Keep Your Job Safe From Robots

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation have gone from buzzwords to transformative technologies that are reshaping every aspect of our personal and professional lives. From self-driving cars to advanced fraud detection systems, automated AI is taking on larger roles across every industry.

Automated AI has the potential to solve some of society’s most vexing problems, but it also creates new challenges.

At the 2019 CompTIA DC Fly-In, a panel of tech leaders and academics came together to discuss how AI in the workplace is impacting job growth and economic prosperity, and keys to promoting thoughtful AI policies.
The Time for Federal Action is Now

With GDPR in Europe and new privacy laws in Brazil and California, companies are now facing a patchwork of state privacy laws along with developing international patchwork. Panelists discussed the major compliance burden this puts on businesses and negative impact on consumers. This makes it more urgent than ever for Congress to take the critical next steps in passing comprehensive federal privacy legislation.

The panel was moderated by Steve Levine, Future Editor at Axios, and included Alexandra Givens, Executive Director at the Institute for Technology Policy at Georgetown University Law Center; John Sipple, Senior Software Engineer at Machine Learning at Google and Specialist in AI for DIUx; and Chloe Autio, Policy Analyst, Corporate and Government Affairs for Intel Corp.
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CompTIA Certification: A Need and a Want

As an IT specialist in the U.S. military in the early-‘00s, Nightengale had plenty of experience managing networks – but by 2002, holding U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)-compliant certifications was required to do the job. A CompTIA Network+ seemed like the most applicable IT certification to his duties at the time, and so Nightengale went for it.

As he continued down his IT path in the military, Nightengale continued to bank CompTIA certifications that both piqued his interest and fulfilled the DOD requirements he needed to hit.

CompTIA told Congress that federal infrastructure funding should concentrate on the following goals:
Improving and expanding broadband connectivity;
Using smart technologies to enhance public utilities;
Promoting cyber solutions to secure the nation’s energy grid; and
Supporting smart transportation solutions to maximize efficiency and safety of our roads, bridges, railways and airports.

In 2008, already recognizing that cybersecurity was a burgeoning part of the IT industry, he snagged CompTIA Security+. Shortly thereafter, he decided to round out his skills with the CompTIA A+ – which would help him not just professionally, but personally. Nightengale likes building computers in his spare time, so the CompTIA A+ set him up both to better manage help desk tickets and to get more out of his own side projects.

When he retired from the service in 2010, Nightengale wasn’t just an IT guru – he had the certifications to prove it. And as he entered the workforce, he was able to easily navigate what can sometimes be a trying process for veterans.
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CompTIA Community Chair Spearheads

Cristina Greysman, partner strategy at Amazon Web Services, sees herself and CompTIA as growing in tandem. “My involvement with CompTIA and AWIT [the association’s Advancing Women in Technology Community] and my career have been closely tied,” she said. “CompTIA has helped shape me and I’ve helped shape it.”

Greysman has been a member of AWIT’s executive council for six years and early last year assumed the role of its chair. “Is it an honor or a burden?” she joked. “I do see it as a culmination of my experience; writing the end of a chapter. I took AWIT from a startup to now becoming a platform for thinking bigger.”

Greysman points to AWIT bringing together a consortium of organizations working to advance women in IT. “They’re all doing one little thing,” she said. “What if we came together and tried to do one big thing?” She pointed to efforts like finding funding for women’s startups and addressing gender parity.

Under Greysman’s leadership as chair, AWIT has launched AWIT Connect, an online directory that compiles all of the tech resources available to women and girls. The idea was to “basically create the Google for women in tech,” Greysman said. Click here to learn more and search or browse currently listed organizations. Click here to learn more about AWIT and get involved today.
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Emerging Technology and IT Pros

The overarching theme of CompTIA’s latest IT Industry Outlook is that the next big thing is dead. There is no single technology that will redefine IT operations or business strategies. Instead, technologies must be stacked together to produce new and innovative solutions.

Of course, drawing the most interest are emerging technologies. With incredible capability now available at affordable levels and new ideas coming from a wide variety of sources, there are many new trends that companies are exploring as they try to discover how to drive new growth or reach new customers. With all the exploration, the natural question is around getting the right skills. Rather than seeking out highly specialized skills, the right answer to that question is likely to build new skills on top of existing ones.
Things IT Pros Need to Know About Emerging Tech

Three different trends from the Outlook study show how emerging technologies will show up in technology solutions, and CompTIA certifications provide a path to success in all these trends.Emerging technologies will work alongside established technologies to create new solutions.

Almost every company now uses cloud computing, and edge computing is an extension of cloud systems that brings compute power closer to the endpoints. But when you add in 5G networks, the result is a new platform for economic activity.

A foundation of cloud/edge/5G allows companies to build applications that were never possible before, driving a new wave of business opportunity.

CompTIA Network+ gives IT pros the fundamental knowledge needed to build proper networks, even as those networks grow faster and more capable.

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What Is DevSecOps

In an age of frequent data breaches and hackers who are constantly finding new ways to gain access to systems and devices, proactive IT teams have realized that security needs to be everyone’s job. That’s where DevSecOps comes in. It’s a combination of the development, operations and security functions that allows teams to assess and address potential threats at every stage of a project. We talked to James Stanger, CompTIA’s Chief Technology Evangelist, to better understand what DevSecOps is, how it’s changing IT teams, and how pros can get the skills they need to work in this type of environment.
IoT and Data

Data management and data analysis are the keys to unlocking the benefits of IoT. All the data collected from sensor networks can provide new insights and opportunities for automation, but it needs to be managed properly. Many companies are building more discipline into their data processes in order to pursue more advanced data practices. Establishing these new processes requires the organization skills featured in CompTIA Project+.
IoT and Computer Networking

All that data needs to make its way from the endpoints to the back office for collection and analysis. One of the most common surprise costs with technical projects these days is network upgrades. Even relatively recent networks may not have the bandwidth or quality of service required to handle the many new streams of data. CompTIA Network+ is as relevant for IoT as it is for traditional IT operations.
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CompTIA A+: Proven Problem Solvers for Today’s Digital World

The newly redesigned CompTIA A+ Core Series certification ensures a skillset that goes beyond the simple mechanics of IT. This certification supports the core technologies of today – things like security and data management – while also ensuring highly transferable skills that will hold up in an array of workplace scenarios.

The new CompTIA A+ features a mix of timeless competencies and emerging tech:
Troubleshooting and problem solving for real-time IT support challenges
Significantly expanded baseline security topics
A dedicated domain for cloud and virtualization, including scripting as an important technical support tool
An expanded internet of things (IoT) that addresses both device hardware and connectivity
You have many training options to help you prepare for your CompTIA A+ exam, including self-study materials, virtual labs, videos, online classes and in-person career prep classes. In 2020, CompTIA Tech Career Academy is bringing its IT-Ready Technical Support program to classrooms, so that students get the training they need to earn CompTIA A+ and launch their IT careers on the help desk.

In short, today’s CompTIA A+ enables end users and devices to securely access the data needed to complete tasks.

Do you have full confidence in the IT skills of your employees? There’s always more to learn, and the new CompTIA A+ will ensure your employees have not just the skills, but the mindset to go the extra distance for whatever IT challenges arise in your business.
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Windows Subsystem for Linux

Some IT pros might remember when it was career suicide to recommend Linux, or even when they had to choose between Windows and Linux, but those days are gone. Today, Linux has become the primary way to virtualize Windows systems on Microsoft’s Azure platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and other cloud platforms.

Developers are regularly using both Microsoft and Linux as they develop sophisticated applications for their businesses and organizations. Microsoft has made terrific strides in its embrace of open source, such as the Windows Subsystem for Linux. Secure Shell (SSH) has also become a preferred way to remotely administer Windows systems.

Join CompTIA Chief Technology Evangelist Dr. James Stanger for this month’s Office Hours with James as he investigates ways that Windows and Linux do more than simply co-exist in today’s cloud and internet of things (IoT)-aware IT environment.

He’ll show you how to install, use and support the Windows subsystem for Linux. By the end of the webinar, you’ll not only know how to use it, but also why it’s so important from an IT support and security perspective.
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All About Linux and Linux+

Linux is all around us, but do you really know what it is? And how does it apply to IT jobs? In this blog post, author, CompTIA instructor and Linux guru Jason Eckert helps to demystify the open-source operating system so you can decide whether or not CompTIA Linux+ is right for you.
What Is Linux?

In short, Linux is an open-source, UNIX-like operating system created by Linus Torvalds that runs a plethora of different devices today. When you do your online banking or use Google, Facebook or Twitter, you’re talking to Linux servers in the cloud. In fact, nearly all supercomputers and cloud servers run Linux, as does your Android smartphone and many other devices around your home and workplace, such as firewalls and routers. Even my touch-screen refrigerator, home media center, smart thermostat and in-car GPS run Linux.

Open source has been the key to Linux’s success. Software released under an open-source license gives other software developers access to modify the original source code that was used to create the software. This, in turn allows other software developers worldwide to quickly identify and fix bugs and security loopholes, as well as make feature improvements to the software. Consequently, open-source software evolves rapidly, and this is what transformed Linux into the world’s most flexible and powerful operating system since its conception more than 25 years ago.

Linus Torvalds and his team still develop the core operating system kernel and libraries. However, software developers worldwide develop the additional open-source libraries and software packages used with the Linux kernel. You may obtain different distributions (or distros) of Linux as a result. All Linux distros share the same kernel and libraries, yet have different software packaged with the kernel. There are hundreds of Linux distributions available – some common ones include Red Hat, Fedora, SuSE, Debian, Ubuntu and CentOS. And don’t forget Android!
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Managing Linux Shell Scripts Using Git

Most Linux administrators today create a plethora of different shell scripts to automate system administration tasks on their servers. However, it can be challenging to coordinate and keep track of all of the different shell scripts on a large number of different systems or locate and copy the right shell scripts to a newly provisioned server. You can use Git to centrally store a master copy of your shell scripts and organize the changes that you and your fellow administrators make across multiple servers.
What Is Git?

Git is a version control system that can be used to keep track of the changes you make to files over time – it allows you to revert files to a previous state or see who made changes to a file at different times if several people are working the those files collaboratively.

Git was originally developed in 2005 by Linus Torvalds (the creator of Linux) to aid in making changes to the Linux kernel, but has since become the most common open-source version control system used today. You can run Git on most platforms, including Windows, Linux and macOS.

Although people primarily use it for version controlling software projects, you can use it to provide version control for any files on your system. In this post, we’ll use it to provide version control and central access for Linux shell scripts.
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Relief from Cloud Complexity: Planning, Sanity and Knowing Your Limits

The first and most important technique to manage complexity is to recognize the issue. Then, make some deliberate plans to recognize, combat and hopefully reduce complexity in your computing environments. In general, it’s smart to understand the IT needs you’re trying to meet by using cloud-based computing and resources before spending too much time, money or effort in trying to put cloud computing to work.

Call it a cloud complexity management plan, if you like. It should address how your organization will deal with cloud complexity in general and include the systems and resources you use, including both local, on-prem and cloud-based ones. It should also specify how systems and resource consumption will be monitored, managed and tracked.

Finally, you’ll want to establish some guidelines to limit or reduce cloud complexity as you grow and evolve your systems. This might mean limiting public cloud computing technologies to only one or two choices, for example.

The progression from CompTIA Security+ to CompTIA CySA+ and/or CompTIA PenTest+ is logical because Security+ assesses the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) an IT professional demonstrates after two years of cybersecurity field work, and CySA+ and PenTest+ assess three to four years of cybersecurity field work.

IT pros can pursue CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP+) to prove their mastery of cybersecurity skills required at the 5- to 10-year experience level. CASP+ is the pinnacle of cybersecurity certifications and includes performance-based questions. It is intended for those who wish to remain immersed in hands-on enterprise security, incident response and architecture, for example, as opposed to strictly managing cybersecurity policy and frameworks.
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IT Areas That Use Big Data

We’ve already covered what is big data, why it’s important, big data challenges and how to use them to your benefit. Now, how can you get into a big data job? We have broken down three IT career paths that use big data and the type of tasks that use big data.
1. Cybersecurity

It’s no mystery that unlawful activity is a prevalent issue online. From stealing identities to hacking credit card information, cybercrime isn’t going anywhere.

Big data can come in handy to not necessarily halt, but at least battle, cyber criminals. If you are an IT pro at a credit card company, you can expect to use big data to create patterned and rules-based structures to detect potential fraudulent purchases.

For example, if a credit card company knows that a customer is not a homeowner but sees large purchases at home improvement stores, then it may flag the account and call the customer to make sure the account information hasn’t been stolen.

Cybersecurity experts also use big data. Malicious cyber-data is more easily available than ever by law enforcement and major security providers. Cybersecurity pros are using that public data to analyze their own data and build systems to detect and prevent possible attacks.

Big Data Jobs in Cybersecurity:
Fraud Analyst
Fraud Detection and Prevention Specialist
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What Is CompTIA CertMaster Learn?

Now, let’s talk about this CertMaster Learn. CompTIA CertMaster Learn is a comprehensive and interactive self-paced online training course that teaches the content and skills needed for a career in technology, that helps candidates prepare for the CompTIA Security+ certification exam with confidence.

It combines instructional lessons with timed practice tests, assessments, videos and performance-based questions to provide over 40 hours of content tied to exam objectives.

Launched last year at the Technology Student Association’s (TSA) national conference, BYTE is an indispensable resource for every spoke on the wheel of tech education—it’s a hub of engaging information for students and teachers; a support toolkit for parents; and a resource for mentorships for tech professionals who can help usher in the next batch of innovators and industry leaders. And, BYTE is determined to make education in tech as seamless and integrative as reading and writing
A customizable learning plan helps learners stay on track with their studies while robust analytics bring awareness of strengths and weaknesses, ultimately guiding the learner to develop the necessary skills for success on their CompTIA exam in their IT career.

Now, before we walk through some of this, there’s a couple keynotes that I want to take away from here. When you’re preparing for the Security+, there’s a lot of information to cover, and to me, there’s never been a clear platform for the training. There’s always, “Okay, here’s videos. Here’s books. Now study for the exam.” But it seems that with CertMaster Learn, it gives you a complete learning plan and everything for preparing for the exam, and also a way for you to track it, and questions combined all in one place, which makes sense.

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Blockchain Brings Opportunity

There are plenty of reasons for solution providers to get excited about blockchain, but there’s also a lot to do before most can develop successful practices, according to members of CompTIA’s Blockchain Advisory Council.

Blockchain, most notably associated with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, uses an open, distributed ledger of data that permanently records transactions through cryptography, timestamps and transactional data—all meant to prevent alteration of the data. But that’s just scratching the surface, according to Jim Gitney, CEO of Group50, an Upland, Calif.-based solution provider and co-chair of CompTIA’s Blockchain Advisory Council.

There are almost limitless possibilities for leveraging blockchain in any industry and any environment, Gitney said. “Many governments around the world recognize blockchain as the most reliable way to document land titles, corporate filings, health care records, transactions and many other things,” he said. “Blockchain is the next generation of the internet. Right now, it’s probably where the internet was in 1996 or 1997. There’s a lot we can do now but there’s a lot that is aspirational too.”

To highlight the opportunities, as well as the challenges, the Blockchain Advisory Council has identified five accelerators and five barriers to blockchain adoption (detailed in the infographic at right). The goal of the infographic—and the council itself—is to evangelize blockchain as a disruptive technology that will impact how business is done in the future, Gitney said. The faster solution providers understand blockchain and its implications for business, the more innovative solutions they can create and bring to market, he said.
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Laws Mean to Health and Human Services?

How can Health and Human Services agencies best license, regulate, and monitor the use of legalized cannabis in their states?

If any question exemplifies the ever-changing HHS landscape, it’s this one, as – in a matter of a few short years – 33 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana, and 10 states and DC have legalized recreational use of cannabis. These decisions are likely to have profound implications on human services delivery affecting child support, public assistance and child protective services. As such, there is growing interest in states on how to address these issues as more states legalize cannabis in one form or another.

It’s also the kind of issue that CompTIA’s Human Services Information Technology Advisory Group’s Content and Issues Committee was built for.

For 25 years, the Human Services Information Technology Advisory Group (HSITAG) has been identifying and monitoring critical HHS issues, including reaching out to state and federal officials, with a particular focus on how technology systems and automation could be used to help improve the lives of HHS professionals and the constituencies they serve. Today, one of the means by which HSITAG continues to examine current topics is through its Content and Issues Committee, which scans the HHS landscape for issues or projects that they believe HSITAG should be involved with and working on.

The purpose of the Committee is to identify legislation, regulations, policy and/or program issues at the federal or state levels that could have an impact on program or technology/system issues affecting health and human services programs. When issues are identified that could have an impact on the broader HSITAG membership, the Committee makes recommendations to the HSITAG Executive Council as to whether workgroups should further research, study, and analyze them and determine a course of action.
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Start a Career in Cybersecurity

IT Instructor David Staples talks about getting into cybersecurity – by first learning the basics of IT and then gaining experience and certifications to prepare you for a specialized cybersecurity role.

So today we’re going to talk about how to get started with a career in cybersecurity. Before we get started, I do have to thank CompTIA for sponsoring this video. I really appreciate it. And thank you to all you guys who are watching, as well.

CompTIA and these types of sponsorships are the reason that I’m able to do things like what you see here. And I know it doesn’t look like much, but surprise, we recently bought a new house. And what you see here will turn into my office/YouTube studio.

It’s because of people just like you watching right now that have made these things possible. So really, I just want to say thank you to everyone, but especially thank you for CompTIA for sponsoring this particular video.

Now even though they’ve sponsored the video, they haven’t told me what to say, so all the opinions you see here are expressly my own. They haven’t given me any talking points or anything like that.

The panel shared insights into leadership experiences, analysed the changing nature of leadership, and weighed the different leadership styles fit for guests’ various types of workplaces and business. Broadfoot encouraged leaders to get in the trenches with their employees to collaborate on joint outcomes, and Bergl shared insight into how leaders can create unique and meaningful experiences for their teams, boosting morale and productivity.
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Governments Should Outsource All IT Operations

Public managers can no longer accept the rationale from their direct reports that “I am doing the best job I can.” In way too many cases this is simply not enough and today’s demands for technology leadership goes far beyond dedication, duty, and countless hours trying to keep things going. It must include competencies as well. We must delve deeper and actively assess what vulnerabilities lie within our systems, as well as looking more closely at staff competencies and expertise. To be clear, it is not my intention to cast any shadow of a doubt regarding their hard work and dedication. Today’s technology comes with a greater price and this will be paid one way or another -- be it investments or damages.

Just as important, one cannot ignore the fact that outsourcing to any degree does not absolve the jurisdiction’s responsibility regarding issues of compliance and security. Someone will still need to manage any contract in terms of performance and outcomes.

1 Retirement of senior staff. We are witnessing the largest retirement boom in recent history, leaving many jurisdictions short of talented staff, institutional knowledge and areas of needed expertise. This alone is presents a challenge to fill positions requiring a great deal of expertise - however when coupled with the rest of the list it becomes dire.


2 Staff turnover. This is certainly related to the above but at the same time different. Younger staff are generally not staying at one place for a lengthy period of time as did their predecessors. While this provides opportunities that can benefit the organization – new people bring new perspectives and skills – a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience is (also) walking out the door.

3 Reduced incentives. Governments were traditionally known for their generous health and retirement benefits. But ever since the Great Recession in the 2000s, benefit packages have shrunken in all categories. Add to this the fact that government service has been cast in negative terms – mostly by politicians who have other agendas in mind - makes it even more difficult to recruit qualified staff. This is especially true with technology professionals. This of course leads to increased turnover and poor morale within the organization.
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How Cybersecurity Is Like Home Security

While there are, of course, differences between home security and cybersecurity, it can be helpful to understand the problems we’re facing by stripping out the bits and bytes and just thinking about the practical steps we take to keep our possessions from getting stolen.

If you lived in a ground-floor apartment in a city with a high rate of break-ins, you might think more seriously about a home security system or reinforced locks than you would if you lived in a rural area with few neighbors.

Then again, even if the likelihood of a random break-in was low, you might have other reasons for increasing security, such as to protect your valuable, irreplaceable possessions or give yourself peace of mind that you’re safe.

From there, you’d research which system would most effectively secure entry points to your home. You would want a comprehensive system that defended against the most likely ways people would break into a house like yours.

And you would have to use it in conjunction with the intuitive basics of home security, like remembering to lock your doors. If you had your front door outfitted with all sorts of locks and alarms but had another easily visible entry into your home that was entirely insecure, it’s a safe bet that anyone looking to break in would just saunter into the unlocked entrance rather than expending effort trying to disarm alarms and cut through bolts.
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Money Influences Where Tech Pros

IT pros are more likely to choose cities with affordable housing than slick amenities, according to new data from CompTIA. In fact, tech pros make a lot of economic considerations when they’re thinking of relocating, according to the Tech on the Move report.

“We asked IT pros to rank the factors they consider related to where they want to live and work, and over and over, affordability kept coming out on top,” said Amy Carrado, research lead on the study and senior director of research and market intelligence at CompTIA.

IT pros ranked overall low cost of living and affordable housing as their top priorities when asked about a multitude of factors, like whether it’s a smart city or a tech hub or startup friendly.

“These more indirect factors, like cities that use smart technology or are business friendly, also influence what matters to tech pros most, and those aspects can end up bringing other positives to their IT pro careers,” Carrado said.

Tech pros are most willing to move to places where they can stake their futures – especially those who have less than a bachelor’s degree. Using data from the Tech on the Move report, here are five ways affordability plays into the reasons tech pros choose where they live and work.
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CompTIA Flip My Cube

Gen Zers who are interested in tech careers seem to be cautiously optimistic. Because many members of the Gen Z were children during the Great Recession, and witnessed how the economy issues and subsequent aftermath affected their parents, their friends and their community, Generation Z may have developed the long view when it comes to their future jobs and locales.

In the Tech on the Move study, 82% of Gen Z respondents said that overall cost of living as a very important factor when considering where to begin their professional lives. They also favor job location (48%), flexibility and autonomy (48%), and creativity and innovation (37%) more than Millennials. Compared to 74% of Millennials, this shows that Gen Zers are looking at the bigger picture of how their job prospects will affect their lives, holistically. In other words, they don’t want to put themselves in a position they can’t afford.
However, the number of tech jobs available in an area and job salaries of an area were lowest on the scale of most important factors for Gen Zers (numbers 9 and 10, respectively). The study also reports that 48% of Gen Zers surveyed noted that having meaningful work that positively impacts others is a top factor when determining where to put down their roots (compared to only 38% of Millennials). There’s an optimism in those ideas: The study suggests that for Gen Zers, it’s not just about making money or climbing the ladder as fast as possible or being in most desirable location; it’s more of a live to work, not work to live attitude. After decades of wondering how to achieve the elusive work/life balance
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