IT Insights Blog — performance-based exams

The IT Inights blog is on the road until Aug. 20. Because we know how much you love us, however, we didn't just slip out the back door and leave you with nothing for an entire week. We're posting photos of some of the landscapes we'll be visiting, along with a link to a classic IT Insights blog post.

Life is full of minor items and small details that need to be taken care of on a regular basis. Likewise every job comes with duties and responsibilities that recur throughout the week or month and demand attention from the person or persons who have been assigned to monitor those chores. This condition is often amplified in the IT world, where sometimes it's difficult to see the forest of one's job role for the several dozen trees of individual tasks to be completed.

Larry Bird, the “Hick from French Lick,” is one of the greatest players in NBA history. In an accolade-laden 13-year career Bird was a three-time NBA champion, three-time NBA MVP, two-time NBA Finals MVP, and a 12-time All-Star.

Here in the United States there's about to be a presidential election. No, really, it's true. Those of us who live here can't stop hearing about it, sometimes even when all we want to do is peruse someone's ruminations about this or that facet of IT certification. One of the biggest news headlines at the moment is the persistent clamor from fully half of the candidates with a realistic shot at winning that the election is rigged.

I was at a high-school football game the other evening watching the home-town team get beat like a rented mule. They were down by 30 points at the half and it didn’t look like things were going to get any better for them. One of the coaches gathered the defense and led them in a cheer: “Good, better and best. Never stop trying until the good is better and the better is best!” The players seemed to respond like a different team. They completely shut down the opposing offense, giving up just two first downs the entire second half, and coming back to make a game of it.