Earning the new CompTIA A+ certification

Being CompTIA A+ certified is definitely worth it when it comes to landing entry-level jobs. It is recognized as one of the very first certifications that prospective IT pros should obtain. It validates enough general knowledge and skills about computers and networking to be useful. It is not intended as a super certification that trumps experience, but it shows employers two things.

First, you are willing to learn and advance your career. Second, it shows that you have the ability to study and pass an exam. Like it or not, certifications are a part of the job.

Believe it or not, earning CompTIA A+ places you above non-certification holders. That’s nothing to take for granted if you are just starting out. Having the A+ can help you land entry-level IT jobs like desktop support or help desk tech.

The new CompTIA A+ is a good place to start. It provides the foundational knowledge for bigger and better roles further down the line. The A+ even has the DoD stamp of approval, if you’re thinking about working for the U.S. government.
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Pass the CompTia A+ Certification Exams

Build your own desktop computer (or build one for a friend)

CompTIA A+ Certification exams test you on a large amount of hardware knowledge. One of the most rewarding experiences you can have in IT is the satisfaction of building your first computer. Few things are so intimidating and yet so simple. Building a desktop computer is an exhilarating way to familiarize yourself with hardware and components. The muscle memory and time-intensive process teaches you in a way that reading and watching just can’t. Building a desktop helps clarify what the RAM, HDD, SSD, GPU, CPU, MOBO and a host of other acronyms mean. CompTIA A+ exams have MANY questions covering a large spectrum of hardware and software knowledge that is required at an entry-level Information Technology job. Building a desktop gives you experience in setting up an OS, running through a BIOS, hardware differences, selecting case and motherboard type, and much more. It is a great way to feel confident on exam day, knowing that the hardware portion of the CompTIA exam is not just theory but real world practice.
Set up a CompTIA A+ test lab

Be honest. You wouldn’t get on an airplane with a Pilot who has never flown an airplane. Experience matters. While a significant amount of time can be spent on CompTIA A+ certification preparation, the best study guide is experience. Nothing prepares you more for a test than fixing a computer and running through the operating system to get a feel for it. A test lab is easy to set-up and requires very little in terms of money. In fact, any laptop will do. At worst, if you lack of funding, using Ebay, Offerup, Thrift Stores and more can net you some basic parts from ancient times to set-up your lab.

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MSP for the Future

Another large difference within the cloud is having resources on demand. You can set up your servers to spin up more instances if there is a lot of consumption, like at peak times, and then just shut them off and not pay for them when they are not needed. Optimizing the use of those resources for cost is very specific to your cloud provider.

Are you providing added value?
Adding value isn’t just a nice to have anymore. Amongst the cloud-based ISVs, SaaS-focused reseller/referral partners and digital marketing agencies, augmenting what you offer is essential to build your position with your customers. Examples include:
Converged services.
Subscription-based pricing.
Landscape monitoring to anticipate issues and opportunities for customers.
Owned proprietary IP.
Proactive offers and discounts.
Partnership risk sharing.
XaaS as basis of business.
Industry and vertical expertise.
360-degree physical security.
Anticipation of the needs of their customers.
A line of business focus to support use of best practices.
Knowledgeable application support.
Business transformation services for customers.
Virtual CIO services.

Where I worked before, we would have technical refreshes with on-premises data centers, finding the best cost of new hardware that will be most reliable until new funds were allocated. Here in the cloud, we are determining if our instances can run smaller, configuring autoscaling groups for more efficiencies or discerning which style of deployment or cloud-provided utility will best fit our system needs at the lowest cost. As most cloud providers keep incorporating new features and changing prices, this can be very interesting and keep you on your toes!

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The Creative Problem Solver’s

IT is a profession that’s built around the hard science of computing, so for those casual users who haven’t spent much time investigating the ins and outs of computers, it might sound a little dry. Or intimidating. But while there’s plenty to learn about the way computers and networks function in order to manage the technology in a professional environment, hard facts are hardly the half of it. A help desk technician or technical support specialist who’s been in the game for even just a little while can tell you that there’s an art to IT: the better part of providing high-quality service is bringing knowledge to life with creative thinking.

Every help desk ticket poses its own unique challenges, so being able to think on your feet and use creative problem-solving skills is a key to success in IT at every step of the game. This is why the latest update of CompTIA A+, the foundational entry-level IT certification, tests as heavily on the ability to think through problems as it does on the knowledge it takes to recognize them.

If you’re considering IT as a career path, don’t fear that you might be setting yourself up for something boring. Help desk-level IT work is anything but that. To understand how, take a look at the following ways creative problem-solving skills come into play, every day, at the help desk.
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How to Get into IT

There are many different tracks your IT career can take. If you’re interested in protecting systems, a career in cybersecurity will give you a lot of opportunities for growth and career satisfaction. If you like helping people and problem solving, then working your way up from help desk to advanced tech support or computer networking could be a great start.

You don’t have to make that decision today. Learn more about IT, experiment to find out what you like and run with it! One way to learn about IT careers is to meet other IT professionals. The CompTIA Association for Information Technology Professionals (AITP) and Women in Tech Summits (WITS) are two ways to do just that. Furloughed government workers can even get a scholarship to attend WITS Mid-Atlantic in 2019.

IT certifications can help you explore the different outlets of IT and learn a lot, too. CompTIA certifications particularly align with IT infrastructure and cybersecurity career paths, with each added certification representing a deepening of your expertise.

Core certifications, like CompTIA A+, lay the groundwork for the specialized pathway certifications, and additional professional certifications, like CompTIA Project+, cover necessary IT skills.

So, what’s next? We’d like to offer you a free trial of CompTIA CertMaster Practice to get your feet wet and test out IT. CompTIA CertMaster Practice is an intelligent online course that helps you learn fast and remember information long-term as you prepare for your certification exam. It quickly assesses what you know and then focuses on filling your knowledge gaps. It’s a great addition to your exam prep plan and guides you to mastery of the curriculum. Try CompTIA CertMaster out and discover how exciting learning about technology is. And if you think learning about it is fun, wait until you land a job in IT – that’s when the real fun begins!
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Ways to Bridge the Divide Between Security and IT Operations

Bridging the digital divide between SOC and IT operations is critical to providing adequate protection from security threats. The following infographic shares the different struggles CISO and SOC professionals face with six things SOC leaders can do right away to amend them, and provides key insights on how organizations can maintain a well-run SOC.
Bridging the Divide

As highlighted by the above infographic, there are several ways to solve the miscommunication between the SOC and C-suite members. Below are some tips for SOC leaders that can be incorporated right away.

Begin by having open conversations with the analysts.

Consider implementing a monthly meeting with the SOC to sync on current issues and concerns.

Ask them questions such as the following:
“What issues are you facing right now that interfere with your performance?”
“What would make it easier for you to do your job?
“How are your recommendations for lessons learned tracked and actioned?”
“What cooperation do you lack?”
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Pattern-Based Thinking to Solve Interplanetary Conflict

Nnedi Okorafor is a Nigerian-American author who won both Hugo and Nebula awards for best novella for Binti, the first in a series.

A basic insight and pattern recognition can keep a lot of problems from getting worse – even interplanetary ones. This shorter book delivers intense storytelling, familiar Afrofuturist world building and authentic vocabulary in a compact format.

Binti is a young woman from a futurized Himba people, a current minority in Namibia. The novel kicks off with her thoughts and observations while she powers up a dodgy transporter.

As Binti leaves her home culture and family to travel to an off-planet university, the unforeseen occurs. As IT pros may know best, incident response can be about doing the best you can in a bad situation.

Proposing a project at the right time can help you land the work. Bring new ideas in when your potential clients are making the budget and not when they’ve just finalized it, for example, and plan far enough ahead to be able to do it in stages; awareness, consideration and selection.

“Give them time to consider it and then time to make up the contract and get all the pieces in place,” she said.

When people move through the buyer’s journey, they’re going to start wanting to know more, she said. The selection phase is where MSPs offer the kinds of super specific content they can develop for prospective customers.
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