IT Insights Blog

You have to break some eggs to make an omelet, and you have to spend some money to get a certification. Or do you? Whether or not you spend a nickel to acquire study and review materials, or take classes, or use online training tools, there's an unavoidable fee for taking a certification exam. Or is there? Our friends at Certification Magazine have been gradually releasing data from their annual Salary Survey since early February. They also conduct smaller, more targeted salary surveys throughout the year, and one item of data that turns up over and over again is that there is a fairly large portion of people who pursue and earn certifications without making any out-of-pocket investment. Zippo. Zero dollars spent. Total withdrawal from personal accounts: nada.

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.

When you look at a desktop computer, what do you see? To some extent, the answer to that question probably depends on your overall knowledge of computer components. The average computer user, whose IT interaction is limited to surfing the web and using a few familiar desktop apps (such as Microsoft Word) probably doesn't notice much more than the shape, color and orientation of the system case. That person probably knows where to find the power button, and would recognize a USB port, a headphone jack, an optical media drive.

Do you ever need a change of pace at work or at home? It's important for all IT professionals to remember to sometimes take a break from the hard labor of certification and find something to renew and refresh your creative energies. Here at TestOut Continuing Education, we get into that mode several times a year, including for an occasion coming up next week. TestOut Bowl marks the annual pilgrimage of our highly-trained work force to the local bowling alley for an afternoon of tasty eats and some good natured, no-holds-barred, howl-inducing attempts at athleticism. To help set the mood for what's sure to be an outbreak of sore wrists, pulled hamstrings, and injured bragging rights, here are a few facts about the ancient art of bowling: