TrainACE - IT and Cybersecurity Training Blog

Update Nov, 2023. With a huge skills gap in the IT sector, organizations in Washington DC and Maryland are looking for Cisco network specialists to build and maintain their IT infrastructure. IT professionals with hands-on experience and certifications in network technologies are commanding high salaries in rewarding roles.

One of the most sought-after networking qualifications is the CCNA certification, which covers networking fundamentals with a focus on Cisco network architecture and functionality. Given the sheer number of businesses around Maryland that rely on Cisco networks and services, earning this qualification offers substantive benefits for any IT professional looking to work in network planning, implementation, and management.

Preparing for the CCNA exam has associated time and financial costs, so let’s break down what CCNA is, the CCNA training cost, and how it can help boost long-term career success.

So, you’re excited about the possibility of getting into an ethical hacking career. You love the idea of using hacker’s tactics legally to help others protect themselves from cyber attacks. You’ve heard about CEH certification, but you’re not sure what it is or why it’s important to you as a potential ethical hacker.

Let’s break down EC-Councils’ CEH certification and why it’s an essential tool in a cybersecurity career.

Some of the best and most popular certifications in the IT industry are CompTIA certifications. But what can you do when you are starting out and have just passed the CompTIA Security+ exam? With the Security+ credential, but limited experience in information security, it may seem like you have to get other certifications in order to find a good job. But that isn’t the case. You can find great entry-level security jobs that you qualify for when you have a Security Plus certification.

Highly skilled IT professionals are in demand. Expanding corporate need is outstripping current candidate pools, and as a result, companies are now looking for outside-the-box IT skills that are transferable across job markets and can fill expanding cyber vacancies.

IT pros, meanwhile, aren’t static in their job searches. Recent data suggests the average worker changes jobs between 10 and 15 times over the course of his/her career. The reasons vary — better pay, improved benefits, greater autonomy — but IT career advancement often depends on transferable IT skills that are in demand across multiple industries. Let’s tackle the top four.

What do digital transformation, rapid mobile adoption and increasing cloud uptake have in common? They’re driving substantial market growth for IT professionals. According to recent U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, IT will grow “faster than the average for all other occupations,” adding more than 500,000 jobs over the next five years.

If you’re considering careers in information technology, opportunity is knocking. The caveat? Figuring out your best fit.

Companies need IT expertise.  Recent data suggests that by 2020, more than three-quarters of organizations will “experience visible business disruptions due to skills gaps.” Just two years ago, only 25 percent of businesses said the skills gap was an issue.

Not all hackers are cybercriminals. Increasingly, businesses around Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia employ ethical hackers (also known as white hat hackers) to break into their computer networks to expose vulnerabilities. Ethical hacking and penetration testing have become a mainstream career within the region, with companies employing a highly skilled cohort of programmers and computer experts.

Let’s explore the basics and increase your understanding of ethical hacking. We’ll lay out the differences between Black Hat and White Hat hackers, differentiating between cybercriminals and ethical hackers.

The cyber skills gap is widening: Recent data suggests a shortfall of more than 3 million IT experts in the next three years. What does this mean for your business? Looking for new staff to meet expanding tech requirements may not be possible — instead, companies are better served bolstering current employee experience with the right mixture of on-site training and classroom-led learning.

Virtual classroom training is on the rise — recent data from the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) reports more than 528 full-time virtual schools across the United States serving almost 300,000 students. So it’s no surprise to see this carry over into the workforce, especially for information technology professionals; virtual IT training offers companies a way to keep staff on-site while they earn certifications or refresh needed skills.

IT classroom training, meanwhile, gives employees the chance to go hands-on and get practical experience in their chosen field of study, experience they can leverage when they’re back managing local server stacks and handling security issues.

What’s the best fit? Let’s dig into the pros and cons of virtual training and live classroom offerings.

Human interaction remains the single biggest threat to businesses as they attempt to secure their networks from cyber-attack. Increasingly sophisticated phishing attacks represent the dominant way in which cyber-criminals manipulate employees within small and large businesses, to open their networks to malicious activities. It's not surprising then, that venture capitalists are paying close attention to the cybersecurity awareness training market.

After over 40 years in the IT business, having done everything from starting a help desk to being Director of Network Operations for the largest Major Shared Resource Center for the U.S. Government, I have observed certain traits that all successful IT personnel seem to exhibit. Among them are Tenacity, Integrity Curiosity, and Leadership. So if you are looking to succeed in Information Technology, read on.

Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification acts as the standard measure of competence for all project managers regardless of their industry of operation. It, therefore, follows that any individuals who are serving in project related fields such as IT and Cybersecurity would benefit significantly from formal project management training.

But why should a programmer, network engineer, or help desk technician get PMP certified? Especially if they are relatively new to the industry?