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Dec 28, 2009, 21:29 PM
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Lisa Fasold
With the war still raging in Iraq and Afghanistan, we often focus on the vets who are just now transitioning from military service to private life. But IT skills can help vets of any age find new career opportunities. Take Gary William I. Anthony of San Antonio, Texas, a recent graduate of the CompTIA Educational Foundation’s Creating Futures training.Recently Gary accepted an initial IT job as a network tech to pull cable with a U.S. government subcontractor in Afghanistan, beginning in early n ...
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Dec 24, 2009, 19:09 PM
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Matt Swanston
In this edition, Mark A. Miller, President and CEO of New Horizons Computer Learning Centers describes his interest in CompTIA’s Getting America Back To Work program. Download the MP3 file.[podcast]http://www.comptia.org/media/Mark_Miller_Getting_America_Back_to_Work_Dec_2010.mp3[/podcast]
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Dec 23, 2009, 14:21 PM
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Tim Herbert
Prognosticators come in many flavors. In my opinion, the ones who actually put real money at risk provide some of the most useful insights. I recently attended Potomac TechWire’s annual Venture Capital Outlook breakfast roundtable, held just outside of Washington, DC. With panelists from New Atlantic Ventures, Columbia Capital, Calvert Funds, Valhalla Partners and LaunchBox Digital, there was a wide range of expertise, investment styles and opinions.Even for those far removed from the VC world, ...
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Dec 23, 2009, 14:12 PM
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Matt Swanston
We’re ending the year right, ranking on several top lists of 2009.
Channel Insider noted CompTIA’s success in its end-of-year Bull’s Eye Awards, bestowing upon us the “Challenger” designation for being a vibrant Channel Community and for CEO Todd being a top IT industry influencer. The magazine praised Todd’s leadership in encouraging community and collaboration, noting, “Thibodeaux has infused a level of energy and activity in CompTIA not seen i ...
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Dec 21, 2009, 20:37 PM
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Matt Swanston
Todd was featured on WGN Midday News today giving some tips on how to keep your mobile devices and information safe while travelling this holiday season. The CompTIA President and CEO urged travelers to keep their devices password-protected and to use secure connections.But “the overwhelming biggest security risk is just people not paying attention,” Thibodeaux told anchor Steve Sanders. Even if it’s a hassle, your laptop should always be with you, Thibodeaux advised.Having trouble viewing this ...
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Dec 16, 2009, 21:51 PM
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Todd Thibodeaux
I was recently on Capitol Hill talking with staffers on both sides of the aisle whose job it is to focus on legislation impacting small businesses. To their credit they are always open to the feedback and ideas of the small business community so we had many opportunities to tell the same disappointing story.As the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was being drafted and put into law our industry was supportive. It wasn’t a perfect bill by any stretch, but there were enough reasons to ...
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Dec 14, 2009, 20:06 PM
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Matt Swanston
We have been asked by the US Trade Representative to participate in an SMEs in Trade seminar to be kicked off by Ambassador Kirk on January 21st. As part of that event, we will be providing some VAR speakers and will conduct a survey of small IT companies who export. We will partner with the Coalition of Service Industries and the National Association of Manufacturers in this event. Visit www.comptia.org/publicpolicy or contact Robert Kramer for more information. ...
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Dec 14, 2009, 19:59 PM
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Matt Swanston
On Tuesday Dec. 15th CompTIA CEO Todd Thibodeaux and a delegation of CompTIA and the Technology Leadership Political Action Committee (TLPAC) companies will attend five Congressional Committee meetings with key House and Senate committees and staff to pitch a number of proposals to help VARs weather the recession and create jobs. The mini-fly-in led by Todd and CompTIA Treasurer Oli Thordarson will include an explanation of the “Growth Tech Capital Initiative” designed to apply stimu ...
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Dec 11, 2009, 21:41 PM
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Lisa Fasold
Want to give back while widening your brand with the newest bright stars in our industry? Let us help!With the CompTIA Education Foundation, you can establish merit award scholarships in your name for students pursuing IT careers. When you endow the IT Merit Awards Scholarships, you can designate the scholarships to a preferred under-represented population or to a geographic location where you do business. You even can make the scholarship presentations, thereby creating a positive publicity op ...
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Dec 11, 2009, 21:28 PM
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Matt Swanston
At last week’s jobs summit the President heard from business, labor and academic leaders as they brainstormed about getting America back to work. Over the past decade, small businesses have created between 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs, as well as countless technological innovations. Yet the major role small businesses play in our economy and job creation was seemingly downplayed at the summit.Next week in Washington, CompTIA’s Public Policy office will host several small, California tech co ...
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Dec 11, 2009, 16:35 PM
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Lisa Fasold
We challenged our employees last summer to a staff fundraising contest for the CompTIA Educational Foundation, raising $50,000 to fund IT training and certification for people in need. And we’re gearing up to hold a second contest in early 2010.
From May through July last year, six teams composed of three to five employees each developed their own fundraising techniques in a heated competition to see which team could raise the most money for the Foundation’s Creating Futures ...
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Dec 10, 2009, 22:15 PM
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Tim Herbert
I’m a big fan of The Onion. Yes, it sometimes trades in cheap laughs, but more often than not, it delivers clever satirical observations on some aspect of society. As a technology geek and researcher, I find the technology related stories especially brilliant.The recent Onion article New Device Desirable, Old Device Undesirable, deftly captures the conundrum of a constantly changing tech landscape (the article is CE focused, but could just as easily apply to IT).Thanks to a seemingly endless sup ...
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Dec 10, 2009, 13:57 PM
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Dan Liutikas
Last week I blogged about our Focus on HealthIT and received a number of responses from you about how you can get more involved with CompTIA and share your input in CompTIA initiatives.It's easy! Go to www.comptia.org and check out the membership tab. You will find information about our various IT communities, the current focus of each community, upcoming meetings, events, etc. Choose the one that interests you most and contact the community manager listed for that community. It's that easy. ...
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Dec 8, 2009, 16:49 PM
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Matt Swanston
“Shall we play a game?” asked a young Matthew Broderick’s computer in the 1983 hit movie War Games. The computer’s creepy synthetic voice and the underlying current of the Cold War conveyed the seriousness of this seemingly innocent question. Three decades later, CompTIA – the leading IT trade association – is asking the same question. And while the stakes aren’t as high as global thermonuclear war, to the small business owners wh ...
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Dec 7, 2009, 17:01 PM
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Matt Swanston
Last week, we blogged about our Getting America Back To Work program. Here is a bit more information on how to get involved if you’re an individual who is interested in pursuing a career in IT.Your first step is to find the nearest One-Stop Career Center to by going to http://www.servicelocator.org/. If your One-Stop Career Center is unfamiliar with the Program refer them to http://www.comptia.org/certifications/backtowork.aspx to find technical assessment tools, CompTIA certification training ...
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