FT Temp Position in CIS at Cuesta College

We’ve been able to secure a FT Temp position in CIS (programming) here at Cuesta College for the coming year.  Our plan is to get a tenure-track position the following year.  We’ve been experiencing huge growth and we’re getting support to grow the program even more.

Please pass this information on to anyone that you think may be interested.  The complete job posting can be found at jobs.cuesta.edu.

CompTIA Webinar: Why employers look for IT certifications

The demand for IT workers continues to grow, and employers are turning to certifications to help identify qualified candidates. In this upcoming CompTIA webinar, we'll dive into reasons why employers look for IT certifications, based on CompTIA's "HR Perceptions of IT Training and Certification" report. The webinar will feature industry IT professionals who will help participants learn what qualifications are needed to get an IT job, how to make a resume stand out and what gets candidates noticed. Join us Tuesday, June 23, at 11 a.m. CDT for this important session. Register today.

Dice: Enterprises are paying premium rates for security expertise

Top-level security professionals' salaries are rising as companies implement strategies for protecting their data from breaches. A Dice report found that the average compensation for three leading security positions, including security chief, now exceeds $200,000, well above average IT salaries.

eWeek (5/27)

ITIF: A Policymaker’s Guide to Spurring ICT Adoption

Information Technology and Innovation Foundation:


Policymakers around the world often wonder how to create “the next Silicon Valley.” This is understandable, but the truth is that since the turn of the millennium, using ICT has created much more growth than producing it. That's because ICT products and services are essential tools of production for all industries in today's economy, not just tech. This report provides a policy road map for spurring ICT adoption by keeping prices low, keeping demand high, and strengthening key enabling factors across the public and private sectors.

Read the report.

Boost your LinkedIn profile by highlighting your CompTIA certifications

CompTIA has teamed up with LinkedIn to make it even easier for certification holders to highlight their skills. Whether it's A+, Security+ or one of CompTIA's numerous other vendor-neutral credentials, with just a few simple steps, anyone with an active CompTIA certification can show his or her credentials on LinkedIn. Add more power to your profile! See how to add CompTIA certifications on LinkedIn today.

CompTIA Webinar: Why employers look for IT certifications

The demand for IT workers continues to grow, and employers are turning to certifications to help identify qualified candidates. In this upcoming CompTIA webinar, we'll dive into reasons why employers look for IT certifications, based on CompTIA's "HR Perceptions of IT Training and Certification" report. The webinar will feature industry IT professionals who will help participants learn what qualifications are needed to get an IT job, how to make a resume stand out and what gets candidates noticed. Join us Tuesday, June 23, at 11 a.m. CDT for this important session. 

Register today.

Why Skills Matter More than Ever in Our Data-Driven Economy

Published on May 19th, 2015 | by Daniel Castro Center for Data Innovation

This article originally appeared in Government Technology.
We live in an era of digital abundance. Two technology trends—cloud computing and big data—are transforming how we live and work. The rise of the cloud has reduced computing costs to historic lows, while the emergence of big data has created a world awash in useful information.

These changes are disrupting numerous sectors where businesses used to create competitive advantages for themselves based on access to superior IT or exclusive data. With these advantages slipping away, one of the primary differentiators for organizations in data-intensive sectors will be access to talented, data-literate workers. This is particularly true for government agencies. To improve public services with data-driven technology, they’ll need to work harder than ever to recruit, hire and retain highly skilled data engineers and managers.

To understand the relative importance of these skills, consider the degree to which cloud architectures have commoditized computing. While Moore’s Law—the observation that the number of transistors on a chip will double roughly every two years—predicted the modern digital era of smartphones, tablets and wearables, the recently proposed Bezos’ Law—the observation that the cost of a unit of computing power in the cloud is reduced by 50 percent every three years—predicts that the cost of computing will eventually be non-limiting for most organizations.

Cloud computing has not only reduced costs, it also has given organizations flexibility to adapt their computing infrastructure to changing needs. This has democratized access to the latest technologies, putting new entrants on the same footing as long-established incumbents. When everyone has access to a Stradivarius, talent matters.

The emergence of big data has had a similar effect. Relatively cheap and plentiful access to massive amounts of information has begun to erode the strategic advantage that organizations with a data monopoly might have counted on in the past. Some of these advantages will remain indefinitely—Netflix, for example, knows more about the viewing habits of its customers than anyone else — but competitors now can mine other data sources to narrow this gap. Therefore, organizations can no longer rely only on proprietary data to stay ahead and must instead compete on talent.

Yet while access to the most talented, data-literate workers increasingly defines which organizations win in the data economy, there are too few qualified people in the labor market. McKinsey Global Institute has estimated a shortfall of 140,000 to 190,000 data scientists by 2018, as well as an even greater shortage of managers with the analytical skills needed in a big data world. Employment in data-intensive industries is geographically concentrated in certain states, putting other states at a disadvantage. This challenge will be especially pronounced for government agencies, which already have a problem recruiting the best and brightest from the private sector.

There are no easy solutions. Two well-known factors affecting employment decisions—compensation and culture—require flexible budgets and organizational change, neither of which plays to government’s strengths. But government should not give up. The UK’s Government Digital Service fundamentally rebuilt the nation’s public-sector strategy for IT, proving that disruptive innovation in government is possible.

Moreover, government agencies do have an advantage in that many of the problems they’re working on—like increasing access to affordable health care, improving the quality of schools, and making cities safer and cleaner—are the types of problems that attract the sharpest minds. While they may not be able to match the pay or benefits of Silicon Valley, they offer the chance to improve the world. In particular, this may appeal to millennials who prioritize working for the betterment of society over obtaining wealth. (Sorry, Dunkin’ Donuts, cutting infant mortality is more exciting than selling more doughnuts.)

In the long term, policymakers must fix the workforce pipeline so that skills better match employer needs in the private and public sectors. But in the short term, governments will be in fierce competition with the private sector for the best data scientists. They’ll need to use all available resources to bring in the human capital that can ensure the opportunities from the data revolution don’t pass them by.

Image: flickr user TechCrunch.

Tags: big data, cloud computing, data science, government, IT, skills gap, workforce





About the Author


Daniel Castro Daniel Castro is the director of the Center for Data Innovation and vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Mr. Castro writes and speaks on a variety of issues related to information technology and internet policy, including data, privacy, security, intellectual property, internet governance, e-government, and accessibility for people with disabilities. His work has been quoted and cited in numerous media outlets, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, USA Today, Bloomberg News, and Businessweek. In 2013, Mr. Castro was named to FedScoop’s list of “Top 25 most influential people under 40 in government and tech.” In 2015, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker appointed Mr. Castro to the Commerce Data Advisory Council. Mr. Castro previously worked as an IT analyst at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) where he audited IT security and management controls at various government agencies. He contributed to GAO reports on the state of information security at a variety of federal agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). In addition, Mr. Castro was a Visiting Scientist at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he developed virtual training simulations to provide clients with hands-on training of the latest information security tools. He has a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and an M.S. in Information Security Technology and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Women in tech: The numbers don't add up

The percentage of female employees working at large technology companies is oddly consistent. But drilling down finds the problem is worse than the numbers suggest.

by Roger Cheng @RogerWCheng
May 6, 2015 6:01 AM PDT  CNET

When it comes to women in tech, the numbers reveal a continuing challenge.Getty Images/Caiaimage
This story is part of Solving for XX, a CNET special report exploring what people and companies are doing to make the tech industry more diverse, more equitable and more welcoming to women.

There's something about the number 30.

It's the age Silicon Valley considers workers over the hill.

It's how old Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is now.

And it's the average percentage of women working in the tech industry, based on diversity reports published by 11 of the world's largest tech companies last year. In comparison, women make up 59 percent of the US labor force and almost 51 percent of the US population, according to the US Census Bureau.

CNET
Is 30 percent really so bad?

It is when you drill into the percentage of women filling leadership and technical roles -- that's when the numbers get downright depressing.

Consider Microsoft: In October, the company reported that women comprise 29.1 percent of its workforce, but only 16.6 percent work in technical positions and just 23 percent hold leadership roles. Twitter said women fill 10 percent of its technical jobs, with 21 percent in leadership. And women Googlers account for 17 percent of the search giant's tech jobs, while only 21 percent manage others.

These figures matter. For starters, they show few women influencing product development or business strategy -- the two rungs at the top of the industry's corporate ladder. That's not just harmful to women; it's bad for business. Studies show that companies with different points of view, market insights and approaches to problem solving have higher sales, more customers and larger market share than their less-diverse rivals.

So what's behind that 30 percent number at tech companies? It could be basic human nature, says Virginia Clark, a recruiter for executive search firm Knightsbridge: diverse enough to show effort, while still surrounding ourselves with people who think and act as we do.

"It's almost like water seeks its own level," says Clark. "This is the level where the majority feels comfortable. I would say its unconscious."

Scott Page, a professor of complex systems, political science and economics at the University of Michigan, has another theory. At 30 percent, there's an extremely high chance you'll see at least one woman in every meeting. That might be enough to gloss over the lack of diversity. If people see at least one woman in each meeting, they're not seeing a problem.

"That's not cause for alarm," Page said.

But the problem becomes glaringly obvious in meetings made up completely of men -- a likelihood that increases as the percentage of women falls below 30 percent. Heck, the testosterone-heavy Marvel superhero film "The Avengers" includes just one female super heroine, "Black Widow."

"The first step is acknowledging that there is a problem," says Clark. "The problem is that the culture is obviously consciously or unconsciously exclusive, and people are exhibiting chronic behaviors that keep women -- and likely people of color -- out or not moving up."

Slow change
Awareness of the diversity problem has spurred some action. Microsoft has been working on the issue since October, when CEO Satya Nadella said women in the tech industry should trust in karma instead of making a case for a raise.

"It's not really about asking for the raise but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along," Nadella said in an interview at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (of all places). The company now provides training on unconscious biases that can prevent men from seeing their female colleagues' contributions.

Intel has pledged $300 million toward building a more diverse workforce, including tying managers' compensation to their progress in that area. Apple is donating $50 million to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and the National Center for Women and Information Technology to help swell the pipeline of qualified women and minorities.

But the problems begin at an early age.

"Girls don't get as much opportunity to use computers," says Ariane Hegewisch, a study director for the Institute for Women's Policy Research. They also get fewer chances to explore subjects like mathematics or science, in part because of lack of encouragement, curricula that appeal more to boys than girls and a negative stereotype about girls' technical abilities.

Indiana University gets 8,000 freshmen every fall, about half of them women. Science and computing isn't on the radar for 97 percent of them, according to

Maureen Biggers, assistant dean for diversity and education at Indiana's School of Informatics. "It doesn't occur to them as a career path," she says.

Attitude adjustment
While it's true the industry needs more women proficient in the hard sciences, success in the technology industry doesn't really require a technical degree. Oracle's co-CEO, Safra Catz, earned a law degree before becoming an investment banker. Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman has a degree in economics and an MBA. Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg also has a degree in economics and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

But few women with MBAs are likely to enter tech-intensive industries; and 53 percent of those who do, switch industries (compared with 31 percent for men), according to a study by Catalyst, a nonprofit organization focused on expanding opportunities for women.

The study also revealed that women in business roles within tech companies are more likely to start at the entry level compared with men. And when it comes to pay, women in Silicon Valley earn less than their male peers. In 2013, the median income for men with an undergraduate degree in Silicon Valley was 61 percent higher than for women, according to a February report by Joint Venture Silicon Valley.

"It may be that some of these professions have become more and more geeky and nerd-like," says Hegewisch. "Smart young women don't necessarily want to hang out in that culture and feel pushed out."

And that's the crux of the problem. Tech companies, no matter if they're industry heavyweights or fresh-faced startups, need to rethink how they assess job candidates, says Clark, the executive recruiter from Knightsbridge.

"This comes down to a war for talent, and the best possible talent may not look like you," Clark said.

SIGITE 2015 Call for Participation, 9/30-10/3 in Chicago

Call for Participation

SIGITE 2015: 16th Annual Conference on IT Education RIIT 2015: 4th Annual Research in IT Conference September 30 - October 3, 2015 http://sigite2015.sigite.org/

The 16th Annual Conference on Information Technology Education and the 4th Annual Research in IT Conference will be hosted by DePaul University and will take place at the DePaul Loop campus in Chicago, Illinois.  Both conferences are sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group for Information Technology Education (SIGITE). The dual conferences provide a forum for sharing and developing ideas relating to information technology research, education, applications, IT-industry-academia relationships, and our roles as professionals, educators, and advocates for the effective use of information technology.  This year is the fourth for the Research in IT conference, which aims to provide a venue for showcasing research in information technology that may or may not have a connection with teaching IT.  These two conferences will be co-located and tightly integrated so that participants can attend the sessions of both at no additional charge.

Theme

The theme of both conferences is "Creating the Future". The Chicago fire of 1871 enabled a rebirth of development in Chicago, producing notable architecture that continues to impact the city into the present day. In a nod to that period of development, a technology-focused incubator called 1871 has been created, and with it has come a focus on reinventing Chicago for the next century. Industry, academic, and political leaders are working to make Chicago a city known for its innovative approaches to business and technology. We seek submissions that look to the future of information technology, helping to define what it is that researchers and students alike will be doing in the decades to come.

Submissions: Due May 25, 2015

The submission site is available at: https://cmt2.research.microsoft.com/IT2015.

All submissions should use the ACM templates: http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates. A PDF should be submitted for all types of submissions. Panel and workshop proposals should include author information. All other submissions (papers, lightning talks, and posters) should be anonymous, with all author information removed. Submissions must adhere to the page limits described below, and submissions that exceed the limits will be rejected without review. Authors must register for and attend the conference as specified below in order for their work to appear in the published proceedings.

Papers

Submissions will be no longer than six double-column pages and will undergo a blind peer reviewing process.  Authors will have approximately 30 minutes for their presentation, including the question and answer period.  Accepted papers must be presented by at least one author and will be published in the conference proceedings.

Panels

Panels allow experts to discuss a current topic of interest in IT education or research.  Panel organizers are responsible for selecting appropriate panelists to participate.  A panel will normally have at most four panelists including the organizer.  Panel submissions should include a list of panelists, their affiliations, a description of the topics, and a brief position statement from each panelist.  All panelists are expected to attend the conference and participate in the panel.  Panel proposals are limited to two pages and will be published in the conference proceedings.

Workshops

Workshops allow presenters to provide a hands-on exploration of a topic in which attendees are expected to actively participate.  The workshop proposer is required to attend the conference.  Workshop proposals are limited to two pages and will be published in the conference proceedings.

Lightning talks

Lightning talks present work currently in progress and for which authors are actively seeking feedback or short curricular, pedagogical, or research techniques of interest to the SIGITE/RIIT communities.  Accepted lightning talks will be presented in a session where each author is given 10 minutes to present the work and obtain feedback.  A one-page summary of the accepted lightning talks will be published in the conference proceedings.

Posters

Posters present work currently in progress and for which authors are actively seeking feedback.  A one-page summary of the accepted posters will be published in the conference proceedings.

Other Information

Exhibits

Booths, opportunities for presentations, and/or space in the program will be made available to publishers, software houses, and other interested vendors who wish to sponsor SIGITE 2015 and RIIT 2015.  Interested parties are invited to contact the sponsorship chair Steve Zilora (Stephen.Zilora@rit.edu<mailto:Stephen.Zilora@rit.edu>) for information about exhibiting at or sponsoring the conference.

Students

Students are encouraged to present papers at either conference.  SIGITE will cover the conference registration and provide $200 toward expenses of attending the conference for the first 10 accepted student papers.  Female students may apply for additional funding from the ACM-W organization, with the application procedure described here: http://women.acm.org/scholarship.

Important dates

May 15, 2015: Paper, panel, workshop, lightning talk, and poster submissions due June 30, 2015: Acceptance/rejection notification & reviewer feedback for papers, panels, and workshops August 1, 2015: Final versions of papers, panels, workshops, lightning talks, and posters due September 30 - October 3, 2015: SIGITE 2015 and RIIT 2015 AUTHORS TAKE NOTE: The official publication date is the date the proceedings are made available in the ACM Digital Library. This date may be up to two weeks prior to the first day of the conference. The official publication date affects the deadline for any patent filings related to published work.

Contact information

For questions about submissions, contact the program chair Deborah Boisvert (Deborah.Boisvert@umb.edu<mailto:Deborah.Boisvert@umb.edu>).

For questions about the conference location or logistics, contact one of the conference co-chairs: Amber Settle (asettle@cdm.depaul.edu<mailto:asettle@cdm.depaul.edu>) or Terry Steinbach (tsteinbach@cdm.depaul.edu<mailto:tsteinbach@cdm.depaul.edu>).

Helping Students With Informational Interviews

California Career Briefs

“…think about the last days as much as you think about the first days. Work to create memorable experiences that will stay with the students and fuel their continued learning.”

- Margaret Walsh, PhD

Take it on the Road …

Did you know?

A good end of the semester activity will leave a lasting impression on students and keep them motivated to continue their education.  An informational interview is a particularly good culminating assignment because these interviews help students connect their classroom learning to a career that interests them. When students participate in an informational interview they have an opportunity to meet professionals, ask questions and gather valuable information. An informational interview is a brilliant, conversational, networking tool that gives students a nugget of mentoring in the process. Empower your students to collaborate and communicate as they take their classroom learning on the road.

Here’s how…

• Ask them.
  What is an information interview?
  Why would you do an informational interview?
  How could an informational interview help you?
• View video explaining the what, why and how of an informational interview.
• Select and view a Roadtrip Nation interview related to your interests.
• Distribute Student Activity (now in fillable pdf form), review directions and complete.
• Discuss the next step they need to take to make their interviews a reality.

Above and Beyond!

Encourage students to check out CACareerCafe.Com  and try theEXPERIENCE Lesson – Conversations. To help them make career connections, have them EXPLORE – Pathways in an industry sector related to your course.

RHT: How the QA Engineer Job has Changed Over 20 Years

by Robert Half Technology
April 23, 2015



The QA engineer has become a critical component of the software development process.

Large manufacturing companies and the military — groups at the forefront of the computer revolution — pioneered quality engineering.

So, it is no surprise that software development and quality engineering are closely linked. The software quality assurance engineer (QA engineer) has become a critical component of the software development process.

But how has the role evolved?

From CMMI to Agile

In the last 20 years, the manufacturing world has been moving toward “lean” methodologies (such as those pioneered at Toyota) that help to streamline product development processes. QA engineers previously worked with software developers who used Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) and other “waterfall” development techniques, but in the past 15 years many have replaced them with “Agile” methods. Agile techniques and tools have taken the software development industry — and the role of the QA engineer — by storm since the writing of the Agile Manifesto in 2001.

Instead of having a big chunk of the development process labeled “testing,” where developers throw code over the fence and into the QA process, QA engineers now work closely with programmers to produce high-quality code quickly while incorporating feedback from customers along the way. The end result is that development teams and the rest of the IT organization have been gelling into “DevOps,” with the QA engineer a key part of that transformation.

From single to multiple platforms

Originally, applications were developed for only one or two platforms. But today’s applications will often have a server component with an application program interface (API) which is, in turn, used by mobile, web and desktop applications. Each of those client applications will likely span multiple platforms such as iOS and Android for mobile, or Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox for web applications. This means even a simple application can have five or more different platforms to be tested, requiring the QA engineer to bring specialized knowledge on all fronts. Is it any wonder that there is strong demand for quality assurance engineers in the current job market?

From manual to automated testing

When the Web first hit the scene it was hard to imagine that the non-interactive pages of the first version of HTML would evolve to become full-fledged word processors, spreadsheets or photo editors within two decades. Not only are these applications sophisticated, but they also have a lot of code written in languages like JavaScript, Python and Ruby. This creates added testing requirements for the QA engineer because there is no compilation step to check syntactical correctness.

To keep up, the QA engineer of today uses a wide range of automated tools such as LoadRunner and Selenium to put applications through their paces. Because some of these tools have unique purposes such as unit testing, load testing or regression testing, today’s QA engineers need specialized knowledge to use each of these tools, including the ability to write scripts.

Today’s skills requirements and salary expectations

In the past, QA engineers performed most or all of their work manually, which was doable since there were a limited number of devices actually needing to be tested. Modern QA engineers spend much of their time working with automated tools to cover the wide variety of devices that can be used. While mobile and web applications have provided end users with benefits such as the ability to use applications on the go or without complex configuration, they have significantly increased both the need for and the difficulty of the work that the QA engineer must do.

Skills:

QA engineer (manual): Manual QA engineers define the scope and objectives of various levels of QA testing. They also write and maintain test automation, publish test results, develop quality assurance standards, and define and track quality assurance metrics. Manual quality assurance engineers should be highly knowledgeable in quality assurance principles and procedures and able to define, write and maintain test automation. He or she must have effective communication skills to translate technical processes and analytic techniques to solve problems, and be familiar with the materials used to build a product.

QA engineer (automated): Automated quality assurance engineers develop and execute automated testing suites. They also lead quality assurance efforts within a software development group and work closely with development teams and stakeholders performing QA activities. These professionals lead QA efforts through defining, developing, executing and documenting automated test plans and cases. Employers look for extensive knowledge in at least one automated testing framework.

Salary:

A newly hired QA engineer (manual) in 2015 can expect to receive a starting salary in the range of $70,000-$92,500, depending on factors such as experience, industry, local market demand, specialized skills and company reputation. This represents a 4.7 percent increase from 2014.
A newly hired QA engineer (automated) in 2015 can expect to receive a starting salary in the range of $75,500-$99,750, depending on factors such as experience, industry, local market demand, specialized skills and company reputation. This represents a 5.4 percent increase from 2014.

Check out the Robert Half Technology 2015 Salary Guide for more details on salaries and other IT trends.

— Robert Half Technology

With more than 100 locations worldwide, Robert Half Technology is a leading provider of technology professionals for initiatives ranging from web development and multiplatform systems integration to network security and technical support. Visit our website at www.rht.com.

“LinkedIn is the world’s largest audience of affluent, influential professionals.”

- Wall Street Journal

Get LinkedIn

Did you know?

While students may be well established on Facebook, Twitter and now Instagram, Snapchat and Vine, LinkedIn can help them make valuable professional connections as they seek to find their way in the world of work.LinkedIn gives college students an opportunity to build a strong, professional, online identity, develop and grow their professional network, and show off their accomplishments to potential employers. Experts claim that up to 85% of hiring managers are checking out job applicant’s LinkedIn profiles, making LinkedIn an essential career tool for your students. It can help them connect to specific careers and Professional Associations, too.

Try this…

• Ask them about their LinkedIn experience…

How long have you been a member?
How do you use the site?
How have you benefitted from your LinkedIn membership?

• View video.
• Distribute the Student Activity, (now in fillable pdf form) review the directions and complete.
• Show students how to use the LinkedIn “Groups Directory” tab to connect with professionals in careers that interest them.
• Identify and discuss LinkedIn groups relevant to your discipline.

Add an Experience!

This PREPARE LESSON at CaCareerCafe.com will help students build a solid LinkedIn profile. And, LinkedIn’s own Student site has additional tips to help them build connections.

CA Career Cafe

Undergrad 10-week Summer Research Experience in Accessible Computing

AMI :  Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)

Research Experience with Accessible Multimodal Interfaces for All Consumers
A ten-week summer research experience for undergrads in accessible computing; work with a diverse set of peers and experienced mentors in an inclusive setting.

Examples of exciting projects:

• Online video enhanced captions with tactile feedback for deaf consumers 
• View management or guided magnification for low vision consumers 
• Smartphone tactile keyboards and applications for blind consumers 
• Speech-to-text conversation applications for hard of hearing consumers 

Application: http://avd.rit.edu/apply
Deadline: April 17, 2015
Internship dates: June 1 through Aug 9

Who should apply:

• Undergraduates in Computer Science, Information Technology, or related fields 
• Underrepresented people with disabilities, minorities and women strongly encouraged to apply 
• US citizenship or permanent residency is required 

Email: reuami@rit.edu


Benefits include:

• Stipend 
• Travel Support 
• On-campus housing 
• On-campus meals 
• Hands-on research 
• Faculty/Peer mentoring 
• Professional Development 
• Interaction with a diverse set of peers and mentors who are: 
• Deaf and Hard of Hearing 
• Blind and Low Vision 
• Learn and practice American Sign Language (ASL) on campus 

New exam for all professionals: CompTIA IT Fundamentals

If you want to gain a stronger background in the world of information technology, CompTIA has a new exam for you. The CompTIA IT Fundamentals certification was created for people considering a career in IT or who work in afield that requires a general background in IT -- like Sales or Marketing at a tech company. The IT Fundamentals exam also can be a stepping stone to more advanced CompTIA certifications. Purchasing vouchers for multiple students or staff? Check out our site license program that could benefit your school or company. Learn more about this exciting new program.

The Data Economy is a Rich Source of High-Paying Jobs

April 3, 2015 by Joshua New Masters in Data Science


Last month, the U.S. Department of Commerce published a report that found data is fueling a rapid growth in high-paying, high-skilled jobs in the public and private sector and transforming the United States’ occupational landscape. The report, titled “The Importance of Data Occupations in the U.S. Economy,” defined “data jobs” as occupations which place high importance on analyzing data, processing data (i.e. coding and auditing), and interacting with computers (i.e. writing software and performing data entry) and found that there were 10.3 million of these jobs in 2013 (about 7.8% of all employment in the US). The report acknowledges that this is a conservative estimate — if the criteria were broadened to include jobs that describe these activities as just “important,” instead of “very important,” the category would include 64 million jobs, or 59% of total employment in the United States.

What’s Driving This Job Growth?

The increased use of data in the private sector has been one of the leading drivers of job growth in the past decade. Of the 10.3 million data jobs identified in the report, 8.6 million are in the private sector. These jobs are highly paid, with an average hourly wage of $40.30 in 2013 — 68% higher than the average wage for all of industry. From 2003 to 2013, the private sector industries that are considered data-intensive (meaning that at least 25% of their employees are in data jobs) increased their number of data jobs by 21%, compared to the overall average job growth of 5% for this period. Additionally, these data-intensive industries grew faster during the economic recovery period of 2010-2013, seeing a 9.4% increase in employment, compared to the 6.2% overall average. Any attempts at enacting broad-based privacy legislation that would limit data collection could hinder the potential for the private sector to find new applications for data, and thereby create jobs to act on these opportunities.

What Kinds of Workers and Skills Are Required?

Data workers were found to be considerably more educated than average. Nearly 70% have a bachelor’s degree or higher. By comparison, just about 35% of the overall workforce has that level of education. To sustain the growth of the data economy, the United States needs a workforce that is educated to meet the needs of companies that want to innovate and grow in the United States. The labor market is already struggling to meet this demand, creating a data science skills gap, and this problem will only grow worse if educational institutions on all levels do not adequately equip the emerging workforce with the necessary data skills.

What Should We Do About It?

To ensure that the economy’s growth is not hindered by a lack of qualified workers, federal and state lawmakers should promote data science education at all levels. Policymakers should fund efforts to expand enrollment in statistics and computer science courses and support the development of massive open online courses that teach data skills, and are accessible to both those in school, and those already in the workforce seeking to become data-literate. Secondary schools can also help develop a pipeline of future data-literate workers by creating more flexible math requirements, enabling students to satisfy them by taking computer science or statistics courses instead.

It is important to note that this report uses data from 2013. The trend towards more data-driven industry and the creation of more data jobs has no doubt continued, if not accelerated, since then, driven in part by new technologies like the Internet of Things. As companies increasingly rely on data to improve operations and develop new products, there will be an even greater need for policymakers to develop a workforce that can make use of all this data and, and for them to craft policies that allow such technologies to flourish.

Joshua New is a policy analyst at the Center for Data Innovation. His research focuses on methods of promoting innovative and emerging technologies as a means of improving the economy and quality of life. The Center for Data Innovation is a non-profit, non-partisan think tank studying the intersection of data, technology, and public policy. Based in Washington, DC, the Center formulates and promotes pragmatic public policies designed to maximize the benefits of data-driven innovation in the public and private sectors.

First Draft Big Data Framework Seeks to Tackle the Big Questions First

bloomua/Shutterstock.com

By Mohana Ravindranath April 8, 2015 NextGov

The National Institute of Standards and Technology wants to make sure everyone means the same thing when they talk about “big data."

In an attempt to standardize big data discussions, the Commerce Department agency issued a draft “Interoperability Framework,” defining data analytics-related phrases, outlining management templates and describing common use cases for large data sets and other large amounts of information traditional data architectures can’t efficiently handle.

“We want to create this ecosystem [in which] data scientists concentrate on their own data” instead of worrying about external factors, such as whether their data sets might work on new computing platforms, said Wo Chang, a NIST manager who worked on the report.

NIST led the “Big Data Working Group,” which included members from the private sector, academia and government, to write the framework. It released the first draft of the seven-volume publication earlier this week, and is accepting public comment until May 21.

The framework aims to “stimulate collaboration among industry professionals to further the secure and effective adoption of big data,” the report noted.

NIST is also pushing for international adoption of such a framework. Chang spoke to Nextgov from Germany, where he was meeting with international representatives about how to make the framework a global standard, he said.

Eventually, Chang added, the framework could evolve into an interface, in which data scientists could find guidance on common data applications and tools to help them comply with standards, among other features.

The framework also includes several general use cases, meant to guide governments, data scientists and organizations through big data applications. For instance, according to the draft, the Census Bureau is trying to use big data techniques to increase the quality and reduce the costs associated with field surveys.

The draft framework is the first step in a long path to interoperability. Once established, the draft noted, these definitions and outlines "will form the basis for evolution of existing standards," and could prompt data-focused groups to evaluate new standards.

(Image via Bloomua/ Shutterstock.com)

CCC Linked Learning Work-Based Learning Program Development Grant Opportunity

Dear Doing What Matters Network,

The Foundation for California Community Colleges has a great funding opportunity to improve work readiness for students across your region.

Title: CCC Linked Learning Work-Based Learning Program Development
Release date: April 3
Letter of Interest deadline: April 17
Proposal deadline: May 27

Please visit www.foundationccc.org/wbl to learn everything you need to know about this RFP.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce is taking on America's "skills gap"

See the article and embedded video at Yahoo News

The United States unemployment rate has been slowly but continually dropping since peaking at 10 percent in October 2009. Today it stands at 5.5 percent, with 126,000 jobs added last month alone. In fact, more jobs were created in 2014 than in any year since 1999. The flip side is that 9 million workers remain without a job, a number that might be much lower if those Americans had the necessary skills that many companies currently seek. In fact, 5 million jobs are unfilled today because skilled workers are not available to fill them. That’s a challenge U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker is tackling head-on. “One of the things that is really important for us to be doing is making sure that we’re training people for the jobs that exist today,” she told Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric when the pair visited a school in New York that focuses on job-driven training skills in computer programming.

According to a 2012 McKinsey & Company report, 45 percent of U.S. employers say that a skills shortage is a leading reason for entry-level vacancies. This problem is commonly referred to as the “skills gap.” “Since I’ve been in this job, I’ve probably met with 1,500 employers. All of them tell me they have challenges finding the skilled labor they need,” says Pritzker. “We need to do a better job of letting young people, letting families know what are the careers of the future. What are the skills that are needed? And then where do you go to get those skills?”

Pushing the need for job-driven training programs is nothing new to Pritzker. Before she became secretary of commerce in 2013, Pritzker founded Skills for America’s Future, a national initiative to close the skills gap. It works directly with employers to develop ways to better equip workers with the skills they need for in-demand jobs. In 2012, she also helped launch Skills for Chicagoland’s Future, the first city model of Skills for America’s Future.

Since taking office, Pritzker has made job-driven training a top priority for the Department of Commerce. “The reason is simple: For our economy to grow and our families to thrive, we need to ensure that more workers are better prepared and better equipped to meet the demands of business in the 21st century.”

Pritzker says the problem is not lack of jobs. “Since 2009, we’ve created 877,000 manufacturing jobs in this country. And these are not the manufacturing jobs of 25 years ago. These are technical jobs; they often require some kind of computer programming, computer literacy. And these are jobs that have great longevity and are very much associated with innovation of what’s going on in our economy.” Apprenticeships have declined by 40 percent in the last 10 years, and the Obama administration is encouraging companies to do more in this area. “CVS, for example, has just agreed to double the number of apprenticeships in their pharmacy and their medical units — from, I think, 1,500 to 3,000. Campbell’s Soup is doing an apprenticeship program for their production technicians,” says Pritzker. “They know it creates a loyal employee; they know it creates a successful employee.”

The Flatiron School, founded in 2012, teaches anyone who is interested how to code. Sophie, one of the students, has a degree in history from Barnard College. “I looked for a job for a long time. I eventually found work as a nanny … but it’s not what I went to a four-year university for.” Sophie is now training to be a computer programmer and hopes her new skills will make her more marketable when she looks for a job.

“It’s really important you build a baseline of skills on which you can build the rest of your career. And I think the other thing to keep in mind is it’s no longer that you’re pigeonholed as narrowly as perhaps a generation or two ago,” says Pritzker. “There’s the opportunity to reskill throughout life, through online learning, through various courses offered at universities, through graduate programs. So what you want to do is make sure that your baseline is really strong of skills so that you can build upon that throughout life. Whether that’s a technical baseline, whether that’s a liberal-arts baseline, you want to make sure that you put that in place. And then be a lifelong learner.”

Watch Katie’s conversation with Secretary Penny Pritzker and students of the Flatiron School to learn more about the “skills gap.”

8 CCCs Working With Obama’s TechHire Program

WRITTEN BY GEORGE LORENZO

WEDNESDAY, 25 MARCH 2015 TechEdge

Photo courtesy of WhiteHouse.gov
Eight California Community Colleges are leading a regional effort to help high school and college students prepare for jobs in high-tech as part of a nationwide program sponsored by the White House.

Known as the Los Angeles High Impact Information Technology, Entertainment-Entrepreneurship, and Communication Hubs(LA HI-TECH), several Los Angeles-area colleges—including six within the Los Angeles Community College District, as well as Pasadena Community College, Santa Monica College and California State University-Dominguez Hills—are working with the newly launched TechHire initiative to provide more workers with the education and skills needed to get higher paying technology-oriented jobs.

TechHire, announced in early March, is an H-1B grant competition by the Department of Labor that provides $100 million in new investments to train and employ low-skill individuals who have barriers to training and employment. These include people with child care responsibilities, people with disabilities, disconnected youth, and limited English proficient workers, among others. The grant supports scaling up of evidence-based strategies, such as accelerated learning, work-based learning, and Registered Apprenticeships.

To kick off TechHire, 20 regional “work communities” across the country—with over 120,000 open technology jobs and more than 300 employer partners with workforce needs—are announcing plans to work together on new ways to recruit and place job applicants based on their actual skills and to create more fast-track tech training opportunities. President Obama is challenging other communities across the country to follow their lead.

LA HI-TECH is one of these work communities. The regional consortium makes it possible for 4,000 high school and community college students to acquire the skills needed for education and employment in these sectors, which are critical to the Los Angeles-area economy. Together they aim to create a more technically skilled workforce and strengthen the local technology ecosystem. LA HI-TECH is funded by the California Career Pathways Trust and includes eight community colleges and 16 high schools, and charters multiple agencies and 100 employers.

Building on the promising work already underway in their communities, they are all committed to three actions:
Using data and innovative hiring practices to expand openness to non-traditional hiring
Expanding models for training that prepare students in months, not years
Active local leadership to connect people to jobs with hiring on-ramp programs

For a fact sheet on TechHire, please visit the White House press office.

George Lorenzo is a TechEDge contributing writer, and editor and publisher of
The SOURCE on Community College Issues, Trends & Strategies.
George is also president of Lorenzo Associates Inc., a content development service for higher education.

The Key to a Good-Paying Job Is…Microsoft Excel?

By
LAUREN WEBER

Wall Street Journal

Could this be the ticket to a good-paying job? iStockphoto/Getty Images
Want a job that promises a living wage and a good shot at a middle-class life? LearnMicrosoft MSFT +0.41% Excel and other basic digital skills.

That’s the conclusion of a report released Thursday by Burning Glass Technologies, a labor-market analysis firm that reviewed millions of job postings to understand which skills companies expect workers to have. The report focuses on middle-skill jobs – roles that require a high school diploma but not necessarily a college degree.

Some 78% of these jobs, or about 6.3 million open positions, call for some fluency with technology, Burning Glass found. Those positions are also the most promising in terms of pay and job creation, including occupations in healthcare, technology, and operations.

The most commonly required skills are also the most basic ones: spreadsheet and word-processing software such as Microsoft Corp.’s Excel and Word, or the software from SAP SE SAP -0.16% and Oracle Corp.ORCL +1.29%, which large companies use to manage things like finances and human resources. (A worthwhile aside: Planet Money’s deep dive into the history of the spreadsheet.) Such expertise has become critical for office and administrative positions, retail supervisors, and store managers, among others.

Sixty-seven percent of middle-skill jobs demand proficiency with these tools.

“Effectively, entire segments of the U.S. economy are off-limits to people who don’t have basic digital skills,” the report notes.

Positions that require basic digital skills tend to pay 13% more than jobs that require no digital chops: median pay of $22.66 per hour versus $20.14 per hour.

Roles calling for advanced digital skills, such as customer relationship management (CRM) software like that offered by Salesforce.com Inc.CRM -1.26% or a design tool like Adobe Systems Inc.ADBE -0.19%’s Photoshop, pay even more: a median of $27.73 per hour.

Middle-skill jobs have become the holy grail to economists who are concerned that the U.S labor market is becoming “hollowed out,” with employers adding mostly low-wage jobs for the two-thirds of workers without a college degree and high-paying jobs for graduates, but few jobs in between that can build and sustain a middle class.

The digital revolution has hardly affected prospects for workers in fields like transportation, construction and installation/repair. But wages and growth are lagging in those occupations, Burning Glass found, suggesting that middle-skill careers in healthcare, financial operations, sales, and management offer far more career and earnings potential.

The findings about basic skills should ease some worries among people who have become convinced that workers are sunk unless they learn to code. In fact, the report suggests that schools and other training sites should go back to the basics as they think about developing the future workforce:

Important challenges are being overlooked in the debate over how to invest in education and training. That debate often centers on high-tech industries, sophisticated computer skills (coding, for example), or specialized skill development for particular occupations. To be sure, these more advanced skills also represent important areas for workforce investment, but clearly a focus on the basics—such as widely used productivity applications and social media tools—would pay significant dividends for many workers.

Burning Glass reviewed nationwide job postings collected from December 2013 to November 2014. It defines middle-skill jobs as “those with less than 80% of job postings calling for a bachelor’s degree and with a median hourly wage above the national living wage of $15.” Part of the reason for the 80% cut-off score is that employers in recent years have exhibited “credential creep,” demanding college degrees for positions where the skills required don’t suggest a degree should be necessary.

The report was commissioned by Capital One Financial Corp.COF -2.32%, which on Thursday also announced that it will invest $150 million over five years in efforts to train mostly low-income individuals in digital skills via partnerships with technology school General Assembly and Grovo Learning Inc., a website that offers short training videos focused on skills such as using Google GOOGL -1.82% Analytics and Microsoft Office.