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I don’t really know why I’ve chosen to do this, but this summer will be forever known as the “Summer of Certifications” as I will attempt to complete various CompTIA certifications. I’ve had my A+ for some time — the old one, remember? Lifetime, never take again, certification? Well, I’ll talk about that later in another post. I’ve also had my MOUS (Expert level), MCP and a help desk certification. Long story short, my IT certifications are old but also unneeded in some ways as I have three Master degrees and have continued to teach in the field over these many years keeping my skills up to date. Needless to say, there has been some unknown desire to go forward and get these certifications from CompTIA.
Now, I know most people would be considering the cost involved and would weigh this against that strange desire. I know for years I did but over the last couple of years I worked with our college to join the CompTIA Partner program. This program is:
CompTIA’s Academy Partner Program is intended for schools, not-for-profits, job corps centers and correctional facilities. Our program provides resources for recruiting, training, certifying and upgrading the skills of students in IT.
Among the various benefits for our students (better pricing!), marketing materials and news, instructors have access to vouchers depending on program use. It’s a good program that has reaped benefits for our students but the instructors have not truly taken advantage of the vouchers… until now. I’ll be taking several this summer and looking forward to seeing how closely the curriculum I teach relates back to the certification examinations.
My plans for summer are to take the following: Security+, Cloud Essentials, Linux powered by LPI I and II, Server+, A+, Network+, Project+ and CySA, PenTest and CASP. I’ll make posts as I pass these exams with some thoughts of each. Here’s to a great summer!
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One of the great things of being in the education field is that once you get your Master’s degree, the other industry certifications aren’t really necessary to continue moving forward in your career. It’s easier many times to either add another degree or certificate, take more classes or even just attend conferences to gain the skills you need or want. The problem with this many times is that we don’t have an idea what the exams look like exactly as we aren’t necessarily taking them.
Enter the CompTIA Academic Program. Once your school joins the academy (at no cost!), once your students take a certain number of exams, you will gain access to free exams for your professors. The goal is to have more professors have access to the exams so you not only know what you should be teaching for, but also how better to prepare your students. What’s even better, your students get a heavily discounted exam rate. You can get the current rates for students at your school here: Academic Store
So, in the name of helping my students, I have signed up to take my first certification is more than 15 years later this month…. here’s to seeing what to expect!
