CompTIA Blog

TechAmerica, powered by CompTIA, is proud to support Code.org’s second annual Computer Science Education Week, December 8 to 14, 2014. The week, originally held in celebration of the birthday of the late Grace Hopper, promotes the importance of computer science as a key subject in K-12 education.

CompTIA will retire a handful of educational materials at the end of 2014 to freshen up its library and make room for better tools related to the fast-changing healthcare market. “Our initial take on healthcare IT didn’t fully embrace the exciting things that are happening in that market, so we’re going to go back to the drawing board with member help,” said Stephanie Morgan, CompTIA’s director of member education.

Cyberattacks are a good way to spook your customers, but sensationalizing security concerns will only reap short-term benefits. Successful solution providers will instead offer real world examples of existing threats without overhyping a customer’s potential exposure, and use tools like CompTIA’s IT Security Assessment Wizard to create a comprehensive outline of a customer’s true needs.

Mark Botros has big plans in IT. He wants to be the next Bill Gates. And it all started with a Spider-Man video game.

Fueled by consumerism, cloud and an increasing demand for heightened productivity, mobility solutions are one of the most talked-about trends in IT. Learn all the spokes to this wheel with CompTIA’s latest resource bundle: Five Tools to Make Mobility Work.

IT recruiters share their best advice for job seekers.

IT security is a growth industry. As companies and educational institutions begin to understand that IT security is indispensable in a wired world, demand for security professionals is skyrocketing. This nationwide need for qualified, highly competent techs is a boon to those IT professionals seeking to work in this rapidly growing area. In IT security, the stakes are high, so employers want to know they’re hiring security professionals they can trust. That’s where certification comes in.

Students and teachers don’t always agree on everything, but they have found common ground when it comes to technology, according to a new research report from CompTIA, The Changing Classroom: Perspectives from Students and Educators on the Role of Technology. Educators are always looking for ways to make learning more engaging, and students believe technology in school makes learning more interesting and fun, according to the report. And both groups want to increase technology in the classroom, particularly by way of laptop PCs, tablets and high-speed Internet access.

How customers utilize your products or services is crucial to your success, and user experience was a prevailing topic with several speakers and in many round table discussions at the recent ITSS Community meeting in Philadelphia. Experts offered firsthand accounts of how some rather large organizations are adopting and implementing the latest technologies, and each presenter addressed a number of the concerns and problems their management and tech teams experienced along the way.

Ed-tech opportunities are approaching $7 billion annually and reaching into almost every community — it’s a market that’s quickly becoming a viable for virtually every solution provider. The ITSS Community heard great detail on the matter from New York’s Department of Education CIO at their recent meeting in Philadelphia. There, Hal Friedlander elaborated on the challenges of widespread tech adoption in schools, and the tricky road to implementation.

The ITSS Community dedicated $5,000 of its annual charitable fund to empower NPower, a group that brings the tech community together for social good, helps people at a disadvantage and focuses its support on nonprofits.

With so many new IT services companies “born in the cloud,” will IT distributors be able to provide enough value to recruit those providers to their partner programs? Yes, in fact, and some providers and vendors believe their position has never been stronger. While many industry experts suggested in the past that the cloud and managed would be the death knell for distributors, most VADs are reporting record sales and partnership numbers.

As an optician at Lansing Ophthalmology in Grand Ledge, Michigan, solving problems is Arlo Ely’s specialty. In his official capacity as an American Board of Opticianry-certified professional, he makes sure that patients get eyewear that works for them, even if those patients don’t quite know what they want. But as his recently-awarded CompTIA A+ certification indicates, glasses and contact lenses aren’t the only forms of technology he troubleshoots.

In the coming months and years, technology companies will face a significant shortfall in skilled IT workers. With 86 percent of hirers saying IT certifications are a priority, they are an obvious choice for individuals looking to improve their career progressions or unlock new opportunities. For organisations too, certifications provide the job-relevant skills to upskill their new and existing staff.

Cloud adoption has jumped 90 percent since 2010, according to CompTIA’s 5th Annual Trends in Cloud Computing, and resellers, solution providers, MSPs and other channel types are reporting a sunny outlook related to cloud revenue. But that doesn’t mean channel firms aren’t experiencing growing pains.