CompTIA's 2016 Partner Summit

What a great time to be in IT certification training! I recently attended CompTIA’s Partner Summit in Orlando, Fla., July 26-28. It was a three-day power-packed event held to inform CompTIA’s academic partners (TestOut is among those ranks) of new certifications being developing and coming updates for existing certifications.

IT is a rapidly advancing industry and the certifications are always in need of updating. CompTIA representatives presented specific status and roadmap plans for the following certifications:

• Security+
• Cloud+
• Healthcare IT
• Mobility+
• Project+
• IT Fundamentals
• LPIC-1
• LPIC-2

In addition, CompTIA officials discussed a number of new certifications being considering for development, including Disaster Recovery, IoT (Internet of Things), Data Analytics/BI, and DevOps. It will be interesting to see which of these potential certifications are developed by CompTIA.

One of the more enjoyable aspects of Partner Summit was the opportunity to collaborate and network with academic peers who use CompTIA certifications as part of their programs. New ways of effectively delivering IT instruction were shared in presentations, networking sessions, panel discussions, and keynote addresses.

Exploring best practices with other educators helps to identify better ways to deliver hands-on experiential IT training (something TestOut is always doing). There was great interest among attendees in best practices and new teaching methods as a way to help improve student pass rates for CompTIA certifications.

Presentations and discussions focused on using simulations and virtual labs to give students hands-on experience so that they are not only memorizing IT concepts to prepare for certification exams, but have actual experience with the technology. I’m a big believer in hands-on training via labs — it gives students confidence in their abilities, enabling them to pass certification exams and implement technology as they work in the IT field.

Summit leaders also shared insights into the IT skills which are valued in the job market and how certifications help prepare students to develop the needed skill-sets. We also learned more about the status of the current job market, including trends and developments that will affect the knowledge, skills, and abilities employees will need to succeed in the future.  

The big take-away from the Summit is that certifications will to continue to play a major role in helping students develop the knowledge and skills needed for their current and future IT careers. It’s a brave new world, and TestOut is an important part of it.

About the Author — Ken Sardoni has enjoyed a distinguished career in higher education and in the IT industry. Prior to joining TestOut, he held executive management IT positions at Oracle Corporation and Steton Technology Group. Additionally, he held academic leadership, curriculum development, and faculty appointments at the University of Denver and the University of Phoenix. His role at TestOut is to guide the course development teams as they create TestOut’s technology training products. He combines his extensive experience in technology and education to create online training products which help students gain valuable technical skills and abilities that they can use to pass industry certification exams and qualify for careers in the IT industry. He earned a master’s degree in computer information systems from the University of Denver and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from BYU.