COMPTIA TEAMS WITH SECURITY UNIVERSITY ON CYBERSECURITY - CompTIA Certifications

CompTIA, the world’s leading provider of vendor-neutral skills certifications for information technology (IT) professionals, said today is it teaming with Security University in Herndon, Va., on a cybersecurity apprenticeship program targeted at military veterans and their family members.

Security University’s Q/CyberSecurity RAP program was recently added to the Virginia GI Bill approved list. This allows military personnel, veterans and their family members to use their GI Bill education benefits to participate in the program.

The program relies on classroom instruction and stacked cybersecurity certifications and credentials focused on mastery and competency to prepare new professionals for the nation’s cyber workforce.

Four of CompTIA’s industry-leading certifications are part of the program: CompTIA Security+, CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner, CompTIA Linux+, and CompTIA Cloud+.

“CompTIA is committed to raising awareness about the critical importance of cybersecurity and the need for a robust cybersecurity workforce,” said Joe Padin, CompTIA vice president for U.S. federal and education certification sales. “We’re pleased to team with Security University in this critical effort to bring more people into the cybersecurity workforce, and to equip them with the appropriate education, training and certifications.”

Newly published data from CyberSeek™, the leading source of actionable data on supply and demand in the nation’s cybersecurity job market, shows that U.S. employers in the private and public sectors posted an estimated 313,735 job openings for cybersecurity workers between September 2017 and August 2018.

The Washington, D.C., metropolitan area had the largest number of job openings for cybersecurity professionals (44,058). Across Virginia there were an estimated 33,530 cybersecurity job openings.

CompTIA offers a wide selection of free resources available to anyone interested in learning more about careers in the cybersecurity field.

About Security University 

Security University is the nation’s leading providers of Qualified Hands-On Cybersecurity Education, Information Assurance Training and Certifications for IT and Security Professionals.

Success Secrets: How you can Pass CompTIA Certification Exams in first attempt 

CompTIA Digital Badging: 5 Facts You May Not Know

You may have heard that your CompTIA certifications can now be shared as CompTIA digital badges – images and metadata offered by Credly that prove to employers that you’ve demonstrated the hands-on skills needed by today’s IT workforce. But do you know how they work, the benefits they offer and how you can get yours? Keep reading to learn more.

1. Digital Badges Are Verified Credentials.

Not just anyone can post a CompTIA digital badge to their LinkedIn profile. CompTIA digital badges are images combined with robust metadata that includes details like what the certification represents, who holds the certification (you), and how and when you earned it. CompTIA has partnered with Credly to translate the learning outcomes from your certification into the metadata that accompanies your badge. The digital badge is yours and yours alone.

The CompTIA digital badge’s metadata not only shows employers what you know, but you can use it to better explain your certifications in cover letters, interviews and more. The next time you encounter someone who hasn’t heard about your certification, you can succinctly explain it based on what you read in the metadata of your digital badge.

2. CompTIA Digital Badges Show a Deeper Mastery of Skills.

Earning multiple, related CompTIA certifications can earn you a CompTIA Stackable Certification, and with digital badging, you can efficiently show your range of expertise. CompTIA digital badges can be activated for both individual and stackable certifications. (Credly works with a number of education, training and certification bodies, so there may be other digital badges that you can activate to round out your profile.)

For example, if you have CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+ and CompTIA Security+, you can activate those individual digital badges as well as the badge for CompTIA Secure Infrastructure Specialist. The metadata for the stackable certification will show employers the individual certifications you earned to achieve that credential and what IT skills are related to it.

3. You Decide Who Sees Your Digital Badges.

Some people like to shout their achievements from the rooftops while others prefer to keep them on a need-to-know basis. With Credly’s Acclaim platform, you decide who gets access to your CompTIA digital badges. You can easily configure your privacy settings to control what information is made public and what is kept private.

Some people might post their badges to every social media profile, their email signature and their online portfolio, while others may reserve their CompTIA digital badges for their resume only. You can use Credly’s Acclaim platform to display your digital badges, or you can download them to share on other open badge infrastructure (OBI)-compliant sites. CompTIA digital badges meet all these needs and more, so you do you. You’re in complete control.

4. CompTIA Digital Badges Help Set Your Career Path.

Identifying the next steps in your career can be challenging. When you activate your CompTIA digital badge, you’ll gain access to resources that can help you make informed decisions about your next move. Through Credly’s Acclaim platform, you can access labor market insights to search by title, location, employer or salary range for open positions related to your certification. If you find a job posting that interests you, you can apply with just a few clicks.

You’ll also receive personalized certification recommendations based on your earned credentials and special offers for additional training and certifications from CompTIA.

5. CompTIA Digital Badges Are Free! (Well, Sort Of…)

There are no additional fees associated with activating your CompTIA digital badge. Once you’ve earned your CompTIA certification, your CompTIA digital badge is an added benefit we’re providing to you, free of charge.

If you already hold a CompTIA certification or stackable certification that’s eligible for digital badging, you’ll receive an email inviting you to activate your badge. It’s a quick-and-easy process – within minutes, you can activate your badge and start sharing it.

Success Secrets: How you can Pass CompTIA Certification Exams in first attempt

Computer Networking, IT Infrastructure and Your IT Career

From PCs to Computer Networking

I remember him trying to teach me the concept of databases, networks and how computers worked. I was already pretty savvy about how a PC worked. In fact, I would fix Dr. Snyder’s computer now and again. He had a really, really temperamental old CD tower drive. It was a huge thing – about the size of the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. I remember diagnosing its problems and discovering that it had a loose connection on the back that was too expensive to fix. So, what did I do? I put a sticky note on the top of the thing that said, “Never touch this drive.” It was a fix that worked for years.

But I was worthless when it came to understanding networking and its foundations. In fact, I was pretty dismissive about the whole internet thing. After all, what’s the point of having computers communicate with each other? Isn’t that what phones are for?

When I asked him why this internet thing was a big deal, I remember how Henry decided to get all “Foundations of the Internet” on me. He trotted out a bunch of old books from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries to get started.

I still remember the sound of the cracking of the bindings, and the smell of the old leather covers. He used these antiquarian books to show how one computer communicates with another. I remember him saying, “You know, back in the day, these books were cutting-edge technology. Now look where we are!”

Learning Computer Networking Basics

He realized I didn’t quite understand how computers talked to each other. So, he and some of his co-workers explained how they have to translate their unique MAC addresses with logical IP addresses.

He did so by explaining how the British Library has a physical address as well as a well-known name. He said that as humans, we can resolve these two things together, and computers, he said, have to do the same thing. He was very clever at analogies. I remember thinking about his analogies as I viewed files uploading across the internet at the incredibly fast pace of 36.4 Kbps. Ah, how infrastructure and networking has progressed these days!

Throughout all these mini-lessons and mini-bootcamps, Dr. Snyder and his co-workers inspired me. First, he taught me protocols such as Gopher, and Kermit, and eventually Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and this “new thing called the web.” He also inspired me to want to teach this stuff.

Whenever I find time, I try to do the same thing to help other folks learn about technology. The problem is, my analogies are never as good as his. Thankfully I was able to take my foundational knowledge of networking and push it to the next level.

Networking as a Foundation for Cybersecurity

A few years after I worked for Dr. Snyder, I decided to pursue networking and the internet as a career. I took the CompTIA A+ exam and the then-relatively new CompTIA Network+ exam.

I remember when I passed them – it felt so good. As I studied about networking, I thought how I now fully understood how Henry’s databases really worked and how that little office in the basement of Rivera Library at UC Riverside was able to communicate with the British Library and other sites worldwide.