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By Janet Pinkerton
| September 26, 2011
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, ...
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By Janet Pinkerton
| September 20, 2011
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 ...
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By Jim Staats
| September 18, 2011
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 201 ...
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By Jim Staats
| September 16, 2011
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 righ ...
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By Janet Pinkerton
| September 14, 2011
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 t ...
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By Eric Larson
| August 31, 2011
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, ...
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By Janet Pinkerton
| August 25, 2011
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 Ca ...
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By Janet Pinkerton
| August 22, 2011
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 ...
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By Janet Pinkerton
| August 19, 2011
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 w ...
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By Jim Staats
| August 19, 2011
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 displaying a preternatural gift for all things IT-related. Among the requirments of his training program was com ...
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