Eric Larson Posts

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.Getting connected with BDPA in high school put Stephanie Brown on a learni ...

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 technolog ...

The CompTIA Educational Foundation, which since 1998 has been helping unemployed and other at-risk individuals find careers in information technology, has a new name: the Creating IT Futures Foundation.The new name will help to distinguish the Foundation from other continuing education and educational programs within CompTIA, while also positioning the Foundation to reach a wider donor base.As it pondered a new name, the Foundation’s Board of Directors considered the essence of what the organiza ...

The Fourth of July holiday seemed perfect timing for a recent gift by our member communities.The IT Business Growth Professionals Community, one of 10 communities within the CompTIA membership, made a $5,000 gift to Veterans Inc. which helps veterans improve their lives in the areas of housing, employment and health.“This is an opportunity to say thank you to those who have served,” said Ken Thoreson, chair of the ITBGP Community and president of Acumen Management Group in Tennessee. “We were ex ...

The popular perception of the IT industry often conjures images of computers, software, and networking gear — the rudiments of an emotionless, digital world.But a series of gifts by CompTIA, the IT industry trade association, through its 10 official communities around the globe, is showing that IT is just as much about connecting people to the needs in their communities as it is about running cable.CompTIA VP Jim Hamilton“This is a way for people to think how the IT industry is giving back. It’s ...

After being kicked out of his apartment last summer, Tim Burford's bout with homelessness lasted over 120 miles, a journey in the August heat from Beaufort, S.C., to the Veterans Administration Hospital in Columbia. Hitchhiking when he could but walking over half the way, he spent several nights sleeping in ditches and under overpasses. As a soldier, he says, he had always been taught to do what it takes to complete a task. In this case, his task was to get a new life. Officials at the VA immedi ...

After being kicked out of his apartment last summer, Tim Burford’s bout with homelessness lasted over 120 miles, a journey in the August heat from Beaufort, S.C., to the Veterans Administration Hospital in Columbia. Hitchhiking when he could but walking over half the way, he spent several nights sleeping in ditches and under overpasses.As a soldier, he says, he had always been taught to do what it takes to complete a task.In this case, his task was to get a new life.Officials at the VA immediate ...

Even after all these years, Sam Morris still cringes when he hears it. The brutally honest student expression can determine whether or not that student succeeds or fails miserably in the 21st century global economy.He’s talking about those dreaded words: “Why bother? I’m never going to use this anyway.”Morris, a K-12 and college math teacher of nearly two decades, is working to erase that defeatist line from student lexicon. Last month, he was hired by CompTIA member Lenovo in part to help the l ...

In her job as a dispatcher at an IT company, Verna Matera, 54, spends long stretches at her desk, which makes losing weight a challenge.But a recent effort by several IT companies to raise money for Lance Armstrong’s cancer-fighting charity got Matera moving – and losing. The grandmother of two began an ambitious walking and workout regimen that allowed her to lose four pounds in six weeks.Dispatcher Verna Matera of Northwest Computer Support in Seattle changed her lifestyle over six weeks. Alth ...