* News about career resources, Microsoft certifications, hiring forecasts
Welcome to the New Year! I’m looking forward to seeing what challenges and opportunities the year will bring in IT education, and what the hot training topics will be. Please keep those e-mails coming and let me know what you’d like me to cover in these newsletters through the year. I’d like to kick off with a quick roundup of what we can expect in the coming weeks.
* Free career podcasts
Two years ago I spent an eye-opening day with a group of security engineers from nCircle. It was Microsoft Patch Tuesday and they let me be a fly-on-the-wall as I watched them unravel the fixes that Microsoft had made to its software so that nCircle’s customers could decide whether or not to deploy the patches. Leading the group of engineers was Mike Murray, then director of nCircle’s Vulnerability & Exposure Research Team.
Murray left nCircle last August to take up the position of enterprise security architect for a large casualty and property insurer (which he declined to name), based outside of Boston. He got in touch to tell me about his IT careers-related blog at Episteme.ca.
As part of the site, Murray is producing a series of podcasts in which he interviews IT careers experts. Topics of discussion range from social skills for geeks; how to become a chief information security officer; how to bring together groups of smart people to discuss, create and learn about new technology; and what career coaches see as IT career trends. Murray says he will be seeking “non-standard” career advice for techies, adding that he was encouraged to set up the blog as, at nCircle, he was often asked by his engineers about how best to move into management. “People talk a lot about certifications, but I will talk about timeliness things, such as interactive skills, how to work with managers, how to sell your project ideas,” he says.
Check out the free podcasts, which are recordings of teleconferences, here.
* Microsoft Vista certification training
With the launch of Windows Vista, Exchange 2007 and Office 2007 late November, Microsoft is prepping its exams and certifications for those products.
For Vista pros, there will be a one-exam path to Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS): Windows Vista: Configuration certification, plus two Microsoft Certified IT Professional certificates – MCITP: Enterprise Support Technician, and MCITP: Consumer Support Technician. Go to Microsoft’s “Windows Vista Learning Portal” for more info.
For Office 2007 pros, there will be three MCITP certifications (one exam is required for each certification): MCTS: Office SharePoint Server 2007, Configuration; MCTS: Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0, Configuration; and MCTS: Deploying a Business Desktop with BDD. Go to the 2007 Office site for more info.
For Exchange pros, there will be two certifications: MCTS: Exchange Server 2007, Configuration (one exam); and MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator (two exams). Microsoft Exchange learning site is here.
Full exam names and numbers will be announced “in the coming months”, says Microsoft.
* IT hiring is on the up
Finally, some good news on the hiring front. According to the latest Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report, 16% of the 1,400 CIOs polled recently said they would be adding IT staff in the first quarter of this year. Two percent said they anticipate cutbacks. The net 14% hiring increase, the highest since the fourth quarter of 2001, is up four percentage points from the previous quarter’s forecast, says the staffing firm.
Skills most in demand include Microsoft Windows administration (Server 2000, 2003) cited by 77% of the CIOs surveyed. Network administration was cited by 71% of the CIOs, who were seeking pros in Cisco, Nortel and Novell equipment.
For the second consecutive quarter, CIOs in the East South Central region are most optimistic about upcoming hiring plans, the company notes. Twenty-four percent of IT execs there anticipate hiring increases, while 2% forecast declines.
For more findings from the Robert Half survey, go here.
