Information technology changes constantly, and cybersecurity is possibly the most volatile sector of the entire IT industry. Hackers and other digital malefactors are constantly pressing against safeguards and dreaming up new and devilishly creative ways to mess with individuals, businesses, organizations, and government entities. That's why it's essential for cybersecurity certifications to be continually evaluated and upgraded. The Security+ certification managed by global certification and training leader CompTIA, is a critically important milestone in countless cybersecurity career paths. The latest upgrade cycle concluded today with the launch of SY0-701, the newest version of the Security+ certification exam. Security+ is an intermediate-level certification, but often provides a point of entry to cybersecurity for both relative IT newcomers and career switchers.
Find Your Footing with IT Project Management
Speaking of CompTIA, another credential in the CompTIA family that offers a great career transition point is Project+, a certification for newcomers to the IT project management industry. In 2023, and really for the past couple of decades across most large-scale industries, work is done by teams and broken up into projects. A project manager is an essential point of coordination who helps keep everyone pulling together and moving forward while also tracking progress and dealing with changes. If that sounds like a role that you could thrive in, then the career outline article posted to the official CompTIA blog at the end of last week will almost certainly be of interest. There are higher-level project management credentials than Project+, but this is a good place for newcomers to learn the basic project management methodologies and spread their wings.
Don't Fear the Reaper and Don't Shy Away from AI
There are legitimate concerns about many aspects of artificial intelligence (AI) and its involvement in various aspects of employment, government, and public and private life. One of the biggest fears that many people have, however, is that AI will eventually make it possible to replace job functions that human workers have hitherto been essential to executing. A new post to the Cisco Learning Network VIP Perspectives blog takes that fear as its jumping-off point. This particular blog post, however, is not suspicious of AI, but welcoming of the still evolving technology and optimistic about the future of AI and humans working together. If you've had your fill of the "AI is out to get us all" school of thought, then you may find this example of the other prevailing perspective refreshing.
Dive Into Business Intelligence (BI) and BI Certification
Here's a quotation that many may find intriguing: "Business operations generate data the way baseball generates statistics: automatically, and on a massive scale." That's from the opening paragraphs of a new article by Aaron Axline at CertMag.com the official website of Certification Magazine. Axline follows up that observation with this one: "Every internal and external event of any size creates a data point that can serve as a piece of insight if it is captured and analyzed effectively." An emerging leader in the enterprise BI space is Microsoft, and the second half of the article zeroes in on the Microsoft Power BI Data Analyst Associate certification. If you're intrigued by data, then this article is a great way to wrap your head around basic BI concepts and get some insight about one of the leading BI credentials.
Microsoft Learn Invites You to Ignite Your Learning Journey
Speaking of Microsoft and certification, there is a great opportunity approaching for anyone who is pursuing a career path that weaves through the long-lived Microsoft certification program. IT industry conferences and conventions often provide excellent opportunities to beef up your certification profile. And the Microsoft Ignite conference, which courts attendees by offering an opportunity to "Discover the best of what's next in technology, problem-solve with experts, and make global connections," is loaded with learning and certification opportunities. You don't even need to figure out what's available on your own: A new post to the Microsoft Learn Blog outlines what Microsoft learners can expect out of Ignite and provides details about what parts of the conference would be most helpful to career development and professional growth.
That's all for this edition of Certification Watch. Please keep your certification news and tips coming to the GoCertify News Editor.
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