Certification Watch (Vol. 23, No. 46)
- Written by GoCertify Staff
- Published: 18 November 2020
In this week's roundup of the latest IT certification news, Training Industry releases its annual list of the Top 20 IT Training Companies, Microsoft Learn has online proctored exam tips, and more.
Training Industry Ranks IT Training Companies
Training Industry touts itself as being "the most trusted source of information on the business of learning." One of the benefits of having worked to build up that kind of reputation is that people tend to take notice when you make lists. This week, Training Industry released it annual list of the top IT training companies. The companies considered for the list were rated on a number of fronts, including breadth and quality of IT training content and courses, leadership and innovation in IT training, and company size and growth potential. Training Industry president Ken Taylor said in a press release announcing the list's publication that the companies included worked quickly and successfully to adapt to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. "These companies continue to modify their delivery to ensure learners are receiving the best training that works with their schedule," Taylor said. The list is not ranked. Among those companies that made the grade are Global Knowledge, Pluralsight, O'Reilly, Skillsoft, LearnQuest, Dell Technologies, Learning Tree International, The Training Associates, and New Horizons Computer Learning Centers. Global Knowledge was recently acquired by Skillsoft and will be rebranded.
Making Time for Your Life Away from Work
Finding the right balance between time spent on work and time spent relaxing or attending to various personal pursuits was a problem long before the global COVID-19 pandemic merged many people's workspace into their personal space. As California punk rockers The Offspring wisely counseled us, "You gotta keep 'em separated," a circle that has become difficult to square since the shift, for many in IT, to the new work-at-home world. If you've found yourself struggling to bear an increasingly intrusive workload, then you may find some helpful advice in at article recently posted at CertMag.com, the official website of Certification Magazine, that discusses the importance of not becoming overwhelmed by work. One thing the article suggests is that keeping work in its appointed place is largely an act of will accomplished by setting clear and consistent boundaries. As with many work-related endeavors, it would seem that successful communication (both with managers ahd domestic cohabitators) is a key element of making sure that you have sufficient separation from the daily grind.
The New Security+ Is Out There
Tech industry association CompTIA has been making waves with the release of its newest upgrade to the popular Security+ certification. Ed Tittel provided an overview of the new credential here at GoCertify just last week. Now CompTIA blogger Eileen Ristau Tauchman has gotten out her fine-toothed comb for a brand new post to the official CompTIA Blog that outlines the importance of training to prepare for the Security+ exam. Tauchman also provides context for your quest to become Security+-certified, including pointing out that there are presently 507,924 open cybersecurity jobs just in the United States. Even IT professionals who aren't intending to specialize in cybersecurity still need to have a strong grasp of cybersecurity fundamentals. Going all in on Security+ certification is probably overkill if you just want to be aware of (and practice) good cybersecurity hygiene, but cybersecurity has become an important element of most other IT disciplines, so there's a lot to learn even if you aren't following a cybersecurity career path.
Microsoft Provides Primer for Online Proctored Certification Exams
Along with everything else that has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, the IT industry wildly accelerated what had been a gradual and foot-dragging shift to the realm of online proctored certification exams. Suddenly online certification exams are everywhere! Some certification providers, of course, were further along in the process than others. Microsoft started offering remote proctored exams several years ago and has been a leader in the shift to online testing. So even if you aren't planning to take a Microsoft certification exam any time soon, there is almost certainly valuable advice to be gleaned from a new post to the Microsoft Learn Blog about how to prepare for your next online exam. Longtime Microsoft Learn certification guru Liberty Munson points to some handy resources and offers a few tips to help you get comfortable with an exam format that is new to many, but likely to become the new standard for certification exam delivery even after the COVID pandemic subsides.
That's all for this edition of Certification Watch. Please keep your certification news and tips coming to the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..