CompTIA Blog

So you are aiming for an entry-level IT job. Do you know what that entails? An IT Help Desk or Tech Support role can be very different depending on the size, structure and culture of the company. Below is a snapshot of three opportunities on the market. Tier 1 Help Desk/Desktop Support Contract worker employed by Randstad Technologies (IT staffing and recruitment agency) at an enterprise-sized client company with 1,000 or more employees. Required skill-set, work experience and/or credentials: ...

Takeaway of the week is some outside-the-box thinking when it comes to job search in the IT industry, be it that professional personality coach in your corner or some helpful reminders on the importance of communication. Oh, and cybersecurity professionals prepping to see how that big federal bill sure to shape your world pans out? Your time is almost here. Find Me A Job, Coach World-class athletes seek them out. Why not high-class IT professionals looking for that extra edge in a crowded, co ...

In an educational session on the last day of CompTIA’s Breakaway 2012, Keith Eades, CEO at Sales Performance International, sent attendees home with six pointers for better selling: Adopt a customer- and solution-centric philosophy – i.e., answer the customer’s problem. Use a buyer-aligned sales process – i.e., know more about how buyers buy than how your organization sells. Align sales and marketing – messaging, tools and conversations. Use management systems and disciplines that foster and sus ...

At one point in her long IT career, Nellie Scott's superiors didn't want to train her female staff because they thought women were more likely to leave the company, particularly as they approached motherhood. Scott, now a manager at Lenovo, gave a winning argument back, ending with, "What if you don't train them and they stay?" That line finally got her superiors on the ball with training her entire staff. How to get more women in IT and how women in the industry can use different resources t ...

No business is too small to engage in strategic business planning. So says Scott Goemmel, business advisor with 4-Profit, who led a workshop on business strategy planning today at Breakaway 2012.“Most companies spend less than two percent of their leadership’s time on strategy, yet we’re the fastest changing industry,” said Goemmel. “That’s not nearly enough to take your company and move it forward.”In the IT industry especially, Goemmel said very successful technical people will start and grow ...

At one point in her long IT career, Nellie Scott’s superiors didn’t want to train her female staff because they thought women were more likely to leave the company, particularly as they approached motherhood.  Scott, now a manager at Lenovo, gave a winning argument back, ending with, “What if you don’t train them and they stay?” That line finally got her superiors on the ball with training her entire staff.How to get more women in IT and how women in the industry can use different resources to s ...

Steve Potts, director accountable for Growth at Transmentum Ltd., based in Nottingham, U.K., assured me the Dutch have a sense of humor.  But he still doesn’t advise tech vendors to use jokes when trying to break into the Dutch market.“You see, we salespeople paint word pictures.  And while many Dutch business people speak excellent English, they just don’t have the same frame of reference,” Potts explained.I ran into Potts in the hallway after he served on a panel discussion during the “Busines ...

The concept of vendors syndicating content to channel partners is not new.  But integrating the syndicated content into marketing automation is an idea starting to take hold.“Channel partners have been using vendor content for three main purposes: training and education for staff and customers, leveraging powerful product brands and sometimes just because they don’t have the experience and time to market their own services,” said Tony Serino, president and founder of Serino Channel Services.Tony ...

Maybe you’re looking at five years to grow your company organically to where you want it to be.  But five years is a long time in the IT industry.  Instead, you’re looking at mergers and acquisitions to get bigger quicker.During Breakaway today, presenters Samuel Attias, managing partner, Technology Capital Investors, and Rick Murphy, managing partner, Cogent Growth Partners, gave attendees an insider’s perspective on what really goes on behind the curtain when buyers are considering purchasing ...

IT channel companies coping with a changing marketplace marked by cloud computing, mobility and recurring revenue models don’t need to go it alone. Instead, they can rely more heavily on their distributor partners for support.“We owe it to you to help you change and transform your business, and we have the capabilities to do that,” Joe Quaglia, senior vice president, U.S. marketing, Tech Data Corp., said Wednesday during the Distributor Power Panel session at Breakaway 2012.Distributors can “ins ...

In a world where bring you own device, cloud computing and mobility are rapidly changing the corporate technology landscape, a pricing expert who understands how to make money in this environment is the most important person an IT solution provider can have on staff.That message was delivered Wednesday by executives from four notable companies during the Breakaway 2012 Channel Chief Power Panel. Speakers shared their insights on how technology service and solution providers and survive and thriv ...

The skies over Las Vegas were appropriately overcast Tuesday morning as the media/analyst panel discussion “Cutting through the Fog of the Cloud” commenced at CompTIA’s Breakaway 2012.Rain in Vegas is an anomaly any time of year, but showers in late July are especially rare.  An occasional sun shower is not out of the ordinary during the summer in the valley.  But given the desert conditions and the blaring sun that regularly delivers temps above 100 degrees, the raindrops typically sizzle and d ...

The continued convergence of traditional IT and telecom services is creating new business and partnership opportunities for companies in both sectors. But challenges abound for those firms that are ill-prepared. Those messages were shared Tuesday at Breakaway 2012 during a session on the current and future state of telecom agent and IT VAR partnerships.The topic was covered from two perspectives: joint research from Channel Partners and CompTIA; and the real world experiences of firms in the IT ...

Breakaway 2012 officially opened in Vegas this morning with an update on CompTIA’s activities on behalf of the IT industry, a unique perspective on how innovation occurs and two compelling, real-life stories on the positive impact of technology. CompTIA President and CEO Todd Thibodeaux opened the morning session with a look at where the association is headed in four core areas – education, certification, advocacy and philanthropy. Much of what CompTIA will do in the coming months ...

Cloud computing isn’t the death knell for IT channel companies, but it is creating a whole new set up challenges for firms offering manager IT services to their customers.“We’ve been using the cloud for a long time,” Rex Frank, founder and president of Sea-Level Operations, a Covington, Wash.-based firm focused specifically on the IT managed services industry, said during a panel discussion of the CompTIA MSP Partners Community Monday at Breakaway 2012.“I don’t think the cloud is going to make u ...