CompTIA Blog

President Barack Obama and his administration are attempting to protect billions of dollars in R&D aid from sweeping budget cuts, said Politico Pro. In addition to meeting with recipients of R&D aid in the science and technology sectors, Obama said in a Twitter live chat last week that the administration is looking to defend its aid budget while offering cuts from alternative areas.The Obama administration’s proposal to tax high income earners would hit about 940,000 people who report bu ...

Writing well is a critical skill for IT professionals who have to convey technical information to technical and non-technical people. "The better you can communicate your message in ways that other people understand, the more likely you are to succeed in whatever you are trying to do," says James Chartrand, founder of Damn Fine Words, an online writing course for business people. Do you find yourself repeatedly frustrated because people misunderstand your emails, or fail to take the right act ...

A long-awaited provision that will benefit woman-owned small businesses seeking federal government contract opportunities is included in amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (S. 3254), which passed the Senate on Dec. 4. CompTIA has actively advocated for this fix, which will correct an anomaly in this federal program.The Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program sets aside five percent of federal prime and subcontracts for women-owned small businesses. Under the current ...

The biggest obstacle those building new businesses or practices face is not their creation and launch. No, the most daunting issue new business owners struggle with is how to manage and perfect their back office operations. Upfront costs and planned expenses are much easier to project on paper than when the doors are open and the organization is in full swing.That’s especially true in a managed services business. Few IT professionals have the financial and general management training or experien ...

Takeaway of the week is you never know what to believe when it comes to industry reports, findings, statistics or surveys. One set of industry reports and findings might say the IT salaries are on the rise and the next week a new slew of fact and figures come out to counter those claims. The one constant seems to be that IT jobs remain a steady mover in a still stagnant economy. IT Sector Value Up, Wages Not So Much The increasing value of IT departments in the overall success of businesses has ...

President Barack Obama and Congressional lawmakers haven’t emphasized a variety of educational options – namely technical training – to solve our nation’s workforce shortage, said the National Journal. The hardest jobs to fill in our country, which includes IT positions, don’t require traditional four-year degrees, yet legislation that promotes these opportunities is lacking.The House of Representatives passed a bill last week that would grant more visas to those who graduate with advanced degre ...

Saying 'What are some ways we can both benefit from these negotiations? Let's invent some new ideas' can do wonders." Dan Shapiro, Harvard International Negotiation Program founder and director Years ago, J.R. Samples and his salesman walked into a CIO's office with a $250,000 network proposal, but as the conversation progressed, Samples, then an EVP at an IT engineering firm, had his salesman keep the proposal off the table. They walked out of the meeting with a $50,000 short-term contract ...

In today’s economic environment, IT organizations have to continually reassess the way they do business, making necessary changes to best serve their clients and stay ahead of their rivals. With the rapid advances in technology and delivery systems, the challenges here are escalating more quickly than the opportunities they bring, making staffing service desks and properly training employees a particularly difficult task.Can an IT services company afford to run its operations the same way today ...

Nellie Scott Working in the IT services industry for 17 years, Nellie Scott has relied on her personal philosophy of "Nothing happens in an organization until somebody sells something to somebody." In her role as channel services business manager at Lenovo, Scott is responsible for driving revenue by supporting business partners in the United States and Canada through sales and marketing campaigns. Lenovo is a $21 billion personal technology company and the world's second largest PC vendo ...

Takeaway of the week is just because the holiday shopping season is in full swing, doesn't mean shopping for talented IT professionals has eased up. OK, that may have been an all-too-pat post-Black Friday/Cyber Monday tie-in, but the fact is top companies remain on the hunt to fill key technical roles in all sectors of the IT market. Learn more about the positive spin for IT, the expectations for a CIO and job candidate no-no's for HR. Gartner: IT Means Business Job seekers out in the IT market, ...

IT professionals who were certified in 2010 or earlier in CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ or CompTIA Security+ have until the end of 2012 to enroll in the CompTIA Continuing Education program. Those certified in 2010 or earlier are considered "certified for life," but these individuals can enroll in the CompTIA Continuing Education Program to show they are versed in the latest skills and technologies. It is optional unless mandated by an employer. For example, enrollment is required for those usi ...

CompTIA’s 10th Annual Information Security Trends study reviews how the use of mobile devices and technologies such as cloud computing create opportunities as well as vulnerabilities, reports Federal Computer Week. Fifty-seven percent of respondents indicated their company has made at least moderate IT security changes to combat those threats over the past two years, while 10 percent indicated they’ve made drastic changes.Federal officials have hinted that the cybersecurity budget will be spared ...

The White House has renewed its call for legislation intended to stimulate small business job growth. This proposal would provide a 10 percent tax credit for “new payroll” of up to $500,000 beginning in 2013. Incremental payroll of up to $500,000 would qualify for the tax credit, translating into a maximum credit of $50,000 per employer. A similar provision was included in the president’s budget last year and was also picked up in S. 2237; the Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act. That bill fa ...

This November marked the conclusion of a long and arduous presidential election. After nearly two years of politicking and billions of dollars spent the results are: President Obama was re-elected to a second term; the Democrats retained control of the Senate; and the Republicans retained control of the House. On the surface it would appear to be a status quo election, but there are important details within the election results that could have meaning for the IT community.The Executive BranchOba ...

On the Monday after Thanksgiving, also known as Cyber Monday, online retailers offer deep discounts to attract customers. The number of online transactions completed today may not top the brick-and-mortar retail sales of Black Friday, but that gap continues to close with each passing year. A growing number of consumers are choosing the Internet over the annual trek to the mall, preferring the comfort of shopping from their own home or office over the hustle and bustle of the mall and other store ...