Janet Pinkerton Posts

"The evidence keeps growing that career academies work," says Andrew Rothstein, special advisor on educational policy at the National Academy Foundation (NAF), a non-profit that supports a national network of 60,000 students in 469 academies, including some of Florida's IT career academies. NAF works with school districts to develop the career academies in general and often provides technical assistance to support non-NAF academies. According to the NAF: In 2011, 97% of NAF seniors graduated fr ...

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 ...

Meet Andrew DiCosmo, software engineer, Peters & Associates.

"Get the right education. Keep learning. Reinvest your skills. Influence others and make your presence known. Mentor those people who can benefit from your insights." Ginger Moore, senior staffing consultant, Unisys Building an IT career requires focus, hard work and sometimes creativity, but the opportunities are vast, even for those who don't currently hold a four-year computer science degree or aren't currently in the IT workforce. That was the message of the Nov. 7 webinar "IT Careers ...

Learn what Phil Norton does as a systems analyst.

Today, CompTIA launches the CompTIA A+ 800 exam series, which adds performance-based questions, new objectives for mobile devices and virtualization, and an increased emphasis on troubleshooting. The changes reflect new demands being placed on the entry-level IT technician, who must now help integrate and manage computer networks interfacing with a wide range of devices, such as smartphones and tablets. The current CompTIA A+ 701 and 702 exams, which focus on assembling, fixing and troubleshoot ...

High school sophomores from Louisiana and Arkansas participate in a robotics challenge during the 2012 Cyber Discovery Camp at Louisiana Tech University. How can America better interest its youth in IT careers? Although nearly all of teens and young adults report they "love" or "like" technology, only 18 percent say they have a "definite interest" in an IT career. These findings from CompTIA's recent study "Youth Opinions of Careers in Information Technology" point to a career interest ga ...

Before you head into your next IT job interview, check out these common IT job interview mistakes to learn how to avoid them.

Jeremiah Gaches, Project HIRED Warrior Workforce client and decorated Army veteran, is now able to return to work in an office environment, thanks to support services from Project HIRED and its Wounded Warrior Workforce Service Dog Program. With the support of his canine partner, Rocky, Gaches now lives independently and holds a position through a Project HIRED AbilityOne contract for call center services at the Livermore, CA VA Medical facility. Companies looking for qualified IT job appli ...

CompTIA will add performance-based questions to its CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ and CompTIA Security+ certification exams in the coming months.Performance-based questions require exam candidates to perform a task or solve a problem within a simulated IT environment to demonstrate specific knowledge or skills. Currently, the three exams employ only multiple-choice questions.The CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) exam, introduced in September 2011, was the first CompTIA exam to employ ...