with New Horizons) was that they not only help you get certified, they also help you with career searches, preparing for the interview process, how to dress, what to wear—the whole process of landing a job.”

Since enrolling in classes at New Horizon, Graham has since earned his CompTIA A+ and Security+ credentials, along with a MCTS Windows 7.

He began looking for a job after the winter holidays, once he had earned what he dubs “The CompTIA Three” (the A+, Network+ and Security+ credentials). He found his current job in about four weeks, starting in February.

In mid-March, Graham was working on MCTS Server 2008 Active Directory. He goes to class three nights a week, for three to four hours each night, driving an hour each way from his home to the New Horizons center in Durham. He estimates he studies as many hours as he’s in class, using extra study materials in addition to the course-provided content.

New Horizon’s instructor-led classes have been invaluable. “You get to actually touch and see the equipment to work on concepts you only knew in theory,” he says. His instructors have become sounding boards for his career search and, on occasion, job-related tech questions.

He’s proud of his first IT job, which he secured through a TEK Systems recruiter, but plans to move beyond the help desk role. Short term, he next aims for an enterprise desktop support job. He plans to earn more certifications (Active Directory, Server Infrastructure, CCENT and CCNA) using his GI benefits at New Horizons, with a long-term goal of becoming a security administrator and completing his bachelor’s degree in IT with a concentration in security.

“You get what you put into it,” says Graham, speaking of his work to transition out of the Navy into an IT career through New Horizons. “No risk, no reward. The effort is worth the reward.”

Women in IT – The Numbers

Anna Matthai — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:00:00 GMT

When you call the IT department or tap the talents of developers inside your organization, chances are you’ll be dealing with a man. While women accounted for 47 percent of the total U.S. labor force in January, they comprised just 28 percent of core IT occupations, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Much of this gap can be attributed to the fact that women are underrepresented in the STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and math. Between 2000-2001, women earned 57 percent of all bachelor’s degrees yet attained far fewer STEM-related degrees, including just 20 percent in engineering, 28 percent in computer and engineering sciences, 48 percent in mathematics, and 41 percent in the physical sciences. While this certainly represents an improvement over the percentages from the 1969-1970 time period when women earned only one percent of engineering degrees and 13 percent of computer science degrees, it is hardly parity.

Research suggests that the lack of interest among teenage girls stems from negative messaging (it does not help to have retailers sell t-shirts that say “Allergic to Algebra”), the lack of role models, and stereotypes that tech-related jobs are isolating or geeky. The digital divide that exists between genders is exemplified by the fact that more than half of Advanced Placement test-takers are female but only 19 percent of AP computer science test-takers are female.

While women are underrepresented in IT employment, some gains have been made. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics note that there were one million women workers in core IT positions in January 2012, representing an increase of 29 percent over January 2011. Among the various IT occupations, women account for the overwhelming majority of medical records and health information technicians (88%) and almost half of computer operators. Women make up a much smaller percentage of database administrators (36%), computer programmers (21%), computer engineers (21%) or computer and machine repair personnel (11%). Given that it has been estimated that technology job opportunities will grow at a faster rate than all jobs in the professional sector, there are many opportunities for qualified women to move into these positions.

CompTIA’s Advancing Women in IT community is committed to empowering women with the knowledge and skills to help build successful IT careers. To learn more about this community and how to get involved, visit the community website.

UK Teen Already Earning his IT Wings

Janet Pinkerton — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Lewis Shoulders is still in his teens, yet he’s already a respected IT network technician in the United Kingdom, flying round the world, working on luxury yachts, rubbing shoulders with celebrities.

By age 18, he had earned his CompTIA A+ and CompTIA Network+ certifications, using the UK training company Zenos to train for Network+ and set up job interviews before landing a job with Livewire Connections. The Surrey, England-based provider of maritime IT networks and entertainment systems uses mobile satellite technology to connect each client’s vessel to broadband voice and data services.

The Livewire Communications job requires an in-depth understanding of computers and networks, “so CompTIA certifications are really valuable here,” says Shoulders. “In fact, the company looks for people with these skills.”

For more information about how Shoulders leveraged CompTIA certifications into an exciting job, read his personal success story.

Weekly Word on the Street: Is Seattle the new Silicon Valley?

Jim Staats — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Takeaway of the week is a bright future for the right job seeker in locales as diverse as Seattle and Asia. Cloud computing, big data and - who knew? - software sales are the dominant themes in the rumbling IT job market. The upshot? Stay current, become business savvy and that bright future could be yours.

Coffee, Rain and Tech
Is Seattle the new Silicon Valley?
While the job market continues to percolate in the titan of tech regions, several factors are leading many to point to the emerald city of the Northwest as America’s next great tech hotspot.
The attractive combination of natural beauty and reasonable real estate, gas and energy costs is leading more start-ups and bigger firms to set up shop in Seattle, a recent article in VentureBeat suggests.

The region, home to multiple universities with formidable engineering programs, offers a deep talent pool, along with favorable costs per square footage of office space. What’s also attractive from an employer perspective is statistical proof provided which shows that average salaries for positions such as project manager are lower in the Pacific Northwest.

Cloud Rains Down Dell Data Centers Across Asia
Seattle not your thing. How about Asia?

Dell expects to build up more than 20 data centers in the massive region in response to growing customer demand for public and private cloud entities. That’s what the firm’s head of its Asia Pacific and Japan region said in a piece in CIO Asia recently.

Pace of investment in these sites, expected to begin in India, will depend on continued growth of demand, said Amit Midha, Dell’s president for APJ. “This is a transition which will run for several years to come,” he said.

The company is also seeing increased demand for its equipment and design services, especially in China, he said. Largely focused on the U.S., Europe, Middle East and Africa, the company started rolling out its services delivery capability in this region beginning last year.

Midha described 2011 as an investment phase for services expected to continue this year.

He expected the company to tap into its 23,000-strong staff in India which to date has been focused on outsourcing for customers in other regions.

Midha said plans called for China to become a hub of delivery of regional services, especially for Korea, Japan and the local market. With more firms going global and continued growth of the middle class in Asia, Dell sees this as a true opportunity in the coming years. Dell added about 1,000 regional sales and marketing staffers in the last fiscal year and saw 10 percent growth in the last fiscal quarter for the region.

Sales Hiring Uptick
Prospective IT job seekers with experience or demonstrated ability in sales may be in luck.

New research shows greater demand for enterprise software sales, a new Forbes article this week states.

The aggregate number of postings for sales jobs on 23 software company websites totaled 4,482, up 34 percent from January, 12 percent from last month and 40 percent up year over year, said Kirk Materne, an analyst with Evercore Partners, a global investment firm. Materne said the trend was a “positive indicator that most software companies are comfortable with the current demand environment and see reasons to add sales capacity.”

He viewed as particularly strong the job openings at CA, Red Hat, Informatica, Citrix and BMC. Cloud computing, big data and virtualization are trends in particular that are helping spur the demand, Materne said.

Big Data Brings New IT Roles
It’s been said before and it’ll be said again, big data is reshaping business IT. The giant glut of mined information available is responsible for a revolution in the industry and the genesis of a hybrid business-IT role, a new Infoworld article posits, in the latest voice to join the choir.

The ability of folks coming into this role to blend business knowledge and tech know-how is coming at the likely detriment of oblivious old-world IT pros, the piece notes.

This availability of such massive amounts of data and the need to decode it is seeping into not just the usual suspects in the technical industry, but other sectors including tool-making, auto repair and healthcare, said Dr. Tracey Wilen-Daugenti, author of “Society 3.0: How Technology Is Reshaping Education, Work, and Society.”

“Every industry will require smart technology people with subject-matter expertise who can create new devices and think through all ways they might be used,” she said.

Examples of these hybrid roles include the following: data mining, data visualization, data analysis, data manipulation and data discovery. Experts agree that IT folks who wish to stay relevant need to develop expertise outside of bits and bytes.

“Now we expect our tech people to be creative, and we expect our creative people to understand technology well enough that they can make their dreams a reality,” said Michael Nicholas, head of strategy for Isobar, a digital marketing and advertising firm.

Attracting and Supporting Female Students at Chicago Tech

Janet Pinkerton — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:00:00 GMT

The big smile on her face stopped him in a hall of the Chicago Tech Academy High School (ChiTech). After some small talk, ChiTech Head Recruiter Walid Johnson finally learned why one of his high school students was smiling so wide. She told him, “For the first time in my life, I feel like it’s actually OK to be smart.”

That was the biggest compliment Johnson ever heard a student give the school, and it came from a young woman, whose gender currently make up 49 percent of ChiTech’s student body.

During its first three years of operation, ChiTech’s ratio of female to male students, selected by lottery, has been roughly 50/50, signaling that the school is consistently attracting a healthy contingent of female applicants.

The key, says Johnson, is that ChiTech works hard to broadcast the message that “Technology is for all children—boys and girls.”

In promotional videos and marketing collateral, ChiTech consciously includes images of girls working hard at the school.

When in front of female student applicants, Johnson will tailor his speech, underscoring that ChiTech has a chapter of Microsoft’s DigiGirlz for high school girls. In addition, he mentions how ChiTech students have a chance to visit female CIOs and VPs in major corporations—powerful women doing powerful things in technology—and will be matched up with mentors. “A lot of girls get very excited about that,” said Johnson.

Whenever he can, Johnson will show prospective students that many of ChiTech’s top students are female, including current female students in presentations. “I have a lot of great guys, but my top students are girls. They’re very dedicated and very focused.”

Female middle school students tend to travel in packs, and Johnson encourages that. “The best thing is that girls often times will bring their friends and try to enroll them in here. Guys tend to enroll for themselves only.”

Supported Once Enrolled
This year, ChiTech launched a Young Women’s Leadership Society. An inaugural group of students, selected by guidance counselors and teachers from all grades, was invited with personalized invitations, but the group is open to every female student.

At first the group’s monthly programs focused on networking and building trust among participants, but recently they’re branching out—meeting with local female executives, including a lawyer for the state government, the assistant CIO for the City of Chicago, and Sarah Pang, senior vice president of CNA’s corporate communications and public affairs and co-chair of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's transition team.

ChiTech’s leadership group programming and meetings with female leaders are teaching the young women how to speak, what to wear, how to behave and how to handle conflict professionally. “They want to be exposed to female minorities and minorities in general, as speakers and mentors,” says ChiTech Development Coordinator Dove Haase. “We’re teaching girls at a young age how to ask for a mentor and how to maintain a mentoring relationship that’s mutually beneficial.”

Pang and a handful of CNA executives toured ChiTech in late February, visiting classes where students gave impromptu presentations of their work, and meeting more formally with four members of the Young Women’s Leadership Society. Pang came away impressed with the professionalism of the young women’s presentation to her group, with the students’ desire to learn how to behave in the business world, and with ChiTech itself.

“They are going above and beyond in a smart way that creates a really supportive atmosphere for growing their young women into young leaders,” says Pang. “They are so mature for their age because of how (staff) are working with them.”

Johnson disabuses anyone who might think the female students of ChiTech are the retiring type. “They’re very aggressive because they want to be successful,” he says. These girls are full-tilt involved with their classes and stepping up to lead or co-lead projects. “It’s not by force,” says Johnson. “They want to lead; they want to take the reins.”

Gender is not the only stereotype ChiTech navigates as it advances its technology-centric career-prep program. Nearly eight out of 10 ChiTech students come from low-income households. The student body is 70 percent African American, with Hispanic, Asian and Caucasian students rounding out the balance.

Johnson reports ChiTech as a school is ignoring the gender stereotypes and racial boundaries. “By ignoring it and pushing the rigor of the class work, we’re getting students to understand they can be successful.”

CompTIA has supported the Chicago Tech Academy High School since its inception, donating funds, providing internships and other in-kind assistance. This post is the second in a two-part story. Read the first post to learn more about ChiTech students.

CompTIA at Heart of New Tech Ed Platform in Mexico

Jim Staats — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 14:48:00 GMT

When Andres Vazquez Castillo dreams, he dreams big. Vazquez, CEO of Mexico-based management services firm, iGenera, is the driving force behind a regional technical education program that, he hopes, can forge a better life for hundreds of would-be professionals across the country and beyond. And CompTIA A+ is at the center of his big, bold vision.

“Technology in Mexico is antagonistic,” said the 46-year-old entrepreneur, noting a minority of the population has access to the best tools available -- to others only to a certain extent. Our main problem is real and applicable knowledge,” Vazquez said. “It is in knowledge where we base our project.”

Vazquez, whose firm is based in the northwest state of Durango, is banking on the foundation structure and international acceptance of the signature CompTIA A+ teachings around which he’s built a statewide education offering for people new to IT.

Starting with residents of Durango’s economically-challenged region, Vazquez hopes to instill prospective students with various technology tools “to give them an opportunity to create new jobs in companies with whom we have alliances or export to other countries as well. We have a target to move more than 400 (IT) professionals around Mexico and in other countries,” he said.

A veteran of more than two decades in software and hardware administration across the globe, Vazquez said most of the students passing through his program will be working with technology for the first time. “The value is enormous because they get exposure to tools, and that is invaluable,” he said.

Vazquez, whose firm is a CAPP-Delivery partner, said his ultimate goal is to use this training platform to help create quantifiable value in several companies through IT. Luckily, he has friends in high places who share his vision.

Since assuming office in 2010, Durango Governor C.P. Jorge Herrera Caldera has remained focused on industry and job creation as key cornerstones of his administrative goals. He has helped the region, which welcomed several large call centers a few years back, become a leader in solar integrations as home to the largest concentrated photovoltaic plant in Latin America. Governor Herrera has made sure his Ministry of Economy is available to support the emergence of such business incubators as the iGenera project and local entrepreneurs as Vazquez.

“The Governor plays an important role,” Vazquez said, noting it is his leader’s “belief that the best life expectancy of a professional is exposed in the workplace (and by) giving them the tools they need to achieve results.”

He said Herrera is helping to push through the iGenera initiative with government investments.

Vazquez said he envisions a CompTIA Center of Expertise centered in the Durango Technology Cluster as a second phase of the project. In addition, he hopes to incorporate additional CompTIA certifications at local universities and colleges as part of the official education program going forward.

“CompTIA certifications represent a professional asset for people and we want to expand it nationally,” said Vazquez.

The IT industry continues to grow faster and faster and, Vazquez said, the only way to bring order to the wide array of services available is found in industry methodologies and certifications. And for that, he said, the results, timing and information favor CompTIA. “We want to work with CompTIA to prepare the vision of the next two years,” he said.

Weekly Word on the Street: Seeking Opportunity in the Cloud Skills Gap

Jim Staats — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 13:37:14 GMT

Takeaway of the week is it’s still a good thing to a talented, well-versed and highly trained IT job seeker, even though it might not feel that way to those deep in their search. Another batch of glowing indicators show those savvy with cloud computing skills, a keen eye for business paired with a smart head for technology and a willingness to explore other geographic locations might just have the world at their feet.

Relevance in the New IT World
OK, we all know that cloud computing, mobile applications and the like are beyond the “new big thing,” to, simply, “the thing” to which an increasing number of firms have started to transition.
It’s great news for the overall IT job market, but not for those professionals caught unprepared.
“There’s no question cloud computing is generating a whole new breed of job seekers,” said Jeff Kaplan, founder of IT consulting firm, THINKstrategies, in a recent InformationWeek article.
Luckily for those on the hunt in this brave new world, Kaplan shares his six skills necessary to succeed in this environment.

Assessment skills - IT workers brought into a firm looking to move to cloud computing need to know how to select the right provider of product and services that meet employer needs.
System integration know-how - meshing new cloud capabilities with existing resources via internal tweaks will be required again and again.
Business sense - today’s IT professional must be able to consider and resolve business issues, not just technical ones.
Certify - with the ever-shifting landscape, it’s best to have certification courses under your belt on the cloud computing environment.
Private cloud provider - Kaplan warns that employees shouldn’t be surprised when the higher-ups seek the private cloud route.
Internal service provider - IT pros with proven ability to track and distribute cloud computing resources will be in great demand, Kaplan suggests.

Open Source Talent in Demand in APAC
As more firms in the Asia-Pacific region move to open source software for lower costs and higher flexibility, demand for workers with accompanying skills is booming. The regional hiring spike comes with its own opportunities for all involved, according to those in the know in a piece in ZDNet Asia News.
Gloomy economic times across the globe, cloud computing interest and user flexibility were just some of the factors that contributed to the bubbling surge in OSS-skill set hires, analysts note.
Alan Ho, director of marketing strategy for Red Hat Asia-Pacific, said more companies are sending their staffers to OSS training during the past year, with Asia tops in terms of demand for open source certification.

IT professionals hoping to take advantage of this trend would be wise to get experience on Web-based or e-commerce projects using Apache, MySQL or PHP, technologies intertwined with open source knowledge. And, in growing trend echoed throughout the industry, the need to be business-savvy as well as technically proficient also is considered a valuable asset.

Dice: Tech Job Hot Spots
Cities not typically considered prime locations for hi-tech hiring trends are heating up, if one looks at various job postings. Luckily, technical recruiting firm, Dice.com, does it for you in their latest media blast with some interesting results. Study results are also discussed in this recent article on eWeek.com.

Based on March 2012 vs. March 2011 comparisons of tech job postings on the site, the top three cities for technology jobs are Raleigh (50 percent up from a year ago), Richmond (40) and Houston (37). The state of California offers more than just Silicon Valley with job spikes in other regions including Sacramento and San Diego, according to Dice. Other cities to round out the site’s “Top 10” include Kansas City; Portland, Ore.; St. Louis; Boston; and Denver.

Cloud-Infused Job Demand Gap
So many cloud computing job postings are popping up that there are not enough workers with the proper skill sets to meet the demand, a perusal of recent hiring trends suggests.

The 5,000 cloud technology-related jobs listed online represents a 92 percent increase when compared to one year ago and a four-fold increase compared to 2010, a new Network World article notes.

The majority of those postings, analyzed by recruitment firm, Wanted Analytics, are being generated by service providers including VMware, Microsoft, Amazon.com, URS Corp. and Google. Analysis of the postings also indicates the cloud computing jobs in the highest demand are software engineers, systems engineers and network administrators. Not all cloud-related jobs were of a technical nature with employers also on the hunt for marketing managers, sales managers, management analysts and financial analysts.

Young Women Launch Their Careers at Chicago Tech Academy High School

Janet Pinkerton — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 13:39:47 GMT

Some may fret about the shortage of women in technical and scientific career tracks, but the young women of Chicago Tech Academy High School (ChiTech) have no time for that. They are too busy—working to learn all they can about technology, science, math and entrepreneurship while pursuing their individual goals. And they are thriving.

In 2011-2012, ChiTech’s third school year of operation, 49 percent of the student body is female. Chosen by lottery, ChiTech students’ love and aptitude for technology, science and math vary widely, as do their academic and social economic backgrounds. Yet the young women of ChiTech are leveraging the entrepreneurship-oriented program to their advantage.

Ninth graders Taquisha Ellis and Chanell Jackson came to ChiTech from Dvorak Technology Academy, a K-8 school with a technology-driven curriculum, believing that the school could give them tools for their future. This year, Jackson and Ellis have learned now to build their own websites and work with stock business programs such as Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint—in addition to math, English, and science.

“I want to become a pediatrician,” says Jackson. “I felt the more technology I knew about, the easier it would be to become a pediatrician.”

Keautishay Young and Savannah Young (no relation to each other) both loved technology even before landing at ChiTech. Keautishay remembers being frustrated at her old school when her technology class started on robotics just as the term was ending. Savannah has always been good with computers, and in middle school took a class to learn how to build one from scratch.

Now juniors at ChiTech, the two are building websites and mobile applications. Savannah says her tech class can be very challenging at times, “but after you get to know the curriculum and material, it becomes easy after a while.”

In addition to coursework, Savannah, Keautishay and their peers are meeting high-level executives through school tours to local corporations and programming in the school’s Young Women’s Leadership Society. Last year, Savannah and a handful of other students were selected to make a presentation to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “I like the fact that this school is helping young women in technology, and they’re always helping us with our leadership skills,” says Keautishay, who wants to run her own company and become a business leader in technology.

Not every student enters ChiTech as a tech enthusiast, but many come to love tech and find they are really good at it. For example, 11th grader Javona Hamb came to ChiTech three years ago, simply attracted by the promise of a new, innovative school that would start small and add a grade each year. “I wasn’t into technology,” Hamb says. “I didn’t know anything. I thought it was going to be like The Matrix, all ones and zeros, but it wasn’t like that at all.”

As a junior, Hamb has learned to code in HTML, CSS, HTML5, Java Script, and C# programming languages. “Now when my teacher asks ‘How do you think they made Facebook or Google, I’m like ‘That’s nothing,’” she laughs.

Hamb originally wanted to be a doctor, but now she’s also considering a technology career, maybe computer programming. “I’m going to try to put the two together,” she says.

Then there are those students, like Martha Zuniga, who had no affinity for technology when they entered ChiTech, but through hard work, their skills and knowledge have grown.

A junior who applied to ChiTech to avoid a poor-performing local high school, Zuniga recalls entering her new high school not knowing what to expect. “Before I knew it, I was writing code.”

Three years later, art and English remain Zuniga’s favorite and best subjects; math and technology remain “super difficult,” she says.

But Zuniga, who is aiming for a good college and hopes to make a positive impact on the world, still values the tech classes that make her struggle.

“I don’t know what I’ll do with technology,’ says Zuniga, “But I think the whole process behind it—the way we solve problems, the way we have to think things through before we write code—molds us to become better people, teaches us how to see problems from different perspectives and puts our opinion on a broader spectrum. It also teaches us not to give up.”

The advice these young women of ChiTech give to any girl considering a science, technology or math-oriented high school program: “Go for it!” says Jackson. Adds Ellis: “It’s fun. It will be a good opportunity to know new things about technology.”

CompTIA has supported the Chicago Tech Academy High School since its inception, donating funds, providing internships and other in-kind assistance. This post is the first in a two-part series. Read more about ChiTech students on March 22.

Nice Bit of Security for Number 200,000

Jim Staats — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:00:00 GMT

Virginia student Nicholas Anderson took an immense amount of pride in the knowledge he was the 200,000th person to earn CompTIA Security+ certification.
For the 24-year-old, it’s the veritable ‘cherry on top,’ upon earning his first accreditation in the sector and the industry where he has always wanted to work. Now, Anderson just hopes to pair it with post-college employment.

“It’s definitely something I value along with focusing on my own career path,” he said. Anderson, who is studying information systems and cybersecurity at the Springfield campus of ITT Technical Institute, said he learned of CompTIA’s offerings early on and initially targeted CompTIA A+ to help launch his career, “because it’s one of the things people look for.”

However, in talking with people in the field of his targeted line of work, Anderson said it became apparent that CompTIA Network+ or CompTIA Security+ would garner more interest, eventually deciding on CompTIA Security+, “because it’s a big requirement these days.”

He’s got that right. With the ever-increasing number of global cyber threats reported and greater reliance by corporations on anytime, anywhere access to big data, talented professionals with the skills and knowledge to combat such threats are in demand.

With more CIOs at the end of last year acknowledging that getting hacked is more a question of when, not if, the new mandate is not only strong defenses, but the right technology and practices in place to rapidly detect a breach and minimize damage, according to a recent article in InformationWeek.

In fact, based on recent data compiled by technical recruitment firm Dice.com, information security is one of those rare fields today that has more job openings than people to fill them. The IT job site noted a 79 percent increase in the total number of information security jobs posted on the site from September 2009 to September 2011.

Anderson, who will pair his coming Bachelor’s degree with an Associate degree in computer network systems, also from ITT Tech, said with the global threat on IT these days, “that’s the new place where crime is happening.” To help prepare himself for what lies ahead, Anderson said his initial certification was worth it, “and this is coming from someone who paid for it out-of-pocket, not through a company.” “(Certification) is something that in addition to education helps show that I know what I’m talking about, and CompTIA Security+ is a well-known certification so employers really take it seriously when it’s on the resume,” he said. “I can definitely say getting this certification is worth it. It’s just as worthy as getting my degree.”

The latest update of CompTIA Security+, released last year, added a greater emphasis on operational risk to an exam aimed at experienced IT security professionals. Security risk control and mitigation along with current technologies such as cloud computing and virtualization are folded in to provide a true, proactive knowledge set for the world of cyber security as it is today. Anderson said he appreciated that the exam itself took into account some of the most up-to-the minute technology and trends. “From what I’ve gathered, CompTIA certifications offer a better reflection of what you know rather than just getting easy questions on the test,” he said. “It’s a better pool of knowledgeable questions, put to better use.”

Anderson, who grew up surrounded by computers from a military father with a fascination for the then-burgeoning technology, has worked as a systems specialist, but eventually hopes to become a penetration tester. He said he hasn’t narrowed down where he’ll apply his trade after earning his degree. “I’m getting job offers, which is nice,” Anderson said. He said as one who is currently on that job search, “I can tell you a lot of employers can substitute experience for education, however, if they want a certification, they will look for it and not usually substitute for it. “I definitely think (certifications) hold a high value.”

For a young man with his whole career truly in front of him, Anderson knows CompTIA Security+ was a big first step. “It was a huge relief to have that first certification done,” he said. “The best I could say to anyone is to go ahead and go for it. Once you have that first certification under your belt, it just paves the way for getting more of them done. It definitely helps to show that you have the knowledge to back things up.”

Now, there’s a nice bit of security to have.

New Horizons and Troops to Tech Careers Transitioning Vets into the IT Workforce

Janet Pinkerton — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 19:34:30 GMT

Michael Buckenberger, director of admissions at New Horizons Computer Learning Centers in Durham, N.C., is amazed that the private sector doesn’t consistently value military job experience the same way it values non-military employment. But he’s seen IT certifications make all the difference for veterans seeking to validate their skills for a private sector job.

“The same vet who spent six months unsuccessfully looking for work can come in here and earn two certifications, and—Boom!—he’s hired,” says Buckenberger.

His Durham, N.C., center, along with other New Horizons centers across the country are seeing an influx of veterans who are obtaining IT training and certifications using the benefits from the Post 9/11 GI Bill, Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) VetSuccess Program, and/or the Workforce Investment Act. Vets using Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits for non-college degree job training programs starting Oct 1, 2011, helped spark the spike.

Starting last fall, CompTIA partnered with 31 New Horizons centers, and their local OneStop Career Centers, to launch its Troops to Tech Careers program aimed at helping veterans transition from the armed forces to the civilian IT workforce. The Troops to Tech Careers mission is to ensure that returning veterans and their spouses who have an interest in an IT career can receive the education, credentialing and job placement resources to be successful in this growing field.

CompTIA provides the New Horizon and One Stop centers with marketing collateral and logos to help promote IT training and employment opportunities for veterans. New Horizon center operators report the collateral is helpful not only when explaining IT training programs to veterans, but also when encouraging local employers to hire trained veterans. In addition, Troops to Tech Careers operates an online corporate registry of companies who have made a commitment to prioritize the hiring of IT veterans.

The Troops to Tech Careers campaign has helped support New Horizons Computer Learning Center of Orlando, Fla., and its conversations with potential employers for veteran students. The center is located near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Patrick Air Force Base, and major government contractors such as Harris Corp., SAIC, Computer Science Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.

“The Troops to Tech Careers program blends nicely with the 8570 DOD training that we are currently doing for the military and government contractors” says Chet Wisniewski, New Horizon Orlando’s general manager of sales and marketing. “The current presidential administration is pushing the hiring of veterans every single day, and our CompTIA training, certification and job placement assistance programs enable veterans to meet 8570 DOD standards.

“By earning CompTIA certifications like A+, Network+ and Security+, they are now qualified for a lot of potential employment opportunities,” he says. “That’s what the Troops to Tech Careers program is all about!”

New Horizons of Orlando’s job skills training and certification to the business, government sector and individuals provides a solid base for its outreach to veterans. “We have good relationships with local OneStops and VA representatives,” says Wisniewski. “So for the veteran interested in IT, we’re pretty well connected in the business, technology and government contract community, as well as the workforce board community.”

In addition, Wisniewski is delighted to see veterans networking with B2B clients’ employees and managers in his center’s IT training classrooms—that situation, he believes, will lead to more hiring opportunities for the vets. “Companies like Lockheed Martin, Harris Corp., SAIC, Computer Science Raytheon and Northop Grumman are always looking for people with security clearance, IT certifications and people with a military background,” he says. “Our veteran students tend to have all of the above.”

Making sure that local veterans leverage their IT training options has been a prime focus for the last year for Cindy Sutherland, vice president of career development at the five-location New Horizons Computer Learning Centers of Southern California. Extending from Burbank to San Diego, the SoCal New Horizons centers are located near numerous military installations, and Sutherland has been and continues to be in close contact with the local bases, Veterans Affairs offices and workforce development centers.

“Our vets are steadily increasing,” Sutherland says, adding that a majority of veterans in her programs already have IT experience and many are interested in IT security. “Not only are we training veterans with IT experience, but we also are introducing veterans with no IT experience to a whole new profession.”

“We always start with basic CompTIA A+ and Network+ courses as a strong foundation,” says Sutherland. “Once the foundation is built, the student is educated to make the choices of the direction best suited for themselves and their IT career.”

In late February, the first batch of SoCal veterans using their Post 9/11 GI benefits were completing a five-month CompTIA certification training program. “Our plan is to put them into a building block Microsoft certification program and get them into security,” says Sutherland.

With her own veterans marketing already in place, Sutherland hopes CompTIA would promote and hold a Troops to Tech Careers day at her New Horizons centers located near military bases. “That would be powerful,” she says.

Weekly Word on the Street: Cloud Will Create IT Jobs

Jim Staats — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 19:18:00 GMT

Takeaway of the week is likely more job options, job security and, likely, compensation for IT job seekers with the right skills and experience - namely, those targeting the emerging field of data scientist, skilled and/or experienced in cloud computing, mobile apps, big data management and, lastly, visionaries in our new IT security world. According to a whole host of studies, reports and surveys, the IT job market is your world, the rest of us just live in it.

Seeking Skilled IT Talent a Tough Go
Recruiting properly skilled workers in the technical field is a challenge when compared to other industries such as accounting, legal, marketing and other fields, new survey data indicates. According to the recent poll of 4,000 U.S. executives by staffing services Robert Half International, CIOs were found to have the most difficulty gathering a skilled workforce. Although the survey data did reveal a large majority of executives - 91 percent - were confident about second-quarter growth in 2012, the struggle was to find the workers with the right skills to meet those needs, a Network World article noted. CIOs, the survey showed, were having the most difficulty locating candidates in networking, security and technical support fields. Candidates most often sought were those with a solid knowledge of cloud computing, VoIP, software as a service and database development. Turnover was creating a high degree of demand for support staff, the survey revealed.

Cloud Materializes 14 Million Jobs
Technology generated by cloud computing will be responsible for an additional 14 million jobs reaching across various sectors within the next three years, a new study predicts. Put forth by Microsoft and IDC, the study also monetizes the trending mobile technology by estimating the cloud industry revenues also will hit $1.1 trillion by the year 2015. A new article in InformationWeek on the study indicates cloud technologies create jobs both by bringing in folks to help create the infrastructure and by shifting roles to strategic projects through a simplified IT resource requirement. “A common misconception is cloud computing is a job eliminator, but in truth it will be a job creator - a major one,” said John Gantz, senior VP at IDC, in a statement. The study predicts industries such as media, banking and manufacturing will see the biggest job gains. Security-conscious enterprises such as banking are likely to run private clouds rather than join public clouds, the study notes, helping to generate new jobs related to the technology. The study released geographic data with estimates that cloud-related job growth will be most widespread in emerging markets such as Brazil, India and China. The study suggested that cloud roles in the U.S. will grow by 66 percent by 2015.

The New Security Frontier Is Here
IT successful security professionals have to not only accommodate but secure data in the new world of cloud, mobile and social media technology. That’s the big takeaway from the recent RSA Conference 2012 in San Francisco, according to a piece in Computerworld on the event. With the undeniable trend toward cloud computing, IT consumerization and mobile opportunities steering enterprise data management requirements, IT security workers must adapt and remain ahead of the game. Enrique Salem, CEO of Symantec, said in his keynote that previously held notions of enterprise security must be bypassed in the face of such new technologies and social media tools. “This new world is one where we don’t control the device,” Salem said. He noted that with data shared through personal mobile devices and social networks, traditional security model focused on network controls won’t fly. Companies must use controls to securely authenticate, authorize and audit user access by other methods, Salem said. Others at the conference noted that the past decade has seen massive increases in the volume, speed and use of data by means of new technology. Security managers today are now faced with how to best protect and oversee user access to data by means of mobile devices, cloud infrastructure and other information services. “The problem is we have too much security data and don’t know what to make of it,” said Scott Charney, VP of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing initiative. IT pros can show how they’re staying on top of the latest trends in IT security with the CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner certification (CASP).

Big Data Equals Big IT Opportunities
Mo’ data, mo’ jobs. That’s the inelegant, yet rhythmic, refrain that should be music to the ears of IT professionals building their skills in the field of “big data,” a recent Network World article suggests. As more companies do their best to sift through growing globs of real-time data about their customers, the newly titled data scientist with the analytical skills to make sense of it all is more highly sought than ever. The term “data scientist” has skyrocketed to relevance after being an unheard-of term less than two years ago. Google searches on the term hit high peaks at the end of last year and continue to do so this year with extensive popularity in high-tech epicenters such as San Francisco, New York and Washington D.C. Big firms looking for workers with the skills to handle big data needs include Amazon, HP and PayPal. The words “data scientist” can be found in 195 job listings on Dice.com job bank. Another sign the big data world is becoming more mainstream? More IT departments are seeking out developers and system administrators who specialize in tools such as open source Apache Hadoop software, designed to work with data-intensive applications. Alice Hill, managing director of Dice.com, the technical job recruiting service, called Hadoop an “emerging skill. “Companies need to manage large-scale data operations, and the whole idea of Hadoop is that you can do it inexpensively,” she said. “That works really well with what we’re seeing in terms of the movement to the cloud.” She predicted opportunities in abundance connected to Hadoop for both entry-level and experienced IT professionals, as well as for hardware and software specialists. Job opportunities are being created across industries for those with the right data-wrangling skills, from Web companies and e-retailers to financial services, healthcare, energy, utilities and media. Hill said there are many directions to be explored for candidates with such data management skills in such demand these days. “It’s very fertile ground for experienced IT professionals, but also for people coming out with computer science degrees,” she said. “It’s a great area to specialize in.”

Study: Salaries Rising for Certain Skills
IT workers experienced in technologies including cloud computing, mobile applications and user interface skills can expect salary boosts this year, a new study suggests. Workers with backgrounds in those increasingly popular technologies are becoming more in-demand and, therefore, more valuable to their employers, so says data from the study by IT staffing firm, Bluewolf. This year promises an increasingly competitive IT job market for staffers with the enviable mix of skills and experience in those sectors, according to a recent piece in CIO.com. Experienced IT pros who can produce iPhone apps, code a website in HTML5 or construct a database with MySQL can envision a fairly lucrative next several months, study findings indicate. More companies remain on the hunt for employees with database development and business intelligence experience to help handle the influx of data. Candidates with knowledge of MySQL, HBase, Informatica and Cognos are considered especially enticing, the Bluewolf study notes. Salaries for BI, CRM and ERP developers are expected to increase to a range of $88,000 to $110,000, compared to a 2011 range of $84,000 to $105,000 for comparable skills. The study indicates a greater business need for staff with true user-experience backgrounds, reflected by generous salary bumps. Experience in cloud computing technologies including Salesforce.com, Google, Marketo and Eloqua also are targeted as being in demand, according to Bluewolf.

IT Skills Gaps are Real and Really Affecting Business

Amy Carrado — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:00:00 GMT

Is there an organization that is perfectly content with the level of skills and expertise their employees possess? Doubtful, but for both good and bad reasons. Given today’s unforgiving competitive environment and the skills needed to effectively support ever-changing technology, an overarching gap in IT skills is no surprise. As the data in CompTIA’s State of the IT Skills Gapstudy echoes, a vast majority of employers (93%) indicate there is an overall skills gap, the difference between existing and desired skill levels, among their IT staff.

Unfortunately, nearly 6 in 10 companies report being only moderately close or not even close to where they want to be with IT skills. Interestingly, the distribution of results aligns with where the organization lies on the technology usage curve. In other words, gaps in IT skills are likely hindering companies’ optimal utilization of technology and presumably hampering utmost business success.

CompTIA’s recent study identifies the most important skills to be around the “IT foundation” such as networks, servers, storage, security, database / information management, and help desk / IT support. And the greatest areas of concern for gaps in IT skills are again related to those core IT areas. However, emerging areas of business process automation, mobility, collaboration, and virtualization will require sufficient skills as well. See related findings in the Robert Half survey highlighted in this article about CIOs struggling to find IT talent.
As implied earlier, a company’s shortfall in IT skills is likely to impede on other areas of the business. While it would be difficult to measure direct costs or opportunity costs, a majority (80%) of employers point to at least one specific business area affected by their organization’s IT skills gap. Top areas impacted are staff productivity (41%), customer service / customer engagement (32%), and security (31%).

What are the underlying causes to IT skills gaps? For nearly half of the organizations represented in the CompTIA study, it’s the nature of the business – technology changes so fast, it’s difficult for IT workers to stay current with skills (46%). For others, it’s the ever-present issue of not being able to afford to allocate enough resources to IT (43%). A considerable portion struggle with IT education / training not sufficiently translating to workforce performance (39%).

The good news is that most organizations (57%) are attempting to address IT skills gaps among their staff via training. Many recognize training staff is an investment and less costly than other methods such as hiring new employees or outsourcing. And online self-study, or eLearning, is the most popular method used by companies for IT skills training, followed by instructor-led and vendor-provided training.
CompTIA’s State of the IT Skills Gapstudy was developed with input from a survey of 502 U.S. IT and business managers, as well as input from more than 500 managers in Canada, Japan, South Africa and the U.K. All data was collected December 2011 - January 2012. The full report is available at no cost to CompTIA members. Visit CompTIA.org or contact research@comptia.org for details.

Help Women Get Back on the IT Track

Brian Sherman — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:54:53 GMT

Almost every sector of high-tech is booming and those upward trends look to continue for quite some time, but one group seems to be trailing a bit behind the curve. Despite the growth in numbers, the percentage of women in IT (compared with men) has been in a decline over the past several years.

Research from the National Center for Women & Information Technology found that female IT industry employment reached its high point in 1991 at just 36 percent of the workforce. By 2009, that number dropped to 25 percent, and that negative trend shows no signs of changing. The latest numbers show a significant disparity in the number of undergraduate computer science degrees going to women— just 18 percent in 2009—compared to men. That’s especially discouraging when women garnered 57 percent of all undergraduate degrees that year.

Experts point out a number of reasons for this decline, including unconscious bias, gender pay gaps, the lack of role models and mentors, poor supervisory relationships and competing responsibilities. While each may play a part in the diminishing number of women in IT, one thing is clear: the industry needs more female involvement. At a time when women are beginning to assume IT leadership positions, their scarcity at lower-levels is sure to catch up in a few years and counter all their gains. That loss will affect everyone in the industry, reducing the diversity of the workforce as well as the creative ideas and viewpoints that come with it.

That’s why CompTIA created the Advancing Women in IT Community (AWIT). This new member-driven group is committed to empowering women with the knowledge and skills needed to help them build successful IT careers. AWIT will serve as a vital information resource, provide mentorship and networking opportunities for its members, and inspire the next generation of female IT leaders. Initiatives and programs will be a key focus of their activities, as will promoting legislation that helps improve the IT industry opportunities for women.

The CompTIA Advancing Women in IT Community is already off to a great start, with members in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and South Africa. Thanks to the dedication and hard work of its founders, interest in the group is building quickly, with a wide range of individuals with a variety of backgrounds— including men concerned with creating a more diverse IT workforce.

Chair of the new community is long-time industry advocate Sandy Ashworth, global director of channel relations and warranty for Unisys Corp. With the added assistance of vice chair Jean Mork Bredenson, president of SERVICE 800, the group is sure to start off with a flurry of activities. Their first face-to-face meeting will take place at the upcoming CompTIA Annual Member Meeting, April 10th-12th in Chicago.

Want to learn more about the CompTIA Advancing Women in IT Community (and yes, men are welcome to join, too)? Check out the March 14th webinar, “Insights from a Leader and Her Path to Success” with Marci Meaux, vice president of Cisco Systems’ sales enablement project and ACT, or get more details from the community website.

OR…you can listen to my recent interview with community chair Sandy Ashworth to get a better understanding of the group’s objectives and details on some of their upcoming projects.

Chart your Career with our Groundbreaking, Online, IT Certification Roadmap

Janet Pinkerton — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:00:00 GMT

Okay, IT professionals, what’s your career roadmap? Employers, what your plan for validating your IT employees’ skills? Find both on CompTIA’s online IT certification roadmap to learn which credentials—from CompTIA and other organizations — will advance specific IT careers.

This one-of-a-kind tool identifies industry IT certifications used on various IT career paths as a worker progresses from beginner/novice to the intermediate, advanced, specialist and expert levels. Its IT certification information can be viewed by career path type (i.e., networking, network administration, security, software architecture or project management) and by credentialing organization – all in one place.

CompTIA’s professional credentials, such as the CompTIA A+, Network+ and Security+ certifications, and also its Mastery Series CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) certification, are illustrated on the map in context with IT industry credentials from other organizations, such as Cisco, the EC-Council, GIAC, (ICS)² and Microsoft.

To help support information-gathering, each certification on every career path is hyperlinked to its credentialing organization’s website. For example, clicking on the CGEIT credential listed at the Security career path’s Expert Level the ISACA web page containing information for that credential.

Learn now specific IT industry credentials can open up new career opportunities for yourself or within your company. Chart your IT career path with CompTIA’s IT certification roadmap today.

Empowering Yourself in the Cloud

Lisa Archer — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 04:11:00 GMT

With so much hype and so many different ways of describing the cloud, people are left feeling scared and confused. Ian Moyse, U.K. sales director, Workbooks.com, believes that we shouldn’t be scared of the cloud and instead ask ourselves the simple question if cloud can help. Moyse has found that by trying one cloud-based application that genuinely helps us means we are far more likely to become “cloud committed.”

Moyse has more than 26 years IT experience, sits on the board of Eurocloud UK, has a seat on the governance board of Cloud Industry Forum (CIF), is an advisory board member of SaasMax and is the first person in the U.K. to pass the CompTIA Cloud Essentials exam. And yet, even with this enviable list of achievements, Moyse is still constantly learning about the cloud.

It may come as a surprise that many of us are using cloud-based services without consciously knowing it. Take for example iTunes which has revolutionized the delivery model for the music industry. You don’t have to buy the album before you have heard it. You don’t have to buy the entire album; you just buy the songs you want. And you can buy, rent and share the music, television shows, books and movies you want wherever you are, whenever you want them.

While there are huge benefits to be had with the cloud, there are still many challenges for both individuals and their organizations. The biggest end-user concern about the adoption of the cloud in their business is security closely followed by reliability.

Other challenges with the cloud include:

• Lack of understanding, • Bottom up adoption causing internal conflict, • Ad hoc standards (e.g. SaS-70, ISO, CIF, Open Cloud Consortium), • Vendor management becoming contract/service level management, • Network latency in the backbone infrastructure, and • Choosing business value over form factor (i.e. the ‘next big thing’ syndrome).

With cloud technologies, job roles and skills will be (and are) changing. While cloud does change the role of IT, it does NOT replace it. Smart organizations and individuals are empowering themselves by embracing cloud and undertaking training and certification in order to gain cloud skills and competencies that enhance their current and future career prospects.

For those who want to learn more about the cloud, Moyse recommends The Big Switch by Nicolas Carr.

Building Cloud Competencies

Lisa Archer — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 04:05:45 GMT

ITpreneurs have a simple, yet effective business model. They develop courseware, and their resellers package this content with their own offerings to deliver high quality training to end-users.

ITpreneurs saw a huge opportunity with cloud computing and worked with CompTIA from the start to design and develop the content for CompTIA Cloud Essentials.

During our U.K. cloud luncheon today, Brant Seethaler, regional business manager, ITpreneurs, shared his personal experience working with ING Bank where more than 1,500 members of ING’s staff have successfully been trained with the Cloud Essentials curriculum as part of their cloud transformation.

ING’s vision is to be the preferred bank for customers. Successfully adopting cloud technologies was seen as key in transforming the bank. ING worked in partnership with ITpreneurs in order to:

Transform a “traditional” IT department to being a next generation service provider,
Achieve best-in-class cost-ratio as the technology service provider of choice,
Reduce risk and complexity inherent in a fragmented data strategy,
Virtualize and future-proof platforms, and
Build a cloud operating model.

ITpreneurs understood that at the heart of success for ING lay a comprehensive training program to ensure all staff understood cloud technologies and how they could benefit the organization. Without this ING would never be in a position to successfully leverage cloud services for business gain. ITpreneurs created a large-scale internal awareness campaign around cloud computing and trained 1,500 people to ensure the right competencies and skills in-house.

Growing the IT Workforce in the Cloud

Lisa Archer — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 03:58:58 GMT

More than 60 guests at our U.K. luncheon today were keen to learn more about cloud phenomena, cloud best practices and trends and understand how CompTIA Cloud Essentials certification can help companies of all sizes.

Speakers at the event included Brant Seethaler of ITPreneurs, Ian Moyse, an industry authority on cloud security, and Andy Nickolls of SkillSoft.

John McGlinchey, vice president, Europe & Middle East, CompTIA, welcomed the group and explained that CompTIA Cloud Essentials certification, developed in cooperation with ITpreneurs, is ideally designed for both business and IT. In essence it covers a range of cloud computing principles and what is involved in moving to the cloud.

McGlinchey announced that two CompTIA partners, QA and Firebrand, added Cloud Essentials to their portfolio today with many more partners expected to follow as the cloud computing trends continues to accelerate at an incredible pace.

Great Cloud Statistics Shared:

More than 12,000 jobs are now open in the U.K. and U.S. that involve cloud computing (per Indeed.com). As more users adopt cloud, the demand for workers with cloud computing knowledge grows incrementally.
The mobile cloud-based application market expected to reach $9.5 billion by 2014, according to Gartner Research.
8 in 10 HR professionals say IT certifications will grow in importance over the next two years, according to CompTIA’s market research.
72 percent of organizations feel more positive about cloud computing than they did one year ago, and 56 percent of business end-users plan to increase their cloud investments by 10 percent or more over the next 12 months, according to CompTIA’s market research.

Rise to the Challenge: Help Those Who Served

Todd Thibodeaux — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 11:00:00 GMT

On Veterans Day last November, we saw a number of stories about the state of unemployment among the veterans community. It was startling enough to learn the unemployment rate among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans was 33 percent higher than the overall population, but if you dig a little deeper, you realize the picture gets far darker.

As the jobs picture improves for more Americans, among our youngest veterans, those 18 to 24 years old, the jobless rate continues to hover near 30 percent, up from 18 to 20 percent the prior year. The numbers add up to a challenge twice as daunting as the 15-percent unemployment rate for non-veterans in the same age range. I think it's pretty fair to say that if something isn't done soon, the level of disenfranchisement among our veterans will be almost impossible to recover from. Read more on the analysis from Business Week.

CompTIA is trying to do its part through our new Troops to Tech Careers (T2TC) Program. This skills retraining effort is designed to ease the transition from military to civilian employment through outreach, education, training and certification by providing a pathway to a successful career in IT. With the accelerated return of our veterans from Afghanistan beginning in earnest this year and next, and the anticipated discharge of tens of thousands of Iraqi vets, the public workforce system will be taxed like never before.

This crucial infrastructure, providing funding to unemployed individuals through the Workforce Investment Act for career training and industry credentials, has dedicated staff at each OneStop Center for returning vets. CompTIA has worked closely with the Department of Labor’s Employment & Training Administration, at both the Federal and local levels, representing the IT industry and advocating the important role of IT credentials in workforce development, employability and family sustaining wages.

Beginning with a partnership with New Horizons Computer Learning Centers and the OneStop Centers, CompTIA hopes to assist these returning vets in filling one of the more than 300,000 open IT jobs that exist today. CompTIA and New Horizons already have begun working with OneStop Centers in 31 areas, including Chicago, southern California, Austin, Detroit, Jacksonville and Nashville, and will be expanding these efforts in the future.

The underlying goal is to work with the public workforce system to ensure that any returning veteran with the aptitude and interest in a technical IT career can receive the training and credentialing provided through CompTIA’s industry-recognized, vendor-neutral certifications such as CompTIA A+, Network+ or Security+, in order to obtain employment in the high growth IT Industry.

There are three main components to T2TC: education and training, credentialing and employment.

Education is focused on community colleges with long-standing relationships with local OneStop Centers for the training and education of unemployed veterans who qualify for WIA funds. Additionally, we will be reaching out to four-year colleges and universities, both public and private, that offer IT degree programs for veterans.

Credentials are traditionally the starting point for individuals wanting to pursue a career as computer technician or network or security administrator. In addition, participating veterans with higher level skills and experience in IT can pursue CompTIA’s Project+, Health IT Technician Certificate, or the CompTIA Advanced Security Professional (CASP) certification.

Employment is the key metric to the success of this program aimed at linking as many veterans as possible to the 300,000+ open IT jobs in our country today. That being said, we are reaching out to IT employers of all sizes, large, medium and small to create registry of corporations ready to hire veterans.

The challenge won't be solved with empty promises and half-hearted commitments. We need some of the largest IT employers enjoying record profits to step up to the plate and look for ways to give those who served a chance for a new start. CompTIA stands prepared to help them understand how they can get engaged and be part of the solution. Find out how you can become part of the solution to by checking out our new T2TC website.

Weekly Word on the Street: Tech Still Tops in Hot Jobs

Jim Staats — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:00:00 GMT

Takeaway of the week is that a fresh batch of reminders only strengthens the idea that 2012 really is a cornucopia of good tidings for the IT job-seekers. The U.K., for example, is bursting at the seams with plum IT roles, if you have the right skills and experience. Another ‘Hot Jobs’ list isn’t just sprinkled with technology roles, it’s downright dominated by ‘em. And, if that isn’t enough, more evidence comes forth that executives are actually investing in their technology departments as a means to drive their business. Yes, you read that right.

Tech Shouldn’t Fear the Reaper
Even as financial executives at various firms take a ‘slash-and-see’ attitude to address economic struggles, a traditional target - IT - is more likely to get a free pass these days.

A growing number of CIOs are actually stepping up investments in information technology budgets in the hopes of using the latest tech trends to boost their competitive edge, a new Wall Street Journal article reports.

The bigwigs holding the purse strings view investments in systems that collect and analyze data and activate mobile devices as the gateway to greater competitive advantages, the article notes.

“We’re very concerned about the economy and trying to take some measures to cut costs,” said Mike Lucki, CFO of Colorado-based engineering firm, CH2M Hill, on plans to boost their tech budget at least 20 percent this year. “But, this is an investment that we need to make to stay competitive. If you don’t do it, you’re not in the game.”

Data that can be collected - on consumer habits, client details, you name it - is growing exponentially and those who can best utilize and apply these details will be ahead of the game, or at least competitors.

A survey of CFOs co-opted toward the end of last year by Financial Executives International found an overall targeted boost in technology spending of about 10 percent in the coming year, even as most expressed a lack of confidence in the economy.

The question now being asked is whether technology is ready to live up to these promises.

A Tech-laden Best Jobs Listing
If you buy into the recent list of ‘Best Jobs of 2012’ compiled by U.S. News & World Report and you’re looking for a job in the technical industry, you’ve got a lot to smile about.

Yes, the latest picks, based on the U.S. Labor Department’s employment projections and focused on professions analysts’ expect to be hiring in droves in coming years, has several technical-centric positions slotted in the ‘hot jobs’ category, the publication reported this week.

Besides a projected hiring boom for these roles, other pluses include better-than-average compensation and room for growth.

Out of the list of top ten jobs summarized, half are technology roles:

Computer programmer - high job satisfaction, competitive salaries and good prospects cited
Computer systems analyst - serve as liaison between client and the developer
Software developer - advances are a constant for the inquisitive and trained
Web developer - estimated to be at least 65,700 jobs available in this profession
Database administrator - data today is online and the right ‘wrangler’ is coveted

Tech Skills Needed in the UK
With tech skills in high demand, but youth unemployment still skyrocketing in the U.K., more emphasis needs to be placed on bridging that gap, according to one influential tech exec.

John Harris, chairman of IT user group The Corporate IT Forum and a vice president at pharmaceutical firm, GlaoSmithKline, said a chief goal of his is to bring greater attention to IT skills development, in a recent interview featured in ComputerWeekly.com.

Harris is working to drum up support for Prime Minister David Cameron’s recent comments on the need for apprenticeships to help build up economic confidence.

“We are trying to make apprenticeship a hot topic,” said Harris, who is working with other members of his Forum user group to this end. “Unanimously, everyone sees this as important.”

He realizes there is a true need for certain IT roles in the country and believes bringing in young people to be trained on various skills is a valuable experience that can be taught via text books.

He points the finger at an IT community that has relied too heavily on outsourcing IT skills.

“While outsourcing did bring value, people moved jobs that should not have been moved,” Harris said. “We outsourced our skills pipeline.”

By developing skills in-house through young IT apprentices to be groomed into future IT experts, Harris said, the end result would be clear career planning for a new generation and better value for businesses.

The Golden Combo? IT Talent with a Business Brain
CIOs have the tough job these days of luring in the right staffers to respond to growing expectations of the general public and business leaders when it comes to consumer technology.

The biggest bang for an exec’s pile of bucks? IT staffers with a flair for general business sense, according to a recent CIO.com article that queried a few CIOs.

Josh Jewett, CIO of Family Dollar, which recently put a member of his firm’s merchandising procurement department in charge of his business-facing IT teams, advises his peers to prepare for some blow-back, but address it head-on by letting IT people know this is their opportunity to learn new, transferable skills that will benefit them in the long run.

More and more are following the business-to-IT model.

Specialty food distributer, United Natural Foods, has long been recruiting business analysts for its IT organization.

Nick Coussoule, CIO of BlusCross BlueShield of Tennessee, said it’s been a recurring practice to bring in business people for IT positions. His new VP of business engineering and continuous improvement came from the company’s Medicare business.

These executives experienced similar anxiety within IT departments as Jewett mentioned, but agreed that such concerns need to be handled with a clear transition plan up-front.

“Right away, he set up specific times to sit down with each business and talk through goals and expectations,” Coussoule said. “That went a long way toward showing everyone that he was wearing a new hat.”

Coussoule added: “You can’t be viewed as ‘only IT’ by the business or as ‘only business’ by IT. That’s critical to success in these hybrid roles.”

Attract Women to High Tech

Nancy Hammervik — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:00:00 GMT

On my way into work a few weeks ago, mindlessly listening to talk radio, I heard one of the most exciting pieces of news I’ve heard in a long time. The Girl Scouts of America had added three new badges to its program: computer expert, digital movie maker and website designer. I actually found myself cheering out loud and high fiving the steering wheel!

As a woman who has spent nearly my entire career in high tech industry, I am acutely aware of the gender gap. From executive meetings to client calls to industry events, I almost always find myself a minority in the room. As technology becomes pervasive across all market sectors and as the focus moves from the technology itself to the business application of it, women have more of an opportunity than ever to build successful careers with and in IT and make considerable contribution.

While women have realized many breakthroughs in the workplace over the years, the truth is our progress has stalled in IT. Last year, a study by The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) reported that technology jobs held by women have been on the decline since 1991, when it reached a high of 36 percent. The report goes on to share the negative impact of an unbalanced workforce to corporate profitability, innovation and competitiveness. Companies with the highest representation of women in senior management have a 35 percent higher return on equity and a 34 percent higher return to shareholders.

Also important to know, the attrition rate of women in the high tech sector is twice that of men. The NCWIT reports 56 percent of women in technology companies leave their organizations mid-way through their careers, representing a significant and costly loss of talent. Reducing the attrition rate by just one quarter would add more than 200,000 staff to the IT workforce.

Why is this happening and what can we do? Research indicates that unconscious bias, gender pay gaps, feelings of isolation, lack of role models/mentors, poor supervisory relationships and competing life responsibilities are all major contributing factors. CompTIA is committed to doing its part in raising awareness and affecting change. This month we are proud to introduce “Advancing Women in IT” to our roster of proactive industry communities. Our mission is to put a spotlight on the industry and increase national interest and awareness of careers in IT.

Studies show career paths are chosen – or at least eliminated – in our teenage years. We will work on programs that attract young women to opportunities in high tech. We aim to smash the stereotype of the nerdy tech guy and call attention to women who have built successful careers in high tech. We will build a network of women who can serve as mentors and motivators to each other. We will explore best practices in business and HR management that will lead to retention and reduce attrition. We will challenge our schools and government offices to offer programs that encourage women to pursue careers in high tech.

Our goals are lofty but our resolve is strong. We encourage you to participate – male or female – and support our efforts. Our first face to face meeting is scheduled for April 11^th at CompTIA’s Annual Member Meeting in Chicago. We will host monthly calls and webinars to keep the momentum going.

As a woman in IT, I am very proud and excited to work on this initiative, along with a terrific group of talented women (and we do have some men participating) in the industry. As a former girl scout, I am also very proud of the Girl Scouts of America and their decision to help girls prepare for a life and career with high tech. 2012 marks their 100^th anniversary. Congratulations to them. Here’s to continued progress and success for all women – and the IT industry - in the next century!

Career Tips for Transitioning Military

Janet Pinkerton — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:51:00 GMT

CDW, a leading provider of technology products and services for the business, government and education sectors in North America, actively recruits members of the military to capitalize on the transferable skills military can bring to the civilian workplace. In this CompTIA podcast, CDW Senior Director of Talent Acquisition Melissa McMahon discusses the IT job opportunities and support programs available at CDW for veterans and members of the military who are transitioning into civilian careers. She also provides tips for transitioning military seeking to develop a career in IT.

Military veterans also can find additional resources on IT career opportunities through CompTIA’s Troops to Tech Careers program. Its new website debuts on March 6.

PC Support Comes to Canada’s Native Population

Jim Staats — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 15:00:00 GMT

Life on a reserve among one of the aboriginal First Nations groups in Alberta, Canada, doesn’t always mesh well with modern times, but a successful, new training program is changing that - with help from CompTIA.

Brought together in May 2011, just over a dozen students - all members of the Louis Bull Tribe - began an inaugural PC support training program provided by SAIT Polytechnic with the simple goal of better employment options.

Using the fundamentals-soaked CompTIA A+ certification as a training core, program organizers say such a mission is being far exceeded with students planning to introduce computer support businesses to the remote community.

“It’s promising for them as an opportunity to help out their community and make a better living for themselves,” said Adam Romano, coordinator of SAIT’s School of Information and Communications Technologies.

Known as one of Canada’s leading publicly-funded institutions, SAIT has always been a trailblazer involving business, industry and community advisors in helping shape its skill-oriented curriculum, but this was the first time technical training was being delivered to members of the country’s native population.

As in the case of most remote, small towns, residents on these reserves often have to leave to seek out many services or modern conveniences. The hope, Romano said, is soon that won’t be the case when it comes to technical support for computers and associated businesses.

“The reserve (students) are living on is not the nicest place to be,” Romano said. “We are trying to provide them opportunity to seek meaningful employment and, in some cases, they are thinking of starting a business to help the people in their communities.

“It’s really providing educational opportunities they haven’t had in the past and help them with their situation.”

For an initial program designed to focus on PC support in a more general notion, Romano noted that “A+ lends itself very well to that.”

He said students of the 11-week course also are given training on Microsoft products, customer service and other soft skills.

Backed by government funding, mobile labs, equipment and instructors descended on the reserve in Hobbema, Alberta, just south of Edmonton.

A six-year veteran with SAIT, Romano noted the institution has had an ongoing relationship with the Louis Bull Tribe for some time. Their request, he said, for such training, along with the students they selected, made the choice of CompTIA A+ all the more meaningful.

“This certification is meant to work with folks without a lot of computer experience,” Romano said, noting “the opportunity to take curriculum that has a certification known worldwide is certainly beneficial to students.

“We’ve been training (these students) with SAIT certifications (that are) well known in Alberta and wanted to opent it up more,” Romano said. “We felt with A+, we were able to do that.”

Romano said at the end of the CompTIA A+ component of training, a handful of students were so excited and interested in creating their own computer support business that he challenged them to write their own official certification exams.

“When we saw their passion and these students saw the value, we didn’t want to stop,” he said. “We wanted them to see how much farther they could go.”

To date, the group is still waiting on the results of the exams taken by students of the program, but Romano remains optimistic and forward-thinking.

“We have received interest from other First Nation groups,” he said of future technical offerings. “We are proceeding slowly and will see if they would be interested in having us host the same programs at their locations.”

6 Tips for Security Clearance Applications

Janet Pinkerton — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:00:00 GMT

Getting security clearance—to gain confidential, secret or top secret levels of information access—can be an arduous process, but here are tips from ClearanceJobs.com Managing Director Evan Lesser for eliminating problems that can delay or torpedo approval of a security clearance application:

Know your status: Under federal regulations, only U.S. citizens can obtain security clearance. Individuals who hold H-1B Visas or persons who are foreign-born but have not become naturalized U.S. citizens cannot obtain security clearances.
Get Your Credit Score: Resolve any errors or problems on your credit report before you apply for security clearance. Financial discrepancies can cause someone be denied a clearance.
Gather all of your personal information from the last decade—phone numbers, living addresses, employer names and addresses, roommate and co-worker names—before you apply, and double-check the accuracy of all information. Simple errors in personal information can delay processing of a security clearance application form up to a year’s time.
Address any financial problems directly and truthfully on your security clearance application. Financial issues such as high debt-to-income ratios, foreclosures, and bankruptcies will raise red flags with reviewers. A foreclosure or a bankruptcy alone will not lead to an application’s denial, but reviewers will be likely to deny an application if multiple financial issues seem to point to bigger-picture problems in judgment with the applicant. Why do an applicant’s financial problems matter? Because the majority of espionage cases in the U.S. in which cleared workers have given away classified information have been primarily due to financial concerns—someone needing more money, or greed.
Address any legal or potentially legal problems directly and truthfully in the application. Divorce cases, liens against income, drug and alcohol use or abuse also can raise red flags in an application. So can frequent overseas travel, frequent correspondence with people who live outside the U.S., and family members who are non-U.S. citizens or who live overseas. In addition, the government is taking a closer use at the illegal use of technology in the workplace or at home—to pirate copyrighted material or proprietary information, for example. Here again, the best approach is to deal with each issue truthfully and honestly in the application. Depending upon the situation, the clearance may or may not be granted.
Control your social media presence via self-restraint and the privacy settings on all of your social media accounts. The government has not officially said, ‘we are checking your social media presence,” but it is. Any HR person who is hiring these days definitely does some Googling to check out job candidates, and security investigators do pull information from the social web.

If you have red-flag issues on your application, all is not lost. Security clearance adjudicators use a “whole person” concept. Reviewers actually do look at all the nitty gritty details in a person’s application, but they will look at each person individually, look at the circumstances surrounding each issue, and try to determine to what degree was what an issue the applicant’s bad decisions or something that was beyond his or her control.

Pursuit of a security clearance status is significantly worth the effort. People with security clearance usually earn on average 15 to 20 percent more than people who don’t have clearance but are doing the same type of job. In addition, the U.S. Government is desperate for skilled, cleared cyber security folks—people with CISSP or CompTIA Security+ credentials. Any cleared individual holding government mandated certifications are going to be pretty closely considered for cyber security job openings.

For more information about the security clearance application process, download ClearanceJobs.com’s Security Clearance FAQs. Learn more about CompTIA’s IT industry certifications, including the CompTIA Security+ and the Mastery Series-level CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) credentials, at www.certification.comptia.org.

Weekly Word on the Street: Tech Hiring in the Emerald Isle

Jim Staats — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:36:01 GMT

Takeaway of the week is that timing is everything so it can’t be a coincidence that a report shows tech firms ramping up in Ireland with St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner. Talk about a pot ‘o gold for job candidates in recently hard-luck Emerald Isle? But with good, must come bad and that shows up in one not-so-good bit o’ news for tech workers in the face of the automation wave. But, back to the good news: it remains all four-leaf clovers for data scientists and healthcare IT candidates.

Lucky Charms? Tech Firms Snap Up Irish Office Space
Tech heavyweights, including Google, Facebook and Paypal, have been gobbling up bigger chunks of office space - and local workers - in and around Dublin, Ireland, with more growth to come.

The crippling financial crisis that wreaked havoc on the Emerald Isle in 2010 has driven down rents and labor costs which, in turn, has generated significant interest among U.S. firms that isn’t expected to cease anytime soon, a recent study shows.

U.S. companies were behind nearly 40 percent of offices bought or leased in Dublin last year, according to a recent article by a Bloomberg staffer.

The article notes that the Irish government has been promoting the country’s affordability and links to the U.S. in the hopes of creating an additional 100,000 jobs by 2016 and slash an unemployment rate of 14.2 percent.

Google is seeking additional office space in Dublin in addition to the 210,000-square-foot Montevetro building the firm purchased last year. Facebook has plans to double the size of its European headquarters in Dublin and Paypal has announced plans to hire 1,000 people to work in a building near the Irish capital. The tech giant, which has 2,200 employees at its Dublin site, expects to employ more than 3,000 in the country, based on the company’s filing with the country.

“Dublin is a much more cost-competitive destination than it may have been before,” said Robert O’Shea, a partner at a local legal firm that offers advice for U.S. firms seeking to set up camp in Ireland.

“That is reflected in the pipeline of projects we would see for 2012 and 2013,” O’Shea said.

Other tech firms with eyes toward growth in the land include Yelp, Salesforce.com and LinkedIn.

Shocker: Automation Technology Bad for IT Jobs
Depending on who you (the IT professional, yes, you) listen to or what you read these days, the latest and greatest advances in automation technology will be either a boon by freeing up workers to take on new tasks or an agent of job genocide.

No matter how many executives try to gloss up the innovative job opportunities of this technology, automation should make techies nervous for their long-term security, says a recent IT Pro article.

Topics from the recent HP global partner conference included the introduction of ProLiant Gen8 Servers with additions such as GPS that seeks out a troubled data center server and smart socket technology that are likely to come with a human cost, the article posits.

Firms that employ IT admins focused on manual process can easily be replaced by one-off payments to technology organizations that save said firms loads of cash simply by letting that employee go.

As more companies veer toward the automation route, IT professionals would be wise to make sure to update their skill sets and do what they can to make themselves indispensable to their current department. Don’t be misled, the article notes, by glowing words of future innovation by their executives.

The Data Scientist Rises
The role of the data scientist is becoming ever more valuable as big data technology rests on the verge of maturity, so says one IBM VP.

Anjul Bhambhri, IBM’s vice president for big data and streams following stints at Sybase and Informix, said people today have a much better understanding of the possibilities of unstructured data and the ability to seamlessly integrate this is becoming ever more valuable, in a recent interview with ReadWriteWeb.

“In terms of observing and discovering and analysing, yes, a lot of us have come to some agreement that you need a role like a data scientist,” Bhambhri said.

In discussing the expected education for college graduates targeting this role, Bhambhri said “It’s going to be very critical that the tooling we build actually helps people with the educational background that they might have in mathematics or statistics, computer science, modeling, analytics.”

In the article, she said it could be fully expected that, much like a graphic artist or mathematician bending to the tools at hand, there will be a field for big data analysis where whatever the tool that does emerge will become the essential skill.

Bhambhri estimated that folks with degrees in business or marketing, rather than mathematics or computer science, will be targeted for the data scientist role.

“Because,” she said, “if we are talking about observing and discovering, they are subject matter experts. They see a pattern, they will identify it.”

Heavy Debate on Health IT Hire Qualifications
The surging ramp-up by health providers to bring in qualified health IT professionals has stirred up a new debate. Namely, what is the proper background necessary for these in-demand candidates?

The question posed by a recent InformationWeek article is whether it’s easier to teach an IT generalist the clinical principles needed to work in a hospital or practice, or teach a clinician the general IT principles?

In response to federal mandates that health organizations better utilize electronic opportunities at hand, it’s no secret that IT professionals are in high demand for IT roles at hospitals and medical practices around the U.S. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that jobs in health information will rise by 18 percent by 2016.

But should the people that fill those roles have a clinical background?

Responses are mixed.

Workers in the health industry need to have a built-in understanding of that industry to function properly, notes Juliet Daniel, MD, senior director of medical informatics for Community Health Systems.

“Healthcare and clinical workflow are just so important, and if you’re an IT person and don’t understand it, it’s hard for you to be influential,” she said.

At St. Joseph’s Health System in Southern California, an informal “week in the life of a clinician” offering helps indoctrinate IT generalists with no medical background with a better understanding of patient care.

As the company’s VP for its Innovation Institute, Larry Stofko notes, technology managers are likely expected to be shifted among various departments and, therefore, should be able to function no matter the background.

Executives seem to agree that job candidates with drive, smarts and a true interest in the healthcare industry can accomplish just about anything.

To help IT pros prove that they have the skills to work in health IT, CompTIA offers its Healthcare IT Technician certification.

New ISO-accredited CASP Certification Comes at a Crucial Time

Janet Pinkerton — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:00:00 GMT

Over one weekend in early February, InformationWeek reported that Anonymous and other hacktivists struck the CIA, the U.S. Census Bureau, Interpol and Mexico, as well as law enforcement websites in Alabama and Texas.

Known and reported hacks and breaches are just the tip of the cybersecurity iceberg and have the potential to cause widespread damage. But, as a recent CompTIA video points out, computer-generated havoc is not inevitable if IT workers prepare themselves to detect and defend against cybersecurity threats.

The new, vendor-neutral CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) exam plays an important role for senior IT professionals seeking to advance their cybersecurity careers and demonstrate their technical and strategic security skills.

The CASP certification is ideal for experienced enterprise security practitioners seeking to validate their ability to analyze and understand the security ramifications of organizational business decisions, as well as implement secure solutions to resolve complex enterprise issues. The exam includes a performance component, and demands that successful candidates employ critical thinking as well as technical knowledge and skills.

In late 2011, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), an international body that approves the procedures used by personnel certification bodies, accorded the CASP its ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation.

The CASP exam is available through Pearson VUE commercial testing centers in the United States and Canada, as well as other regions throughout the world as of February 21, 2011. CompTIA-approved CASP study materials are available from Element K (instructor-led training), uCertify (for self-study or to supplement instructor training), and Wiley (self-study). Candidates also can use CASP exam objectives to prepare.

The CASP exam is the first in CompTIA’s Mastery level of advanced exams. It is intended for IT professionals who have 10 years in IT and 5+ years of hands-on technical security experience at the enterprise level. There is no prerequisite for taking the exam, but the CASP certification is intended to follow CompTIA Security+ or equivalent experience.

The CASP may be particularly useful for military personnel and contractors because it was developed in large part to address the need for enterprise security skills at the level of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) IA Technical Level III job role. With its internationally recognized ISO accreditation secured, the CASP currently awaiting approval for the IA Technical Level III and IA Management Level II workforce categories in the DoD 8570.01-M Directive.

The CASP also can complement the management-and-policy-oriented Certified Information Security Systems Security Professional (CISSP) credential issued by (ICS)². CompTIA anticipates that a segment of IT security professionals will chose to certify in both CASP and CISSP, as the credentials emphasize different strengths. (Check out CompTIA’s Certification Roadmap for all certification options on the IT security career path.)

Specific domains covered in the CASP include:

Enterprise Security

1.1. Cryptographic tools and techniques
1.2. Virtualized, Distributed and shared computing
1.3. Enterprise storage security implications
1.4. Integration of secure, comprehensive IT solutions
1.5. Host security controls
1.6. Application security
1.7. Assessment methods and tools

Risk Management, Policy/Procedures and Legal

2.1. Security risk implications of business decisions
2.2. Risk mitigation strategies and controls
2.3. Incident discovery, response and recovery process

Research & Analysis

3.1. Analysis of trends and impact on enterprise
3.2. Analysis of enterprise security needs and solutions

Integration of Computing, Communications and Business Disciplines

4.1. Integrating enterprise disciplines for secure solutions
4.2. The security impact of inter-organizational change
4.3. Security controls for communication and collaboration
4.4. Advanced authentication tools, techniques and concepts
4.5. Security across the technology lifecycle

For more information about the CASP, download exam objectives or email casp@comptia.org. Check out this CompTIA video about the growing need for cybersecurity-savvy heroes.

CASP Latest Security Blanket for this IT Pro

Jim Staats — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:00:00 GMT

To say Alan Crawford thinks a lot about IT security is an understatement.

The veteran systems engineer doesn’t need cybersecurity spelled out in his job description to keep it at the forefront of his mind.

“I have been evangelistic about the need for stronger security measures for almost as long as I’ve been involved with computers,” said Crawford, 57.

“Everything I do in IT is influenced by my concerns about security.”

Crawford said he’s found his latest weapon for the cause.

As an early beta tester for the new CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner certification, Crawford sees a valuable professional achievement that’ll test the mettle of anyone wishing to prove themselves in the security arena.

“I found the CASP exam to be quite challenging,” he said. “In fact, I didn’t think I had passed the exam when I finished, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I had done so.”

Crawford, a recently hired senior systems engineer for ING US Financial Services, is already applying some of his tested knowledge in his daily activities.

As part of an infrastructure support team helping to build out a new data center, Crawford found the most pertinent parts of the CASP exam for him to be those aspects that dealt with physical security.

Though he never pursued a strict IT security career path, Crawford said he realized its influence from his first IT job as a programmer for a small start-up in hospital management systems straight out of Control Data Institute.

“My interest in security is holistic and an important aspect of any generalist’s toolkit,” said Crawford, of Berwyn, PA.

Adding CASP to his own toolkit that already includes CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ and CompTIA Security+, Crawford credits his industry certifications with helping to earn his latest role - and excelling in it.

“I use my certifications as a way to prove that I’m not all talk,” he said, noting the credentials show “I actually do know what I’m talking about. I think the certifications are an important tool to getting and keeping a job.”

He added: “It’s a way to distinguish myself from my peers, and to perhaps be the one who keeps my job when others might not.”

As one who until recently held the temporary title of unemployed IT technician, Crawford said these uncertain times in the job market placed even more value on such industry credentials.

“Hiring companies need every tool they can use to separate qualified candidates from the rest of the pool,” he said. “I think certifications are the best way to do this.”

What sets CASP apart from all other IT security options in Crawford’s view is that it can offer a vendor neutral experience and “it tests practical knowledge as opposed to ‘book smarts’.”

For his money, it doesn’t matter what your level of industry experience is, there is always room to improve and prove yourself, especially when it comes to IT security.

“I can’t stand a job where I’m not presented with challenges, and throughout my career, I have been the one in any group who was charged with figuring out how to use new technology,” he said.

Crawford hopes he’s not alone in relishing such professional challenges.

Any veteran technician, he said, should want to gain valuable insight into a growing and ever-more important field and the new CASP certification is the perfect opportunity. IT pros with the necessary level of experience and training should want to prove their knowledge and use this as a tool for career advancement.

Achieving 100% Success Rate in IT Training

Jim Staats — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:42:54 GMT

Not far from the lapping ocean waves along the shores of Peru, a technical revolution is taking place.

Cyttek, a relatively new training presence in the capital city of Lima, is having phenomenal success with an IT program built on the core competencies of CompTIA certifications that could forever alter the South American country’s economic outlook.

Students are trained to earn the fundamental certifications of CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Server+ and CompTIA Project+ before moving to higher levels. The program has a 100 percent success rate since initial classes began in 2010.

“My previous knowledge in computers was rather low, but since I have started to study CompTIA (certifications), I have acquired more knowledge and confidence in resolving problems,” said Brian Ponte, one of the program’s students, via translation.

“I even help my friends fix their computer issues.”

Ponte, 16, who credits his CompTIA A+ certification with “finding work immediately” as a technical support representative, said “I know that in information technology, the better or more prepared a person is, the better the opportunities (are) anywhere you go.”

He estimated about 80 percent of the information he gained through his CompTIA preparation is put to use in his daily duties.

“CompTIA A+ prepares us for the basic things in order to be able to solve the various diverse issues that show up in IT,” said the Lima resident.

Another of Cyttek’s students, 24-year-old Alejandro Bedoya, has been working on other internationally recognized certifications including Cisco and Microsoft. He credits CompTIA for diving into the details.

“They go from objective to objective directed to a central theme or idea,” said Bedoya, a printer technician with HP. “This is different from others where they don’t go deep enough or are too brief on certain objectives.”

A self-acknowledged computer “junkie” since an early age, Bedoya also considers himself a bit of a sponge when it comes to industry certifications that both build knowledge and the confidence of his employers.

“Every day, the value of having multiple certifications increases around the world,” Bedoya said.

Building the Program Based on Business Demand
“All the knowledge put together, we’ve added because of demand from different companies in Lima,” said Kirk Sanchez Rios, executive director of Cyttek’s Escuela Superior Americana. “Students coming out can do basically anything out there.”

He added, “Going from cutting grass to an IT job is rewarding.”

Sanchez, who spent decades working with various technical colleges in the U.S., established the center in Lima’s Miraflores district in 2009 with the goal of providing a complete program of IT fundamentals. The first step was finding the right vehicle for the journey.

Sanchez said he immediately sought out CompTIA for its vendor-neutral offerings.

“You can see the difference,” he said. “A well-rounded knowledge versus others that are more precise. Students can do things quicker. You can see the big difference with the students. That’s how we came up with the idea of incorporating more and more of CompTIA offerings.”

He’s not exaggerating.

Cyttek’s Lima site, which became a CompTIA Authorized Partner in 2011, recently implemented one of its just-released certifications, CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP), to become part of an upcoming network security program.

“We’re always looking for what’s new,” he said. “You do a (training) program because of where you are going to work. Our focus is how are you going to work and how are we going to get you there.”

Students who complete their CompTIA certifications can then move on to other credentials including Microsoft, Cisco and others, but the basics are imperative for a general populace with little to no technical knowledge.

Charting Student Success
Peter Leight, Cyttek’s U.S.-based director of education, said 40 students to date have successfully completed the program in its first year and a half with all CompTIA certifications.

“We’ve had success in the states using CompTIA and offering other classes, but what we’ve found here is starting with a baseline of A+ (and) Network+ and giving students solid theoretical grounding of vendor neutral foundation has been the key.”

“Working off vendor neutral fundamentals, everything else we did was more successful,” Leight said, who credits the work ethic of the students in Lima for that success.

“It’s a lot of hard work,” he said. “They take it very seriously. People are walking into different technology. They can jump into it easier. It’s been more specific than we even expected.

“I don’t think we’d have the same success if we offered the same program in America.”

Sanchez said with a teaching staff made up of experienced professionals, the program is one of active teaching, not passive.

“We put it in practice,” he said. “They learn it much quicker.”

Students, whose age ranges from 15 to 65, are selected for the program through an admission process of vocational interviews to determine if the program is the right fit. While a few have some IT experience, many begin with only the most basic background understanding of technology.

“The focus of the school is to evaluate students, teach them and put them to work,” Leight said. “These students want a better job and better opportunities. That’s not typical in Lima. It’s fairly unique in (that) area.”

While statistical goals for the program are still being formed, Leight has been pleased to see the education program help build a tighter community network and closer ties with the business community. Program leaders, he said, are constantly seeking to better understand what businesses in the area expect from graduates.

Sanchez, who actively works with employers in the area to help place his students, has business partners including IBM-Peru as well as some of the largest technical support firms, phone companies and banks. Some of his students are helping to install call centers throughout South America, consulting for various firms and working for finance firms in the U.S.

He often uses the global value of CompTIA certifications as his lead pitch to help “sell” his students.

Both Leight and Sanchez note finances are a big restriction for many students being able to move forward. Several companies are stepping forward to help partner with the program to alleviate such concerns.

Sanchez predicts the demand for IT credentials among the South American population will only grow with time.

He noted a recent interview with a local IT director who didn’t have much knowledge of CompTIA.

“I told him about it and he wanted to learn more,” Sanchez said. “People in Peru, they go and learn on the job and continue going and going, but in the end the fundamental skills are not there.”

Weekly Word on the Street: IT Pros Needed in the U.K.

Jim Staats — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:00:00 GMT

Takeaway of the week is a whole new set of avenues from which good news on the IT job front flow - if one has the right qualifications. Got Linux skills? Your skills are wanted big-time. Got a U.K. residence? Your IT skills are wanted, too. Got a college IT degree? OK, just a little more seasoning on the soft skills and other areas and you’re good to go.

IT Jobs on the Rise in the U.K.

A study based on January job openings in the U.K. signals a healthy bump in the need for IT staffers.

The study by recruitment and service organizations showed a rise in the demand for both full-time and temporary IT workers due to an apparent short supply of talent with necessary IT skills, according to a ComputerWeekly report.

Findings from the survey, by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, indicated full-time IT staffers highly sought include those with skills in C#, database administration, datastage, DB2, software development, IT marketing, .Net, SAP, security and VB. In the arena of temporary IT workers, skills in short supply include business analysis, Citrix, datastage, .Net, Oracle and security.

A separate survey by the recruitment firm, Robert Half, indicated an overwhelming majority of CIOs are having difficulty locating workers with the right skills to support their investment plans. Most sought after skills? Big data wrangling and mobile technology.

Sunny Forecast for Linux Skills

Linux talent has a very bright immediate future, so says data from a recent report on the industry sector is accurate.

A new study conducted by technology career site, Dice, indicates increased demand for the hard-to-find skill is triggering higher salary and bonus opportunities. The report was also the subject of a recent Wall Street Journal blog item.

The 2012 Linux Jobs Report notes that eight in ten recruiters highlight Linux professionals as a hiring priority this year. The survey also reports managers plan to hire more Linux professionals relative to other skill sets during the first half of this year.

The study, which the nonprofit Linux Foundation helped produce, points to the difficulty by a majority of respondents in finding qualified Linux talent as a major reason the sector is grabbing more full-time positions, better salaries, bonuses and perks amid a sea of contract and temp-to-hire roles elsewhere.

Seventy-five percent of respondents are setting their aim for mid-level talent with three to five years of experience, especially in the areas of development or systems administration.

“Linux jobs have become some of the hottest jobs in all of tech,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at the Linux Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting the growth of Linux.

Chief Mobility Officer to the Rescue

A new Forrester Research report shows the latest wave of mobile strategies could use the off-again, on-again CMO role to ride ‘em to success.

Although the idea of a chief mobile officer has been mulled over by executives for some time now, companies seeking the fastest way to provide mobile services and apps may need to rely on the top-level engagement to make things happen, notes a recent Computerworld article based on Forrester findings.

The report, based on study of 61 firms, found a wide range of approaches to broadening mobile offerings. Some companies sought self-service apps customers could take on, while others were planning IT groups focused solely on smartphone and tablet engagement.

Spending on mobile projects is expected to grow by 100 percent by 2015, according to Forrester, with spending on apps to reach $55 billion by 2016.

Analysts suggest an office of the chief mobility officer would help improve coordination of mobile initiatives and allow easy flow of information with task forces created for mobile projects. Their roles would be to blend social, mobile and business analytics to help connect workers, customers and enterprise partners, Forrester analysts note.

Placing all that under the umbrella of one CMO may still be a little ways off, but insiders note there is current progress toward the mobile task force idea within various IT groups.

Got the IT Degree? Great, Now Gather These Skills

IT managers say college graduates armed with IT degrees are missing some vital skills necessary for success in their chosen profession.

Besides the book smarts that the ‘new kids’ have in spades, managers are looking for some pertinent soft skills, business skills and focused technical skills, according to a new Computerworld article.

A number of industry managers interviewed for the piece collaborated on the following six key skills considered lacking in college prospects:

Business basics knowledge - get to know the scoop on accounts receivables, logistics, operations, marketing plans and such.
Systems integration - companies want folks who can integrate multiple enterprise applications in an established system, likely not build that system from scratch.
Expertise in emerging technology - colleges are having a hard time keeping up with the very latest trends such as cloud computing and business intelligence.
Tech basics - sometimes even the most basic tech skills such as batch scripting or simple PC problem-solving are left wanting as universities focus on the more advanced IT issues.
Legacy system knowledge - colleges may not be devoting a lot of resources to Cobol, CICS and other mainframe skills, but companies continue to do so.
Teamwork - social media and online communities are putting the emphasis today on individualism when businesses need workers who can collaborate and work as a team.

Weekly Word on the Street: Another Batch of Good News

Jim Staats — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:22:00 GMT

Takeaway of the week is another batch of signs pointing to upticks in IT job growth as the fledgling 2012 data trickles in. More IT jobs added overall; mobile apps and such mean more job creation this year; more focus on data storage, networking and mobile apps means more IT spending this year. So, yeah, IT jobs are out there to be had.

IT Jobs Out of the Gate Strong in 2012
All sectors of the IT industry showed job growth in the first month of this year, with telecom leading the pack, according to new data.

January saw an added 47,500 jobs in the tech sector, with more than 10,000 generated within the telecom industry, reports based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show.

The data indicates computer system design and tethered services added 34,200 jobs in the timespan while data processing was responsible for another 2,200 jobs and information services 900 new jobs, a ChannelPartners item reported this week.

The U.S. economy as a whole saw improvement as 2012 got underway with an added 243,000 jobs, a steady increase on the 200,000 jobs added in December.

The Associated Press reported that the unemployment rate of 8.3 percent last month was the lowest such figure in the past three years.

In a just completed survey of 107 organizations’ hiring trends, M.V. Janulaitis, CEO of Janco Associates, said the firm found that a quarter of those firms planned to add to their IT staffs in the coming month.

‘App Economy’ Good for Tech Jobs
A new study shows the continued reliance on more mobile offerings is a boon for tech jobs, to the tune of an additional half-million.

Yep, this new environment, being dubbed the “app economy,” is generating more and more jobs for programmers, designers, marketers, managers, support and other roles, the latest study out this week from CEO network TechNet suggests.

Analysts show that in the U.S. alone, the devouring of all things mobile has resulted in an estimated 466,000 additional jobs created, up from zero in 2007, according to a CNET article on the study.

Jobs in this new economy, the report shows, are being generated to create apps on iOS and Android devices at firms such as Electronic Arts, Amazon, AT&T, Apple, Google and Facebook, to name drop a few biggies.

Data, collected for the tech group by Michael Mandel, president of South Mountain Economics, was gathered by several methods including numerous searches of help wanted ads and studying third-party app developers.

Mandel does note this particular phenomenon is still in its early stages and continuing to grow, rapidly.

“Innovation creates jobs, and in this case, lots of them,” he said.

Networking, Data Storage to Boost IT Spending
Job seekers in the IT sector can read into another tidbit of good news in the latest forecast suggesting IT spending worldwide is expected to grow five percent this year.

While some regions may see more growth than others, the latest report from market researcher IDC suggests the healthy bump in spending will benefit greatly from the needs of network equipment and data storage system enterprises, according to a new CRN article.

Regions showing a significant increase in demand for IT products include emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil, while demand in the U.S. will be driven by mobile device purchases in addition to networking and data storage needs.

IDC analysis suggested the PC industry will show some growth this year as well following a down year in 2011 due to a shortage of disk drives.

However, in the economically-strained Europe, IT spending is expected to increase by less than one percent this year with a forecast for a three percent increase in 2013, IDC reports.

“In a downside scenario, things could get much uglier in Europe and have a ripple effect through other regions,” said Stephen Minton, IDC’s VP of global technology and industry research organization, in a statement.

Returning to the bright side, though, last year’s healthy growth, the basis for overall positive news, was fueled by sales of smartphones, software and disk storage systems.

Study: H-1B Workers Better Educated, Compensated than U.S. Counterparts
A new economic study shows that workers utilizing the H-1B visa program tend to be earning better and equipped with a better education than U.S.-born workers.

The research, done by a pair of economists at the Public Policy Institute of California, found that H-1B workers were on average about 10 years younger with earnings about 10 percent higher than equivalent U.S. workers, a new Computerworld article notes.

The study is drawing some attention from several quarters, including those who see the immigration policies used within the program as a detriment to U.S. workers.

Norman Matloff, a professor of computer science at the University of California at Davis, said findings on age aided his argument that the H-1B visa helped employers save money by hiring younger, “thus cheaper, H-1Bs, instead of older, thus more expensive Americans.”

Findings were compiled by Magnus Lofstrom and Joseph Hayes through data gathered by Freedom of Information Act requests to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service and U.S. Census data.

The study also found that less than a quarter of U.S.-born workers in IT have graduate degrees while nearly one-half of the H-1B workers had earned advanced degrees.

A strong message to come out of the study, co-author Lofstrom said, was “that there is no evidence of lower pay amongst H-1Bs.”

For full report details and more data on the ongoing H-1B battle, read the entire article at: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9223947/H_1B_workers_are_better_paid_more_educated_study_finds

Weekly Word on the Street: It’s Good to be in IT

Jim Staats — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:04:00 GMT

Takeaway of the week is it’s good to be in IT. Granted, that may not be a shared view from the vantage point of some current job-seekers in the sector, but overall indications from the latest batch of surveys, studies and published scribblings show the tech job market to be bubbling, whether it be Silicon Valley titans, burgeoning startups, healthcare providers jumping on the tech bandwagon or countless others.

Study: The Cloud Good for IT Job Creation
For those who say cloud computing and its ilk in the move to mobile is bad for personnel in the IT biz, we have a new study that essentially says “Pffffft!” to that (insert international sound of a tongue making a ‘rasberry’ for effect).

Based on a study of aerospace and smartphone services by the London School of Economics and Political Science, the trend toward cloud computing is contributing to growth in the type of jobs and skills required by businesses, according to a recent Forbes article.

The study, which examined the impact of the cloud on those industries in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Italy from 2010 to 2014, said cloud computing is creating employment through construction, staffing and supply of data centers charged with hosting cloud services. In addition, firms using these mobile opportunities are finding they are able to shift staff to other, more profitable work sectors.

“As firms shift from proprietary application servers towards virtualization and cloud computing, related skills will be in demand among employers,” the study notes. “New direct hires and upskilling for public cloud enablement result in higher-than-average salaries.”

Health IT Saw Healthy Capital Influx in 2011
For those still weighing a foray into the field of health IT, consider this: venture capital investors heaped $633 million into the growing sector last year, its biggest haul in more than a decade.

That healthy bit of investment was a 22 percent increase from 2010, according to figures from Dow Jones VentureSource in a recent InformationWeek piece.

With a nice bit of encouragement in the form of the recent incentive programs enacted by the Obama administration, VC investments in health IT have continued to grow over that past three years. The push for health care providers to adopt electronic health records (EHRs) along with the growing use of mobile devices and information management software has attracted ever increasing attention from the investment community, the article notes.

Analysts note the health IT investments mimic the rosy outlook expressed for the industry by venture capitalists in a separate survey. Conducted by Dow Jones VentureSource and the National Venture Capital Association in the fall of last year, findings show 61 percent of venture capital professionals and CEOs of venture-backed firms predicted investment increases in health IT in 2012.

Considering a career in health IT? Learn more about the CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician certification.

Bloomberg: Tech Hiring in Full Bloom
The appetite for more workers in the technology is becoming more voracious by the minute, according to a new data study.

Some of the most highly valued businesses in the tech sector, giants including Apple Inc., Google Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., have expanded their workforce by healthy margins in the past couple years in response to heady demands in Internet services, software and electronics, data compiled by and reported on by Bloomberg suggests.

With these Silicon Valley titans increasing their workforce by at least 50 percent over this two-year period, according to Bloomberg, recruitment is now expanding to prospects with nontechnical backgrounds in a radius running from the Great Northwest to the Eastern seaboard.

After the volatile dot-com bust, more job seekers are viewing the tech industry as a true model of stability.

“It’s a tough battlefield for talent all the time,” said Mike Guerchon, senior vice president of employee services at Riverbed, a San Francisco-based network-equipment company. The firm employees a 20-member recruiting team.

Many firms, including EBay Inc., Facebook Inc. and Amazon, will be adding thousands of jobs this year, many in newly formed satellite locations.

“You’re always reading good news about tech, despite what’s happening in the economy,” said after ditching plans to get into investment banking.

Tech Hiring Boon A Goodie, Just Not an Oldie
There might well be a full-tilt hiring boon happening in Silicon Valley and other high-tech havens, but not for everyone.

Quite a number of educated and experienced older workers remain on the sidelines in a job market increasingly targeting other skill sets and, frankly, new talent, a New York Times article reports.

Analysts indicate that many of the firms hiring are Internet-based while those cutting jobs are of the technology manufacturer model. The skills possessed by the workers made redundant aren’t valued as much in this current hiring climate.

“You’re not going to get a job that’s going to be assembly and filing and coding,” said Russell Hancock, president and chief executive of the research group, Joint Venture Silicon Valley, “and frankly, that can leave a lot of the older set a little bewildered.”

The leader of a local work force investment board, NOVA, which released a survey of human resource directors at a few hundred tech firms in the San Francisco Bay Area, noted in her experience, candidates began being weeded out at age 40.

“Especially in social media, cloud computing and mobile apps, if you’re over 40 you’re perceived to be over the hill,” said Kris Stadelman, NOVA director.

IT Consumerization Means More Money
A nice side benefit to the ongoing rush to create applications and programs that please consumers, staff and enterprise partners is the upward trend in salaries for IT professionals.

Companies are doing whatever they can to keep up with the demand to populate Android and iOS mobile devices with valuable properties which makes that slice of the workforce with those skills a valuable commodity itself, according to a recent CIO-Asia article.

“Companies now want IT to be part of the dialog, part of the innovation cycle,” said Michael Kirvin, co-founder of IT staffing firm, Bluewolf. “IT is becoming more of a strategic partner inside companies, and because of that, there’s more demand.”

With that demand, he said, IT professionals are finding themselves in the driver seat when it comes time to find new jobs and negotiate salaries.

Because IT hiring at Fortune 2000 companies is so active, Kirvin notes, IT pros “have a tremendous amount of leverage.”

2012 Outlook: The Year Ahead in Tech

Tim Herbert — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:42:30 GMT

The ever-quotable baseball great, Yogi Berra, once quipped “the future ain’t what it use to be.” After several years of weak economic fundamentals and market volatility, getting excited about the future is arguably more difficult than it used to be.

Many signs point to modest improvement in 2012, but it likely won’t be drastically different from the previous year. For those with the right product mix and business model, that’s probably not such a bad thing.Heading into Q1, CompTIA’s IT Industry Business Confidence Index remains essentially flat, reflecting persistent concerns over the pace of the recovery. The forward-looking component of the index projects a gain of 3.8 points (on a 100-point scale), which if realized, puts the index ahead of its rating for much of 2011.

What does this mean for industry growth?

For 2012, CompTIA projects a worldwide IT industry growth rate of 4.5%, with upside potential of 7.6%. The U.S. forecast trails slightly at 4.0% and 6.9%, respectively. The data suggests IT industry executives are most bullish on the IT services and software categories.

Compared to U.S. GDP expectations and growth projections for other industry sectors, the outlook for the IT industry looks quite favorable. A number of trends will inevitably make their mark on the IT industry and the broader economy in 2012.

At a macro level, disintermediation and automation will touch new areas, further reducing layers of complexity, while improving efficiencies. Many organizations will reap the benefits of this innovation, although some will inevitably lag in adoption, potentially resulting in a more pronounced enterprise digital divide.

The technology outlook for the upcoming year will be one of momentum and continuation. Cloud computing, mobility and social communication and collaboration technologies will become more capable, more business-ready and more disruptive. Big data will get even bigger as pervasive connectivity and “smart” devices become the norm.

On the channel front, the “everything-as-a-service” approach to IT will continue to push firms to explore new business models, product mixes and partner relationships. Business transformations, such as the shift from transactional product/services sales to recurring revenue models, will present lucrative opportunities for some, while challenging others.

These and many more trends are discussed in CompTIA’s IT Industry Outlook 2012 report.

Weekly Word on the Street: Surveys Say…

Jim Staats — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:56:41 GMT

Takeaway of the week is another round of survey-a-go-go. No sooner do you read one firm’s survey or report of the positive news of rising job openings, salaries and bonuses amid the tech-sector, then you come across a report which debunks that bright, shiny news with reports of massive job cuts late last year. Guess it comes down to “What report have you read lately?”

Survey: Big Pay Bumps for Tech Pros

Good news for the prospective IT pro or ladder-climber: workers in technology fields enjoyed significant compensation jolts last year, according to a recent salary study.

Findings from the 2012-2011 Salary Survey done by Dice, the well-known career site for technology professionals, show employees within the field benefited from the biggest annual salary boost since 2008 and more generous bonus offerings, the site reported in a recent press release.

Following a pair of years of little to no change in wages, the average salary increased from $79,384 in 2010 to $81,327 last year, the survey noted. In addition, nearly a third of those employees - 32 percent - received bonuses, up from 29 percent in 2010 and 24 percent in 2009. The average dollar figure for those bonuses bumped up eight percent to nearly $9,000.

Industries most likely to pay out bonuses? Telecom, hardware, banking, utilities and software, survey findings show.

With a full-fledged resurgence taking place in Silicon Valley, annual tech salaries in the region topped six figures for the first time since the Dice survey was introduced nearly a decade ago. (Read this Wall Street Journal article for this noteworthy nugget.)

However, that well-known tech hotbed isn’t the only location with salary figures zooming upward. Other U.S. cities with significant growth include Austin, Portland, Houston, Chicago, Seattle, Raleigh and Washington D.C.

Skill sets showing high salary growth include advanced business application programming, service oriented architecture, Java database connectivity and Weblogic.

Gartner: IT Crucial for Business Regardless of Economic Conditions

Successful companies are the ones that integrate their IT strategies within strong business strategies, regardless of the economic conditions, according to a recent survey of CIOs in the UK.

Figures compiled by the global analyst giant, Gartner, suggest that the more flourishing firms are those in which their IT capabilities inform their business strategy.

The survey, reported on in Computerworld UK, showed that respondents have shifted their focus from growth and innovation to managing that growth, retaining new customers, enterprise innovation and operational results. Signs, analysts note, of the pervasiveness of IT.

CIOs, the survey report reveals, are concentrating on innovation in the products field, with the customer experience and how to engage the customer through mobile and social media channels.

“That’s not traditionally where IT has invested the most,” said Dave Aron of Gartner. “It’s recognition of IT being more pervasive.”

Tech Hiring On the Rise Despite Automation Shift

Technology firms on U.S. soil continue the ever-growing tilt to automated functions, but hiring in this sector remains on the rise, new findings indicate.

According to a recent report by Forrester along with a study completed by the National Science Foundation, hiring figures for software and IT services remain in healthy states despite more firms leaning on machines for daily functions, rather than people, a new Computerworld report notes.

Automation may be hurting tech manufacturing and telecommunications, but the U.S. tech industry as a whole saw a net gain of 42,000 workers in 2011 compared with the prior year, according to Forrester.

Technical services and software development within the U.S. technical arena added 131,000 jobs in 2011.

While the NSF report looks at the technical industry overall, Forrester zeroes in on the high-tech industry, which includes IT and telecommunications.

Despite Late Year Surge in Job Cuts, 2012 Looks OK for Tech Roles

Technology professionals still reeling from a glut of downsizing in the latter half of 2011 may have better fortune this year, a new report on those cuts indicates.

After seeing a second-half increase of nearly 60 percent in tech-sector job cuts last year, the number of cuts announced by firms has dropped to late-90’s levels, this week’s report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas shows in an eWeek article on the findings.

“The second-half surge notwithstanding, the technology sector is definitely among the areas of the economy enjoying the fruits of recovery,” said the firm’s CEO, John Challenger.

“Several trends in the sector, including the advancement of cloud storage and the push to develop more portable computing devices, such as tabs and smartphones, are helping to create and protect jobs in the sector.”

Based on IT spending forecasts recently released by Gartner, technology jobs should continue to grow in 2012, but likely at a slower rate.

“Even if job growth declines slightly in 2012, technology will still be among the strongest job markets,”

Challenger said. Entrepreneurship Alive and Well in the Valley of Silicon

With a new influx of startups and investment dollars, Silicon Valley is welcoming a whole new surge of high-tech dreamers - and their technology-shaping ideas - to its environs.

The global heartbeat of the technical sector has once again become the mecca for youngsters in their 20s and fresh out of college eager to build upon technical innovations they’ve grown up with, a New York Times article reports.

Unfazed by the boom-and-bust cycles associated with Silicon Valley - dotcom travails, anyone? - these newcomers are arriving with optimism and confidence unshaken by even the most dreary economic forecast.

To those viewing from a distance with the knowledge of what happened to previous generations, these newbies are described in the article as either brash and entitled with short attention spans and a video-game approach to life or the embodiment of a social conscience and maturity that sets them apart from the high-tech gold diggers of the 1990s.

Also noted in the article is with the rise of social media, technical skills are not the only essential sought. Graduates with degrees in history, psychology and music are also being added to the high-tech mix.

2012 Priorities: Filling IT Jobs, Supporting Small IT Biz, Securing Tech

Elizabeth Hyman — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:14:48 GMT

2012 promises to be an interesting year in Washington, D.C., with the upcoming presidential election dominating the political scene. Members of Congress will be anxious to wrap up the session so they can get home to campaign for reelection. This means that the calendar will be compressed and legislative achievements will be limited.

That said, hot issues will kick up (such as the online piracy debate), and we see some opportunities to push ahead with CompTIA priorities. Moreover, Washington sometimes favors long-term thinking, and the issues where we stake out leadership now can reap returns down the road. So with that in mind, we share with CompTIA membership our 2012 Public Policy Priorities:

Support Skills for the 21st Century Workforce

Even in this uncertain economy, there are more than 300,000 IT and IT-related jobs that are presently unfilled. As a country, we need to do a better job of getting educators on the same page with employers so that Americans are career-ready and able to thrive in the IT field.

As the leading global provider of vender-neutral IT workforce certifications, CompTIA can play a leading role in this effort. This year we will continue to focus on how our public workforce system can be more responsive to this task. In addition we want to find ways to work with employers and employees to improve individual skill levels through education and training. And we will be on the front lines of ensuring that the federal workforce is adequately trained in IT.

Champion the SMB Tech Entrepreneur

Seventy-five percent of all IT products and services are sold to businesses through the channel, as opposed to through retailers or direct sales. This represents more than $350 billion in sales, a significant contribution to the national economy. Many of these channel companies are small and medium-sized enterprises, and CompTIA estimates that these SMB IT firms employ nearly 2 million Americans, spending over $110 billion annually on payroll. Yet, when national policy is debated, the interests of these SMBs are too often misunderstood.

This year, CompTIA will fight for access to capital so that small innovative companies can get the resources they need to grow and contribute even more to the economy. We will continue to advocate for a fair and simpler tax code, with our first priority an extension of the payroll tax holiday. CompTIA also will fight for a fair and rational approach to interstate taxation on goods and services sold over the Internet – one that appropriately exempts small businesses from excessive compliance costs.

Lead in Internet Governance and Security

Tablets, smartphones, game consoles and traditional desktop and laptop computers continue to proliferate. We now have more raw computing power contained in our smartphones than the cumulative mission control IT capability that propelled mankind on the first lunar missions in the 1970s. Increasingly, economic expansion will rest on the creation of new and innovative business models and solutions that leverage Internet-based platforms. The rules that govern these platforms must ensure security, protect consumer needs, and provide a level playing field so that small and medium-sized companies can participate in our Internet economy.

This year, we will support efforts to pass meaningful legislation on cybersecurity and press for a rational approach to data breach and notification laws. CompTIA will weigh in on emerging privacy legislation to ensure that there is a proper balance between consumer-friendly practices and barriers to entry for SMB firms. We will insist on technology-neutral legislation so that platforms like cloud computing can flourish.

Lastly, as new technologies such as mobility and machine-to-machine technologies take shape CompTIA will help to keep policy makers abreast of developments and their implications. We need education and understanding before action.

To learn more about our annual priorities click here. Feel free to contact the CompTIA public advocacy team if you have any questions. Follow us on Twitter: @CompTIA or @Tech_Voice, and stay tuned.

Weekly Word on the Street: Network, Learn & Impress

Jim Staats — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:50:40 GMT

Takeaway of the week is the smart job seeker never discards an opportunity to network, learn and impress, whether it’s an industry event or a chance meeting with a peer. On other fronts, more good news forecast on the IT job front with the ever-conjoined dose of not-so-great news in tow.

IT Conference as Career Builder

With the right amount of planning and effort, participation in IT events can become a valuable asset in a prospective job seeker’s portfolio.

As networking and social media take on ever more significance, career coaches and experienced IT professionals tout the proper use of one’s time at an IT conference as a veritable career goldmine, according to a recent article in CIO.com.

Experts suggest a series of steps to maximize the use of such industry events.

Know your purpose - zero in on what’s pertinent to your goals.
Do homework in advance - target attendees, topics prior and schedule time for seminars, one-on-ones and the right colleagues to handle introductions to peers.
Network the right way - think of networking as building and maintaining connections, not just handing out business cards.
Put yourself out there - put away the smartphone and become truly engaged in the event.
Create your own opportunities - don’t limit the learning to training sessions.
Recap and reach out - share what you learned with others, stay connected.

As the experts say, it’s easy enough to attend conferences. The hard work is putting in the time wisely to make sure you stand out from the others in the field.

IT Services Spending To Rise Before a Fall
A new multi-year forecast offers both good news and bad news for the likelihood of greater spending on IT services contracts.

Increased spending on the IT workforce is predicted to peak of $40.8 billion in 2013, before an expected backslide in the years to follow, so says a new forecast by Deltek, a research firm on the government contract market.

A recent article in the Washington Post credited increased cybersecurity spending, cloud computing and data center consolidation for the spending increase as well as less funding for IT contracts in the long term.

Mature cloud computing technologies and successful data center consolidation will provide needed IT savings along with a finale to the market’s recent growth, the article notes.

Today’s competition for a slice of the IT services market is utterly competitive with a rather surprising competitor - the federal IT workforce. The government’s technical workforce grew nearly 15 percent from 2006 to 2010 while contract spending grew 35 percent over the same time period, according to Deltek data.

That growth is unlikely to continue. Both the U.S. Congress and the current administration has made a reduced federal workforce a priority, along with plans to cut the number of IT services contracts.

Health IT Industry Shows Growth and Promise

The health of the healthcare IT industry itself is in great shape based on strides made in the past year, one national figure recently noted.

With great gains in the adoption of electronic health records and more steam gathered in the movement to better, more secure sharing of health data, national health IT coordinator Dr. Farzad Mostashari called 2011 “a year of momentous progress,” in a recent InformationWeek item.

Mostashari cited on his official blog, on which the article is based, that the marketplace for certified products has grown steadily and interest in Meaningful Use electronic health records (EHRs) incentive program among healthcare provides continues to accelerate, both key momentum shifters for the industry. Highlighting his personal list of top 10 developments in health IT in 2011, Mostashari said more than 20,000 professionals and 1,200 hospitals have already received their incentive payments from the federal services division.

According to the annual Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey of ambulatory EHR usage, adoption of electronic health records continues to build since the the passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in 2009. Figures showed that 34 percent of office-based physicians had adopted a basic EHR by 2011, double the number from 2008.

Data Entry, Coding and Android Top Year-End Job Trends

If your job skills include programming, data entry and/or Android experience, consider yourself a hot online commodity, according to latest findings of one outsourcing marketplace.

The Freelancer Fast 50, provided by Freelancer.com, lists those among its 50 fastest growing online job categories for the final quarter of 2011.

The Fast 50 details the fastest moving job categories quarterly as well as accounting of jobs being done over the Internet, according to the eWeek report.

Findings indicate that software development positions are up overall, with a strong increase in C++, Java, .NET and PHP.

In the final quarter of last year, 134,820 jobs were posted on the site, up from 114,000 jobs during the previous quarter.

“The sophistication and nature of jobs continues to amaze us as we see jobs outsourced in areas as diverse as astrophysics, genetic engineering and industrial design,” said Freelancer.com CEO Matt Barrie, in a statement.

Jobs specifically for Android rose 33 percent in the quarter, while the number of data entry jobs leaped more than 50 percent as well.

Officials with the firm did note that cloud computing, while a growing trend, didn’t show a significant enough number of jobs to register on the Fast 50 list.

What's a SME Anyway?

jbabich — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:00:00 GMT

Ever wonder how CompTIA comes up with content for its global certification exams? More to the point, ever think you may have what it takes to be a part of the process?

If your answer to either of the above is a “yes” or even “hmmm,” then you’re in luck as we continue to advance our industry-leading certifications next month.

CompTIA relies on industry experts, known as Subject Matter Experts (known in the acronym-happy world as a “SME” sounded out as the not-actual-word “smee”), to provide objectives and blueprints for our exams. These IT professionals confab with peers and our CompTIA staff at exam development workshops at our headquarters in Downers Grove, Ill. Together, this brain trust creates and reviews items associated with the latest in technologies, knowledge sets and best practices in the IT industry.

We're seeking prospective SMEs with extensive experience in document imaging for a workshop February 27 - March 2 to help update our CompTIA Certified Document Imaging Architect (CDIA+) exam.

The following week, from March 5-9, we need professionals with strong knowledge and understanding of the main cloud computing principles and concepts from a business and technical perspective, as well as what is involved in moving to and governing the cloud. These SMEs will help develop content for our CompTIA Cloud Essentials Exam.

The week of April 23-27, we are looking for IT professionals who have extensive experience in the field of PC repair and troubleshooting to update our CompTIA A+ certification exam.

Jill Burroughs, CompTIA’s senior director of exam services, said workshop duties differ as do the qualifications of the participants.

“The qualifications of SMEs vary depending on the program,” Burroughs said. “We aim to include SMEs from various backgrounds and disciplines in order to get a well-rounded view of how the technologies are used.”

The altruistic nature of the workshops isn’t the sole benefit, Burroughs said. And, she wasn’t referring to the daily stipend, free meals and free-wheeling Wii tournaments.

“We asked our current SMEs what brings them back and they say the number one thing is the networking,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for them to be with their peers and really make a difference in their industry.

“For both the SMEs and their employers it’s a chance to influence the direction of the industry by taking part in creating the standards.”

For more on these and other upcoming workshops, click here.

Robert Half Technology’s Tips on How to Build a Successful Resume

Janet Pinkerton — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:47:00 GMT

A resume will not get you a job, but a brief, tightly focused and clearly written resume can be your ticket for the all-important interview with a hiring manager, says John Reed, executive director of Robert Half Technology (RHT).

“The key really is to present your qualifications in a way that very succinctly highlights the expertise that you bring to table,” says Reed.

Thousands of applicants submit their resumes to RHT each week, but Reed estimates that many of those resumes submitted are too long, vaguely worded, sloppily organized, and marred by typos and inconsistent employment dates.

RHT staff recruiters review each resume submitted—on a computer screen. A resume has only a matter of seconds to deliver information about an applicant’s technical and “soft” skills and experience.

“Brevity is important,” says Reed. “Your resume should quickly and cleanly outline the technical skills and the soft skills that you bring to the table—that’s paramount.”

Reed’s recommendations for a successful resume are:

1. Keep it short: Limit your resume to one or two pages, max.

2. Organize it: A resume should include:

An Objective: One to three sentences that describe the ideal role or type of position you are seeking—so there’s no mystery about what you want. For example: “I am seeking a position as a mobile application developer for an advertising, marketing or public relations firm.”

Professional Skills: List your specific technical skills such as experience with hardware, network structures, software, operating systems, databases, programming languages, etc. CompTIA and other related IT certifications and degrees should be included in this section. “This hard technical stuff has got to come through loud and clear, and be written very cleanly and crisply, as one of the first things spelled out in your resume,” said Reed. “Soft” skills—personal attributes involving communication, leadership, or teamwork skills, for example—should NOT be listed in the “professional skills” section, he contends.

History of Professional Experience: Document the chronological history of your employment, starting with your current role and working backwards in time—but not too far back. “If you’ve been in IT for 30 years, working for a lot of different companies, only list your most recent experience over the last 10 years,” says Reed. “Going back more than 10 years will dilute your resume, unless you think that your older employment experience will help you win your target job.”

Key Accomplishments: Within your employment history, highlight three or four key accomplishments —any way that you helped to increase productivity, reduce cost or bring value to your employer. Highlight your “soft” skills within the information about accomplishments. To talk about leadership ability, for example: “Led department team to improve technical support processes, reducing tech support costs by 20 percent.”

3. Keep Focused: Only include the most important information in the resume. Omit excess words and detail. Don’t use gimmicks, slang or unprofessional language. Zero in on your target employer or job in your resume information and approach, Reed says. “So, for example, your objective might read: ‘I’m looking for a network administrator job in the health care industry.’”

4. Get Feedback: Hand a copy of your resume to several peers, saying, “Can you review this and tell me what you think?” Use their feedback to tweak the resume. If you are working with a recruiter, have the recruiter give feedback. “That will give you a great starting point,” says Reed.

Follow Up! After you submit a resume, follow it up with a phone call or an email. Speak to the recruiter to make sure he or she understands your background and the kind of role you seek. Every job seeker has ultimate responsibility for his or her career, but Reed adds that recruiters at firms such as RHT “can be a tremendous resource, helping to review your resume, providing interview tips and insights into companies that you are interested in. Know what they can do for you, and take advantage of it.”

Weekly Word on the Street: U.S. Government Holds the Key

Jim Staats — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:00:00 GMT

Takeaway of the week seems to be a rather clear theme, however coincidental, of U.S. government rallying cries on behalf of technology as the guiding light, whether it be in the form of research, education, cybersecurity or healthcare. Could this be a harbinger of better things to come for this sector of the job market in the still-formative year?

U.S. Gov’t Report: Fed Tech Ed Key to Compete

In another positive sign for those seeking employment in the technical sector, a new report released by the U.S. Department of Commerce targets deeper federal funding in technical education as a key to America’s future economic competitiveness.

The report, titled “The Competitiveness and Innovative Capacity of the United States,” highlights both the need for stronger investments in this industry’s research and education and how failure to do so has eroded the country’s competitive position today, according to Commerce department reporting on the release.

The study, done as part of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act signed into law one year ago, targets the importance of education in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields in spurring overall job growth.

As report findings indicate, success on a global economy scale will rely on government efforts to encourage students and workers to pursue training and education in those fields.

U.S. Defense Demands on Cloud Computing = Security Specialist Opportunities?

Continuing with the theme of U.S. government and technical capability fortunes being intertwined, a recent report notes that increased use of cloud computing by the U.S. Department of Defense - and accompanying ultra-high value placed on cybersecurity -could signal some openings for those equipped with the right skills and know-how to help keep everything “locked down properly.”

According to a recent article in Nextgov, Pentagon leaders note in an increasingly online environment where defense computers are tied to the cloud, the ability to have that environment locked down at a central location is of the utmost importance in securing the military’s information assets. Some of the departments cyber experts, the article notes, are expected to push for more layered controls of security for its hardware and software, such as requesting that data be encrypted in the cloud. A cloud vision among military leaders is of a common network infrastructure capable of spotting and blocking threats remotely for all technical assets.

“How do we create the next set of architecture that is more defensible and can ensure the integrity of our data? I think it’s in the cloud,” Gen. Keith Alexander, chief of U.S. Cyber Command, said this past October.

For that vision to become reality, officials in both the Pentagon and Web service providers must have a clear understanding of each other’s business needs.

Survey: Healthcare IT roles and salaries Remain, Well, Healthy

While rolling through ups and downs of the economic turbulence, health IT jobs - and the compensation that comes along with them - continue to be a growing force in the three years since legislation helped push healthcare providers toward a technical reckoning, a new study shows.

The recent compensation survey by HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) shows the average salary of a healthcare IT pro is $114,176, with roles ranging from hospital CIOs to associate staff health IT techs, according to a report in Becker’s Hospital Review.

Industry officials note the continuing change of the overall healthcare industry in the wake of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act signed into law in 2009. The legislation, insiders note, has helped hospitals, physicians and other providers become more fully vested in health IT and electronic health records.

Every level of the healthcare chain is increasing its health IT payroll in the face of continued reform, with technicians in that industry seeing an average salary increase of nearly five percent since 2009, survey findings note.

Geographic location does play a key part in salary levels, as the survey shows health IT specialists on the West Coast of the U.S. earning the highest of any region based on relative standard of living costs for the area.

What does the future hold for the still-developing tech sector? Might not need to look much further than the folks seen as the veritable lifeblood of the industry, officials suggest.

“What we’re starting to see is a lot of folks who were nurses are now in information technology, or nurse informatics,” said Bonnie Sermons, who serves as program manager and assistant professor of healthcare administration at Peirce College in Philadelphia. “They are potential CIOs of the future since they have a background in working with physicians and understand IT. That’s a slam dunk.”

IDC: More Than Billion Mobile Workers by 2015

Three years from now, the world’s mobile workforce will reach 1.3 billion, encompassing more than a third of all the globe’s workers, a new study predicts.

The number of mobile workers in the Americas (U.S., Canada and Latin America) will top 212 million by that same timeframe, but the biggest rise will come from the Asia-Pacific region, according to the recent forecast by IT analytics firm IDC.

A new eWeek article on the study notes that even as the employment market overall remains stagnant, online hiring continues to rise at a record pace since 2010.

People are taking advantage of this new sector to seek out independent careers built on online platforms, findings show.

The IDC study, titled “Worldwide Mobile Worker Population 2011-2015 Forecast,” indicates that companies, faced with a changing environment dominated by cloud computing, mobile apps and instant tech gratification, are more willing to seek out instant access to talent and run their businesses with greater flexibility.

Gov’t Review: U.S. IT Jobs Picture Rosy With Some Thorns

The IT job sector in the U.S. fared pretty well in the past year, but year-end findings leave some room for concern, a new government report shows.

In 2011, jobs in technical industries grew two percent to nearly return to pre-recession levels, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ year-end report.

However, when one delves down into the fourth quarter statistics, the report shows total IT employment dipped five percent, from 4.1 million to 3.9 million, a recent article in InformationWeek notes.

On the more big-picture positive side, the year-end report shows about 3.98 million people were employed in IT fields, a healthy number when compared to the 4.0 million IT pros employed in the more economically sunny days of 2008.

In 2009, the number of IT pros employed, based on report findings, had dropped to 3.78 million. In InformationWeek’s own 2012 outlook survey, conducted this past October, one-fourth of companies surveyed said IT staffs would be expanded this year, while more than a third planed to fill open IT positions. However, 30 percent of the firms that took part in the survey expected to continue an ongoing hiring freeze.

Six Wishes for the New Year

Todd Thibodeaux — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:12:00 GMT

1. No Hostage Taking – The U.S. federal debt ceiling debate is going to rear its ugly head again in the next few months, and whatever fragile economic recovery we have could be dashed with a matter of a few votes. If Congress and the President don’t want to spend our tax dollars (and more), then don’t authorize it. But if spending measures do get passed, then don’t hold the country hostage over money already spent.

2. Frank Talk – Here’s hoping the Presidential campaign in the fall somehow magically turns into a frank and honest depiction of what two people who hope to lead the country really think and hope for the future of our nation.

3. Looser Purse Strings – National banks have finally started to loosen their purse strings learning what regional and local banks have known for months, small business is a good financial bet…particularly when it comes to small IT firms.

4. Refocus on Health IT – It would be a crime to let an opportunity to revolutionize the management of our health records get swept aside either by the repeal of all or parts of the legislation that set us on the health IT track. Pockets of constituents needed to make it happen have clearly lost momentum. Let’s bring that back.

5. Data Breach Standard – Now more than ever we need a national standard on what constitutes data breach and a standardization of the liability risks. Only through a clear set of guidelines, operating in all jurisdictions can we go about securing the nation’s infrastructure and information.

6. Accelerate Worker Mobility – We need creative solutions now to assist employees with the skills employers need and to be able to move to where the jobs are. Too many people because of the anchor of an upside down mortgage are tied to regions with too few jobs to match their skills.

Weekly Word on the Street: Semi-sunny Outlook for 2012

Jim Staats — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:30:00 GMT

Takeaway of the week is more of the good and a little of the bad, kind of a semi-sunny outlook for this new year. More good words on the horizon if you design, code, maintain and orchestrate in the tech arena and continuing good things are in store for those who seek to control the spigot on giant inflows of customer and product data. The year also brings with it a healthy dose of fun, new titles for IT pros and some all-too-familiar woes.

Dice: Developers Dominate Staffing Needs

If you design, code or build, 2012 could be a good year for your job prospects.

So say the bulk of about 1,200 tech-focused hiring managers and recruiters whose opinions were culled for a recent Dice.com newsletter item forecasting the coming year.

The data indicates that Java developers, whose know-how need has been climbing for the past two years based on the technical job site’s postings, are the top priority for staffing needs in 2012.

Software developers are the second most in demand positions, according to figures from Dice. Roles are posted in 44 out of the 50 states, with significant demand coming from Florida, Oregon, Colorado and Arizona in addition to always-potent big city regions.

While the stock of mobile and .NET developers continues to climb, some recent additions to the most wanted tech list include systems and network engineers/administrators.

Companies certainly are trying to do more with less these days, but as evidenced by the tech roles dominating employment wish lists, firms are still in dire need of technical professionals to help oversee their communication channels and platforms.

Big Things for MDM Data

Technical professionals with skills and an interest in master data management could be hot properties if a recent forecast comes true.

The worldwide MDM of customer data is estimated to reach $66 million in revenue this year with expectations to top $1 billion in the next three years, according to IT research firm Gartner.

In an indication for the continuing good news heaped on those in the data storage sector, the report predicted the market - currently dominated by IBM, Oracle and SAP - will reach $3.2 billion by 2015, a recent eWeek article noted.

Gartner findings showed that while big players were driving the marker, more than half of the predicted revenue would come from products by smaller vendors as the ideals of specialization continue to win over more followers.

Massive pulls of customer data and product data, expected to double its current size in the next few years, have pegged MDM as “a critical discipline required for dealing with the challenges of social data, ‘big data’ and data in the cloud,” so notes Colleen Graham, Gartner’s research director.

New Tech Trends Promote New Tech Roles

Are you a skilled cloud transformation officer? How about a talented augmented reality specialist? We all know that big data, mobile computing, social media and the cloud will only gain strength as towering trends this year, but what of the newly generated job titles put out there for the taking?

According to a recent article in Computerworld, a number of new positions are popping up for 2012 - details included:

Director of cloud transformation: firms need professionals to guide their transition from a client-server world to one in the cloud. This position may also be referred to as VP of virtualization. Skills needed include proven ability to handle high-risk projects and ever-evolving technology, full knowledge of the company’s applications and ability to negotiate with and manage vendors.
Socialite: Companies need true leaders for their overall social media strategies. Skills sought include business strategy savvy, technical background such as HTML and Web rendering as well as proven marketing successes.
Data scientist: Basically your big data wrangler. Skills being sought are just the right mix of business and technical balance, an understanding of process management and communication.
Augmented reality specialist: Companies are increasingly dependent on applications that enhance how customers view the world around them, and this role is for the techs who can produce just such a ‘reality.’ Technical skills needed include programming expertise in HTML5 and iOS and Android platforms along with proper understanding of enhanced graphics.

For some more technical titles on the rise, view the entire article.

Study’s Sad Equation: Low Pay + Less Perks = High IT Job Turnover

Based on comments to a recent Network World’s article highlighting high rates of turnover among young technical professionals, it’s all about the money and stuff.

A number of readers were eager to respond to the piece, which depicted a high degree of 20-something techs who quit after just a year, which produced the ensuing Network World article showing that non-competitive pay and meager perks were the cause of big-time turnover for IT pros in their 20s and 30s. Granted, the sample size of some dozens of responses is not overwhelming, but the overriding indicator for such exodus came down to pay and related qualms.

One reader responded that “employees are leaving because they’re not paid competitively...they have no opportunity for advancement, no flexibility with their jobs, no incentives to stay like pension plans or stocks, and (a boss) who thinks they should be grateful for not having to work around the clock.”

One self-described 20-something IT professional indicated switching jobs after a year wasn’t a goal, but a 30 percent salary increase and ability to learn more were too hard to pass up.

A number of readers said since U.S. companies rarely show loyalty to their IT staff, they shouldn’t be surprised when the staff refuses to show loyalty in return.

Wrote one industry professional: “If I were still in this reported age group, I, too, would bolt if offered a better deal. I spent years at various companies that turned around and laid me off as soon as they needed to give the CEO a bonus.”

What General Dynamics IT Looks for in an IT Job Candidate

Janet Pinkerton — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:50:00 GMT

General Dynamics Information Technology (IT) Staffing Lead Robert Cellich, based in Tampa, Fla., seeks qualified individuals to fill on average 300 positions a year to support General Dynamics IT’s military services sector. But what constitutes a candidate as “qualified”? The right combination of hard and soft skills, credentials and attitude.

Roughly nine out of 10 jobs that Cellich fills require security clearances, a determination by the United States government that a person or company is eligible for access to classified information. “Cleared individuals aren’t hard to find,” he says. “What’s difficult to find is a cleared individual who has the right qualifications for the position.”

“I’m looking for individuals who have polished hard and soft skills,” he says.

For ‘hard skills,’ Cellich looks for demonstrated, hands-on proficiency in the technical areas the job he is seeking to fill. When considering a candidate for a higher level role, he scrutinizes the positions listed in the candidate’s resume—the type of position, the type of company, and length of tenure—to see if the person has relevant, quality experience.

“I’m not going to hire somebody for a senior role who has only a year or two of experience because they’re just not ready for that type of role yet,” Cellich says. When filling a system administrator position, for example, Cellich will prefer candidates who have performed that role. “Whereas the person who has been in a help desk role for 10 years—whose resume shows no discernable system administration experience, lacks steps taken to grow into system administration, fails to demonstrate an effort to get their MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator certification)—is still at the help desk level and is unlikely to be prepared for system administration.”

\A short length of job tenure can also be a concern. “It’s a red flag anytime somebody is not with a company for very long,” he says.

Cellich notes that IT job candidates employed by larger companies are typically a better match for General Dynamics IT, because they likely have been exposed to a wider variety of technologies, problems, job functions and tasks. “Most of our environments are large-scale, so we’re looking for people who also have experience in enterprise environments.”

IT-related training, certifications and degrees can help candidates with less experience. For Cellich, an IT certification gives the candidate credibility by demonstrating that the individual has the capacity and the motivation to learn the trade. “Our customers often want individuals with certifications, because it shows that the person has the capability of doing a specific type of work.”

Cellich has one caveat: “Don’t just go and take the training and not get the certification. It’s almost a negative, because my first question will always be ‘Why didn’t you get the certification?’”

Entry level candidates with an IT certification can still have difficulty obtaining full-time IT work experience in a tough economy, and Cellich recommends that IT job hunters volunteer or obtain a part-time position working with IT as an alternative. “Anything you can put down on resume shows that you have used some of the things you have learned will put you a step ahead of the person who hasn’t done that.”

Candidates’ “soft skills”, particularly in communication, are extremely important. A person should be able to present him- or herself well, use good grammar when writing and speaking, and demonstrate a positive attitude. Interrupting an interviewer or reacting defensively to an interviewer’s questions will count against the applicant. “Hiring managers view a person who is enthusiastic, who wants to be successful, as a candidate who will likely excel once they are in the company,” Cellich says, adding that, “Junior IT roles may not be that technically difficult, but having the right attitude can make the position and candidate very successful.”

What is the best way for candidates to demonstrate their technical and soft skills, experience, credentials and clearances? “It all goes back to resumes,” says Cellich. His resume tips:

Tailor each resume to the requirements of each job application, highlighting your specific skills and experience relevant to the job. “Today, you cannot expect people to read between the lines of your resume,” Cellich says. “There’s little time for reviewing resumes, among all of the other tasks.” Most recruiters use digital tools to scan each resume for the skills needed for the jobs they seek to fill. “They’re going to focus upon resumes where it’s immediately evident that the applicant has the needed skills.”
Have your resume proofread by another person, preferably more than one person.
Continually review and update your resume. “Resumes are dynamic,” he says. “By reviewing your resume regularly, you can always find more concise ways of presenting your information. Particularly with technology careers, there is something almost always to be added, some new skills that you learned.”

Weekly Word on the Street: Leap Forward to 2012

Jim Staats — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 17:39:00 GMT

Takeaway of the week is it’s best to pack up 2011 in a box and leap forward into the coming year with your best job-hunting gameplan as employers shake off the holiday slowdown and start to put all those forecasts and predictions to the test. Final remnants of an almost-year-past include a virtual map of techies across the U.S., good or bad news out of China and boffo boasts for data wranglers and tech freelancers.

Considering an IT Job? See Where the Techies are Now

The highest percentage of technical workers per employed Americans can be found in the state of Maryland, with Mississippi on the opposite end of that scale.

So says data from this fall’s annual American Community Survey, according to a recent Computerworld report.

The survey shows workers in a computer, engineering or science job make up 8.6 percent of Maryland’s overall adult civilian workforce, followed by Virginia (8.0), Washington state (7.5), Massachusetts (7.3) and Colorado (7.0). Washington, D.C., has 9.6 percent. The average in the country is 5.2 percent.

A concentration of federal agencies such as CIA and NSA headquarters likely accounts for the high number of tech workers in those Eastern regions.

The annual survey was conducted separately from the nationwide census taken every 10 years. Responses were gathered from an estimated two million households in the U.S.

To see more state-by-state details in a map and sortable chart, visit: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9222934/Where_the_tech_workers_are_map_

Big Data Center Boom in China

With a growing build-out of data centers in China taking place, can it become a hub for computing infrastructure worldwide?

That is the query being weighed by head honchoes of industry titans including Hewlett-Packard and IBM as the country aims to build hundreds of large data centers to support its escalating online population. An audience of close to 500 million - and the accompanying needs of telecom, e-commerce, online banking and e-government - offer tempting opportunities for overseas firms, notes a recent article in Network World.

The Chinese government is behind the data center expansion, having made a stronger national computing infrastructure part of its most recent five-year plan.

The problem is that the boom might not provide enough enticement for international firms wary of the strict political and regulatory environment.

Just a few areas of concern brought up by officials involved in developing projects include stolen data by local employees, traffic interference and equipment issues related to “inspections” by Chinese police.

Additional challenges are centered around the ability to provide adequate bandwidth and power. Any firm and associated workforce that chooses to wade into this opportunity must keep pace with a population five times the U.S. that is adopting PCs, smart phones and tablets at breakneck speed.

Project Boom, Wary Firms a Good Match for IT Contractors

Companies needing to keep up on the technology front, but unsure what the future holds could keep IT contractors plenty busy in the coming year, according to findings of a recruiting consultancy firm.

Officials with Reed Technology note that while businesses in all industries can’t do without the critical role IT plays nowadays, they also aren’t ready just yet to jump in with added permanent staff, a report in Computerworld UK notes.

“In the short term, I expect contract numbers to increase because some clients may be nervous about starting projects with permanent” workers, said Andrew Gardner, senior divisional director at Reed Technology. He said 2012 is likely to be played out as a year of “cautious recovery,” in part because of the critical role of IT in business.

The caution, Gardner said, has trickled to an extended recruitment process requiring applicants to jump through more hoops during the interview process. However, that’s a step up from previous downturns in which roles got axed or halted.

Big Data Goes Bigger in 2012

Big Data and the ability to properly wrangle it is poised its biggest year yet in 2012, insiders predict. That seems to be the tact just about every software vendor is proclaiming, but when it comes to the data analytics market, it’s likely true, according to a recent Network World article.

Recession be damned, it seems companies can’t get enough of any mechanism that helps provide insight into their business and consumer. Those that can pull useful information out of the mounds of information found in business transactions, social networking mediums and miscellaneous data are hotter-than-hot commodities in the coming year.

With big data being the big buzz, vendors big - SAP, HP and Oracle - and small - Qlikview and Tableau - are trying to get in on the opportunity.

The increasing shift to mobile devices, as well, can only mean new opportunities for analytics as tablets with larger screens like the iPad provide the space needed to properly display data anywhere, anytime. The entrepreneur, workforce or technology that successfully demonstrates the ability to deconstruct big data can expect big things in 2012.

Weekly Word on the Street: 2012 Predictions

Jim Staats — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:43:00 GMT

Takeaway of the week is for prospective IT job seekers to take each survey predicting alternate hiring boon and/or gloom for the coming year with a grain of salt. As mentioned before, another six to eight forecasts are likely right around the corner at this “end-of-year, let’s-predict-forward” time of year. Best one can do is pull the positives out of each prediction and build on the valued suggestions of those in the position to hire others.

Survey: 2012 IT Outlook Big on Projects, Not So Much on Hiring

Business interests in data center, social and tablet technologies will continue to expand next year, but likely without comparable hiring booms, a new survey predicts.

Though the results of InformationWeek’s annual outlook survey find that 30 percent of responding companies will extend hiring freezes into 2012, a recent article on findings shows demand for trending IT projects will remain strong.

Three-fourths of the 605 business technology professionals surveyed expect demand to rise for new IT projects in the coming year, up from about half of survey respondents two years earlier.

Few business initiatives of any kind can gain traction without some IT implementation or innovation supporting the effort.

Unfortunately, even with the expected workload boom, businesses, in general, remain skittish on IT hiring, survey findings indicate. Reasons include continued reliance on outsourcing, added reliance on cloud computing software and automation.

In IT, It’s the Breadth, Not the Depth of Knowledge that Wins

Single-purpose IT job titles? Not the best way for prospective job seekers to position themselves in the emerging world of services-based software, mobile apps and cloud technologies, so say an increasing number of CIOs.

Those who demonstrate multiple skills and an expansive knowledge of technologies will be much more likely to succeed in the battle for IT positions, a recent Computerworld article posits.

“It’s very unusual for us to have folks who only have one skill,” said Norm Fjeldheim, CIO at San Diego’s Qualcomm. “There are folks who I was forced to let go because they only wanted to retain one skill set.”

He called such specialization “career-limiting.”

Today’s IT environment is trending toward a meshed fabric of onsite and offsite services presented to a mobile workforce and customer base.

The ultimate goal, insiders note, is to build up a multitude of technical capabilities and business services to help the company at hand distinguish itself in various business metrics.

Tech Interns Targeted for Bigger Things

The best way to get work in Silicon Valley these days may be to already be in-house working for gratis. Some of the biggest tech titans and smaller enterprises in need of full-time hires in the region are beefing up efforts to lure summer-interns and even fresh college newbies into the fold, a new Wall Street Journal article notes.

According to the report, Google Inc. has expanded its intern program, Dropbox Inc. will triple its intern program this coming summer and Facebook Inc. plans to add nearly 100 additional interns to next summer’s crop of talent. InternMatch Inc., an online site helping college students locate internship, surveyed a wide range of Bay Area tech firms and found that 93 percent of early-stage start-ups in the area have hired or are hiring interns.

Yolanda Mangolini, Google’s director of talent and outreach programs, said the firm extends offers to a majority of its intern class.

“It is one of the primary ways we find full-time hires,” he said.

Survey: IT Hiring on the Rise in 2012

The IT job market offers some hope for the coming year, according to the latest survey by a national recruiting firm.

Hiring activity forecasts may be well below the levels of pre-recession years, but a new quarterly survey by Robert Half Technology shows 20 percent of respondents planned to expand their IT staffs in 2012, a recent ComputerWorld article notes.

Of course, about 10 percent of the 1,400 CIOs interviewed in the survey also planned cutbacks, but the net result is still a positive result for prospective IT professionals.

Survey results also showed the most in-demand skill was network administration, with nearly 60 percent of respondents seeking such talents. The next items on folks’ wish lists are Windows administration and desktop support, survey findings indicate.

Industries with the biggest hiring bump were expected to be retail, followed by manufacturing.

Top Work Skills of the Future?

Adept at cognitive load management? Got game in the area of transdisciplinarity?

If so, then you’re ahead of the curve, according to a new report released by the Institute for the Future. The nonprofit research center, based in Palo Alto, Calif., released its forecasting report titled “Future Work Skills 2020,” offering a take on what is likely to shape career landscapes in the coming decades. A report in Gigaom shared some of the broad skills being envisioned in the coming years, including:

Sense-making - ability to determine the deeper meaning of what is being expressed
Social intelligence - connecting to others in deep and direct way
Cross-cultural competency - able to operate in different cultural surroundings
Computational thinking - translate massive amounts of data into abstract concepts
New-media literacy - assess and develop content that uses new forms of media and can leverage that use
Virtual collaboration - productive work, engagement and presence among a virtual team

Tips to a Successful IT Job Interview

Jim Staats — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:00:00 GMT

If you’ve earned the opportunity for a job interview, rejoice as you’ve cleared what is typically the biggest hurdle in the whole employment bugaboo - getting that ‘foot in the door.’

Now, it’s all up to how you present yourself in that uber-crucial meeting. No pressure. Just keep in mind the following interview tips presented by Jeremy McCarthy, CEO of VentureLoop, in a recent About.com post on interview prep for startup firms.

McCarthy, a veteran of startups and venture capital firms before starting his own, kicks off his bit of advice with a big-picture mantra that the interview goal is to earn the next step in the process, whether that’s a second interview or job offer. Regardless of how you view this prospective opportunity, always do your best in the interview for you never know where it may lead you. Some of his other suggested tips:

1) Research: With everything literally at our fingertips today, it’s close to blasphemy to enter an interview without having searched and studied as much about the history, fact and figures of the company with whom you are interviewing as possible. Savy online searching can turn up valuable information to prove to an employer they’d be hiring an expert in their industry.

2) Review your triumphs and faults: You can almost guarantee that typical questions such as your vision for five years down the road, strengths, weaknesses, tough work situations and best type of person to work for will be asked, so why not write down your answers ahead of time to review rather than spin your wheels while sitting in ‘hot seat.’

3) Behavioral question awareness: More firms rely on behavioral interviewing techniques to see how candidates answer when asked for specific examples of past professional situations. McCarthy presents some typical queries to prepare for ahead of time:

How you handled not meeting a deadline
How you dealt with conflict with a co-worker or boss
What you did when someone else’s actions caused failure
When did you show initiative
What did you do when a customer was upset with you
What did you do when a co-worker blamed you unfairly for something

4) Appearance: It is advisable to ask ahead of time what the expected attire is for the interview, but when all else fails make sure to err on the side of over-dressed. Also, keep in mind your body language. How you present yourself (i.e. head held high, standing straight, relaxed and with a smile) is as important as what you wear.

5) Be engaged, alert and inquisitive: It’s always best to bring a notepad and take notes during an interview, McCarthy suggests, as it shows your interest and attention to detail. When it comes time for you to ask questions, have a few written down ahead of time. Ask them of each interviewer as different folks give different answers. A few good suggestions: What is the biggest challenge for the position for which you are interviewing, where do they see you contributing for their company, team or project and do they have any concerns about your ability to do the job?

6) Confidence: Firms tend not to hire people who come across as desperate, a tough thing to mask in troubled economic times. Nevertheless, your best selling point is your confidence in your skills and abilities. Interview with a confident style that shows you want the job, but doesn’t give the impression that you need the job. If you are asked what your prospects have been recently, respond that you are currently evaluating opportunities in the hope of finding the right opportunity for yourself.

As you near the end of the interview, your two final tasks are to exhibit genuine excitement at the impending opportunity and inquire about next steps in the process. Never assume the interviewer could gleam your enthusiasm. Express it openly. And, regardless of any inner reservations you have about the opportunity, state your keen interest in the next step in the process - because you never know where it will take you.

For the entire About.com article: http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/gettingthejob/a/interview_tips.htm

Where are the IT Jobs?

Janet Pinkerton — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:45:16 GMT

IT workers in mobility, network virtualization, infrastructure, security and programming are in high demand, according to Jason Hayman, market research manager at TEKsystems, a Hanover, Md.-based IT staffing solutions, human capital management and IT services company.

TEKsystems’ major vertical markets include healthcare, government, financial services and communications. Hayman recently spoke with CompTIA about the IT areas seeing hiring growth.

Q. What areas of IT are hiring?

A. Mobility – Whether it’s in app development for smartphones and tablets, mobile device management software, or being able to work on the phones or device hardware, or if you have skills programming for the various platforms, all of these mobility areas are hot right now. And they’re just going to increase as companies get a handle on mobility.

Virtualization — The cloud has been one of the top trends for several years now, but we’ve been waiting, waiting and waiting. Recently we’ve seen an increase in demand for folks with experience in these areas as organizations have begun investing in virtualization.

Security — Security, naturally, is a concern in virtualized Cloud environments, and a cross-industry need. Companies of all types are looking for workers to help them with IT security compliance, new security technologies, and defense against complex threats. With the growth of Cloud and virtualization technologies, the need for security-centric, IT personnel is now a reality of everyday business.

Business Intelligence (BI) & Data Analytics — “One of the hottest areas of IT is business intelligence and data analytics. There are opportunities for professionals with business backgrounds as well as technical IT experience. Organizations are seeking to harness the massive amounts of data in their operations and put it to work to improve their business decisions. Business analysts capable of distilling and presenting actionable enterprise data are essential to organizations’ ability to drive productivity and profitability.

Programming — .Net, Java, SilverLight, SharePoint— all of these different programing skills are hot right now.

Below are sample job titles for each of the areas we’re seeing growth in IT hiring.

Mobility	Network Virtualization	Business Intelligence (BI)	Security	Programming
Mobile Apps Developer	Cloud Architect	BI Analyst	IT Security Manager	.Net Developers
Software Engineer	Network Architect	Data Architect	IT Security Engineer	Java Developers
Mobile Engineers	Virtualization Engineer	Business & Data Analysts	IT Security Specialist	SharePoint Developers

In mobility, the “mobile device developer” is a broad title that includes developers with experience in Android, iOS, Blackberry, Palm or Windows operating systems. Really, each type of mobile device developer could be its own job title.

Q. How and where are these jobs being advertised?

A. (Through) big channels like CareerBuilder or Monster, but also on the more niche sites like LinkedIn or DICE.com. But we’ve found the highest rates of successful hires and placements happen through referrals, by building up a network of good people. Referrals (to TEKsystems) can come from our consultant population onsite at a particular company and also actual hiring managers.

Q. What new IT and "soft" skills do these hiring hot spots demand?

A. The overarching trend is that IT workers have to also have a business mindset. Those soft skills in project management, communication, and collaboration skills, plus overall general business knowledge, are increasingly important. You can’t just be locked away in an office somewhere writing hundreds of lines of code. You have to be able to collaborate when working on teams—not just be an order taker, but actually ask questions and find alternate solutions to move the organization forward that the business side didn’t think of.

Q. What's the level of opportunity for advanced security technicians?

A. It’s virtually limitless. Security touches every area of technology. …It’s becoming more critical to any type of organization. We’re going to see demand for these types of folks just continue to skyrocket, especially in healthcare but also on the government side as well.

Q. Any recommendations about what people can do if they want to get into IT? What areas are more likely to hire entry-level workers?

A. In general, one of the best things to do is network and build relationships whenever you have the opportunity….You never know whom you’ll meet. Secondly, do an awesome job at your existing role so you have a slew of references to speak on your behalf. For getting into IT, we encourage people to constantly want to learn and expand their technical capabilities and foundational skills. Read industry magazines and newspapers, participate in webinars—do anything that will keep you current on IT trends. IT industry certifications can also give you a platform for the next steps in your career by showing that you have the technical know-how in specific areas and also display you are dedicated to learning the trade. Doing these things can help seasoned professionals and entry-level workers grow their IT careers.

New CompTIA Cloud Essentials Exam Debuts in Partnership with ITpreneurs

Janet Pinkerton — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 17:00:00 GMT

Are you selling, developing or using cloud services and solutions? Validate your cloud knowledge with the new CompTIA Cloud Essentials exam now available.

The exponential growth of cloud computing is driving increased demand for IT professionals with cloud expertise. IDC estimates that public cloud IT spending alone will grow from $21.5 billion in 2010 to $72.9 billion in 2015.

To certify IT professionals’ readiness for evaluating, planning and executing cloud solutions, CompTIA collaborated with competence development program-provider ITPreneurs to offer the CompTIA Cloud Essentials exam. The vendor-neutral exam is ideal for IT and business professionals in organizations evaluating, developing or using cloud solutions, and also individuals selling cloud services. Cloud Essentials exam candidates include IT specialists, business analysts, IT technical services specialists (IT, security, infrastructure, services, systems test, etc.), IT relationship managers, sales engineers, IT architects, consultants, business and IT management, business process owners, and risk management employees.

CompTIA partnered with ITpreneurs, headquartered in Rotterrdam, Netherlands, to develop the Cloud Essential exam objectives with input from the independent and vendor-neutral Cloud Credential Council. Exam content is based on consultation and insights from leading subject matter experts and organizations in the cloud computing market, including Amazon, Cisco, Citrix, EMC, Google, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Rackspace and VMware.

Domains covered by the CompTIA Cloud Essentials exam include:

Cloud Services from a Business Perspective — including terms and definitions, and the relationship between cloud computing and virtualization
Cloud Computing And Business Value — including the business parameters for evaluating the value of clouds and cloud services
Technical Perspectives on Cloud Types — including techniques for solution deployment and risk mitigation
Steps to Successful Adoption of Cloud Computing — including pilot criteria, connecting deployment to organizational goals, and the organizational capabilities needed to realize benefits from cloud solutions
Impact and Changes of Cloud Computing on IT Service Management — including its effect on service strategy, design, operation and transition
Risks & Consequences of Cloud Computing — including the issues related to how a cloud solution can impact security, legal, compliance, and privacy risks

Cloud Essentials does not have prerequisite criteria, but CompTIA recommends that candidates for the CompTIA Cloud Essentials exam have a general working knowledge of how an internal or external IT organization operates and at least six months of experience in an IT environment, with direct involvement in IT-related tasks, responsibilities and decision-making.

ITpreneurs’ Cloud Essentials Courseware for CompTIA-authorized training partners and its Cloud Essentials eLearning for individuals will be sold via the CompTIA Marketplace. It is available now via the ITpreneurs website. Other CompTIA strategic partners, including ElementK, and McGraw Hill are also developing Cloud Essentials courseware and expect to have it in market soon. The exam will be available in English only, initially.

Weekly Word on the Street: Thumbs Up for IT Job Seekers

Jim Staats — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:17:47 GMT

Takeaway of the week is an increasing number of thumbs-up signs for IT job seekers as the calendars prepare to flip another year. While a successful job search often comes down to the right combination of experience, education and luck, it’s becoming more apparent that some roles - whether for technicians or those leading them - might have an upper hand over other roles in the new cloud-based tech world.

For the Right Skills, the Tech Boom is Real

An increasing number of people in the know say today’s tech job market is nearly as hot as the dot-com boom heyday, especially if credentials include development, cloud expertise and business strategy.

Employment in that part of the job market is up 10 to 20 percent this year, according to a gaggle of economist, tech experts, job seekers and hiring managers interviewed recently in InfoWorld.

Jobs, however, just can’t be plucked out of a tree, as roles in programming, database analysts and support sill require the right expertise, schooling and, occasionally, a willingness to alter pre-conceived career paths, industry officials suggest.

With that said, the high-tech market is being compared favorably to the high-octane days of the late ‘90s more and more.

Experts noted, also, that salaries are inflating along with the hiring boom.

Helpful hints offered in the article include proper use of social media and back-to-basics consideration of a professionally-organized resume and cover letter.

Hot Stuff for the IT Higher-Ups

Demand in 2012 for management and executive-level IT positions might not be white hot, but that depends on which leadership position is being targeted.

A recent report in CIO.com, based on feedback from executive recruiters, targets the following 10 jobs as solid picks for would-be IT management in the coming year.

Head of Technology Infrastructure
Director of Outsourced Services or Vendor Management
Manager/Head of Unified Communications
Manager of Master Data Management/Director of Data Architecture
Manager/Director in Charge of Mobility
Business Relationship Manager
CTO/SVP of Engineering
CIO
CISO/IT Security Consultant
IT Consulting Firm Partners

Factors considered in IT leadership hiring, according to the article, include the need to manage capital investments, handle trending technology such as cloud computing and an altering demographic environment.

Poll: Biggest IT Investment in 2012 in the Cloud

Since it hasn’t been stated in the past few minutes, another new poll shows the continued capitalization of cloud computing technology as a major player in 2012.

High-tech job seekers not already on the cloud bandwagon are presented with another indication of its increasingly prominent role in their would-be industry.

For the second straight year, cloud computing was tabbed as the chief priority for IT investments in a Unisys poll. The latest findings, reported in eWeek.com, note half of the 300 online respondents, pegged cloud computing as their biggest area of investment for 2012.

“Over the past two years cloud computing has moved into the mainstream of IT investment decisions,” said Colin Lacey, vice president of data center services and solutions for Unisys.

The company, which offers its own cloud solution for clients, suggests to those interested in pursuing cloud opportunities the idea of a “hybrid enterprise” that can integrate existing IT resources with a cloud solution.

Note: The recently announced CompTIA Cloud Essentials certification covers a range of cloud computing principles and concepts – from both the business and technical perspectives – and what’s involved in moving to and governing the cloud.

10 Bold Predictions

Technology shouldn’t be exempt from that journalistic fallback of year-end lists and predictions.

Herewith, presented by eChannelLine, are the IT predictions for 2012 of one industry insider, Miles Kelly, senior director of product marketing for Riverbed Technology.

Data will continue to grow through increased use of mobile and cloud-based apps
Computing will become more ubiquitous through increasing use of smart phones, tablets and BYOD policies.
Dynamic content increases to demand better optimization of Web pages
Cloud storage adoption to increase as prices decrease
Hybrid cloud options will emerge as a hot trend
SaaS adoption grows, spurred on by continued consumerization of IT and increased mobility.
Mobile technology will reduce the organizations that need to own IT assets
Smart devices will overtake PCs in most-used vehicles for Web access
Growth in use of the new standard Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6).
Video use in the enterprise will boom.

Weekly Word on the Street: IT Pros on 2012 Wish Lists

Jim Staats — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:00:00 GMT

Takeaway of the week is an early holiday gift for the IT professional and job seeker alike. More reports, surveys and such are building on the perception that IT pros, especially those with specialty skills such as mainframe, Java and Android programming, will be big-ticket needs for firms in the coming year.

2012 Looks Bright for Tech Pros, New Survey Suggests A new report by Dice.com suggests

IT pros can expect a greater demand for their skills and less layoffs in the coming year.

The positive hiring forecast, which includes rising salaries for new hires and expanding staffs, is nearly identical to the midyear prediction posted in May by the IT jobs portal, an eWeek.com post notes.

The report finds technical professionals equipped with six to 10 years of experience can expect to be highly sought in the marketplace. Some 65 percent of the 1,200 IT hiring managers and recruiters surveyed said their firms plan to add industry pros in the first half of the coming year, with more than a quarter of those respondents expecting to grow staffs by more than 20 percent, according to the report.

Findings indicate experienced professionals will be especially in demand.

“Many companies are chasing mid-career talent,” said Alice Hill, Dice.com’s managing director. “The elevated economic uncertainty makes it tougher for hiring managers to lure tech professionals into leaving their current position.”

Got Java or Android? Get Linux.

Based on recent job postings, job seekers with skills in Java and Android are going to be hot commodities in the already hot Linux hiring front.

The Linux Foundation found those to be the two most-sought after skills for jobs posted on the Linux.com jobs board over the past three months, according to a PCWorld article.

The recent information pulled by the nonprofit dedicated to fostering Linux growth found that while a little over half of the jobs advertised seek Linux developers, the remainder are looking for Linux systems administrators.

Behind Java and Android, the next most keen skills being sought are C++, J2EE and MySQL. In terms of geography, foundation findings indicate that after the U.S., Australia represents the next biggest location for Linux openings, followed by Germany, the U.K., Canada and the Netherlands.

Note: CompTIA Linux+ Powered by LPI is a high-stakes, vendor-neutral certification that validates the fundamental knowledge and skills required of junior Linux administrators.

An IT Hot Job Six-Pack for 2012

IT staffing executives suggest good news for IT job seekers as the year turns to 2012 with six roles in particular pegged for big need and pay, a new CIO.com article posits.

The insiders predict the IT job market to build on its strong 2011 with even stronger positions, despite continued economic challenges, in 2012.

The six roles forecast to be in the greatest demand with some of the highest salaries offered include:

Mobile application developers - Pros who can develop applications for the hotter-than-hot mobile device market will be in quite the enviable spot.
Software developers - Despite the push for the mobile market, PC-based application writing remains a well-compensated need.
User experience designers - The target audience of all these apps - the customer - needs experienced professionals who understand how to keep the offerings fun and intuitive.
IT security professionals - As threats continue to come from any which way, companies will rely on IT pros who can fend off the perpetrators.
Data warehouse architects, analysts and developers - Massive inflows of customer data being gathered today needs the right people to wrangle and mine it for tomorrow.
Infrastructure professionals - Network engineers and systems administrators aren’t being pushed out the door by cloud computing. Rather, their increased necessity is being created by it.

Wanted: Mainframe Programmers

The bulk of Fortune 500 firms remain powered by mainframes, yet much of the personnel running it is reaching retirement with few following in their footstep, giving job seekers something to think about.

So says a recent InfoWorld article, which suggests the mainframe’s staying power and lack of qualified programmers make for a coming talent gap keen IT job seekers could position themselves to fill.

Mainframes are used for core business processes within financial services, banking and health care, industry executives note, with fewer students interested in learning how to run these systems in the age of tiny, mobile systems.

A Compuware survey of 520 CIOS in large enterprises noted that nearly three-quarters of the respondents were concerned about the looming skills shortage and what it could mean for their business. Industry players are predicting a mass exodus in the form of retiring mainframe programmers in coming years, which is creating the need - and a well-compensated one at that.

“These mainframe apps have decades of modifications and complexities built into them” and as a result, the folks willing to work on them earn more than if they work with other platforms, said Dayton Semerjian, general manager for mainframes at CA Technologies.

Report: Tech Employment, Salaries Rising

The technical industry added 7,100 jobs in November, nudging it ever closer to an all-time high, according to a new U.S. government report.

With overall employment in the tech industry at 4.068 million, up 2.1 percent from the previous year, the industry is ever-so-close to a high of 4.088 million workers set in June 2008. Figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics were analyzed by the TechServe Alliance, a labor tracking industry group.

Other findings are leading some industry observers to forecast possible gains in tech wages as well, according to a ComputerWorld article on the report.

A study by staffing firm, Yoh Services, found that wages for highly skilled workers increased 6.9 percent in September compared to one year earlier, an increased the firm described as “remarkably strong.”

In addition, the Federal Reserve Board reported wage gains for IT workers in its Beige Book recently released. The Beige Book is a collection of reports about economic findings from across the country.

Mexico’s Leading Technology School Gives Top Marks to CompTIA A+

Jim Staats — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:27:11 GMT

As a young boy in Mexico, Iván Loyo developed an interest in technology that was allowed to flourish into a way of life through persistence and voracious consumption of learning opportunities.

Now as instructor at one of his country’s leading technology schools, Loyo is witness to a new generation of technological awakening fueled by a partnership with CompTIA, the IT industry’s global trade association.

Campus Ciudad de México (Mexico City) of the venerable Tecnológico de Monterrey multi-site university system has teamed with CompTIA to become the country’s first university CAPP-Academy, a move already paying dividends.

In 2011, the campus, ITESM-CCM, installed CompTIA A+ training and certification as part of the curriculum for all incoming freshmen within the technology school, regardless of their course of study.

Students are required to take the CompTIA A+ exam at the end of their semester-long course. Loyo, 35, said the chance for students at his campus to obtain internationally-recognized certifications at such an early stage of their academic careers will “increase their chances in the labor market.”

Partnering with CompTIA, Loyo said, has generated a myriad of expectations among students and university administrators.

“I’m convinced that offering different certification training programs has an impact on the professional recognition for our students as they increase their skills,” he said.

All students who take the CompTIA A+ class must take the associated exam at the end of the semester. Earning their A+ certification means a 100 percent score for the class. Students who do not pass the exam will receive their exam score as their score for the course itself.

CompTIA A+ is well-known across the industry for its vendor-neutral approach to such foundation-level technical skills as installation, preventative maintenance, networking, security and troubleshooting.

“To become CompTIA-certified means not to be married with some brand,” Loyo said, noting his site’s new training program “is designed to introduce students to issues of relevance, to innovate and collaborate with our country.”

Karla Gamboa, 18, a Business Engineering and IT freshmen, is in preparations to take her CompTIA A+ exam, but can already cite tremendous benefits. “I believe that industry certifications will become more important with time because while more people get certified, the IT industry will become more competitive and capable of doing more things,” she said. “People will look to be more prepared by taking more certifications.”

Gamboa, who teaches private computer classes in the summer, credited the quality of the information provided in the CompTIA training course. “It is interactive, easy to read and understand and it is constantly testing you to see if the topic is fully understood,” she said, noting the ability to study at her own pace was also helpful.

Gamboa is mapping out her own certification path that will hopefully include CompTIA A+, Network+ and Security+. Loyo recalled in his younger days querying instructors to satisfy his curiosity and build upon a burgeoning technical skill set.

A support technician at the age of 17, Loyo has worked at several IT firms and earned numerous certifications, including CompTIA A+ and Network+. He now considers it his greatest professional challenge to imbue in other students the skills and knowledge to succeed in their chosen professions. Accreditation, he believes, is a big part of that.

“Certifications allow us to demonstrate compliance with the requirements and skills needed internationally,” Loyo said. “Despite the high costs of certification exams, certifications mean better working conditions.”

University freshman Gabriel López, 19, has always had a passion for IT, but chose to study Business Engineering and IT to combine the world of technology with an administrative piece.

Although he’s found the study of technical aspects of networks and computer components challenging, Lopez also finds himself fascinated and intrigued which “feeds my hunger for knowledge of the IT world.”

He called CompTIA “a synonym for trust and IT importance.”

“CompTIA is a worldwide industry that is recognized almost everywhere, so by having a certification approved by CompTIA you are demonstrating that you truly master the skills of that certification.”

Lopez, himself an IT teacher of Internet basics for local parents age 30 to 60, has found his passion. He hopes to build on his own knowledge. Adds Lopez: “CompTIA has given me knowledge that is useful in my other IT classes, as well as my personal experience with IT. “With this new range of abilities I can become a better IT manager.”

The program is still in its early stages. The first class has yet to test whether their training has prepared them properly to earn certification. Nonetheless, Loyo sees such high praise of the program to date as a sign of good things to come.

He envisions CompTIA A+ training included in the curriculum of all 33 campuses in the university system across Mexico, including its headquarters in Monterrey.

The international recognition of CompTIA and its well-regarded industry standards is of keen significance to leaders of the private educational institution with an international presence in a dozen foreign countries.

“Technology is rapidly growing and constantly changing, so it is not an easy task to keep up with it,” said Loyo. “This entails changes in processes, designs, new techniques or products. Technological change always involves new challenges.”

Learn more about CompTIA A+

Find a training center in your area.

Weekly Word on the Street

Jim Staats — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:43:00 GMT

Takeaway of the week is that we may be presented with more evidence that cloud computing and mobile technology are must-have skills and expertise for the IT job-seeker - with explosive potential for 2012, but it could be just as important to expand that technical skill set to include real-world business skills.

Forrester: Cloud Computing Makes More Inroads in 2012

By next year, more businesses will have knowledge and interest in the notion of cloud computing, which is both good and bad for the IT world - and those seeking employment in it, Forrester Research predicts.

Analyst James Staten of Forrester, the global technology and market research firm, said in a recent article on GigaOM, that 2012 will bring serious growth and accompanying pitfalls for the exploding IT sector.

Good news: As giants including IBM and others step into the fray, fraudulent cloud ‘experts’ will be exposed as more cloud deployments demand true training and experience. Currently, there are more openings for cloud experts than cloud experts available to fill them, officials report. IT channel players that sell the software, hardware and services to business customers and haven’t yet embraced the cloud craze have their backs against the wall, Staten noted. “For the channel to survive it must add value around cloud services and there’s plenty of opportunity to go around,” he said.

Biz Skills Boon for Techies

The IT industry is gaining more of a foothold in the consumer market which is pushing industry professionals beyond their traditional comfort zone in terms of skill sets.

According to a new BYTE story, the consumerization of IT is requiring the experts in their fields to add business skills and other real-world abilities to their ‘toolbelts’ or be marginalized. More technology users today have a higher comfort level with gadgets and can solve many of their own problems, leaving IT to the land of the overly complicated problems, the article notes. What this means is that may IT jobs are disappearing while others are simultaneously being created in areas previously unimagined.

The IT industry, experts say, will need to be more about involving itself in the business end of various technologies. Technicians can’t remain ignorant of the businesses they are being relied on to support.

“We hire a lot of engineers and those engineers might be mechanical, electrical, or general engineering with a business-minded engineering discipline, said Jim Newman, executive vice president of recruiting for marketing firm Acquity Group, which expects a broad set of skills for prospective technical employees.

Think of it this way: Marketing departments will hire marketers with technical skills or technicians with marketing skills, but no longer just techs. The technicians of today must compete with the business-savvy technicians of tomorrow.

Billionth Sign that Cloud is Where It’s At

The cloud equipment market is likely to exceed $33 billion this year thanks to rapid adoptions, according to new research.

Accelerated IaaS, PaaS and SaaS deployments account for the boon estimated by the latest quarterly report from Synergy Research, reported in IT Pro.

The report noted that equipment for the market, which includes networking, computing, and storage platforms for both private and public clouds, exceeded $17 billion in sales in the first half of 2011.

Just the latest signs for IT professionals and prospective technicians that cloud computing in some form or fashion is a must-have skill and understanding for priority value in the industry going forward.

According to report findings, the U.S. leads in cloud equipment sales, with nearly 40 percent of the market in the first half of 2011, with Europe, the Middle East and Africa the fastest growing region.

Three Ways to Attract Tech Talent

Grow it, train it or poach it. These are the three ways one technical industry executive theorizes a startup outside the hotbead of Silicon Valley can attract a talented workforce.

Douglas Merrill, CEO of financial services startup, ZestCash, said a firm’s success in using any one of those methods to find great worker depends on the burgeoning company’s culture, in a recent article in VentureBeat.

To grow your own talent means you need to hire folks straight out of college, Merrill says, noting you will get high energy along with a craving for basic work skills you can instill. Alternately, you can nab technical talent by pulling folks from the big firms of Silicon Valley with the attractions of a less-political and hierarchal monolith that might be located in a less claustrophobic environment.

Merrill said for great engineers to be uprooted from established companies, “you have to double down on culture.

“Engineers have to feel the future of the company depends on them,” he said. “If they have a bad day, something bad will happen - a feature won’t launch, a sale won’t happen - and, in contrast, when they do well, the company is materially better off.” Companies that build a culture that engineers want to be a part of, according to Merrill, will allow them to “grow, retrain, or poach the best engineers out there.”

New CompTIA Network+ Strengthens Security, Virtual Networking and OSI Objectives

Janet Pinkerton — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:45:32 GMT

CompTIA released its updated CompTIA Network+ exam (English only, initially) on Dec. 1. The revised Network+ objectives address virtual networking and give increased attention to network security and coverage of the seven-layer OSI (Open System Interconnection) model. Click here to download a breakdown of exactly what is covered on the new exam.

CompTIA updates the Network+ certification every three years to maintain its ISO/ANSI accreditation. The revisions to Network+ track with the changes CompTIA sees occurring in the market. For example:

CompTIA research on US Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) found that network efficiency and robustness were among the top items SMBs plan to address immediately, paving the way for other strategies such as cloud computing or unified communications.

Forty-eight percent of server technicians surveyed by CompTIA say that deeper networking knowledge is required when supporting servers in a cloud environment.

Among server technicians and managers of server technicians, 28% say that virtualization is a current focus, but 60% say that it is becoming a larger focus.

CompTIA Network+ is ideal for IT workers seeking to validate vendor-neutral knowledge and skills required to implement and troubleshoot a defined network architecture with basic network security.

CompTIA Network+ is a mandated credential for some job functions under the Department of Defense Directive 8570, and is required or recommended by many IT-centric employers including Cisco, CDW, Best Buy Geek Squad and EDS. Although there is no prerequisite for the Network+ exam, CompTIA recommends that candidates have at least nine to 12 months work experience with IT networks, plus CompTIA A+ certification (or equivalent knowledge).

New CompTIA Network+ courseware (for instructor-led training and self-study) is available from Pearson on the CompTIA Marketplace. Other CompTIA strategic partners Axzo Press, ElementK , gtslearning, McGraw Hill, Wiley/Sybex and UCertify are in the final stages of publishing their updated Network+ courseware and expect to have it in market soon.

Weekly Word on the Street: Thanksgiving Treat

Jim Staats — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 20:00:00 GMT

Takeaway of the week is a Thanksgiving treat: Job seekers who live in and around Silicon Valley should be thankful for the bounty of apparently tech-starved firms seeking valued staffers, while those seeking the security sector just got another boost to their expected value - just don’t get too stuffed on one skill while abandoning all others.

The Tech Job-Seekers’ Next BFF? New Wave Merit Badges

Long the domain of the Boy Scouts of America, Brownies or other regional coming-of-age clubs, the merit badge may have a new role as key qualifier in the employment process if recent efforts by an educational foundation succeed.

The Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is funneling millions into a competition to create digital skill badges that eventually could be attached to the Web sites, blogs or Facebook pages of prospective job hunters, according to a recent article in the New York Times. These badges would serve as supplements to items such as resumes or transcripts, helping to highlight skills including specialized computer knowledge that may not get the proper attention through traditional documents.

As foundation officials note, prospective employers could click on an e-badge awarded for Javascript knowledge and learn more details about how that knowledge was gained and by what organization. MacArthur has gained buy-in from heavy hitters including NASA, Intel and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting who’ve offered aid in the badge competition.

Prototype design for the new credential line will wrap up in March 2012 when the foundation plans to award a total of $2 million to several dozen winners, organizers said.

Whether these ‘job-hunters’ badges gain the notoriety and significance of their cloth and metal brethren worn on the uniforms of America’s youth remains to be seen.

Silicon Valley and Tech Jobs A Strength Amid Uneven Regional Employment

The economy of the multi-segmented San Francisco Bay Area is ever-so-slowly rebounding as are other regions across the nation, but one thing it has that very few areas do: a rock-steady employment rise fueled by Silicon Valley’s tech industry.

That seems to be the overriding theme of a city-by-city analysis of employment and unemployment data culled by research firm Collaborative Economics as reported recently in the Wall Street Journal.

According to this new research, the Silicon Valley and certain pockets of San Francisco have been the fastest to pull out of the recession based on job recovery signs of its signature trade, that of the technical nature. These figures tend to balance out not so great news coming out of other Bay Area cities - particularly the East Bay, which lacks a technical industry presence and continues to see mounting job losses.

Giant headquartered firms including Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Google Inc. have been recruiting at a record pace recently while hiring at startups has picked up as well.

While much of the hiring activity has been centered in Silicon Valley tentpole cities such as Mountain View, Cupertion and Palo Alto, certain neighborhoods in San Francisco are also on the rise with heavyweights such as Twitter Inc. and Zynga Inc. moving in.

“The Bay Area recovery is a tech recovery,” said Stephen Levy, an economist at the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy.

Unemployment in the Bay Area dropped to 10.1 percent in September, down from 11.3 percent a year ago and about the same difference from California’s rate of 11.4 percent, according to the state’s Employment Development Department and Collaborative Economics. National unemployment figures remained lower at 8.8 percent.

U.S. Senate Talks Cyber Safety; More Good News for Security Pros

IT pros targeting roles in the security sector got more good news with word that the U.S. plans to take up cybersecurity legislation in the coming year.

As failures in the cyber defenses of businesses and the U.S. government mount, leaders in the U.S. Senate recently announced plans to push for a wide-ranging cyber bill to fight online fraud, espionage and intellectual property theft, according to a Reuters report.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a letter to Republican leader Mitch McConnell, said a comprehensive bill covering such items has been in the works for the past half-year and will be put to the test whether or not both parties can reach agreement on it.

This latest news comes on the heels of recent findings of multiple surveys showing global security concerns and increased reliance on cloud computing and mobile technology push security to the top of the heap for attractive IT skill sets for job seekers.

CIO Touts IT Prospects, Teamwork and Security Expertise

“The IT market has certainly picked up in the past year. IT can be a very challenging and rewarding area and I feel that opportunity abounds.”

So says Dennis Hodges, CIO of Michigan-based Inteva Products, in the latest ‘IT Leader Career Advice Q&A’ column in Computerworld.

Asked to note what qualities Hodges looks for when hiring for his own team, he said the ability to work well with others is key in the team-oriented environments of today.

“Another is the ability to look at IT as a service and understand how we support the business, even if a person is an infrastructure specialist,” Hodges said.

Hodges was also asked the skills he expects to be in high demand as more firms turn to cloud computing.

He noted that two separate cloud environments, public and private, must be considered with strong support skills and advanced capabilities from the server, storage and networking side along with the expected security and firewall expertise.

Apple Seeks Cloud Experts

Apple Inc. is recruiting IT pros with cloud computing know-how, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal.

The company has been seeking out senior-level executives with expertise in Web-based software in recent weeks and doled out similar expectations to its recruiters, according to several people familiar with the situation.

This news is the latest subtle signal that the company is paving the way for its customer base to access digital content in ways beyond its historically successful downloadable software.

Weekly Word on the Street: Security Pays Best

Jim Staats — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:15:18 GMT

Takeaway of the week is that, ironically, the most secure position in IT seems to be in IT security - or at least its the best chance for better pay around the corner. However, it doesn’t hurt, apparently, to know how to handle big blobs of data using Hadoop. If you’re in the Pacific Northwest then you probably already know you’re in a good place.

Security the Best Way To Secure Better Pay

Findings from a new salary guide indicate IT professionals working in the security sector can expect the best news when it comes to pay raises in the coming year.

Salaries for IT security professionals are projected to increase 4.5 percent, the highest projected increase among various industry segments, in 2012, according to Robert Half Technology’s latest salary guide.

The rise of cloud computing use and threat levels across the globe have helped make security the hot IT career when it comes to salary, says the staffing firm’s latest findings as reported in eWeek.com.

Good news for other folks as well: IT salaries, in general, are predicted to bump up by 3 percent next year.

The survey, which follows 70 different IT tracks, found that security roles including data security analysts, network security administrators and information system security managers, can expect higher salary increases than average when measured against all IT jobs.

Nearly a quarter of CIOs surveyed listed security as their number one concern.

The guide is based on analysis pulled from thousands of North American job placements overseen by the staffing firm, covering industries including health care, financial services, retail, IT consulting and telecommunications.

Sleepless, But not Techless, in Seattle

Those who think Seattle’s technology footprint begins and ends with the monolith known as Microsoft would be sadly mistaken.

While the computing giant remains a major player, the emerald city of the Pacific Northwest is quickly becoming known as the second most significant hub of technology and entrepreneurship, behind Silicon Valley.

Amazon.com, Salesforce.com, Facebook, Zynga and Google are some of the big names to put down roots in recent times, according to a Reuters report.

Microsoft can take some credit for the regional tech boom as its existence, along with strong science and engineering programs at nearby University of Washington, began laying the groundwork for an enviable influx of the best and brightest.

“It is availability of talent, and relevant talent,” said Frank Artale, a local venture capitalist in explaining the boom. “That’s why we attract people to do things in our state.”

In the first nine months of 2011, venture capital firms invested $416 million in Seattle metro region companies. While that may be a fraction of the $8.4 billion invested in Silicon Valley over the same period, it’s quite a haul for a city of only 600,000.

Regardless of the length of technology expansion in the area, it’ll be hard to outgrow the Microsoft legacy. Several firms are housed in buildings established by co-founder Paul Allen, guided by alumni or populated by graduates of U of W’s Microsoft-funded computer science department. The company even helps startups with free software through its BizSpark program.

Got Hadoop? Will Be Hired

If chatter from the recent Hadoop World conference is any indication, IT professionals equipped with skills wrangling big data such as that supported by the free, Java-based programming framework are in high demand.

Numerous analysts and IT managers at last week’s event in New York signaled that as more firms adopt Hadoop, workers with the necessary skills were in short supply and those who had it could demand a hefty fee, according to a Computerworld report.

Whether weblogs, social media content or click stream data, companies have more than enough avenues to get a handle on their customers and business. In response, Hadoop allows firms to store and manage these volumes of data too massive to be handled by the relational database management systems of today. Into this breach comes the worker with advanced analytics skills to the rescue.

Hadoop demand breaks down into three categories: data analysts or data scientists; data engineers; and IT data management professionals, according to executives.

Firms currently are turning to service providers to fill these workforce gaps, as evidenced by the higher revenues generated by consulting firms involving Hadoop than by sale of Hadoop products.

One glaring example of the need for qualified professionals: IT executives from JP Morgan Chase and EBay used their conference keynote addresses as opportunities to recruit from the audience.

CNN Doc Stirs Talk of Race in Tech Circles

The question of whether race factors into success within the technology industry has become a hot topic amid the recent airing of a new CNN documentary on Silicon Valley.

Depicting eight African American would-be entrepreneurs hoping to break through an industry dominated by white men, the program, “The New Promised Land: Silicon Valley,” has stirred intense debate on the Internet, according to a recent article in the New York Times.

The program, the fourth installment in the channel’s “Black in America” series, created a lot of the talk on a previously untouched subject - a lack of diversity in Silicon Valley - even before it aired Nov. 13.

One particular quote in the documentary that triggered much of the firestorm was by blogger and venture capitalist Michael Arrington, who is shown stating, “I don’t know a single black entrepreneur.”

Mitchell Kapor, the founder of Lotus Development Corporation, said the documentary and the discussion surrounding it will help open people’s eyes.

“Silicon Valley isn’t always the meritocracy it aspires to be,” he said, “and people who don’t acknowledge that have never had to deal with actual barriers and obstacles that can get in the way.”

Facebook Exec Wants More Women in Tech

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has never been a shrinking violet when it comes to women in the workplace.

Touting a resume chock full of executive roles on powerhouses including Google, the World Bank and the U.S. Treasury Department before her current gig, Sandberg talked up the stunning lack of women execs in tech during her recent keynote speech at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.

Among the highlights of her talk at the Portland event, as noted in the Wall Street Journal, Sandberg reminded her audience that technology is a growth industry and a good one to join, at that.

She said it was imperative for women in the industry to set an example by believing in themselves first.

“The main reason women don’t go into computer science turns out to be women don’t go into computer science,” Sandberg said.

Also, don’t impose career limitations because of future plans for children.

She encouraged others to follow her lead and speak out, noting it took her a while to use her platform for such talks.

“My generation is not going to change this,” Sandberg said.

Survey: IT Certifications Lead to Better Jobs, Pay

Jim Staats — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:00:00 GMT

Professionals in the IT industry are traditionally more likely to put their faith in cold, hard facts. When it comes to the not-quite-age-old, but-getting-there question of the industry certifications’ true value, numbers, more and more, back up the claims of proponents of accreditation.

In a new survey of 700 IT professionals, nearly three-quarters of the respondents credit their certifications for promotions, new jobs and other career benefits.

In addition, 40 percent of those queried in the survey, co-produced by Network World and software vendor, SolarWinds, circled certifications for boosting their pay by more than 10 percent, as reported in Network World.

Promotion or job eligibility were prime motivators for certification cited by half of those surveyed, with only cursory credit given to job requirements, surprisingly.

More cold, hard numbers: Certifications led to a new job for 60 percent of survey respondents; half said it helped them earn more pay; and 29 percent said certifications led to a promotion. Security-related certifications were most frequently cited for some of the highest-paid individuals, with CompTIA Security+ singled out as the most popular of the pack.

While the broad spectrum of vendor-specific certifications performed well - Cisco products were cited most frequently and, interestingly enough, considered both most and least valuable - offerings by CompTIA including CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Linux+ and the entry-level CompTIA A+ rated high across the board, according to findings.

Survey respondents offered advice on when to get certifications and which ones to get. With a proven success track through certifications for IT veterans, industry professionals no longer see it as the domain of the entry-level and inexperienced.

As this survey suggests, certifications serve as a potent fuel in the drive to technical industry success.

Personal Best Practices for Mobile Device Security

Janet Pinkerton — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:50:00 GMT

How securely are you using your smartphones or network-enabled tablets? CompTIA reached out to industry experts for their top personal best practices for mobile device security, and here’s the resulting checklist:

1) Password-protect your device. This was the starting rule for all experts CompTIA contacted. “Passwords matter a lot,” said Rebecca Lawson, director of WW Enterprise Security Solutions for HP Enterprise Business. “You need to use them.”

2) Lock your phone when it’s not in use. “Set the security setting to lock automatically after a period of time, say two to three minutes, and set your device to automatically wipe its data after a certain number of failed log-ins,” said Spencer Wilcox, CISSP, CPP, and member of the American Society for Industrial Security’s IT Security Council. “That way, if you do lose it, your pictures, your GPS data, your personal phone numbers, all that information isn’t readily accessible to a person on the street who picks your phone up.”

3) Separate the personal from the work. Using a smartphone for both work and personal activities potentially exposes you to liability if there’s a data leak or security breach via your phone. “It’s a hassle, but I’ve seen people very successfully separate them with two different devices,” said Lawson. Another option, said Wilcox, is to use software to “sandbox” or partition the phone’s business apps and data separate from personal apps and data on the device.

4) Encrypt Yourself. Winn Schwartau, chairman of the Atlanta-based smartphone security company Mobile Active Defense, advocates using a VPN to encrypt all communication from mobile devices. “That should be mandatory in my opinion.” At minimum, don’t use unencrypted Wi-Fi networks for connecting to company servers or banks or engaging any financial transactions. Avoid doing online banking at Starbucks, said Marcus Burton, director of product development at CWNP Inc., the Atlanta-based Wi-Fi certification and training company. “The quality of security attacks out there are getting better and better. Save that stuff for home.” Added Andrew Hoog, chief investigative officer of Chicago-based viaForensics, “It’s very, very simple for a malicious attacker to set up a fake ATT Wireless network.” Full-disk data encryption on smartphones is a work in progress. With Android OS, it’s done via third-party apps; iPhones, especially OS5, have built-in data protection that can be reinforced by third-party apps. Blackberry devices feature built-in, password-protected, content encryption.

5) Click with Caution. Be extremely careful about clicking on email or text message web links via a mobile phone. Mobile users are three times as likely to fall for a Phishing attack, said Hoog, in part because a fake web page is harder to detect on a smartphone screen.

6) Beware the Apps. App developers are not held to the same standard as professional software developers, and apps can be a source of malware/spyware. Even the “clean” app can expose confidential user data —storing credit card numbers or passwords in plain text on the phone’s memory, for example, notes Hoog, whose company’s appWatchdog posts its security analysis of popular mobile apps. HP’s Security Laboratory Blog also tracks web app vulnerabilities.

7) Beware the App Marketplace. “App stores are the greatest hostile malware distribution systems ever invented by man,” quips Schwartau. Those plug-ins and hacks for Angry Birds can contain hostile malware, “and people download them and infect their phones and networks.” Jonathon Giffin, assistant professor associated with the Georgia Tech Information Security Center, cautions against using third-party Android marketplaces where consumers can pay a $9.99 annual subscription to download apps for free. “The user has no way of knowing whether the third party is inserting malicious software into the apps.”

8) Beware the Content Marketplace. Downloading the Super Bowl for free off that sketchy website might seem like a good idea when you were flying to Shanghai, but what else came onto your smartphone or tablet with that download?

9) Beware the Hacked Phone. Hoog warns that “jailbreaking” or hacking a smartphone to get give root access to the device can compromise the security mechanisms managed by the device’s OS. “If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can put yourself at greater risk.”

10) Follow the Rules. If you are using a mobile device for company business, protect yourself by following the company’s standard of conduct for that device. “A lot of this has to do with training and understanding that security is everybody’s business,” said Lawson. “Data loss, or somebody finding your credentials on a lost or stolen device, is ultimately tied to personal behavior.”

Weekly Word on the Street: More Signs Pointing to IT Jobs - Part 2

JIm Staats — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:00:00 GMT

IT Outsourcing: Economic Slide Could Produce Upside for Providers

Despite a decline in the IT outsourcing market recently, a possible double dip economic downturn could spell good news for outsourcing providers in the near future.

So says findings from the latest quarterly report by outsourcing firm Everest Group, as reported in CIO this week.

For the first time in the past year, activity within the global outsourcing market, for both IT and business processes (BPO), dropped, according to the firm’s latest findings.

Analysts, however, remain optimistic while keeping one eye on future quarterly findings.

IT service providers including HP and Dell opened 32 new outsourcing delivery centers this past quarter, nearly double the amount of sites opened in the previous quarter.

In addition, a predicted second economic downturn - the so-called double dip - may lead more corporations to an increased reliance on IT outsourcing.

Researchers say IT organizations will have no other choice to seek help outside their corporate walls as tough financial situations have forced many to cut staffing to the bone as it is.

Wanted: Workers to Fill 50,000 Healthcare IT Jobs

Two titanic organizations devoted to IT membership and human resources in the healthcare industry are joining forces to get the word out that there’s plenty of jobs to be had right now in healthcare IT.

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA) plan to collaborate on efforts driving job seekers to fill an estimated shortage of 50,000 workers in health IT, according to an article in InformationWeek.

The organizations are seeking to promote the relatively new field of healthcare IT as a career path to fill a labor shortage to support implementation of electronic health records and health information exchange. With many IT professionals out of work from other industries, HIMSS and ASHHRA want to get the word out.

Projects already in motion include a virtual career fair and joint education programs.

Learn more about the new healthcare IT credential from CompTIA.

Advice on IT Leadership

Dr. Larry Tieman, a 40-year veteran of the IT industry, offers his take to help those seeking employment in the industry and employers trying to hold on to whom they have.

In a recent column in InformationWeek, Tieman, a former senior VP with FedEx, reminds his audience that he’s changed jobs multiple times over his career and not once was the actual job just as advertised.

For those considering a new opportunity in the industry, Tieman recommends his four “C” framework.

Company: Is this a place you would want to work?
Career: Does the job support your career objectives?
Chemistry/Culture: Is the environment conducive to your own success?
Compensation: Is money the main reason for taking the job? It shouldn’t be.

As more IT organizations these days are being forced to analyze whether they can succeed with the staff and budget given them, more would be wise to team with their HR departments to develop a staff skills retrain and refresh plan.

Weekly Word on the Street: More Signs Pointing to IT Jobs - Part I

JIm Staats — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:00:00 GMT

Takeaway of the week is that more signs are pointing to IT jobs on the horizon. You just have to know where to look. Are you interested in healthcare IT? Have you considered spanning the globe right from your computer as an online-only contractor? If you’re already in an IT job, are you content? Other people say you are.

The Online-Only Worker Bee

Technological advances connect the global workforce like never before. One of the growing dynamics of this new reality is the growth of the online-only freelancer.

These are folks who are able to function independently as a contractor through online channels in support of clients around the world.

According to a recent article in the American Express OPEN Forum, this isn’t just a fad, but a burgeoning segment of the economy.

One private organization taking advantage of this trend is Elance, an online hub which matches and facilitates project-based work between online freelancers and companies.

At last count, more than 500,000 contractors were seeking work using Elance.

More than 150,000 projects were posted in the third quarter of this year, according to the firm’s latest Online Employment Report. Elance estimates the number of projects posted with them this year to exceed 600,000.

The author of this article is a hiring manager who has been bringing online freelancers onboard for the better part of a decade, but job seekers in the IT sector who haven’t considered this possibility might be more willing to do so after giving this a read and doing a little research.

The world - and a host of possible clients - awaits.

Staffing Survey: Contentment in IT Workforce

The vast majority of employed IT professionals are happy to stay put, according to findings of a new survey, but beware the fallout of a booming economic future, oh ye too-smug employers. IT staffing firm, Modis, surveyed 500 IT pros and found nearly 90 percent are happy with their current jobs.

According to a recent piece in Network World, nearly two-thirds of those surveyed planned to remain with their current employers, and only a quarter would bolt their job if the right opportunity came along.

Likely reasons? Individuals are being cautious in light of current economic conditions while employers are doing their best - i.e good salary, raises and other perks - and better to keep veteran IT talent in place to handle new world trends including cloud computing, security and mobility.

Watch out, though, if the economy strengthens in 2012 as more IT pros will be open to leave their stable job for seemingly brighter pastures elsewhere, according to officials with the global IT staffing agency that produced the findings.

Survey respondents also gave advice for their IT brethren seeking employment: the most effective method continues to be the personal connection, reaching out to former colleagues, professional networks or social media tools.

Study: IT’s Future is in the Cloud

In related findings of the Modis survey reported elsewhere, cloud computing, security and mobility are the IT sectors with the most potential for growth in the coming years.

In the CIO Asia piece on the Modis survey of 500 IT pros, cloud computing topped the list of issues related to respondents’ jobs at 29 percent, followed by security at 21 percent and mobile space with 18 percent.

Modis executives indicated the technologies should be considered linked as more companies turn to cloud computing to deliver services over mobile devices, data security will take on greater significance.

Note: Read CompTIA Cloud Essentials Scheduled for December 2011 Availability to learn about the new cloud credential CompTIA and ITpreneurs announced this week

Getting the Mobile Device Chickens Back into the Enterprise IT Security Coop

Janet Pinkerton — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 19:03:58 GMT

When it comes to mobile device security, the smartphone chickens have long flown the IT security coop, and companies of all sizes are in the continual process of corralling device usage and reducing risk.

To assist with this effort, CompTIA asked IT security experts—including forensic specialists, enterprise security executives and academics—to list their top enterprise best practices for mobile device security.

Now that business intelligence flows through social networks, web apps and Cloud-based services, relational databases and content marketing strategies, mobile device security has emerged as a key linchpin to protecting enterprise and customer data. No company wants to have sensitive information exposed via the contacts, text messages, call history, email, photos, audio and video recordings, and geolocation data on their employees’ mobile devices.

Increasingly those mobile devices are not company owned or controlled. CompTIA research found that 85% of US small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) know of employees using personal devices for work purposes. Among that population, security is a primary concern, whether it is employees transmitting viruses (cited by 47% of SMBs), a security breach involving customer information (41%), or the employee taking data with them when they leave the company (41%).

In addition, a serious disconnect has to be eliminated between organizations’ mobile device security policies and reality: A 2011 study by McAfee and Carnegie Mellon University found that 95 percent of the organizations have policies in place for mobile devices. However, less than one in three employees are aware of their company’s mobile security policy, and fewer than half of companies report that all of their employees understand their mobile device access/permissions, the study found.

In other words, mobile device security policies that organizations create and ask their employees to follow rarely reflect how people really work

The message from the experts’ whom CompTIA contacted: Tighten up enterprise mobile device security now. It’s only going to get worse. Their recommendations include:

1.) Centralize mobile device security, technologically and organizationally

Technologically: RIM/Blackberry solutions offer built-in central control, but companies have to proactively structure their technological control of iPhone and Android devices. Winn Schwartau, chairman of the Atlanta-based smartphone security company Mobile Active Defense, is an advocate of Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology to establish a Blackberry-esque control: a certificate of authority to validate the user, the device and its permitted access to the network, for example. He contends companies secure the mobile enterprise to the same degree they do the fixed enterprise and that mobile devices should be linked into data loss protection mechanisms, content filtering, and anti-virus/malware detection.

Organizationally: Every organization needs a central management point that would determine, promote and support mobile device procedures and policies for the entire company, said Rebecca Lawson, director of Worldwide Enterprise Security Solutions for HP Enterprise Business. “Without policy controls you expose yourself to a tremendous amount of liability,” said Spencer Wilcox, CISSP, CPP, and member of the American Society for Industrial Security’s IT Security Council. Adds Andrew Hoog, chief investigative officer at the Chicago-based IT forensics and security firm viaForenics, “At this point in time, it’s very difficult to address a lot of the risk that you have in mobile because the technology is not mature enough, and device management and security is not baked in enough. The only way you can address those limitations is by policy.”

2.) Lock-down devices.

Require that employees use passcodes, teamed with time out/auto log-out rules, to control access the handsets. Enable the company’s ability to remotely “wipe” the device of data should it get lost or stolen. Passcodes and built-in hardware encryption can be circumvented, noted Hoog. A four-digit PIN on an iPhone can be cracked in 15 minutes, so Hoog recommends a minimum six-digit alphanumeric passcodes for mobile devices.

3.) Make mobile device security easy for employees.

Lawson advocates the use of company intranets to centralize information (about approved devices, apps and uses, for example) and, where possible, automate processes (i.e., reporting lost or stolen phones). Hoog urges companies to encourage employees to quickly report lost or stolen devices, because an enterprise may have only a short window of time to remote wipe the device before data could be extracted.

4.) Secure data traffic into and out of the device.

Schwartau advocates using “at minimum 256-bit AES encryption and a VPN” to thwart eaves dropping and password interception.

5.) Tier access to the enterprise network by user and device.

“Use authentication parameters (for mobile devices) to limit what a person can access,” said Marcus Burton, director of product development at CWNP Inc., the Atlanta-based enterprise Wi-Fi certification and training company. “That limits liability as well.” For internal Wi-Fi networks, he recommends an upgrade to 802.1x to better support device authentication.

6.) Limit the data flow to mobile devices.

“You don’t want employees to be getting all enterprise data on their smartphone,” said Lawson, adding that user identity, device type and application should limit access to the enterprise network. “There are a lot of different cases to consider—a CRM app is handled one way, while a direct marketing app is another way—which does make this hard.”

7.) Separate the business from the personal using technology and/or policy.

Schwartau contends a business device should never see personal use, and personal device should never be used for business. Employers that permit employees to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) ”places the organization into an untested legal position of liability, “ he said. “If there’s a data leak, or a security incident, what’s the legal liability for the user? What is the legal liability for the organization? We don’t know the answer.” Alternatively, experts like Jonathon Giffin, assistant professor associated with the Georgia Tech Information Security Center, and also Wilcox, accept “sandboxing,” using software technology to partition the device, its apps and its data into business and personal modes, as a possible solution.

8.) Scrutinize app usage and vulnerabilities.

Apps and app marketplaces come with multiple types of risk—for downloading malware, or improperly handling user data. Lawson, Hoog and Schwartau recommend regularly testing apps used by the company for security vulnerabilities—via in-house IT resources or third-party testers. “The level of vulnerabilities for a web app is really high–much higher than it should be,” said Lawson, adding that companies need to “continually look for vulnerabilities, and make a patch, fix or policy to remediate it…..It’s never going to be perfect. Hackers are always two steps ahead, but lots of organizations offer vulnerability testing as a service.” Schwartau contends that, “app stores are the greatest hostile malware distribution systems ever invented by man, and many organizations run their own enterprise app stores for that reason.”

9.) Maintain a “Secure Application Catalog.”

Keep information about the company’s allowed and disallowed apps up-to-date and readily available—ideally via an intranet—to employees. “Make it easy for an employee to follow the rules,” said Lawson.

There are no foolproof solutions, but organizations have no choice but to manage their mobile device security risks amid rapid technological change and increasingly sophisticated threats.

Whereas business intelligence used to be isolated and protected behind physical and technological walls, pieces of that data are now “zooming away from the center” into the business ecosystem via social media, web applications and more, Lawson said. Embrace enterprise mobile device security now, she urged. “It’s going to change fast, with more device types that we haven’t even thought of. So getting in the grove is the smart thing to do.”

Want a Job? Commit to Continuing Education

Jim Staats — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:42:57 GMT

Despite the gloomy economy and a global shift in some traditional job functions, there are plenty of IT jobs to be had if one knows how and where to look.

So says Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO of CompTIA, in a Computerworld Q&A this week.

Thibodeaux, a longtime leader within the technical fraternity, highlights mismatched skill sets as a prime reason so many unemployed IT technicians are being prevented from filling otherwise appealing job openings.

“An IT career requires a lifelong commitment to continuing education and training,” Thibodeaux says, noting those who don’t keep up with the latest trends such as cloud computing and social media “are most often the ones who struggle to stay employed.”

Thibodeaux, who divulges his own helpful checklist for fellow “techies” in need of a career jumpstart, said keeping technical skills current isn’t just on the individual these days. Smart businesses are the ones investing in their employees regardless of the economic climate.

To read the entire Computerworld article, visit http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/359557/Career_Watch_The_IT_jobs_outlook?taxonomyId=56.

Weekly Word on the Street: Job Fairs Go Online

Jim Staats — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:11:10 GMT

More and more employers may be turning to virtual job fairs in an attempt to broaden their candidate pool while saving travel and expenses.

In these online forums - in which both companies and job seekers can log in from across the globe - participants can access a variety of “booths” of such big-name firms including Procter & Gamble Co., Citigroup or Boeing Co. to learn details about the company as well as open positions, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal.

These job applicants learn about these online programs through several channels including Facebook, Twitter and the company’s own websites.

However, HR experts note in the article that often these virtual events are geared toward building interest among quality candidates as opposed to landing an actual job offer. In this way, such online events may be more the realm for “passive job seekers” that want to learn more about what possibilities are out there.

Got SQL? Will Hire

Software programmers with a SQL background are considered most in demand, although the need for software skills as a whole is dropping rapidly in the public sector, a new survey indicates.

The survey, compiled by Salary Services Limited through the third quarter of 2011, shows cost-cutting measures are being reflected in depleted government IT departments, but skill-targeted jobs with software houses and retail firms have shown increases, reports Computer Weekly.

According to survey data, the 20,046 jobs for workers with SQL skills in Q3 of 2011 were nearly 10 percent more than the same time period one year ago. C programmers, the next most-sought after software skill, were the target of 15,131 new jobs over the same time period, a less than 1 percent increase from one year ago.

Skill Set Tug-of-Ware

More outsourcing of technical expertise means more CIOs these days are looking for job candidates with a business skill set rather than a technical skill set, a new survey reports.

A survey conducted by the Society of Information Management (SIM) indicates the key concerns of CIOs today weigh heavily on the business side, a good thing for job seekers with business degrees and not so good for those with technical certifications, reports Network World in an article on survey findings. Of the top ten concerns of CIOs, only two were of a technical nature - IT reliability, ranked sixth, and enterprise architecture/infrastructure capability, seventh, which likely coincides with more outsourcing of technical duties, survey findings indicate.

Does this mean we can expect to find IT staffs filled with MBAs over CCIEs? Maybe not just yet. “I’ve had bad luck with MBAs,” said Jon Green, vice president of IT for Den-Mat, a California-based dental products manufacturer. “I hired a Harvard MBA who did not understand the adoption process of IT and that you can’t just put a system in front of aa person and expect them to use it. But it really depends more on the person than the title.”

Those in the technical fields also counter that enrollment in technical certification programs continues to be on the rise as industry trends shift to new trends such as cloud computing. Consultants say staffers with both business and technical accreditations can be valuable for various reasons and roles.

Tipping Point for the IT Job Market

Todd Thibodeaux — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:34:50 GMT

I did a radio interview last Saturday talking about the IT job market. We covered the standard message points: lots of open jobs in some regions but very few in others, not enough skilled people to fill them wherever they seem to be, and employers being very picky and specific about who they are hiring. But the point I kept coming back to in my own mind was when will the U.S. labor market hit a tipping point?

Unemployment is almost always a lagging indicator during post-recession periods of growth. Employers keep things close to the vest, having found they tread water with fewer resources. At some point, however, the outlook turns and they begin to focus on growth, new opportunities and the staff they need to take advantage of them.

Each quarter we release our IT business confidence index and one of the main components of the measure is intent to hire. We break it down by size of company to get an even more detailed picture.

Quarter after quarter the results keep showing the same thing, consistent intent to hire, even growing intent among small and medium IT firms, but where’s the follow-through? Where’s the tipping point?

A common misperception about IT jobs is that everyone working in IT is working for an IT company, and in particular a big name Fortune 500 IT standard-bearer. The reality is at the other end of the spectrum. Most people in IT work in an IT job for a non-IT company or they work for a small IT shop serving mostly other small companies.

This phenomenon diffuses the market and keeps it as stable and attractive a profession as one could hope for. Skilled IT professionals are highly valued and always in demand. But where is the tipping point signaling growth of opportunity for hundreds of thousands of new entrants to the IT workforce? We need confidence in small businesses of all shapes and sizes to power IT job growth.

I don’t have all the answers, but I can say a tipping point can’t be reached entirely by innovation in IT offerings. Cloud computing, the need for greater security, sophisticated mobile devices and social media have all created great opportunities to morph business models and change paradigms, setting the stage for the future. Those tremendous innovations alone cannot muster confidence in a small business CEO, loosen the purse strings of banks, or magically bring a moribund national psyche to the simultaneous consensus that tomorrow will be better, and the day after and the day after that.

Transition in Malaysia Buffered by CompTIA Project+

Jim Staats — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:02:59 GMT

Jimmy Hooh Chee Ming had considerable experience after 28 years in the IT field, but still sought a little extra insurance to bolster his transition into a full-time project management role.

His co-workers pointed him toward CompTIA Project+ and he’s been singing praises ever since.

“Having gone through Project+, I am confident I can manage a given project accordingly,” said Hooh, transition and transformation manager with HP Malaysia. “It really helps me a lot, especially (when it comes to) understanding the project concept.”

Hooh, a resident of Kuala Lumpur, said his recently earned credential has helped him with the biggest hurdle in his new role, that of quickly grasping a project’s core areas of responsibility. Hooh, 47, was by no means a wide-eyed neophyte when he took on his new role with far-reaching management expertise in such core areas as operations, shared services and application development. He began his professional journey nearly 30 years ago as an IT system operator. Hooh said CompTIA credentials “generic” nature as a vendor-neutral offering is its biggest selling point.

The industry veteran said the credentials offered by the industry’s global trade association stand out from those offered by other professional bodies because they can be tailored to an individual’s requirements and needs. Hooh said he’s been able to apply his Project+ training on an almost daily basis in his current role.

With no plans to ease up in his own career goals, Hooh remains a big proponent of certification as an industry difference-maker. Certifications, he said, “will act as part and parcel of our paper qualifications to enhance our CVs and to inform our employer that we are capable and certified to manage a given job.”

Inspiration from Our Youth

Matthew Poyiadgi — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:43:56 GMT

As a young man growing up, I followed many sports stars: Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalgish, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, but my sporting inspiration was Zinedine Zidane. He was so naturally gifted and so intelligent with the ball. This week, I found inspiration not with footballers, but at youngsters no more than 18 years old who won the apprentice of the year awards at the Zenos annual conference, where I also had the pleasure of presenting my view on the “Evolution of IT, Jobs and Learning”.

Zenos is a quite amazing company. It has 400 staff, mostly young and very dynamic, but what really stands out is the camaraderie, the culture and the ethos that drive this team of people led by Jason Moss and his management team. They live to help the next generation acquire the skills that will set them on the road to a new chapter in their lives, a career in IT.

I selected Ashleigh Carr as the Zenos-CompTIA apprentice of the year. He is 18 years old and has Crohn’s disease. Our CompTIA A+ certification helped him find himself and a job at the Royal Bank of Scotland in IT support. Most of 400+ audience members were in tears as I presented the award to him (and we gave Ashleigh a 3D LED TV as a cool gift to go along with his award). We must never forget that this is why we exist, helping Ashleigh and others like him to get a job and make progress in the world of technology.

I will always love football, basketball and most other sports, and I will always enjoy watching the best talent grace our stadiums. But this week has taught me that our inspiration comes from these youngsters, who overcome adversity to achieve results, aim high and get the jobs for which they apply. If that is our future, there is hope. Presenting at Zenos and handing out this award this week was my finest hour at CompTIA. Thank you, Jason, Claire, Nicky, Richard and all the fantastic Zenos team.

Weekly Word on the Street: Toot Your Own Horn

Jim Staats — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:39:57 GMT

Takeaway of the week is it’s always best to toot your own horn when it comes to highly sought value you can add to an organization, because who knows when someone else would do it for you. And don’t look now, but it’s another voice trumpeting the ‘rise of the machines,’ but could it be with an IT silver lining?

SME Branding? Toot Your Own Horn

Subject matter experts shouldn’t wait around for anybody but themselves to tout that value-add expertise to the outside world, so says an executive from one of the technology titans.

Ed Brill, IBM’s director of messaging and collaboration, noted that with competition for jobs so fierce and such a wealth of social networking tools at our fingertips, it’s more important than ever for IT professionals to tout their own expertise, according to a recent column in InformationWeek.

“Today, personal branding is two-fold - you need to establish yourself internally at your organization and externally to your organization’s ecosystem of customers, partners and more,” he said.

Brill, a regular contributor to multiple social media communities and author of his own blog, said today’s networking landscape offers “endless opportunities for IT professionals to brand themselves and establish their digital reputation and credibility to the public.”

He did recommend two caveats before jumping into social media channels unchecked: bring focus to a specific area of expertise to better highlight it and always ask your employer’s permission before any organizational references.

That last point shouldn’t be a big issue, as Brill notes, smart companies will not only give permission, but actively encourage such personal branding efforts.

More Voices Tout Rise of Machines at Expense of Human Jobs - Tech Silver Lining?

As reported earlier in this space, murmurs pointing to increasing corporate reliance on technology as a leading cause of job loses is building to a roar.

The latest to join the fray: two of the nation’s leading experts on technology and productivity sound the alarm over the oncoming automation onslaught with their latest book, “Race Against the Machine.”

A sluggish economy can be blamed for a lot of job loss in America, but technological advances have advanced this shortfall dramatically, according to a New York Times article on the findings of Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAffee, authors and researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The duo doesn’t directly address any possible benefits in the IT labor market to more companies automating roles previously handled by humans. They do theorize that skills of machines will only improve to spread beyond factories to call centers, marketing and sales.

The two originally set out to document the wealth of innovation taking place within the digital realm, but as employment figures remained stagnant, they altered course to examine technology’s role in joblessness today.

People might be hurting, but corporate America isn’t, according to their findings.

Productivity grew at more than 2.5 percent this past decade, a bigger jump than the 1970s, 1980s or even 1990s. While that took place, the job count remained static, the first decade that’s happened since the Depression.

VCs Bullish on Healthcare IT

Healthcare IT software and services - and the firms that run them - are ringing up venture capital investments at a growing rate, according to new industry findings.

VC investment in those companies hit $207 million in the third quarter of this year, a 14 percent jump from a year ago, figures from Dow Jones VentureSource reported in InformationWeek indicate. That positive trend is likely to continue.

“Given the momentum that the (healthcare IT) industry has already seen over the past year and a half, we’ll most likely see a fairly significant increase in deals in the fourth quarter,” said Jessica Canning, global research director for Dow Jones VentureSource.

Healthcare IT companies are the benefits of such funding at all stages of their development and for a variety of business models.

“Just looking at all the different kinds of solutions that these companies are providing, it shows that there are so many different ways to target this industry,” Canning said. “We’re just getting started and medical software and services will definitely have a long investment cycle. We are just starting to crack this open.”

Check here to learn more about CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician certification.

Survey: More IT Pros Seeking Greener Pastures

A new survey indicates more IT technicians are leaving their existing jobs in order to advance their careers.

More than 80 percent of IT professionals indicated a change in their job and employer was necessary for their own career advancement, according to the Technology Industry Survey 2012. Findings from the survey, conducted by IT recruitment firm Mortimer Spinks and Computer Weekly, showed that one in five IT staffers planned to leave their current employer within the year in search of better career opportunities.

Employers just aren’t offering enough growth opportunities for their IT staff, said James Hallahan, managing director of the U.K.-based Mortimer Spinks.

The role with the highest proportion of IT employees (36 percent) sticking with the status quo is business analyst.

The majority (71 percent) of the 650 IT professionals surveyed want open, honest and regular communications from their IT department.

Suggestions for Taking a High-Stakes IT Exam: Part II, Exam Logistics

Janet Pinkerton — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:24:00 GMT

THE DAY BEFORE THE EXAM

1) Know the address and phone number of the testing center, and how you will get there, and how much time it will take to reach the testing center site.

2) Get a good night’s sleep before the exam

THE DAY OF THE EXAM

1) Eat a balanced breakfast, including some form of protein to give long-lasting energy.

2) Dress comfortably, in layers.

3) Give yourself plenty of travel time.

4) Bring the address of and directions to the testing site

5) Bring any needed identification, i.e., drivers license or exam voucher receipt

TAKING THE EXAM: 10 HOT TIPS

1) Take the exam all the way through in one pass and then go back to review your answers.

2) Read each question and its answers thoroughly, then make a decision quickly. Try to mentally answer the question before you read the answers supplied by the exam.

3) If you know the answer, mark it down and move on to the next question.

4) If you don't know the answer to a question, mark the question for review and choose an answer, even if you're not sure or have no idea what it should be. Why? Not answering a question will guarantee you won’t get any points you won't get any points for that question, and chances are a question later in the test will help you answer the one you didn't know.

5) If you are unsure of the right answer to a question, try to narrow the answers down to two choices by eliminating the wrong answers.

6) Watch for important keywords in both questions and answers. Key words or phrases — such as “not best” or “all should” or “should not”—can make a big difference in matching the right answer to the question asked.

7) When answering long questions, always read the statement with the “?” first. Determine what is being asked and then read the rest of the question to pick out the relevant information. This avoids the need to re-read the question numerous times.

8) Don’t be afraid to write things down to help yourself think through a question. In most testing centers, you will receive a small dry-erase tool you can use for notes during the exam. Draw the question as it is being described – visual representations always help.

9) When you have completed the exam, go back and review your answers, especially the questions you marked as difficult to answer.

10) As you review your exam, try to avoid second-guessing your answers. Many students tend to select the correct answer, doubt themselves and change the answer to an incorrect answer.

Suggestions for Taking a High-Stakes IT Exam, Part I: Exam Prep

Janet Pinkerton — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:54:26 GMT

1) Know your exam. Carefully read the exam description details to build your exam prep strategy. What are exam objectives or subjects covered? What question formats will be used: multiple-choice, simulated scenarios, essays or fill in the blank? How many questions will be in each exam section? How much time is given to complete the exam? How will the exam be graded?

2) Ask yourself: What kind of learner am I? How much do I know? Answering these questions can help you decide what tools to use to prepare for the exam. Test prep options include assessment software, instructor-led training, eLearning, books for classroom use and self-study, and computer-based materials.

3) Dedicate Time to Prepare. Give yourself a matter of weeks, not days, for preparation. Create and commit to a realistic schedule of study time blocks that are less likely to be disrupted by work or life events. Aim for balance with time management. If you neglect your personal or work life, you may add unwanted stress that will make it more difficult to study effectively.

4) Study in short blocks of time. Experts say the maximum human attention span is about 45 minutes and the average is about 20 to 30 minutes. Be good to yourself and take long breaks between study times.

5) Use multiple study/preparation resources, especially if you are a beginner. No single exam preparation resource is the best at covering every exam subject. Each has its strengths and weaknesses—both in approach and subject coverage. Using multiple preparation resources will help ensure that you cover all the subjects contained in a high-stakes exam.

6) Use high-quality preparation resources. For CompTIA certification exams, study with books and study guides reviewed by industry experts and approved by CompTIA through the CompTIA Approved Quality Content (CAQC) program. These materials are considered the best resource for self-study for an exam. Use the Search form here to find CAQC Study Materials. Be careful when purchasing study guides from second-hand sellers (on eBay or Craigslist, for example); make sure the materials directly apply to the exam you plan to take.

7) Drill, Baby, Drill! Drill with sample questions and exams to identify problem areas where more study is needed and reinforce the information you already understand. Sample questions for CompTIA exams can be obtained here. You can also purchase and practice questions online with authorized providers of certification practice tests. Beware of websites offering “exact copies” of real exam questions; experts say these typically provide no educational value and are often incorrect.

8) Time yourself. Timed exam practice help you get used to taking exams under time pressure.

9) Get Hands-on! Give yourself plenty of hands-on IT experience to reinforce study prep and also to prepare for long-term career success. Hands-on experience can range from working on projects in a home or school lab to shadowing experienced computer or network IT “gurus.”

10) Be Proactive and Think Positive. Exam anxiety is common, but careful preparation through study, drills and hands-on experience can dissolve the fears involved with high-stakes testing. If you are anxious about the exam environment itself, get information from your testing center about what to expect, what’s allowed, what’s prohibited in the testing room. Some testing centers even offer a “test drive” —a chance to experience the test center and go through all the testing procedures before the actual exam.

Weekly Word on the Street

Jim Staats — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:01:37 GMT

This week’s takeaway is the more flexible you are in your IT abilities ‘toolbox,’ the more attractive you’ll be in an ever-changing IT landscape. More data to manage, more companies going the automated route, more quote-unquote old-school firms relying on technology than ever before. Or you could just pay a visit to North Carolina.

Gartner: Big IT Skill is Big Data Wrangler

Hot commodities in the IT job market could be the folks with the know-how to handle the massive influx of corporate data these days, according to a key analyst with Gartner. Enterprise CIOs must consider revising their IT staffing needs to better harness increasing mounds of customer data at their disposal, Debra Logan, Gartner VP, said in a recent interview with Computer Weekly.

“You need to have people who can think about information needs, and that is a different skillset to IT,” she said. “It’s a profound change that everybody needs to get to grips with.” Logan suggested CIOs may have to consider going beyond traditional IT departments to find data scientists and information management specialists who can help make sense of the explosion of “big data” these days.

“I know we say all the time that IT is changing beyond recognition, but it is,” she said. “Internet IT is becoming irrelevant. In five to 10 years you will be able to get all your services outside your company.” Logan did say that the world of data analytics is still a developing one. While IT departments are still a long way from having the right skills to handle increasing volumes of data, there is still time to adapt and conquer.

Click here for the complete story.

N.C. Spike: IT Jobs Looking Up in Tar Heel State

Job openings in the IT sector may finally be on the rise in North Carolina, recent reports indicate. IT job opportunities in the state spiked 11.9 percent in September to reverse a five-month string of declining numbers, according to the latest report released by the N.C. Technology Association. Though the 3,860 job openings in September were an increase from the 3,450 in August, that number did drop 9 percent from one year ago, The News & Observer reported this week.

Click here to read the NCTA’s monthly report, compiled by SkillPROOF, focuses on job research.

Rise of the Machines: Bad for Overall Job Market, but Good for IT?

A recent Reuters report indicated that increasing investments in technology by American businesses has played a big role in sustaining a stagnant overall job market. With little sign of this trend being discontinued, does this suggest a silver lining for the IT labor market?

According to the report, business investment in equipment and software meant to streamline their operations has surged 33 percent over the past decade with little to no change in the number of workers employed - a drastic change from a decades-long symbiotic relationship between the two.

The spread of IT from the factory floors on up in the nation’s workplaces has created a bit of a shock to the system for typical workers, analysts have noted.

“Labor and capital are out of sync,” said Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. “It seems to be a growing and strengthening trend...(and) suggests there is a longer-term structural change.”

More self-checkout kiosks at retailers, call center outsourcing, online travel booking and the like means companies are finding a way to do more with less-people.

This reshaping of commerce, which shows no signs of slowing down as technological advances increase, may be music to the ears of IT professionals with the skills needed to help companies take advantage of this revolution.

Click here to read the complete article.

CyberWatch Grows as a Center for Cybersecurity Education

Janet Pinkerton — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:25:00 GMT

Since its founding via a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant in 2005, CyberWatch, the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Center headquartered at Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) in Largo, Md., has had one mission: to improve the cybersecurity workforce in both quality and quantity of workers.

The NSF funded CyberWatch, along with two other ATE Centers (The Cyber Security Education Consortium in Oklahoma and the Center for System Security and Information Assurance at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, Ill.) to drive NSF’s cybersecurity education effort at the community college level. As such, CyberWatch has become a hub for cybersecurity information, curriculum and training.

“The single most important thing that we do for our members is that our consortium functions as a network for people working to improve cybersecurity education in this country,” said Dr. Robert Spear, CyberWatch’s PI (principal investigator) and director.

Powered by a small staff, four co-PIs and committed representatives from within the consortium (whom Spear has dubbed “the coalition of the willing”), CyberWatch works towards its mission through five inter-related goals:

Curriculum development (primarily for community colleges)
Faculty development (at both college and high school level)
Student development (including student competitions and internships)
An extensive K-12 program to raise cybersecurity awareness among students and staff, bolster STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) curricula, and encourage student exploration into the cybersecurity profession as a possible career choice
Dissemination and outreach about the cybersecurity profession

CyberWatch helps community colleges strengthen existing information assurance and cybersecurity programs and build new ones from the ground up. In addition, CyberWatch is working to expand student cybersecurity competitions at the high school and even middle school levels. “We found that really focuses attention of students and faculty,” said Spear. “We’re beginning to see many more cybersecurity-related career and tech-ed type tracks at the 11th and 12th grade levels.”

Meeting a Need

CyberWatch evolved out of PGCC’s long-term commitment to educating cybersecurity workers required by defense and intelligence government agencies and contractors in central Maryland. From CyberWatch’s original consortium of 10 institutions, primarily community colleges from the Washington, D.C. metro area, the consortium has grown to 76 member institutions (45 community colleges and 31 universities) in 26 states. CyberWatch’s formal partners now include 35 businesses, industry associations (including CompTIA) and government agencies. Through CyberWatch, Spear works with CompTIA and other IT credentialing organizations to strengthen the connection between cybersecurity curricula and IT certifications. “What ought to exist is a more direct tie between academic preparation and industrial certifications,” Spear said, adding “Our job in education ultimately should be to offer the training to students that will allow them to function effectively in the cybersecurity arena.”

The National End Goal

Spear has a clear-eyed view of CyberWatch’s potential impact. “Our vision is that, through CyberWatch and its sister organizations, and the other national associations like CompTIA, in 10 years, the cybersecurity profession will be identified and recognized as a profession. And that our colleges and training institutions will be turning out the workforce that’s needed to satisfy the nation’s shortage of cybersecurity workers,” he said.

He adds that “CyberWatch itself will not create this, but we think that we will be part of the national dialogue and part of the solution.”

Indeed, CyberWatch in October will apply to the NSF to become the NSF National Center for Cybersecurity Education. After a due-diligence process, the NSF’s decision about the proposal is expected in spring/summer 2012, said Spear. If the NSF accepts CyberWatch’s proposal to become a national center for cybersecurity education, Spear said, “We will continue doing many of the things we already do; but with a national mandate, our reach will be broader and our potential effectiveness will be enhanced.”

Healthcare Security Not A Huge Concern - But It Should Be

Jim Staats — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:01:53 GMT

Privacy and security issues are said to be among the chief concerns for healthcare administrators facing new HIPPA regulations and a ramped-up electronic health record (EHR) incentive program.

A new study, however, indicates that many of those executives are failing to “walk the walk.”

In a report by consulting firm CSC, a HIMSS shows that fewer than half of large healthcare organizations - 47 percent - in the U.S. conduct annual security risk assessments and nearly six in ten didn’t dedicate any staff to security, as noted recently in InformationWeek. Fifty percent of respondents to the study spent 3 percent or less of its organizational resources on security.

New data security requirements for this field coming down the pike may have to force the issue, the report states.

Under the HITECH provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, tightened HIPPA security provisions expected this fall will require breach notifications, restrictions on marketing and sale of personal health information (PHI) and the mandate of annual risk assessments. In rolling out its new industry credential to arm IT professionals supporting healthcare systems in clinical settings, CompTIA has highlighted security among the key topics for its CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician certification.

CSC consultant Jared Rhoads told InformationWeek he wasn’t surprised at the lead-footed response to data security, noting some hospitals became complacent because HIPPA security rules hadn’t been enforced - until recently. Starting later this year or early 2012, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) will begin auditing organizations for compliance.

New regulations, including the requirement for hospitals to conduct annual risk checks and fix any found problems under both Stage 1 Meaningful Use rules and proposed Stage 2 rules, may light a fire under lagging administrators.

Hopefully, better late than never.

To read the entire InformationWeek article, click here.

For another take on this issue, read this column.

For more information on the CompTIA Healthcare IT Technician certification, click here.

Weekly Word on the Street: Cloud Computing Expertise in Demand

Jim Staats — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:19:03 GMT

Take-away of the week is a weather report: More clouds are forming on the horizon in the world of IT services. Organizations big and small are having to adapt as will the technicians of today and tomorrow.

Survey: IT as a Service Gaining Headwind

Based on findings of a recent survey by F5 Networks, the enterprise trend toward IT services on demand, in the cloud, ITaaS or catchy name of your choosing, will continue to get a stranglehold on the industry in the next few years.

Nearly 75 percent of respondents, a group made up of 538 enterprise IT professionals, estimated that the shift to IT as a service (ITaaS) will take place in the coming three to five years, according to survey findings reported by Channel Insider. At least two-thirds of those surveyed have either implemented or are in the process of implementing infrastructure as a service already, according to the survey.

What exactly this means for industry hiring trends in the coming years is not stated explicitly, but with stakeholders being able to select and self-provide IT services on demand, the writing is on the wall. Organizations are having to do more with less, and more flexible service options are ones that depend on less resources. IT pros with cloud computing expertise are going to be more in demand, especially as deployment continues to build.

“ITaaS is a promising option for many enterprises, given the range of demands placed on data centers, which traditionally aren’t flexible enough to adapt to the requirements of today’s applications,” said Karl Triebes, CTO and senior vice president of product development at F5 Networks, itself an IT infrastructure vendor.

Schalk Theron, CIO at cloud content management firm SpringCM, said today’s typical user wants “to obtain a service without having to call and ask someone for it. ITaaS is doing just that.”

Geek Squad Galore: Best Buy Bumps up Hiring

Best Buy hopes to bounce back from lagging sales this year with a healthy increase in its IT staff across the board in coming weeks.

The Minneapolis-based retailing giant wants to reposition itself as a tech leader by recruiting more than 200 skilled IT professionals in e-commerce, business analytics, application development, engineering and project management, according to a recent report in RetailingToday.com.

About half of the new positions are expected to be posted in the next several weeks, officials said. Best Buy recommends CompTIA A+ certification for its Geek Squad computer technicians.

“Bringing in the best and brightest IT talent will help us to achieve our ongoing goals of providing a unique and engaging customer experience - whether in-store, online or across our mobile platforms - and creating a work environment for employees that encourages collaboration and sparks innovation,” said Jody Davids, the firm’s CIO and SVP of global business services.

NASA CTO: IT Help Desks are a Vanishing Breed

Hopefully, attendees at Computerworld’s SNW conference this week in Orlando weren’t a bevy of old-school help desk technicians seeking positive reinforcement on future prospects because the keynote speaker offered little for those seeking status quo.

Tom Soderstrom, CTO at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, informed folks that as more enterprises such as NASA shift their massive chunks of data to public and private clouds for full mobile agility, IT help desks as their known today soon will be a thing of the past.

“Now the workforce and consumers of IT are becoming mobile,” said Soderstrom, whose agency has overseen the launch of 30 spacecraft. “Have you ever called a help desk for your mobile device? What do you do? Probably, the first (thing) you do is Google or Bing it. If you can’t get the answer there, you ask your kids. If you can’t get your answer there, you ask your friends who are like you. For us, that’s the workgroup.”

Soderstrom said with employees using their personal iPhones, Androids and tablets, paying for a 24/7 help desk operation was no longer a necessity.

He suggested that today’s IT help desk workers need to rethink how they approach application development and security for an industry trending toward mobile apps and cloud computing. Soderstrom said it’s been three long years overhauling a change in culture for his own agency as NASA slowly warmed to more of a cloud model and ensuing security adjustments.

Opportunity is out there, he noted, for IT professionals with mobile applications and business intelligence tools that can sift through a veritable data ‘haystack’ of massive proportion to locate the relevant ‘needle’ of information. Today’s statistical analysts will be tomorrow’s most valuable assets, Soderstrom said.

Survey: Nearshoring the New Outsourcing?

Findings from a new survey of IT outsourcing providers indicate there’s less of a rush to establish satellite offices in faraway India as more service providers try to keep operations close to clients.

The outsourcing survey, conducted by Duke University’s Center for International Business Education and Research, shows a decline in savings achieved by sending IT offshore - mainly India - for the past five years, according to a report in CIO.com.

Meanwhile, as Indian providers struggle, the study reveals a groundswell of ‘nearshoring’ in which service providers actually move their operations closer to their clients.

“Access to new markets; integration with growth strategy; and diversifying their ability to coordinate multiple providers, geographies and functions (have all) become very important,” said Arie Lewin, the center’s director and a professor of strategy and international business.

Not surprisingly, when respondents were asked for key factors in attracting new outsourcing clients, workforce skills and training (63 percent), depth of industry knowledge (56 percent) and customer service (46 percent) were a runaway top three.

The sixth annual survey involved 620 service providers from 50 countries.

Weekly Word on the Street: IT Job Stats in Flux

Jim Staats — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:34:12 GMT

This week’s take-away would seem to be when one gathers facts pointing to a positive trend in the IT labor market in the coming year, plan to face the flip side for the future the following week. Hence. . .

The Cloud Could Rain on Tomorrow’s IT Staffing Trends

An oversized, centralized IT department is a relic in this day and age of cloud computing and mobile technology, according to reports out of a recent technical conference.

The IT department of 2015 will have fewer full-time staffers, more consultants and a deeper concentration of resources in software and cloud computing, said Jason Hiner, editor-in-chief at TechRepublic, last week at his firm’s third annual conference held in Louisville, Ky.

Hiner stated in his kickoff speech that the days are gone in which ethernet networks, directory servers and company laptops required manned help to be set up. He believes most of technologies today have the capability to run themselves and don’t require a lot of time from IT pros to boot up and stay running. The future of IT boils down to three types of jobs, according to Hiner: consultants, project managers and developers. Read the complete article here.

IT Employment Drop Due to Services Shift

The U.S. technical industry may have regained jobs during the recent recession, but recent employment news reports shrinkage by about 600,000 industry pros over the past 10 years.

An IT industry that employed 6.5 million people in the U.S. in 2001 has been cut to 5.9 million by the middle of this year, according to the annual Cyberstates report by TechAmerica Foundation. There are bright spots amid the report’s overall doom and gloom. Tech firms - a bright spot among so many dark ones in the challenging economy - added 115,000 jobs so far in 2011 to make up the exact same amount lost the previous year. Software services employment rose from 1.6 million jobs in 2000 to 1.77 by mid-2011.

Industry sectors with the biggest declines seem to be technical manufacturing and communication services.

Matthew Kazmierczak, senior vice president at TechAmerica, said the tech industry in the U.S. is becoming more specialized, with services such as manufacturing and production shipped overseas. One positive repercussion, Kazmierczak noted, was with the shift to higher value work segments, industry wage rates have generally gone up. Read the complete article here.

Gartner: Look to Low-cost Services for IT Success

Manageable, ready-to-use IT services for infrastructure, business processes and applications are going to be the best way CIOs can increase the business value of IT, so says the analyst firm, Gartner.

“While there are multiple ways to reduce the cost of IT delivery, as well as to increase the value of IT, the trend toward ILCS (industrialized, low-cost IT services) will become paramount for end users to trade nonessential customization for better and less expensive services, said Claudio Da Rold, a Gartner vice president.

According to a report in eChannelLine USA, the firm predicts such no-frill services implemented as scalable and configurable will represent more than 30 percent of the IT services market by 2015. Cloud computing services will become a $177 billion market by that year, of which $77 billion is based on advertising business models.

“Not all corporate IT will be delivered through ILCS and many ‘good-enough’ services will remain in-house,” said Frank Ridder, research VP at Gartner. “However, industrialized services represent the destiny of the IT services industry. They are, in face, the next step in outsourcing and managed-service provision, and they span all layers of the IT services value chain.” Read the complete article here.

Budget-strapped States Eye IT Consolidation, Survey Says

Consolidating resources, mobility and cloud computing are among the chief IT issues grabbing the attention of state CIOs, facing continued financial struggles, according to a national survey released this week.

State officials in charge of balancing gargantuan, governmental IT infrastructures with ever-shrinking budgets are looking more toward mobile devices and cloud computing options, based on findings of the 2011 State CIO Survey sponsored by National Association of State Chief Information Officers, TechAmerica and Grant Thornton.

The bulk of respondents identified seven IT services considered for consolidation: telecom, email, data centers, security, backup and disaster recovery, servers and storage. With state budgets expected to shrink through 2013, state executives are being forced to consider centralized data centers and mobile applications, per a report in InformationWeek based on survey findings.

Of course, with new deployments come new costs that not all state CIOs are keen on. Only 16 percent of those surveyed viewed new technology as a priority, compared with the 67 percent who viewed centralized state IT services favorably, according to the survey.

Three-quarters of respondents categorized cloud computing changes in a positive way, giving them a higher profile to create opportunities for change. The survey was compiled online this summer based on responses from CIOs, deputy CIOs or equivalent from nearly all 50 states. Read the complete article here.

More Good News for 2012 IT Job Trends

JIm Staats — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:40:26 GMT

Hiring forecasts are typically done years, not months, in advance. How then does one factor the twists and turns of real life into the mix? By having long-range predictions and latest studies at your fingertips to make informed career decisions. Which is exactly what we’ve tried to do here.

As 2011 stutter-steps to a conclusion, good news can be found on balance sheets of some of the largest and most influential IT companies in the U.S.: income and revenue remains high with signs for continued growth, a good bellweather for the industry as a whole.

Figures from a recent study show steadily improving economic data since late 2010 from IT giants, including IBM, Hewlett-Packard Co., Microsoft Corp. and Oracle, based on corporate earnings and hiring numbers.

The study, The End of the IT Spending Squeeze, Predictions for Corporate Spending on Hardware, Software and the IT Workforce, from Chicago-based IT management and tech consulting firm Maven Wave Partners LLC, predicts continued IT hiring upticks through 2012 based on good early returns this year from those key vendors.

Maven Wave partner Brian Farrar calls it the “$2.40 rule.”

What that means, according to Farrar, is that for every $1 a company spends on employee labor, it spends another $2.40 on hardware and software costs for those new employees. Downturns lead to layoffs which, in turn, lead to IT spending cutbacks with less workers needing such investments. Those cutbacks have been in decline recently, Farrar said.

“That’s what gave us the confidence that the (IT spending) freeze is over,” he said. “It means that people will again start investing in IT, and that is in fact what is happening.

IT spending during the recession focused on cost reduction as companies sought to “stop the bleeding” in its earnings by doing more with less. Projected IT spending is now projected to increase by 16.9 percent, according to the study.

Data was compiled using a sample set of tech vendors and forecasting revenue for each based on their own comments to financial press, customers and research done by Maven Wave, Farrar said.

Are We Competitive?

In another study, released this month, the U.S. continues to set the bar for excellence in IT firms, but new powerhouses are emerging, including Malaysia and India.

The IT Industry Competitiveness Index, presented by Business Software Alliance, put the U.S. at the top of a ranking system of IT environments for 66 nations.

“The U.S. remains No. 1 in this index, in terms of building a really strong IT ecosystem,” said Matthew Reid, BSA’s vice president of communications. “This is a bright spot in the U.S. economy.”

The U.S., in this index, is followed by Finland, Singapore, Sweden, the U.K., Denmark and Canada. Ireland and Australia tied for eighth with the Netherlands and Israel in a tie for 10th. The index measures government and private-sector support for IT through indicators including business environment, infrastructure, human capital, research and development and public support.

A new worldwide shift is in the offing, the index supports, as more countries increase investments in grown IT industries, according to the study. Malaysia moved up 11 spots in the ranking to No. 31, while India moved up 10 spots to No. 34. Singapore made a jump of six spots to its third-place ranking while Poland moved up five spots to No. 30.

Cloud Experts in Demand

Cloud computing....grid computing...software as a service (SaaS). This field by any name continues to expand within the industry along hiring projections for professionals who can latch on to cloud-defined roles, according to a recent report in ComputerUser magazine.

Expect cloud computing implementations among small and medium-sized businesses to continue trending upward, states the report, based on actualized benefits including greater efficiency, simplicity and the all-important money savings. These firms, which traditionally don’t have a lot to spend on IT resources, can accomplish a lot in cloud computing through the use of application service providers and hosted or managed service organizations. Opportunities in this area continue to be on the rise.

More than a Million Jobs to Be Created

What if we step back and look at the 10-year-out occupational employment projects of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics running through 2012?

Early projections given proper credence, employment in professional occupations was forecast at the time to grow the fastest and add more workers (6.5 million) than any other major group. Broken down to its subgroups, the areas of education and training, healthcare and technical and computer and mathematical were predicted to account for three-quarters of that job growth. Computer-related occupations were expected to account for an added 1.1 million jobs, the bureau’s study indicated, based on continued advances in computer design and Internet-related industries.

What wasn’t forecast early on was technical growth in traditionally non-technical arenas, such as healthcare.

Flush with federal funds and under the gun of federal regulatory deadlines, the healthcare industry is leading the market in IT jobs creation, according to the same bureau’s job placement services.

According to a recent report in Computerworld, the agency projects that IT jobs in healthcare are expected to grow by 20 percent per year through 2018. Currently, there are 176,090 IT jobs in healthcare, according to the agency.

“The definition of an IT professional has changed from a pure play to a subject-matter expert,” said David Foote, founder and CEO of labor research firm, Foote Partners, which has studied the trend.

In the past nine months alone, the number of IT jobs within the industry has increased by 123,000, according to Foote research.

Top IT applications forecast for 2012 and beyond?

According to a survey of 110 CIOs and other technology executives reported in CIO Insight, the top-tier applications expected to be given utmost attention in the coming year include business intelligence/analytics, productivity/collaboration, sales, financial and social media. The survey also reports a third of respondents also expect to implement at least four cloud applications in the coming couple of years.

Weekly Word on the Street: IT Labor Market Still Riding High

Jim Staats — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 21:17:48 GMT

For every phrase which begins with the words “the economy may have stalled, but...” seems to end with positive news for the IT industry. It’s a new take on an old adage: “If you don’t have anything nice to say about the economy, at least say something nice about the IT labor market.”

Demand for Managed Security Services Remains High

A frenzied shift to use more mobile devices and cloud computing together with an increased number of security threats worldwide means more work in the coming years for professionals in security services, according to the latest research.

Despite the stalled economy, the managed security market is predicted to reach 13 percent growth this year, market analysis firm Infonetics Research states. The firm forecasts this market could top $16.8 billion by 2015.

Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics Research, said strongest growth in the market will come from the SaaS market segment, which could double in the next four years as more firms put the more flexible delivery model to work for them -- along with equally flexible threat possibilities. Small and medium-sized businesses -- the folks hit hardest by automated attacks on the Web recently -- will drive market growth in the coming years, Wilson said.

“It’s often cheaper for companies to hire a service provider to manage their security than to do it themselves, and with the growing complexity of security solutions, this outsourcing trend will continue,” he said.

Forrester: IT Spending in 2011? Great. In 2012? Good.

Limping economies be damned, IT spending continues a remarkable growth spurt through 2011, but will ease up a bit next year as the dust settles on several touchy global issues, according to analysts at Forrester Research.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based research firm released its second-half IT projections for the year with a forecast for 11.5 percent growth in the tech market, followed by growth of 5.5 percent in 2012. Messy handling of the debt ceiling crisis in the U.S. and murky economic futures for several European countries hasn’t weakened industry growth yet, researchers say. Hence, the reduced projections in the coming year.

“The first two quarters (of 2011) saw strong tech market growth, and the economic weakness that surfaced in July and August won’t be enough to cause any slowing in tech growth until Q4 2011,” wrote Forrester analyst Andrew Bartels in a blog post. “While the risk of renewed recession has certainly increased, we think that the most likely scenario is very low, but still positive, economic growth.”

Red-Hot Market Niche: Mobile App Development

Companies big and small remain on the prowl for apps -- and the folks who develop them -- that allow the firms to connect with their customer base and/or their in-house systems. Continued success of smartphones and the resulting proliferation of business on-the-go is expected to push mobile applications to become a $15 billion market in 2011, according to Dice.com, the technology career site.

Businesses want to tap into these applications as communication tools both externally and internally, but they also expect the same reliability they’ve had with networked applications. This means building a workforce of skilled app developers can be both challenging and expensive. But with consumer demand unlikely to ebb in the near future, it also remains a necessity.

Education, Training and Hands-on Experience Key to Power Grid Security

Janet Pinkerton — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:21:51 GMT

Who will protect the nation’s power grid? Experts involved in the University of Tulsa (TU) Cyber Corps program say the task demands IT workers at all levels with the right combination of education, training, hands-on experience, and just as important, fierce desire to constantly learn and stay steps ahead of would-be attackers.

Attracting talent from the nation’s youngest generation, for whom technology is a way of life, and pro-actively engaging males and females in cybersecurity careers, will help meet that need, they say.

“The security of the nation depends on the power grid,” said Richard "Dickie" George, the technical director of the National Security Agency's (NSA's) Information Assurance Directorate who is NSA liaison to the Cyber Corps program, which produces computer security experts employed by U.S. intelligence agencies. Without power, modern life and modern military defense can screech to a halt. A long-term power outage, even localized, could be catastrophic.

Potential threats to the nation’s electrical distribution system are both physical and cyber. Solar flares or acts of terrorism can damage the grid physically, but government, industry and academia see the increasing need to improve power grid defenses against cyber attacks that could compromise or damage its control systems.

How secure is the nation’s power grid currently? “It’s pretty vulnerable,” said George.

Victor Sheymov, head of InVicta Networks Inc., a Reston, Va., company that develops new technologies for cybersecurity, separately answers: “Not secure at all, and this is an understatement.”

Sheymov, a former KGB officer who defected to the United States in 1980, regularly speaks about cybersecurity industry trends to students in University of Tulsa’s Cyber Corps program, and his company periodically sends new products to Cyber Corps for testing. (“They are the best tester outside of the U.S. government,” Sheymov said.)

Sheymov and University of Tulsa Cyber Corps Director Dr. Sujeet Shenoi agree with the assessment that other nations, and possibly even organized crime or terrorists, are probing the U.S. power grid’s network of private utilities to discover its vulnerabilities and exploit them in the future. “The fact that the malware is already installed and sitting in the network, waiting to be activated, is known among top-levels of national security experts,” Sheymov said.

Potentially accessible via telemetry, satellite connection, SCADA controls and even powerline networking, the nation’s electrical distribution system is “a computer network, and it can be attacked,” said Shenoi. “Viruses, worms—really bad things can happen.”

The grid’s cyber vulnerability will increase as more utilities deploy “smart grid” technologies, he said. “The more complex the system is, the more devices it has, the more catastrophic risk (it has).”

Sheymov, Shenoi and George, who also frequently speaks with Cyber Corps students, look to the U.S. government to act more definitively to defend the power grid and other critical infrastructure from cybersecurity attacks, and they seek increased public awareness of power grid security issues. But just as important, they say, is having enough trained IT personnel to secure the grid.

“Like everything else, the power grid is more and more going to be run by cyber,” said George. “Today what this country needs is a cyber warrior. One who knows how to build protections into our systems to make sure the adversary can’t get into and do things.”

Shenoi wants a long-term focus on science, engineering and mathematics to cultivate the IT workforce needed by critical infrastructure. “We need to focus on community colleges. The largest numbers of people who secure our assets are technical-level people.”

Cybersecurity requires people who are not only knowledgeable about IA topics, but also perform well in real-world situations, he said.

George said, “The advantage is always to the attacker.” He contends a cyberwarrior protecting the power grid, or other critical infrastructure, will need a command of the information assurance and computer security fundamentals, lots hands-on training and the ability to learn how to defend against determined, capable and frequently anonymous adversaries.

Students, from kindergarten to seniors in high school, need to be told that there are “really exciting jobs in computer security and information assurance” where they can tackle very important and very challenging problems.

“The bottom line is that when you come to work in computer security, it’s all about making a difference to the country. People have to understand that this is something that the nation needs,” added George.

And George contends the industry has to do a better job communicating that message to women and girls who could join the current and future IT workforce. “We certainly aren’t going to outnumber the adversary if we aren’t telling half the workforce that cybersecurity is the place to be.”

As part of its mission to grow the IT workforce, CompTIA issued a video to encourage more people to become security heroes. The video is the newest vehicle in a long list of career tools that CompTIA offers online to help more people join the IT workforce and navigate their way from training and certification to initial employment and career advancement.

Cisco Learning Network Now Features CompTIA Certifications

Janet Pinkerton — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 18:15:45 GMT

The Cisco Learning Network, the Cisco certification social learning community, now features a dedicated page about CompTIA certification. The page educates IT professionals about how CompTIA and Cisco certifications help build strong career credentials for networking professionals.

Vendor-neutral CompTIA certifications, specifically CompTIA A+ and Network+, frequently lead to either Cisco’s CCENT or CCNA certifications for a well-rounded resume. In addition, test results have shown that CompTIA Network+ certified professionals who move on to Cisco’s CCNA exam have a higher pass rate than those who are not Network+ certified.

“Networking is increasingly important in today’s IT business operations and in the home as well,” said Terry Erdle, CompTIA executive vice president, skills certification. “Candidates who begin with CompTIA’s vendor-neutral certifications like A+, Network+ and Security+ improve their chances of passing the exams for Cisco’s CCENT or CCNA certifications when they take them. A combination of CompTIA and Cisco credentials on a resume tells potential employers that a candidate has the critical knowledge and skills needed in today’s IT job market.”

To build upon that synergy, CompTIA and Cisco have worked closely together for years to support IT workers’ career development in routing and switching. And now the CompTIA page on The Cisco Learning Network explains the complementary features of A+, Network+, CCENT and CCNA certifications in an easy-to-use fashion.

“The networking field is an area with plentiful opportunities for workers to begin or enhance their careers," said Jeanne Beliveau-Dunn, vice president and general manager, Learning@Cisco. "To thrive in the networking industry, individuals must have foundational networking knowledge such as can be assessed by CompTIA’s A+ and Network+ certifications, as well as practical expertise in a variety of technology areas supported through CCENT, CCNA and other Cisco career certifications.

“As we continue to see significant growth in the job market for network engineers, technicians and architects, Cisco is dedicated to extending our reach into new communities to deliver the skills needed to support the growth of talent worldwide,” Beliveau-Dunn said.

The CompTIA page on the Cisco Learning Network links to resources for taking the CompTIA Network + and A+ and Cisco certification exams. In addition, the page also presents the new CompTIA IT Career Roadmap illustrating how certifications from CompTIA and Cisco advance IT skills and job roles from novice to expert level in routing and switching.

Look for CompTIA and Cisco to work together in the future by offering joint promotions to help IT professionals interested in becoming certified. For more information on CompTIA, sign up for the CompTIA Connect Newsletter. For more information on Cisco, sign up for the Cisco Learning Network.

Still Wait-and-See if 2011 IT Industry Predictions were Right or Wrong

Jim Staats — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 16:20:00 GMT

With more than half of 2011 under our belts, analysts and job seekers are still determining which IT industry forecasts had it right and which were way off.

What is clear is that an abundance of job seekers are still seeking that elusive opportunity. Here are some facts and figures to take into account.

Globally, IT revenue growth this year is projected to hit 4 percent, based on CompTIA’s quarterly IT Industry Business Confidence Index, an online survey of 1,118 IT companies at the end of 2010.

The index, comprised of three metrics: opinion of the U.S. economy, opinions of the IT industry and opinions of one’s company, has been on a steady upward climb since September 2010 due to signs of a strengthening economy. The highest possible confidence rating is 100, and it was predicted that this index would climb more than 5 percentage points to 65 in the first half of 2011.

This optimism based on renewed market stability and optimism predicts a bit more free spending by businesses. More than half the surveyd companies had plans to increase their spending on technology with nearly 40 percent announcing plans to add staff.

Not everything in the study is bright and shiny. IT executives remain concerned about weak consumer spending, downward pressure on margins, government regulation and unknown economic shocks - which we’ve learned now aren’t so unknown anymore.

Key technology trends for the year, according to this survey, revolve around connections, data, mobilization and automation.

CompTIA used figures from three different research firms as global indicators for its survey, and each firm predicted global IT spending to grow by at least 5 percent in 2011.

Continued IT hiring activity is forecast for the third quarter of this year, according to a survey of more than 1,400 chief information officers from companies across the U.S. released last month in the Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report.

In the latest of the quarterly survey, 7 percent of CIOs surveyed indicated plans to expand their IT departments while 3 percent predicted cutbacks for a net increase of 4 percent. Good, but not great, as this is a dip from the net 7 percent IT hiring activity indicated in the previous quarter.

Nearly half of the CIOs surveyed cited a challenge in finding skilled IT professionals, a slight increase of 5 percent from last quarter.

Network administration remained the most in-demand skill set, according to 68 percent of CIOs surveyed. Desktop support remains a close second, garnering 66 percent of the response, followed by Windows administration at 56 percent.

Functional areas in which executives interviewed predicted the greatest challenge in finding skilled IT professionals remained networking (21 percent) -- up from 13 percent last quarter, and security (16 percent). Applications development and help desk/technical support followed, with 14 percent and 12 percent of the response, respectively.

Retail and manufacturing sectors topped the list of those with high hiring expectations, with nine percent of CIOs surveyed expressing plans to expand their IT departments.

By the Numbers: IT Hiring Trends

Jim Staats — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:11:00 GMT

Today’s IT professional should be excused for feeling a strong sense of whiplash.

One industry study might offer evidence of an uptick in IT hiring trends only to be followed by another forecasting lowered expectations for job-hunting technicians. These days, it seems, all it takes to get six different opinions on the IT job market is to read six different reports on the industry.

Who or what do you trust?

Here we are past the midpoint of 2011 and still unsure which hiring outlook has it right. Sometimes, as with most everything in this industry, it helps to look at the numbers.

Two in five IT employers in the U.S., more than 40 percent, planned to increase its full-time staff in 2001, according to a national IT hiring poll of 170 such employers conducted by CareerBuilder at the end of 2010. That figure is a bump up from the 32 percent who said the same thing the previous year. Sixty-six percent of those polled planned to increase pay for existing staff in 2011.

The CareerBuilder survey indicated a third of IT employers with open positions couldn’t find qualified candidates. An interesting disconnect considering the large quantity of IT pros out of work. Nearly half of the respondents in this survey planned to hire contract or freelance workers in 2011, a slight uptick from the year before. Nearly the same percentage of those surveyed planned to hire temporary workers on a full-time basis this year.

U.S. IT unemployment fell to 4.5 percent in the first quarter of 2011, a significant dip from the 5.3 percent average of the previous eight quarters, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as reported in InformationWeek.

Using new IT job categories used for the 2010 U.S. census, this report shows 3.8 million people employed in U.S. IT jobs. The report breaks down these jobs into the following categories:

Software developers: 25%
Computer and information systems managers: 15%
Computer support specialists: 13%
Computer programmers: 12%
Computer systems analysts: 11%
Computer occupations, all other: 6%
Network and computer systems administrators: 6%
Web developers: 4%
Database administrators: 4%
Computer network architects: 2%
Information security analysts: 1%
Computer and information research scientists: 0.5%

U.S. IT employment has yet to reach its 2008 peak when about 4.1 million people held jobs in IT. There is progress, just snail-like in its movement.

The 2011 InformationWeek Analytics Salary Survey reported median raises of 2 percent for IT managers and 1 percent for IT staffers this year. Not much, but something when compared with last year’s median raise: zero.

A quick search on global job site, Indeed, indicates more than 856,000 IT-related job openings at this very moment.

What helps earn you a shot at one of those openings?

According to the Employer Perceptions of IT Training and Certifications report conducted by CompTIA earlier this year, being properly validated by a third party is a big plus.

IT certifications are considered a priority by 86 percent of IT hiring managers during the evaluation process, according to report findings. The report also notes that IT certifications are considered valuable in validating skills and experience by 64 percent of IT hiring managers.

Eight in 10 human resources professionals believe IT certifications will grow in usefulness and importance over the next year, according to report findings.

Top benefits of such certifications for employers, according to the report, are an ability to understand new or complex technologies, higher productivity and more insightful problem solving.

Whew, that’s a lot of numbers. Does this help clear things up for IT job-seekers? Probably not. But it might at least give people a few more facts and figures to build upon. Now take care of that sore neck.

Will Your Continuing Education Activity Ensure Certification Renewal?

Janet Pinkerton — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:46:31 GMT

If you are enrolled in CompTIA’s Continuing Education (CE) program, are you doing the right things to ensure your certification renewal? Read the CompTIA Continuing Education Program FAQs and the CE Activity Chart online to verify that your continuing education activity will renew your CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ or CompTIA Security+ certifications.

Managers and employers should forward these links to all employees enrolled in CompTIA’s continuing education program and require that the employees read and understand the program’s requirements.

Understanding the CE program requirements is crucial because CompTIA randomly audits participants’ CE records. In addition, all higher-level certifications submitted for full CE credits are automatically audited. If an audit finds CE activity that does not meet the program criteria in content or timing, a participant risks non-renewal of their certification.

Since CompTIA’s CE program began on January 1, 2011, CompTIA staff have encountered a handful of common problems that stem from participants not reading the program’s requirements and/or managers not communicating the CE program’s requirements to their employees in the program.

Common problems to avoid include:

Timing of CE Activity Submitted: Make sure the activities you want to count towards Continuing Education Units (CEUs) were completed at the right time to meet the CE program requirements.

If you are certified in CompTIA A+, Network+ or Security+ on or after Jan 1, 2011, you are considered CE certified, and your certification has an expiration date three years from the date it was earned. You have three years from the date earned to complete CE activities to meet renewal requirements of your certification. All CE Activity submitted for the CE program must be completed within that three-year window. Activities completed before the certification date will not be counted towards CEUs.

There is one exception to this three-year window: CE program participants who hold “good for life” (GFL) CompTIA A+, Network+ or Security+ credentials (awarded on or before Dec. 31, 2010) can submit activities completed within a 90-day window before their certification date, in addition to CE activities completed within the three-year renewal cycle.

Content of CE Activity Submitted: Use the CE Activity Chart to verify that your CE activity will count as a CEU to renew your certification. You should follow two guidelines to help ensure that a selected activity will count toward CEUs for renewing your CompTIA certification or that of your employees:

1) The activity must be relevant to the level of certification that you are seeking to renew: it must build upon or exceed the objective levels of the original certification.

AND

2) The information submitted must meet the submission requirements for that activity.

Visit the CompTIA Support page for additional resources on the Continuing Education Program. If you don’t find an answer to your CE Program question through this page, you can submit a help desk ticket and a CompTIA support rep will contact you.

Two Foundations Team Up to Provide Scholarships for Talented Minority Students

Eric Larson — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:28:00 GMT

By the time she had graduated from Stanford University, Stephanie Brown had already completed internships with Fortune 500 companies Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Deloitte. She was only 21.

No wonder, then, that Microsoft’s human resources department tracked her down, offering her a position she had not even applied for: helping the company’s enterprise customers in the Southeast streamline their IT infrastructure.

Five years into her time at Microsoft, Brown is headed back to school, this time to MIT to complete an MBA degree focused on innovation and technology. She already has one start-up business to her name, a trip-planning site called Xtinerary.com. But she hopes to find new knowledge and possibly a business partner to help take her to the next stage of her working career.

Brown attributes much of her success to an organization that has been quietly helping African-American students succeed going on four decades. Today with chapters in more than 40 cities, the Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) has been helping middle school and high school students develop interest and acumen in technology fields such as IT in which minorities (and women, for that matter) tend to be under-represented.

Recognizing the importance of BDPA to talented students such as Brown, the Creating IT Futures Foundation — the charitable arm of CompTIA, the IT industry association — recently made a $10,000 gift to the BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF). The dollars were steered toward Bemley Scholarships given to some of this year’s winners of the Annual High School Computer Competition, held on Aug. 6, at the annual BDPA conference in Chicago.

“I am excited about our partnership with Creating IT Futures Foundation on this scholarship,” says BETF executive director Wayne Hicks. “We hope to provide exposure and experience for our students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) related careers … and getting a degree emphasizing information technology is one way to get it done.”

“Creating IT Futures is honored to have the opportunity to work with such an active and dedicated foundation having similar goals,” says Charles Eaton, executive director of the Creating IT Futures Foundation. “By collaborating and combining efforts, we’ll help even more young people find paths to IT careers and to sustainable futures.” Eaton expects that the two organizations will be able collaborate in other ways, including talented BDPA students becoming candidates for Creating IT Futures programs.

Brown, who grew up in Maryland, learned about BDPA in the ninth grade from one of her aunts who worked at the University of Maryland in College Park. A technology class sponsored by the BDPA Washington, D.C., Chapter met on Saturdays. Brown’s parents would drive her 30 minutes to the nearest D.C. Metro stop, and Brown would ride for another 45 minutes to get to the class where 10 other students were gathered to learn web programming languages such as HTML and Java.

Much of the teaching was geared toward the annual competition, which in recent years has required team members to collaborate to build working, database-driven websites to solve specific business problems. For Brown, the classes got her thinking in terms of team-building and project management — skills she has since referenced often in her IT-related jobs.

Also part of the students’ instruction was training in professional skills. Recalls Brown: “We had different programs and speakers to teach us general business etiquette like dress code. How to act at a business lunch.” Though hardly technical, such “soft skills” can make the difference between landing a corporate job or not.

Her first national BDPA conference made a huge impression on Brown, who was 14 and languishing a bit in the ninth grade. “Here were all these black IT professionals. I didn’t get that kind of exposure in my home town,” she says. “BDPA really psyched me to go to college, because here I had all these awesome role models. Everyone was very nice, open, and supportive. It was a turning point in my life.” Inspired, Brown began to research the admission requirements of top colleges that offered technology degrees. “I was already taking college-bound classes, but I learned I really needed to start taking AP (Advanced Placement) courses, like calculus, so I took all I could.”

Brown excelled in those college-level classes and was offered scholarships to attend MIT, Duke, Stanford, Columbia, Maryland, and Spellman. She chose Stanford, she said, in part to experience a new part of the country.

At Stanford she saw how the programming students could sometimes disappear for days into the computer lab without emerging to the light of day. Wanting to combine her people skills with her love of technology, Brown majored instead in Management Science and Engineering, a relatively new degree. “The degree was a response to the business world where there weren’t enough tech people with the soft skills and business skills.” The degree also allowed her a course of study in Japan and a semester at Howard University.

She was prepared to stay on for a fifth year and earn her master’s when she received a call on her cellphone from an HR manager at Microsoft. Her resume, which she had filed as a member of the National Society for Black Engineers, had found its way to the Redmond, Wash., company. Would she consider interviewing for a position?

She let the company fly her to Dallas for an interview, then accepted its offer for her to work in Charlotte, N.C., as a technical account manager for 150 enterprise clients. Now was a chance for her to get back to the Eastern Seaboard where most of her family still lived. Furthermore, it was a chance to put all the knowledge she’d learned at college and in her internships to good wage-earning use. Brown would quickly earn two promotions, eventually serving as the main liaison between Microsoft and 20 high-level clients.

Looking way back, Brown sees that she bucked tremendous odds. Her mother worked two jobs when Brown was a child; the family was on welfare for part of Brown’s childhood. However, her mother had also earned a degree at Tuskegee University and drilled her daughter with math flash cards even before kindergarten. Other relatives in her life also encouraged her to do well in school.

Finally, the members of BDPA showed her what it looked like to succeed in a technology field—giving her a goal to aim for and the means to achieve that goal. After business school, she hopes to bring her technology and business skills to an area she has a strong passion for: the travel and tourism industry.

One expects she’ll go very far.

About Creating IT Futures Foundation – Established in 1998 by CompTIA, the IT Industry Association, the Creating IT Futures Foundation helps at-risk individuals and populations under-represented in IT prepare for, secure, and be successful in IT careers. A 501(c)(3) organization, among its clients are military personnel re-entering civilian life and workers displaced from other industries. The Foundation also works to bring greater diversity to the IT workforce, with a particular focus on women, African Americans and Hispanics.

About BDPA Education and Technology Foundation – Founded in 1992, BETF is a 501(c)(3) foundation with a mission to locate the funding necessary to support educational and technology programs for the Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) and others across the country. BETF works to close the gap of computer and technology literacy in America’s classrooms. The organization helps students from historically disadvantaged communities to learn advanced computer science and community responsibility from any of the BDPA chapters located around the nation.

Helping Vets Obtain IT Jobs the Goal for CompTIA Troops to Tech Careers

Janet Pinkerton — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:50:32 GMT

CompTIA has long believed it, and a recent gathering of U.S. veterans in Chicago confirmed it: Veterans and returning service members need a program that helps them qualify for IT jobs. With the right IT job skills and aptitude, a veteran could take advantage of career opportunities in the U.S., where more than 450,000 IT positions remain unfilled due to a lack of qualified candidates.

To address both veterans’ and U.S. industry needs, CompTIA on Tuesday, August 23rd, unveiled Troops to Tech Careers, a new program aimed at helping veterans transition from the armed forces to the civilian IT workforce. The announcement was made at the Illinois Warrior Summit and Fourth Annual Welcome Home Celebration, a Chicago event that assists thousands of veterans and service members with obtaining information about benefits, employment, education, housing and legal services.

During the Illinois Warrior Summit, veterans of all ages—from Vietnam era to today—told CompTIA workforce development staff at the show that jobs are their main concern, and that chronic unemployment, a common problem. Such challenges are expected to grow, as more than one million service members return from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars between 2011 and 2016 to seek retraining and employment. This is in addition to an estimated one million veterans currently unemployed.

“When we tell them (veterans) the number of IT jobs that are open out there, their eyes just light up,” said Gretchen Koch, CompTIA’s senior director of workforce development programs, who attended the summit.

CompTIA is working with New Horizons Computer Learning Centers and the U.S. Department of Labor’s One-Stop Career Centers to launch Troops to Tech Careers pilot programs in 23 cities across the country, including Austin, Texas; Chicago; Detroit; Jacksonville, Fla.; Nashville, Tenn.; and in Southern California.

Troops to Tech Careers will work through the public workforce system to help returning veterans with the aptitude and interest in a technical IT career to receive the training, credentialing and job placement assistance needed to join the IT workforce. Veterans will be directed to training options appropriate for their interests and skill sets, including preparation for CompTIA IT skills certifications. Veterans can use federal resources to support their re-entry into the civilian IT workforce. Beginning October 1, 2011, for example, Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits can be used for non-college degree programs, on-the-job and apprenticeship training, and correspondence training.

CompTIA developed Troops to Tech Careers after its workforce development staff and New Horizons representatives toured multiple One-Stop Career Centers in Chicago in late June. Local Veterans Employment Representatives at each center supported the association’s desire to create a dedicated IT jobs program for veterans. Armed with that informal but credible input, CompTIA began putting the components together for the program.

After the pilot, CompTIA plans to expand Troops to Tech Careers with other training partners, community colleges, more One-Stop Career Centers, and, ultimately, a network of employers interested in hiring veterans for IT jobs. For more information about Troops to Tech Careers, contact troopstotechcareers@comptia.org.

VA Rolls Out Competency-Driven IT Workforce Development Models

Janet Pinkerton — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:32:06 GMT

The right information technology (IT) training and certification for the right person at the right time—that’s the mission of the competency-driven IT workforce development model in the Office of Information & Technology (OIT) at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

Originally deployed to information security officers across VA facilities, OIT’s competency model project is being expanded to encompass all IT staff and is rolling out, by job classification, to the approximately 8,000 IT employees working in VA’s 1,400 facilities scattered through out the U.S., Puerto Rico and Guam. These IT workers are managing a VA IT enterprise that, by recent accounts, consists of a nation-wide single, consolidated network, including 314,000 desktop computers, 30,000 laptops, 18,000 blackberries and mobile devices, 200,000+ medical devices, and 448,000 email accounts.

“Our CIO, Roger Baker has directed us to roll out competency modeling across everyone in OIT,” said Terri Cinnamon, Director of OIT’s Information Technology Workforce Development at VA. “We are targeting the GS-2210 series (IT Management Specialty job roles) and later looking at more supportive roles in OIT.”

The competency models for each VA IT job role are based on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s 2210 IT Roadmap, and have been leveraged for VA OIT with input from subject matter experts and VA employees. They also implement the certification program outlined by the Department of Defense’s 8570 Directive, employing CompTIA A+, Network+ and Security+ certifications, among others.

The competency models are integrated into VA’s online Talent Management System (TMS), built by Platteau Systems (a company recently purchased by SuccessFactors). Using the TMS interface, an employee can sign onto his or her account, perform a self-assessment of his or her skills, and identify any skill gaps. The employee then meets with a supervisor to review the self-assessment and develop an individual electronic development plan (eIDP) to acquire specific training or certification to build skill levels.

“It’s the supervisor’s job to build the electronic IDPs, but the employee needs to be driving it (the eIDP) based upon where they want to go in their career,” said Cinnamon.

Assessments with the competency model are strictly focused on employee career and skill development. “It cannot be a part of a performance assessment,” said Cinnamon.

Strategic Skill-building

The TMS connects employees to needed training and certifications and tracks not only the employee’s progress in acquiring training and certifications, but also the supervisors’ work with employees to develop the eIDPs.

Within the GS-2210 series, approximately 1200 information security officers (ISOs), policy and planning professionals (CIOs), software developers and IT project manager are already using the VA’s competency model. Next to join are system administrators, data managers and network administrators. Next year, VA will bring on IT customer service/help desk employees.

“The goal is that everyone in OIT has a competency model and can develop electronic IDPs,” Cinnamon said.

The VA has long used CompTIA certifications as a part of its IT workforce development, with VA employees earning hundreds of CompTIA certifications since CompTIA A+ was introduced in 1993. Now with the competency models, the VA is using the training and testing for CompTIA certifications more strategically. Within the first six months of 2011, 119 VA employees earned 143 CompTIA certifications as a part of their career development.

The use of certifications within the competency models “allows us to have some metrics and validation that our people who specialize in IT roles have that skill,” said Cinnamon, adding that VA certification exam pass rate percentages are in the “high 80s.” VA does a lot of pre-requisite training, she added. “We want to make sure we’re putting people to the right certifications, and not sending people to certification programs if they are not ready.”

System-wide Accountability

TMS reporting features enable VA’s entire chain of IT command to track IT workforce development and comply with FISMA (Federal Information Security Management Act) reporting requirements.

The competency model “is an enabler,” said Cinnamon. “It gives you a tool and a validated process to be able to more easily identify what skills an employee, or a group of employees have, what skills you need to target for additional training and to be able to build individual an eIDPs.”

It’s also enabled VA to more cost-effectively identify and obtain the skills, training and certifications its IT workforce needs, she said. “It’s having a map, a process, and metrics to improve the skills of your IT staff.”

Campaigning Congress for Perkins' Support of Career and Tech Ed

Janet Pinkerton — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:45:00 GMT

Congress' August Recess is a critical time for CompTIA members to tell their representatives about the importance of career and technical education and urge Congress to restore funding to the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, which recently saw significant cuts.

The Perkins Act is a principal vehicle for funding career and technical education (CTE) in this country, serving both high school and community college students preparing for college and careers.

In FY 2011, Perkins was cut by more than $140 million (11%) to $1.1 billion. The Perkins Act has not seen a significant increase since FY 2002 and with the recent cuts in FY 2011, the program is now $184 million below FY 2002 levels. A FY 2012 budget proposal by President Obama threatened even deeper cuts.

CompTIA and other trade groups believe that federal funding cuts to Perkins will reduce the number of educated, skilled workers entering the workforce at a time when the nation needs to create jobs and rebuild its economy.

"In the IT industry, 400,000 jobs are open on any given day, waiting to be filled with qualified personnel," says Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO of CompTIA. "Further cuts to Perkins will damage a key conduit in our nation's IT workforce pipeline."

"Now that members of Congress are back in their home districts, contact your representatives and urge them to restore Perkins Act funding to at least its FY 2010 levels," added Thibodeaux. "We all need to show Congress the value that career and technical education represents to students and to our industry. Once school starts again in the fall, bring your legislators to tour a local CTE program to see first-hand what's at stake with Perkins."

The FY 2011 Perkins cut affected CTE programs 2011-2012 school year, its impact varying state by state. In early August, funding shortages caused some secondary and post-secondary CTE programs to trim professional development, defer equipment purchases and not fill positions opened through attrition.

CompTIA is supporting its CTE trade association partners that are engaged in a full-court press - from Washington, D.C., lobbying to grass-roots campaigns - to build business and congressional support for the Perkins Act and the CTE programs it helps fund.

"CompTIA calls on federal legislators to restore Perkins to fiscal 2010 levels as national investment in a career-ready workforce," says Thibodeaux.

The Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE), the American Association of Community Colleges, the American Association of School Administrators, the Council of Chief State School Officers the and National Association of State Directors of Career and Technical Education (NASDCTEc) are circulating a business sign-on letter in support of Perkins. The HR Policy Association, representing more than 325 of the largest businesses operating in the U.S. and globally, also recently urged Congress to restore Perkins funding. Perkins supporters expect a difficult fight, given the deficit/debt limit debate.

"Anything funded by federal dollars is going to be scrutinized," says Kimberly Green, NASDCTEc executive director. "The CTE community has to do a more thorough job of educating the members of Congress about the value and success of CTE programs. We need to shift the mindset that these crucial federal funds are an investment, bringing a positive return to the economy, not just an expenditure."

Stephen DeWitt, ACTE senior director of public policy, adds, "Local constituents and local businesses will make the biggest impression on members of Congress. That's where the rubber meets the road."

For tips on how to contact Congress to support funding of the Perkins Act, check out this Action Alert issued by TechVoice.org, the advocacy partnership of CompTIA, the Technology Councils of North America (TECNA), and participating regional technology associations. Other CTE/Perkins advocacy tools (including a business sign-on letter, talking points data and background information)are available from NASDCTEc and from ACTE.

ACTE's Spokesperson Jamie Baxter urges CompTIA members to use all possible vehicles for contacting members of Congress and their staff: from phone calls and letters, to Facebook posts and Tweet tags. "Doing everything and anything to get the message out is really crucial right now."

Young British Technical Apprentice Paying Dividends

Jim Staats — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:00:00 GMT

A young Ashley Knight envisioned his future in technology.

The still-young man is well on his way to achieving that dream while putting his CompTIA certifications to work in trailblazing fashion for others to follow.

Knight, 19, of Reigate, a market town in Surrey, England, was plucked from his studies to become the first technology apprentice for an investment management firm after disaplying a preternatural gift for all things IT-related. Among the requirments of his training program was completion of CompTIA A+ and Network+ exams, the results of which he credits for securing a full-time position and his firm expanding its burgeoning IT apprentice program.

“My CompTIA qualifications have given my employers a member of staff who has the knowledge and confidence to be able to solve the majority of problems that I am faced with,” said Knight. “They are very pleased that they have a member of staff who is as capable as myself after only being in the IT industry for around 10 months.”

Knight may downplay his professional IT pedigree, but if one counts early technical hobbies, he’s been “on-the-clock” for most of his life.

Given his first PC at an early age by a computer-literate father who helped show him how to build computers, Knight spent most of his free time using technology and studying up on the latest trends. By the age of 10, he was building Web pages using JavaScript, later earning a role as an IT technician at his high school.

“Throughout my life I’ve always been a resource to my friends and family who have been experiencing issues with their devices, and I really enjoyed being able to solve their problems while building my experience,” he said. “When the opportunity to pursue my hobby as a career came up, there was no chance I could turn it down.”

Knight was in the midst of his computing A Level preparations after having earned his GCSE in IT - two years early - when his tutor, impressed with the effort he put toward his studies, threw his young charge’s name into consideration for the new apprenticeship.

Within the training program run by UK-based QA Ltd., in partnership with Microsoft, Knight quickly earned both his A+ and Network+ accreditations after first becoming aware of the global industry certifications in September 2010.

He’s now one of the program’s biggest cheerleaders.

“I now have the knowledge to be able to troubleshoot the majority of errors that I come across in my day-to-day role,” said Knight, who estimated more than 80 percent of what he learned through his CompTIA A+ and Network+ certifications has been useful in his job. “On top of this, from having the CompTIA qualifications, I now have the confidence to be able to visit users on my own and solve an incident right from discovery through to completion.”

CompTIA’s vendor-neutral offerings had multiple benefits over other IT certifications available, according to Knight. The main benefit, he said, was a breadth of subject matter covering “everything from the basics upwards so you don’t fall short when fixing some of the more simple problems.”

Knight, ever the vigilant student who has done his fair share or research since first coming in contact with CompTIA a little over a year ago, said the global association offerings were “the most widely recognized in the industry, and an entry requirement for a lot of technology roles on the market that I have seen.”

He foresees industry certifications taking on a more significant role in such uncertain economic times.

“At a time when employers want proof that someone is competent in a specific field, they can be sure that certification ensures that, whereas experience does not,” said Knight, who expected such qualifications to be increasingly relied upon as “employers are looking to train young talent instead of paying a premium for experience.”

With his sights now set on CompTIA offerings including CompTIA Security+, Server+ and Linux+ “in the not-so-distant future,” Knight said what he learned through certification “massively outdoes the knowledge I received taking computing examinations in college.

“By taking the CompTIA A+ and Network+ qualifications, I have learned how to fix most problems in a much shorter (timeframe) than if I had learned it through work experience or on-the-job training.

IT Jobs Thriving Despite Lackluster Economy

Elizabeth Hyman — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 17:00:00 GMT

A look at the week of August 15 in public advocacy for the IT channel: This week, the National Institute of Standards and Technology released a plan to improve U.S. cybersecurity by focusing on education. A new Treasury report finds fewer small businesses than previously thought. Unemployment in the IT sector remains much lower than the national average and employment is expected to grow rapidly.

U.S. Agency Releases Cyber-Education Plan — The U.S. government will work to develop an “unrivaled” cybersecurity workforce and broaden the nation’s pool of skilled cyberworkers under a draft cybersecurity education plan released by a U.S. agency, says PC World. The goal of the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) plan, released by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), is to improve U.S. cybersecurity by focusing on education, the agency said.

Treasury Report Finds Fewer Small Businesses — Few groups are as fiercely defended by Republicans and Democrats alike as small-business owners—especially when it comes to changes in the tax code. But a new analysis from the Treasury Department suggests that the pool of actual small-business owners may be smaller and generate a slimmer amount of the country’s business income than officials previously thought, reports The Wall Street Journal.

IT Jobs Thriving Despite Lackluster Economy — Even in a tough labor market, IT is where the jobs are. The unemployment rate for technology jobs was 3.3% in June, compared with a 9.2% unemployment rate overall that month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the most recent edition of its Occupational Outlook Handbook, the BLS said it expects IT employment to grow “much faster than the average” of all occupations through 2018, reports CNBC.com.

Sharp Relies on CompTIA Programs to Validate Expertise

Jim Staats — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:34:27 GMT

Digital document management is a rapidly changing and highly competitive industry. At Sharp Electronics in the U.S. and Canada, field services directors have discovered the value of CompTIA certification for their teams.

Weathering transitions with certifications

Scott Chatten is adept at transition. As senior director of field services for Sharp Electronics Corp., he supports a network of authorized dealers across the U.S. with a product line that has evolved from analog copiers to digitized document management devices over the past decade. The latest offerings consolidate printing, scanning, and open integration with outside applications, creating new challenges for service providers. “Troubleshooting these is very different than supporting a stand-alone copier,” said Chatten.

He credited his team’s smooth transitions in large part to Sharp’s long-standing association with CompTIA for its training and certification programs. “We quickly realized that several CompTIA certifications could help our employees learn and make their own transition, starting with the CompTIA A+ program,” noted Chatten. “This accreditation shows us they are receiving the proper training and are being independently qualified.”

Chatten saw certification as a checks-and-balances process “to make sure everyone understood the information and could pass the test.” The CompTIA A+ vendor-neutral certification has become the industry standard for computer support technicians, covering installation, preventative maintenance, networking, and troubleshooting. More than 700,000 people worldwide have attained the accreditation since the program began in 1993.

Chatten has a small, relatively static group of 27 regional support specialists for onsite support of 450 independent dealers. A Sharp dealer himself before joining the company in 1992, Chatten knew the CompTIA programs from the inside out. “Before I asked the team to take the exams, I did them myself.”

Support personnel step up their game

An immediate and noticeable consequence following Sharp’s participation in the CompTIA A+ and CompTIA Network+ programs was a change in the confidence, behavior, and vocabulary of Chatten’s team. “It was apparent the training enabled them to reach beyond their previous capabilities and to go out and apply it. The program makes technicians comfortable with the technology, and they use new terms with confidence that they were previously uncomfortable with.”

The new shift in confidence created a shift in manpower, according to Chatten. No longer did Sharp need engineers with a high level of Novell network or Microsoft training and certification, as his staff was now equipped to take care of a larger array of complex issues. For example, consider an issue where network connectivity prevented a printer from working properly. “In the past, we’d send a systems integration engineer out to handle it, but after CompTIA certification, our regional support specialist could solve that type of problem.”

Today, Chatten’s team members hold the title of documents systems support specialists, another improvement he attributes to CompTIA. Previously, regional specialists performed engine support while connectivity and networking issues were handled by a separate group of systems integration engineers. “The certification program allowed us to create a new hybrid position, a person who could perform 100 percent of the job,” Chatten said.

Though his group has a low amount of turnover, Chatten noted that when scouting new technicians he would look for someone who has the certification, or require them to get accreditation within a specified timeframes. For new technicians, the CompTIA curriculum gives them the knowledge foundation required to be most effective in their new role in the shortest amount of time.

Chatten sees the impact of certification, even helping team members who had been in the profession for 15 to 20 years deal with technology and service changes. “Some employees who were close to retirement were really nervous and uncomfortable with the fact they had to learn this material,” Chatten said. “But once they passed the certification, it seemed like they had their Superman capes on. After discovering they were capable of learning this material, they were the first ones in line to take the test.”

The certification program also provided each technician with a common industry language, allowing them to communicate better with other professionals. Now, when they talk about TCP/IP, they share a common vocabulary and universal understanding of the technology. That not only reduces communication errors, but also allows each technician to uncover problems and opportunities much faster.

Chatten also values the different methodologies available for CompTIA training, whether it’s delivered in a classroom, through books, or online. While he didn’t require it, the majority of his group chose the self-study route.

CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+ and CompTIA PDI+ have become the required standards on Chatten’s team, a fact he noted with great pride. “We have 100 percent for all four certifications, with some members also continuing on to receive their CompTIA CDIA+ certification.”

The transition merry-go-rounds at large technology industry corporations (including Sharp) aren’t expected to slow down anytime soon. “We are launching products two or three times a year and we have technicians in training classes constantly. Certification provides us a good common platform so we each have the same base knowledge.” Accreditation can also increase customer confidence if properly conveyed. Businesses understand how these programs help improve technical proficiencies, so promoting a team’s certification achievements is considered a valuable best practice.

Service manager helps create new certification

Bill Woodard, Chatten’s counterpart at Sharp Electronics of Canada, has an even closer connection to CompTIA training and certification. As service manager for Sharp Direct, he oversees all of the field operations within the firm’s direct sales organization in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa. However, it was his own CompTIA A+ certification experience that led to him becoming a founding contributor to a new benchmark certification for technicians.

Involved in the office equipment industry since 1978, Woodard ran into several inconsistencies as he went through the accreditation process that was mandated by Sharp for their service personnel. So five years ago, he decided to help fix those issues and found himself involved in the redevelopment of the CompTIA A+ series.

When discussion began heating up in Canada on whether copier and printer technicians would benefit from having a certification like CompTIA A+ for their industry, Woodard was drafted into the formation of what would become the CompTIA PDI+ course. “My involvement began with the initial steps,” he said. “As a member of the working group, I helped decide which questions were beneficial and which should be dropped.” At the same time, his position at Sharp transitioned from a technical support manager to a field technician manager—the proper audience for CompTIA PDI+, according to Woodard.

Technicians find daily value in certification

CompTIA PDI+ holders demonstrate entry-level competency in the basic maintenance of printers, scanners, copiers, and fax machines. The certification also covers “soft skills” such as customer service, professionalism, and safety.

Nearly 70 percent of Sharp’s CompTIA PDI+ certified technicians indicate the course material is relevant or very relevant in the workplace, according to a survey the company performed in 2011. More than half the respondents said the information and expertise received through the accreditation process were frequently employed in their daily routines. Even a 23-year industry veteran who earned a perfect score on the CompTIA PDI+ exam acknowledged that the information was “great reinforcement” for a professional of his caliber.

Woodard hinted that corporate implementation of programs such as CompTIA PDI+ certification are typically motivated by one director or manager, as he did at Sharp. Prior to that accreditation, there was no program that addressed the specific role of a print technician. For Woodard, the benefits have been numerous, including using certifications to validate the best candidates during the hiring process. “It’s the difference between what a prospective employee says he knows and what he really does know,” Woodard noted.

For a customer, certification demonstrates not only the technician’s skill, but also the ability to put that body of knowledge to practical use. For candidates, certification can provide the confidence required to initiate and complete complex projects, as well as give them the spark needed to lead others in the organization.

Woodard challenges industry veterans who balk at taking the exam to consider whether they have the same knowledge level as someone with one year in the industry. That question typically puts a stop to any resistance, with certifications having raised the bar significantly.

CompTIA PDI+ certification also serves as an entry point for those contemplating a career in the information technology industry. “Ninety-nine percent of people just kind of fell into IT and didn’t know these roles existed,” Woodard said, while noting that most transitioned from other mechanical businesses, including auto or electrical repair. Someone with a basic interest in technology can go through the coursework, take the exam, and if they’re successful, start a lucrative and productive career.

Giving to Fund Innovation’s Future

Eric Larsen — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:00:00 GMT

At least one summer camp for kids has much more to do with megabytes than mosquito bites.

TECHie Camp gives students third-grade through eighth-grade hands-on experience with everything from robotics to app development to web programming. The camp is operated in five states by TECH CORPS, an organization that partners with K-12 schools around the country to reach young people with life-changing technological learning experiences.

TECH CORPS’ dedication to equipping the next generation of technology workers earned the attention of CompTIA’s Managed Print Services (MPS) Community, which recently provided TECH CORPS with a $5,000 gift on behalf of CompTIA.

All of the CompTIA communities were invited in 2011 to give $5,000 to the charities of their choice.

“With the support of organizations like CompTIA, TECH CORPS can continue its work to ensure more K-12 students have access to the technology programs, resources and skills necessary to enrich their education today and to prepare them to successfully compete in the technology-driven marketplace tomorrow,” said Lisa M. Chambers, national director of TECH CORPS.

Based in Columbus, Ohio, TECH CORPS was founded in 1995 by Gary Beach, former publisher of CIO Magazine. Beach envisioned an organization that would challenge American volunteers to help K-12 schools build a technology infrastructure, much in the way that the U.S. Peace Corps aids developing countries.

Building from a state pilot in Massachusetts, TECH CORPS developed and deployed technology programs and tech-savvy volunteers to assist K-12 schools and youth-serving organizations across the country. Since 1995, more than 10,000 TECH CORPS volunteers have shared their time and talents assisting schools and nonprofit organizations in their communities.

Corey Simpson, director of member relations for CompTIA, said the MPS Community was drawn to the breadth of programs TECH CORPS provides.

“TECH CORPS has worked to make technology available to K-12 students and offers summer camps to provide positive activities and reinforcement,” Simpson said. “Our community members get the opportunity to give back to those that support them and these charities get the funds they need to continue driving their mission. What a great story to be a part of and share!”

Learn more about TECH CORPS at www.techcorps.org. Learn about CompTIA Member Communities at http://www.comptia.org/membership/communities.aspx.

Eric Larson (elarson@comptia.org) is the director of external relations for the Creating IT Futures Foundation. Established in 1998 by CompTIA, the Foundation helps at-risk individuals and populations under-represented in IT prepare for, secure, and be successful in IT careers.

The Modern-Day Classroom

Rachel Fabro — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 18:13:36 GMT

Going to school for your children today is much different than it was when you were a kid. You used to be able to get away with your stories of walking to school in three feet of snow, up-hill both ways, but today’s kids can Google your story and find out that you’re just exaggerating.

Jean Andrews, CompTIA A+ textbook author with Cengage Learning, gathered educators from across the country at CompTIA Breakaway to discuss the changes to the modern-day classroom.

The approach children are taking when they are learning and doing their work has completely changed in the last generation. Kids are in gaming and Google mode. In 2008, the amount of money spent on movies was exceeded by the amount of money spent on gaming—people want interactive entertainment, and the days as spectators are gone. People want to get involved.

So how has this changed the traditional classroom?

iPads, tablets and PCs have replaced chalkboards, textbooks and notebooks to fill classrooms and are used as everyday educational tools for kids. As students, they don’t learn in a linear path anymore; they learn in a non-sequential path, taking pieces of information from a variety of resources. Once instructors understand this, they can adjust their curriculum and training practices to help their students succeed.

As one attendee put it, “No one wants a talking head in a class anymore these days.”

Employer expectations and industry standards also are affecting the classroom. Employers are now saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s if you know how to find out what you don’t know.”

Employers are looking for people who can come into the workplace with an innovative mind and explorer’s curiosity. The individuals who will go out to find the information they need to answer their own problems will be the people who succeed in their jobs and develop their careers. Employers are demanding not only the experience, but skills that students will pick up in an interactive setting:

The ability to teach and learn from others
Technical skills
People skills
Decision-making/problem-solving thought process

As instructors, it’s important to put students in this type of environment in the classroom as opposed to feeding information to them. In the process of teaching, instructors need to tackle professional and life skills in the classroom and treat their students as entrepreneurs. If these two areas are successfully integrated into curriculum, they will support the technical skill portion, and develop a well-rounded, intelligent student.

Industry standards also are dictating the classroom setting. Teachers can tell their students that there used to be a time when someone could get a job in the industry without a certification, but those days are gone now. As the IT industry grows and matures, the emphasis on certification and validating skills is becoming more important. Just as the R.N. and M.D. are imperative to landing a job as a nurse or a doctor, there will be a certification that is imperative to getting a job supporting a company’s infrastructure.

A Glimpse into the The Science Center

Rachel Fabro — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 19:00:00 GMT

Cybersecurity is a growing concern for virtually every industry, thus creating a growing demand for professionals with security skills. Cyber foundations is the second fastest growing job field in the U.S. between now and 2018, second only to healthcare. But where are these people going to come from?

A hot-button topic at CompTIA Breakaway, Joseph Cuenco, executive director at The Science Center of Pinellas County in Florida, gave CAPP Academic education leaders a glimpse into the innovative curriculum and tactics the instructors use at the Pinellas County facility.

The Science Center of Pinellas County is a K-12 informational education center serving Pinellas County for over 50 years and an experiential education facility. A seven-acre facility with 28,000 square feet, the center is filled with experiential facilities, labs, cyber labs and state-of-the-art equipment. Its mission is to foster leadership in innovative science, technology, engineering and math education with programs that promote critical thinking and the development of life and career skills.

The Science Center has a 15-hour summer camp program where students will learn to secure their home wireless networks. Students also go through training for their CompTIA A+, Network+ and Security+ exams.

The Science Center’s goals are simple, to get their students certified and to provide them with the skills to move into the field, either through entry-level positions or post-secondary education. The Science Center uses a blended learning curriculum to help their students achieve their goals:

Elearning content with video, simulation and gaming
Hands on application for desktops, servers and software
Applying STEM content
Industry expert facilitated mentoring
Practical and relevant application of concepts

As the industry advances and employers’ needs changes, the Science Center constantly evaluates its program to stay relevant and to provide the best education to its students. The Science Center measures the program’s adaptive model, program efficacy and interviews students and instructors. And they continue to add content to its curriculum, adding incident management and forensics, more e-content and a virtual classroom platform.

Schools Learn about IPv6 to Prep IT Students

William Linard — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:51:53 GMT

IPv4 provides for approximately 4.3 billion addresses and the depletion of the IPv4 addresses have been a concern since the late 1980s, when the Internet started to really grow. IPv4 addresses are now exhausted and there are no unallocated Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) addresses still available.

Karl Dietrich of Lansing Community College and Bill Saichek of Orange Coast College explained to CAPP Academic members today at Breakaway, that “with no further IP addresses available, the solution is IPv6. IPv6 has 128-bit addresses, giving 3402823669209384624633744607431768211456 unique addresses. With IPv6 there is no need to use the address fixes bolted onto IPv4, and along with solving the address problem, IPv6 also includes significant enhancements such as security, quality of service, mobility and improved performance.”

Although the depletion already was approaching its final stages in 2008, Karl explained that “most providers of Internet services and software vendors were just beginning IPv6 deployment, suggesting there may be resistance to adoption of IPv6 in the marketplace.”

Want to learn more about IPv6? Check out CompTIA’s white paper on the subject released earlier this summer.