Free Certification Training For an Information Technology Career

Information technology is perhaps one of the most profitable careers to embark on. There are tons of jobs available domestic and international. If you are exceptional with computers, then you are to win the high salary, and opportunities for cut backs is also much lower compared to their colleagues. That’s because you have a unique skill set that is portable across industries. It is hard for companies to find someone else to replace them as a good team of employees who possess a computer certification.

However, given the benefits the industry, there are tons of people who are also trying to penetrate into the IT field. To separate those that are serious from those who are only looking for a provisional work, organizations are starting look for certain certifications. That is the only way to separate the work of professional freelancers.

This is good news for those who are good at what they do. The requirement for obtaining a certificate would only be a temporary obstacle. If you’re good, you can easily get the right certificate, and qualify for your ideal job. You will find online many free computer help and training programs as well as paid. Some Websites have many up to date articles that you can read that will inform you of the latest news on information technology and provide technical date relevant to any certification. Practice exam questions and study guides are plentiful online, some with a charge and some free.

In the current market, there are many different types of IT certification courses available. Certain type course you take will depend on the expert field you choose to work with. For example, if you want to be a coordinator of the network of Microsoft, Microsoft must certify you. Naturally, the more certifications you get, the higher its value to the company. This will give you a right signal about what you are truly interested in pursuing.

If you are just starting, try to focus on one specific area. Be as specific as you can. Using the same example, if you’re going to work with Microsoft, make sure you learn everything you can about the users of Microsoft, in networks, programming languages etc. before carrying on to other areas. It can take probably only a few years and based on how much of an expert you are in this area.

In addition, higher knowledge is a trend changing very rapidly. So you may be unable to achieve if you try to focus on other areas. Move it on to other areas such as Linux and Unix servers only when you are already very reliable with the systems you currently working with. Free certification training on the Internet can assist you much for starters and then move into some paid IT preparation.

Also, as the market is constantly evolving, it is very important for IT professionals to stay in touch with the latest news and information. The technology you learn today could be obsolete tomorrow. Do not get taken by surprise when something new arises. Stay before your peers by constantly updating your mind with news of higher knowledge. You can easily find the computer news that is superior quality on the Internet. The news also will help you to decide the best course to take for certification. You don’t want to be taking computer courses that are expiring!

Finally, even with the right certification, you may still face the difficulty of landing yourself a job. That’s because you are competing against the other with more experience than you. Start offering your services as a freelancer or a part timer, and get some experience in the industry. You may find a company that promotes their persistence and good attitude.

Reasons Why Small Businesses Are Forced to Embrace Information Technology

Information technology (IT) has revolutionized the way many businesses operate. In this article, I look into some of the reasons why every business is making every effort to ensure that IT is the core of their business success.

There is pressure from competitors. When your business competitors have embraced information technology, you will find that other operators in the same field will make every effort to be at par with the competition if not further. Be it as simple as computerizing the business operations or as complex as getting a state of the art accounting system, the competitor can push a business to change its way of doing things.

The other reason why a small business would feel the urge to invest in IT is the desire to increase the rate at which the organization carries out its business activities. Moving from manual operations to implementing computers and appropriate software means that collection of data, processing the data and disseminating processed information will be much faster. Faster resolution to solving issues is proportionally equivalent to satisfied customers. Satisfied customers bring in more revenue that leads to business growth. Invoices, receipts, letters will all be produced and sent in a timely way.

It is obvious that technologically advanced businesses are able to use the systems that they have invested in to generate accurate reports that would advise the management on the strategic plans that the business needs to undertake to grow further. The business can also use the technology to market itself and in return boost its sales.

Taking the Long View Approach to Information Technology Career Planning

An organization’s success depends on its people. The stronger the knowledge and skills of the individuals the stronger the organization becomes.  The United States economic downturn has caused some companies to downsize—which is creating a paradigm shift in the way people manage their careers and their jobs.  Organizations are no longer as willing to provide the necessary funding to individuals for career and skills development.

Economic changes are inevitable and without the necessary skills individuals will lack the career edge they require to survive in this current job market. You must first be able to recognize the driving forces creating change in our economy to quickly adapt and create a career edge.  A classic mistake is for an individual to think about only one career path at a time leaving themselves to the whims of the companies who are downsizing.

 Individuals are now forced to take a new view at how they are managing their careers and create new career paths to broaden career choices. During this time of unprecedented economic transformation organizations must now evolve in order to do business and adapt. The importance of flexibility and adaptability expand down to the individual level and in order to quickly adapt you must first learn to manage change and your career.

Change is the law of life and those who look to the past or present are certain to miss the future.

~~John F Kennedy

You do not want to set yourself off on the wrong path—or you might find yourself left with no career options. You must create forward-thinking ways to transform your approach to career development and avoid a career disaster through taking the long view approach to career planning.  The long view approach incorporates future change by projecting current economic, political, and technological drivers into futures scenarios. This has been called strategic planning, scenario planning, and strategic flow charting.  These same principles can be applied to career planning.  This is not a short term investment—but an investment that will help you stay ahead of paradigm shifts by recognizing the drivers of change before they happen and quickly chart a new course for your career path.

To begin you must first look for drivers of change in the organizational landscape of your company. Then research and list all of these changes you see coming in career trends.  My career path research found a recent article in Money Magazine—which listed Information Security as the 10th fastest growing profession in the United States with a projected growth of 27 percent between the year 2006 and 2016. I also located an article in Government Information Security News that outlines an effort by the office of personnel management (OPM) to retain and hire Information Security experts.

In addition, Information technology is also one of the stronger careers with less unemployment rates than the national average. A recent quarterly report by Robert Half Technology IT hiring Index and Skills report states that 83% of companies plan to maintain their current IT staffing levels.  

The second step in the planning process is to use your creative energy to determine risks and develop new ideas, and career options.  By determining the risks, you can start building a what-if flow chart of outcomes.  Taking a calculated risk can advance your career; however, if you fear the unknown you can gain confidence by simply evaluating the evidence concerning future outcomes.  If any of these outcomes look positive start testing some your ideas. These are all risk-taking strategies that will work but not without certain amount of strategic planning.

 Take calculated risks. That is quite different from being rash.

~~George S Patton

Finally after you have chosen your new career path, continue to strengthen your position by face-to-face networking, and personal branding.

Taking the long view will allow you to proactively manage your career. Remember that your career must be re-evaluated based on driving forces and quickly evolve based on current and future career trends. To succeed you must be the one leading career change and not just getting caught up in it.

CopyRight Patricia Moulder

Starting an Information Technology Career Without Spending a Penny

Amongst the most common reasons given as the major hurdle to pursuing a career in Information Technology is the cost of training. Some training packages can cost tens of thousands of dollars and many people are not in a position to invest that sort of money no matter how good the training course and job prospects. Although training can cost as little as tens of dollars for study books, or hundreds of dollars for hours of video this investment can be overwhelming.

 

But entry into the industry is not impossible if your wallet is light on funds. Consider that the Information Technology industry is a grouping of many fields without regulatory bodies. This wide variety of required skills and abilities gives would be professionals many options. One pathway can lead to another and so a career can be crafted from any number of different starting points.

 

But it is also true to say that even entry level starting points require specific skills. Acquiring those skills takes more time without proper funding, and in order to reduce that time the following strategies can be adopted:

 

Don’t shoot in the dark. Do not try to learn a little about lots of things in the hope that something will work for you to kick off your career.
Study, learn and understand entry level job descriptions before you decide on a field of choice. This way you will understand what is expected of you in terms of knowledge, and just as importantly, what is not expected. This will save you a lot of time and help you focus on the right material.
Research jobs. Just like buying a house, you should look over prospective jobs a long time before you are ready to apply. You will begin to notice trends in skills requirements and training.

 

Once you are clear on an entry pathway for your career it is time to get down to business. Studying and learning your chosen trade. Remember, your skills profile should be clear at this stage and your focus on the one type of job. Developing your skills without money is a tough ask, but it should be a lot easier now that you know exactly what to study. Here are some suggestions on free ways to develop specific fields.

 

The Internet – learn the basics and find different examples and points of view for each topic you need to learn.
Home projects – If your selected field is a Computer Technician you may be able to double your home computer as a guinea pig. Just make sure you know what you are doing first!
Work experience – by far the best training that you will get without spending money. It’s a great opportunity to learn from current professionals and make some contacts along the way.
Libraries – great source of information. You may even be able to find a book for each topic you wish to skill up.
Memberships – joining mailing lists and newsletters related to your field of choice can be a great way to stay up to date.

 

So how will all these things help you begin your career? Ultimately your tasks will be to convince the employer that you have developed the required skills. By keeping notes of your activities around the development of each skill you will be able to demonstrate competence. But don’t kid yourself, receiving a few emails on a subject and using that as evidence of skills will not cut it. Use many different sources to demonstrate your knowledge. Here is an example of skills development for a computer technician.

 

- Studied i386 computer architecture using BookX and BookY.

- Replaced and upgraded motherboard at home and video card for family member.

- Downloaded and installed drivers for new motherboard.

- Assisted local school computer department for 2 weeks. Replaced 25 computers during that time and helped to troubleshoot others.

- Actively participated in computer hardware mailing group.

 

As you can see, this training is specific to one field and it produces mounting evidence on the same subject to produce a convincing argument for your talent.

Commerce, Creation and Information Technology

The majority of world commerce today relies on Information Technology. From the accounting software that handles your accounts and payroll to your Web page, business is increasingly supported by IT services and infrastructure. But like all good tools, IT is limited by our understanding of it and the uses it is given by us.

Looking at a model of Information Technology or IT Services and its infrastructure, it may not be surprising to find a correlation between the creation and its creator. More than that, it is a hologram of the creator. There are obvious similarities to hardware and parts of human anatomy. There is a central processor, like the brain. Information travels throughout the computer by wiring similar to nerve axons. Input units, like the mouse, the keyboard etc. are similar to human senses which gather information. But take it to the next level and you will see a labyrinth of reflections, each mirroring the other in form and function.

In the beginning there was ENIAC, a monstrous, modular computing giant which, for all its speed and mathematical prowess, could not retain a program. It was a brain with no memory. It was fed and spit out punch cards. Technology advanced to Main Frame computers with dumb terminals. These behemoths gave off so much heat that they had to be cooled with water.

Like their counterparts in the biological world, computers have evolved to suit the current climate. They are sleek, powerful, and in addition to individual applications, are designed to share data and services. The mainframes, themselves have evolved into servers, supporting the brave new Pantheon: a celestial convergence of power and knowledge, delivered in the blink of an eye.

We are the masters of super-intelligent minions whose astonishing abilities are limited only by our own ignorance, or lack of creativity. We stand on the brink of: “Your wish is my command” capability. Power of this kind is best used when balanced with knowledge and wisdom.

 

Trends in Information Technology – 2010 and Beyond

Information Technology (IT) evolves right alongside emerging and ever-changing business trends. In today’s fast-paced business environment, there’s very little that cannot be done online. E-commerce and Business to Business applications enable companies and people to integrate, automate and manage key processes with suppliers, other businesses and customers through the Internet.

Online banking, along with practically every other industry, continues to experience steady growth as customers around the world feel more and more safe transacting business online.

Where the Internet Activity Is Taking Place:

Email

At present, approximately 90% of all Internet use is centered around email activities.

Product Search

The Internet is an almost limitless library search utility for product, travel, hobbies and general information.

Internet Gaming

Just over one third of all Internet users engage in online entertainment computer games such as chess and massive multiple player games; an interaction that would be impossible without Information technology. The Internet has emerged as a true entertainment venue enjoyed by millions.

Chat Rooms

Chat rooms are a popular venue for people who can discuss virtually any topic under the sun. At least one quarter of Internet users claim to have visited a chat room. The overwhelming portions of chat are with anonymous others whose identities are unknown.

Business to Consumer Activities that Involve Transactions

Purchasing, stock trading, e-banking and online auctions are made by a quarter of Internet users. Such transactions are still in the infant stage and will increase as consumers become more comfortable with the ease and safety in which they can conduct business.

To stay ahead of the trends, innovation is key. IT training can help you gain the skills needed so you can stay on top.

Discover The Benefits Of Information Technology Outsourcing

As a business owner it is possible to realize that some of the jobs are going to cost a minor fortune. However, a business owner needs to realize that they can do themselves a tremendous favor by discovering the benefits of information technology outsourcing. When they know about those benefits they are going to see that it can be a great way to save money for the business that they are building up, while at the same time get some top quality work done.

A great benefit of outsourcing these jobs is that a person can get more services than what they can afford if they hired someone to do the job. For example some of the jobs that they could get covered could be web design, programming, and a multitude of other services. Then since they have outsourced the work to someone else the cost could be significantly lower than if they hired someone to do the job in the office.

Something else that the people they are hiring are going to be highly skilled. So rather than having to pay the person a huge amount of money for the job a person will realize that they can save money by doing this. Then they can end up putting that money into other things that they need to improve the business that they love.

Many times a person can find that by outsourcing they could find a higher quality result than what they thought about before. The person that is hired in the outsourcing job is going to care more about the quality that they provide to a business owner. That is because they are going to want a business owner to give them a good reference to any future clients they may have, but also in case you need the same type of work again.

Another thing that a business owner can find by using this type of employment is that they may not have to pay employment taxes for the person. That is because many of these people may be residing in a different country than the owner of the business. If that is the case then they may not need to pay any taxes for them.

An owner can discover that these people could allow them to enjoy more free time than what they thought about having. That free time is going to come because all they have to worry about is approving the work that the person has done. Then they are not going to need to do the work themselves. Which is going to let them have more time to concentrate on family life, or even other aspects of a business that needs to be attended to.

Most of the people that work for an outsourcing company are going to be up to date on the latest technologies. So rather than having to worry about how they are going to find someone that has the know how on fixing a problem, these people are going to be up to date and trained on the most recent changes. Then they can even take those new up to date changes to the level of helping a business upgrade to the more modern issues.

Being able to run a business is a great thing to do. However, for many people they may get overwhelmed by all the aspects that are involved in running a business. Is that is the case then a business owner will want to discover the benefits of information technology outsourcing. Once they know about the benefits of doing this an owner will want to use these services all the time to not only save money, but to get some of the highest quality work that they could even imagine getting.

Information Security Software and Information Security Programs

Information Security Software means a software solution which helps in protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, misuse, disclosure, disruption, modification or destruction of data.

Information security software can be further divided into four types of security software; computer security software, application security software, network security software and database security software.

Computer security software:

Computer security software mainly deals with operating system’s security and protecting it from Trojans, viruses, worms, backdoors, root kits and key loggers. The primary objective of computer security includes protection of information from corruption of data while allowing the information to remain accessible and productive to its intended users. The term computer system security means the collective process and mechanism by which sensitive and valuable information and services are protected from publication, tampering or collapse by unauthorized activities or untrustworthy individuals and unplanned events respectively. The best computer security software for this purpose is secure windows auditor.

Application security software:

Application security software mainly deals with any server-based application’s security and protecting it from buffer overflow; cross-site scripting; SQL injection; and canonicalization. An application’s security encompasses measures taken throughout the life-cycle to prevent exceptions in the security policy of an application or the underlying system (vulnerabilities) through flaws in the design, development, deployment, upgrade, or maintenance of the application. An application’s security only controls the use of resources granted to them. They, in turn, determine the use of these resources by users of the application. Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) and Web Application Security Consortium (WASC) updates on the latest threats which impair web-based applications. This aids developers, security testers and architects to focus on better designs and mitigation strategies.

Network security software:

Network security software mainly deals with network-based devices’ security and protecting them from unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of the computer network and network-accessible resources.  Common examples for this are software-based firewalls, an anomaly-based intrusion detection system, firewall, router and switch security monitoring software, network scanners, and network-based vulnerability assessment software (Secure Cisco Auditor).

Database security software:

Database security software will include all necessary software implementations that prevent a database from authenticated misuse, malicious attacks or inadvertent mistakes made by authorized individuals or processes, unauthorized scanning or theft of information from the database. Typical database security software will include features that help in establishing authenticity, auditing, access control, encryption and integrity control of the database. All of the above are separate software components but when put together, they form the basic part of information security software, i.e. secure sql auditor and secure oracle auditor.

Designing information security software involves a series of processes that include:

1. Requirements specification (Requirements analysis)

2. Software Design

3. Integration

4. Testing (or Validation)

5. Deployment (or Installation)

6. Maintenance

A software development process is a structure imposed on the development of a software product. Similar terms include software life cycle and software processes. There are several models for such processes, each describing approaches to a variety of tasks or activities that take place during the process. Some people consider a lifecycle model a more general term and a software development process a more specific term. For example, there are many specific software development processes that ‘fit’ the spiral lifecycle model.

One can find a list of several network security software, an essential component of information security software; computer security software, application security software, network security software and database security software from the Network Security Tools  section on Secure-Bytes website; http://www.secure-bytes.com

The IT Handbook for Business: Managing Information Technology Support Costs by William C. Couie

 

The IT Handbook for Business: Managing Information Technology Support Costs
William C. Couie
CreateSpace (September 17, 2010)
978-1453766569
178 pages

Learn how to spot IT scams and unfair billing practices, how to interview an IT firm, what a service invoice or quote should look like, and much more in The IT Handbook for Business by William C. Couie.

The IT Handbook is presented in seventeen detailed chapters. Certain chapters in the book will stand out to different business owners and managers depending on their personal situations. I will look at six chapters that stood out for me.   

Interviewing an IT Firm. Selecting an IT firm is much more than opening the yellow pages or performing a Google search. Couie looks at the questions you need to ask and the necessary Certifications, Credentials, Experience, and References you should look for in an IT firm.

Lowering IT Costs. These chronic expenses can overwhelm budgets as well as the managers responsible to keep them in check. The valuable tips on these ten pages alone make this book a must own.

Anatomy of a Quote and Anatomy of an Invoice. Two important chapters. The first shows what a quote for quality service from a reputable firm should look like and how to tell if you are about to be ripped off. The second shows what the invoice should look like and how to spot when you are billed for work not done, etc.

How to Recognize Technobabble. Industry jargon can be used to confuse, mislead, or dazzle customers in almost any industry. This chapter will help you recognize technospeak, whether it is spoken by a technician or written in an invoice or quote.  

Scams and Unfair Billing Practices. This chapter is a revealing insider look at the grey areas and total rip-offs that some IT firms exploit to pad their revenue streams. The author looks at no less than 10 shady practices and complete scams. This information is the equivalent of an auto- mechanic or plumber showing how their industries cheat motorists or home owners.

Mr. Couie draws on his more than 30 years of information technology field work, protecting and auditing businesses to write a book that could transform how businesses and IT firms cooperate with each other. He writes in a conversational tone and does not bog down his pages with highly technical passages. As someone with limited IT knowledge, I was able to absorb and understand the information easily. This book will empower business owners and managers to make informed decisions about their computer network maintenance, upgrades, and repairs. The book begins with the author’s bold statement, “In virtually every city in the world that has computers, I think there’s a technical support firm or person who’s taking advantage of a business’s ignorance of technology.” I have no doubt this quote is accurate and I believe that a significant amount of IT Support expenditures can be reduced, or eliminated, by reading and implementing the lessons learned in this book.

If you own or manage a business you need The IT Handbook for Business. Highly Recommended.

What is Information Technology?

Many definitions are expressed about IT. All of them are correct regardless of the differences among these definitions. The reason is that these definitions are coming from separate perspectives. We will review each bellow:

IT is a Strategy: Every organization along its life time is trying to reach its ideal goals. Therefore, organizations need to know their tools, resources, facilities, and their environment, well. By applying IT, organizations can achieve a recognition that is different by the recognition of traditional companies. Organizations can use this phenomenon to achieve a lot of the following goals:

1 – Access to larger markets. 2 – Provide more and better services. 3 – Collecting more and more useful information about customers. 4 – Better understanding of potential customers. 5 – Do things easier and faster. 6 – Reduce operational costs. 7 – Be more effective and better control. 8 – Can access resources within and outside the organization.

IT is a Thought: IT can be used as a thought in performing things better and more effective. When we identify our necessary tools and strategies, we have to use a thought to combine these two, for achieving more effective results. So, using the same tools in similar organizations can have different results.

IT is a Tool: Whatever that helps us to collect, circulate and transfer the information, regardless of time and physical status, is called IT.

If we look at information technology as a tool, it will includes the following:

1 – Computers. 2 – Computer Networks. 3 – Software applications. 4 – Telecom and communication equipment. 5 – Multimedia equipment. 6 – Wireless communication. 7 – Communications umbrella.

And with this definition it can be said that people use information technology.

IT is Innovation: Organizations need innovation to survive in today’s competitive world. Without innovation, organizations will lose in the competition with their rivals. IT provides methods and tools for innovation. And when we look at IT as a tool we can say that IT is innovation.

Considering all the above cases, it can be said that, IT can be seen in all layers of an organization. And in today’s world, we cannot imagine an organization without IT.

In addition, IT has been entered all the layers of human life. Our daily life is depended on features that have made it easier and faster to do things and save our valuable time, tools and strategies

So it can be said that today’s world is the world of Information Technology.