CompTIA Blog

Air Force veteran Shawn Cooper and Navy veteran Jeremiah Mane followed different paths to the same point: After serving as IT network administrators while in the military, they turned to New Horizons Computer Learning Centers of Orlando, FL, for IT certification training and job search assistance to launch their civilian IT careers. On the same day in early April, they both began work as technical engineers for Convergys' Orlando, FL, contact center. "It was a lot harder to look for a job, ...

A look at the week of July 2 in public advocacy for the IT channel: Electrical outages caused by storms over the past weekend at an Amazon data center in Ashburn, Va., are forcing federal officials to reconsider its shift to cloud computing managed by the private sector, says the Washington Post. Senators are hoping to move forward from a political standoff regarding two opposing cybersecurity bills once they return from the July 4th congressional recess, says The Hill. Unemployment rates for ve ...

Derek LeMay wanted to leverage his five years as a Marine Corps IT system administrator into a civilian career, but found that earning an associates degree at a local Florida community college wasn't getting him where he wanted to go fast enough.So in late 2011, LeMay enrolled in New Horizons Learning Centers of Orlando's accelerated IT certification track. The training and the certifications ultimately helped LeMay land jobs with not one, but two veteran-friendly employers."IT certification was ...

Derek LeMay wanted to leverage his five years as a Marine Corps IT system administrator into a civilian career, but found that earning an associates degree at a local Florida community college wasn't getting him where he wanted to go fast enough. So in late 2011, LeMay enrolled in New Horizons Learning Centers of Orlando's accelerated IT certification track. The training and the certifications ultimately helped LeMay land jobs with not one, but two veteran-friendly employers. "IT certificat ...

Is there an active military member or veteran in your life who inspires you?The Troops to Tech Careers program wants to know about it — and possibly reward you for your story!The Veterans Inspire contest was created to show the huge impact military members and veterans have on the community, and individuals. The Troops to Tech Careers program wants to share these inspirational stories and create an outlet for military members and veterans to be given the recognition they deserve.All you need to ...

Is there an active military member or veteran in your life who inspires you? The Troops to Tech Careers program wants to know about it — and possibly reward you for your story! The Veterans Inspire contest was created to show the huge impact military members and veterans have on the community, and individuals. The Troops to Tech Careers program wants to share these inspirational stories and create an outlet for military members and veterans to be given the recognition they deserve. All you ...

As a frequent traveler and lover of the outdoors, I have a special place in my heart for the critical business tools that can be easily packed and transported wherever I’m going. My first ThinkPad, a pre-Lenovo, “brick-by-today’s-standards” laptop, introduced me to the benefits of the mobile workplace that’s become commonplace today. Rather than saving work to those lovable floppy discs in my corporate office and transporting them home at night to toil away on my home PC, the laptop gave me the ...

In the past month, three of the world’s largest technology companies held major events. Apple and Google both held developers conferences with keynotes full of announcements and surprises. Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference takes place in early July, but rather than waiting for that event they held a special presentation in Los Angeles that had the industry buzzing. A look back at the three events reveals some interesting insight into the future of technology.First, a quick recap of the in ...

Takeaway of the week is it's still a "New York State of Mind" when it comes to the place to be for tech startups. In other news, well, let's just say the recent worldwide software market forecast wasn't as rosy as things are these days for techies looking for jobs in the Big Apple. The Big Tech Apple Hey, did you hear the one about New York being the hot destination for tech startups these days? If you need more proof, check out the recent piece in the Wall Street Journal, which highlights a ...

In view of the significant relationship between IT, innovation and the retention of highly skilled workers in the United States, CompTIA was invited to attend a Community Leader Briefing on Immigration Reform last week at the White House.While the event carried heightened attention on the heels of the Obama Administration decision to temporarily suspend deportations of certain qualified young people, our attention was squarely on the issue of retaining highly skilled workers who have obtained a ...

Last week, Senator Toomey (R-Penn.) released the “Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2012,” and is co-sponsored by Senator Olympia Snowe, Jim Demint, Roy Blunt, and Dean Heller.There are several provisions to this proposed data breach notification legislation, but among the highlights is a requirement that a covered entity provide “ . . . notice of any breach of the security of the system following discovery by the covered entity . . .” so long as the covered entity “reasonably believe ...

Following the enactment of the JOBS Act on April 5, there has been a lot of interest in the nuts and bolts of crowdfunding.  Does your company qualify?  Does it make economic sense for your needs?  Right now, there are a lot of unanswered questions as the Securities and Exchange Commission is working on the initial draft of regulations to implement this new law.Get ahead of the curve.   Join us for a webinar at 2pm EDT on July 25 titled:  Crowdfunding: Opportunities for the IT Channel and What Y ...

If you really want that job, you have to prep thoroughly to nail the interview. Here's how.

I recently bought a bagel and a cup of coffee at my neighborhood coffee shop. Unlike most shops though, my wallet stayed in my pocket. Using the Square mobile payment app on my smartphone, I simply informed the cashier of my name, which populated the cash register (an iPad) with my account, confirmed by the proximity of my phone. I accepted the charge and that was it. On the way out, using my Belly customer loyalty app, I swiped my phone across a digital display to get credit toward future rewar ...

Takeaway of the week is the suggestion to view the current IT job market in the "glass is half-full" mode. Reports on the overall IT job market might not be glowing, but it's certainly doing a lot better than other industries in today's economy. IT prospects continue to grow at a steady pace. Let's just hope that forecasts of IT skills gaps are a thing of the past in the near future. Wanted: Cybersecurity Skills Amid a growing spate of cybersecurity attacks to both government and corporate netw ...