From Entry to Expert

CompTIA senior vice president, skills certification, Terry Erdle, spoke at the CompTIA EMEA Member Conference. His presentation covered how CompTIA positions its offerings in the context of a global IT workforce.

The impacts of recent economics, the establishment of global standards, and new partnerships all play into the bigger picture that can impact both the hiring company as well as the individual.

It’s what any entrant or convert to the IT career path may need, as we see the recent economic challenges causing many to reevalate their career pursuits. In the past, IT professionals needed to sort through mountains of information from competing technology, training, and certifying groups — often needing to separate real career support from veiled attempts to get the individual to recommend or even buy a particular piece of technology. Not exactly the best way to get your career on track.

More recently, however, there seems to be movement in the industry to vendor neutral credentials, whether in basic computing or high-end security or network certifications. CompTIA have helped lead the charge with establishing ongoing conversations with various governmental bodies, global computing associations, and numerous standards bodies. The groups all have relevant offerings to add to a mix that can help “professionalize” the IT career path. With the advent of more globally recognized, vendor neutral credentials at multiple levels, the IT professional (or IT Professional aspirant) can engage with training and career services to help make a more reasoned decision — and one which will pay off in better pay, better opportunities, and hopefully greater stability.

Visit the CompTIA EMEA Member Conference website and press room for highlights of the conference. Presentations, including this session with Terry Erdle, will be posted after the event.