AWS Promotes Inclusive IT Culture
Yesterday was International Women's Day and the IT certification world is taking notice. Over at the AWS Training and Certification Blog, a timely post discusses the importance of making the worldwide IT culture more inclusive of, and welcoming to, women. The post is written by Maureen Lonergan, the vice president in charge of AWS Certification and Training. In other words, this is a woman in a prominent IT career telling you what women women really need to thrive in IT. For example, Lonergan writes that women in IT need allies – not in the passive sense of nodding along whenever the issues comes up, but in the active sense of taking actual concrete steps to help women feel more comfortable in IT circles. One specific thing that Lonergan mentions is using inclusive language, and not just in the sense of knowing what to say, but also in the sense of speaking up instead of holding one's tongue. In the (still) male-dominated IT realm, almost everyone needs to listen more to what women have to say. So click over and read through Lonergan's discussion of the topic, and then see what you can do to act on what you've learned.
CertMag Focuses on Women
Over at CertMag.com, the official website of Certification Magazine, there's a unique Salary Survey-style shout-out to female certified IT professionals in honor of International Women's Day. Women participate in CertMag's annual Salary Survey each year, and each year the survey team devotes an installment of its yearlong Deep Focus series to providing data about women survey respondents. For example, female IT professionals from the United States who participated in the survey had an average annual salary of $103,270. The annual salary figure for women who chimed in from outside the United States was $68,620. And while the United States produced 66 percent of survey responses, there was still participation from female certified IT professionals in 61 other countries. There's lots of good information here, in particular for young women contemplating IT career who would like to know some specifics about what their future might look like.
CompTIA Shares Success Stories from Women IT Executives
For its coverage on International Women's Day, tech industry association CompTIA picked up on the official IWD theme of "Break the Bias." To celebrate the success of women leaders, the CompTIA blog squad checked in with several female executives and lets them sum up their experiences in their own words. For example, Hannah O'Donnell, director of sales at Collabrance, says that advice and encouragement from leadership played a key role in helping her achieve tech career success. As O'Donnell writes, "I am 10 years into my IT career and got to where I am today through quality leadership. It is important that we provide that same mentorship to other women who are starting their career. For women out there that have already advanced in their career, make a conscious effort to support other women. Give them guidance and a voice." If you work in IT, then look around yourself for women who could benefit from encouragement and guidance and offer to help.
Microsoft Certifications Go to Europe
Our final item this week isn't directly related to International Women's Day. On the other hand, we are directly referencing a new post to Microsoft Learn Blog that was written by a woman, Microsoft senior business program manager Rachel Wortman Morris. Morris has a cool story to tell about how Microsoft certifications have been integrated into the curriculum at Montpellier Business School, one of the oldest business colleges in France. This is a trend that has picked up a lot of steam in the United States in recent years, so it's interesting to see that similar things are happening around the world.
That's all for this edition of Certification Watch. Please keep your certification news and tips coming to the GoCertify News Editor.
