IT Insights Blog — Education

As a child you were likely asked what you wanted to be when you grew up, and you likely responded with something like a doctor, astronaut or star athlete. For me, my dream was to design roller coasters (for obvious reasons), but that changed over time. My childhood dream may not have come true, but had I wanted, I could have gotten started with a few IT certifications. What is your current dream job? Are you currently working to achieve your dream job?

Did you know that Aug. 26 is Women’s Equality Day, so designated by the United States Congress in 1971? It’s frequently observed that woman workers are a minority presence in IT professions, often by dramatic and intimidating margins. The fact that women have generally not been included in certain circles in the past, of course, is no reason to suppose that there simply isn’t a place for women in those circles.

More adults than ever seem to be going back to school to learn new skills these days. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows a seven percent growth in college enrollment for adults age 25 and older between 2005 and 2015. Even more surprising is that they project the trend to increase to 12 percent within the next three years.

When I drove up to my neighborhood Walmart last night and saw an abnormally crowded parking lot – I should have immediately turned my car around and sought shelter. I shrugged off the aberration and walked inside to complete my routine shopping stop.

There’s a growing recognition in the IT realm, and in the business world at large, of the importance of so-called “soft skills.” It’s a given that you generally need to have directly applicable knowledge and job skills in order to be hired for any assignment more specialized than stocking shelves at the supermarket, or flipping burgers at McDonald’s. Even a college graduate with no particular knowledge of ...