Certification Watch (Vol. 20, No. 42)

Written by GoCertify Staff

Published: 18 October 2017

In this week's roundup of the latest IT certification news, CompTIA has some new (if not wholly original) answers to an old question, an Apple falls far from the company tree, and more.

Take My Survey, Please! (Is This Thing On?)

We here at Certification Watch have made a concerted effort to alert readers to the fact that the annual Salary Survey conducted by Certification Magazine in now in progress. On the off chance, however, that you have recently found yourself just kind of hanging out, perhaps painting your nails, or keeping those vital quick-twitch Candy Crush reflexes sharp, we're just going to throw it out there again: the annual Salary Survey conducted by Certification Magazine is rolling on down the track. There are rewards available, of course, to those who take and complete the survey. You can get a free one-year subscription to the digital edition of Certification Magazine, or get a discounted subscription (40 percent of the standard price) to the print edition. The true reward for your participation, however, is the wealth of data and analysis that flows from the survey throughout the year. This includes not only results of the survey printed in the magazine itself, but also a steady flow of survey information to CertMag.com. For example, 35 individual certifications have been profiled to date just in the Deep Focus series of articles. The annual Salary Survey is the gift that keeps on giving.

Why Get a Certification? CompTIA Has Answers

IT industry association CompTIA is one of the best-known and most active IT certification providers in the entire tech realm. So, yeah, it stands to reason that CompTIA would have a highly favorable view of certification as a Thing That You Should Do with Your Valuable Time, Energy, and Resources. Just because CompTIA's opinion is predictable, however, doesn't mean that it's wrong. In a new post at the IT Career News blog, blogger Michelle Lange breaks down three ways that certification can benefit your IT career. For example, Lange argues that certification can help you specialize, or hone in on a particular skill set. If it's a high-value skill set, then you can set yourself up to get a bigger paycheck and probably have a more stable employment outlook going forward. That's not a new or original argument in favor of certification, but it's good to be reminded of the basics from time to time.

ISACA Invites IT Job Seekers to Online Career Fair

Many different groups are sending out tweets, or posting inforgraphics, or doing something else simple and self-contained to recognize National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM). In that sense, the timing of cybersecurity and governance association ISACA may be coincidental, but one thing ISACA is actually doing in October could directly impact the much-needed growth of the skilled cybersecurity workforce. On Oct. 25, ISACA will host a virtual jobs fair that offers job seekers the chance to connect with top employers. The event is "open to IT job seekers of all levels at no cost." The event will be live from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Eastern), and hundreds of employment candidates are already registered to participate. If you have strong skills in any of ISACA's key areas of emphasis — IT audit, assurance, governance, risk management, and cybersecurity — then this is a great opportunity to meet with interested employers.