IT Insights Blog — certification

I recently read an article about Dominic Eldridge, a certification student who earned nine certifications, but along the way failed five times. Failure can stop a lot of people, but this guy used his failures as motivation. “I think a lot of people are worried about failing the test. That’s a waste of mental energy. It’s no big deal if you fail. I’ve failed five different times on these tests. You just go back and ...

When tech titan IBM needed a better way to meet the IT training needs of its global workforce, company officials turned to TestOut Continuing Education. Our online simulation-based training is exactly what the company needed to efficiently teach PC and IT networking skills to IBM employees worldwide. Here’s how it all came together: TestOut’s partnership with IBM began in the summer of 2015 and has already proven to be a force in the IT training realm. At the time the partnership was formed, IBM was attempting to bolster training effectiveness at its worldwide training centers.

How do you take a good thing and make it better? Easy, add a couple other good things to it and drop the price a little! The idea of bundles goes back at least as far as the classic youth TV program Happy Days. Remember that time when Chachi needs a motorbike and a leather jacket for his big date with Joanie? At first he tries to borrow a jacket from Fonzie, who wants someone to wash his white t-shirts and socks every day for a week. Chachi decides that's too much to ask, but then the Fonz agrees to let Chachi also borrow his bike, throws in a special comb and says he'll wash his own socks. The best part of the deal is that Chachi and Ritchie trick Potsie into doing the Fonz's laundry (sans socks) for a week, so Chachi get off scot free. (Or should that be Scott free?)

“I can’t deny the fact that you like me; right now you like me!” That's a tiny snippet of what movie star Sally Field had to say in 1984 after winning the Best Actress Oscar for Norma Rae. And it's characteristic of the need almost all of have to be valued and affirmed. Famous actors may be a little more prone to crave the admiration and approval of their peers, but who doesn't appreciate being recognized for a job well done?

I recently read an article in Certification Magazine about an older woman who suffers from physical disabilities so severe that she was considered unemployable. Lois Agler made her way to a Goodwill facility in Michigan that offered free IT training. She trained using PC Pro, earned her CompTIA A+ certification and is now working as a Tier-1 helpdesk technician earning more than $19 an hour. The article reminded me of a conversation with one of my Office Pro customers who suffers from dyslexia, a developmental reading disorder in which the brain has trouble recognizing and processing certain letters.