Lee Myers Shares His IT Experiences - Wednesday, June 06, 2007
In high school, Lee Myers’ guidance counselor told him he would have a great career as a truck driver.

But Lee wasn’t interested in trucks, he liked computers. He found a job at Circuit City; however, he soon realized that selling computers might not be the right job for him either.

Find out what career Lee decided to pursue, and how he incorporates Linux solutions at his workplace. Read more.

Tommy Akin Shares His IT Experiences - Wednesday, May 02, 2007
A broken promise led to the start of Tommy Akin’s IT career. Akin was working in the auto business as a Fleet and Lease manager for a nation-wide auto dealer’s auction when he purchased a PC-XT from a local computer store for about $3,000.

When the salesman that promised computer support quit, Tommy found himself with a new career. Read more.

David Weig Shares His IT Experiences - Wednesday, April 04, 2007
One man's junk is another man's treasure… or in David Weig’s case, one car dealer’s old computer is another man’s new career. When the dealership David Weig worked for upgraded their system, he decided to save one of the old PCs from the junk pile.

Find out how an old computer inspired David to change his career. Read more.

Tom Pintaric Shares His IT Experiences - Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Tom Pintaric lives in Calgary, AB Canada and works for an engineering/consulting company that hosts contractors on a full-time basis and deals with a variety of projects out in the field. His current job role is that of an IT Server-desktop-network technician.

Pintaric holds two CompTIA certifications, CompTIA A+ and CompTIA Network+. He pursued his first certification because he had very little experience in the field, and said being fresh out of school is the "worst” because everyone is already looking for you to have the skills when you enter the workforce.

Find out what other challenges Pintaric has faced in his career. Read more.

David Hardy Shares His IT Experiences - Wednesday, February 07, 2007
David Hardy had worked in the textile industry for about six years when he decided he wanted a career change. He took computer classes at a technical college and now holds his CompTIA A+ and CompTIA Network+ certifications.

David now works as Systems Engineer for the Laurens Co School District. He has been working there for four years and also has worked for a local ISP for three years.

Find out more about David Hardy’s experiences. Read more.

Tim Dami Shares His Experiences as an IT Professional - Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Tim Dami never thought he would be traveling by canoe to fix a computer.

Working in the United States as a mid-level manager in the service industry, Tim already had communication skills; he simply wanted to learn how to work with technology. So Tim went back to school for computer repair, but realized that it was hard to find a job without any hands-on experience.

Read more to discover the unique way Tim has gained hands-on experience Read more.

Justin Durrant Shares His Experiences as an IT Professional - Wednesday, December 06, 2006
In five years, Justin Durrant was able to advance from a level-one help-desk technician to a Windows Systems Engineer at Fair Isaac in Arden Hills, Minn.

Durrant was able to break into the IT field after obtaining his CompTIA A+ certification a few years ago.

Learn more about Justin Durrant's experiences as an IT pro. Read more.

Eric Kilgore Shares his IT Experiences - Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Eric Kilgore's interest in computer's developed when he was fairly young. He had fun with BASIC programming in junior high and has been a hobbyist computer builder since the 1990s.

Kilgore holds CompTIA A+ and CompTIA Network+ certifications, an MCP in Windows 2000Pro (70-210), MCP Windows 2000 Server (70-215), MCP Windows 2003 Server (70-290), and is pursing his MCSA and CCNA.

What advice does Kilgore offer to other IT professionals? Read more.

Eric Logan shares his experiences as an IT professional - Wednesday, October 04, 2006
While working for a major automobile manufacturer and working on a degree in management, Eric Logan was intrigued by an introductory “computer concepts” class that was a requirement for the degree.

“During the class, I started investigating career possibilities in IT and by the end of the quarter, I had changed my major and the rest is history, as they say,” Logan said.

Logan is now the Systems Administrator for the Goizueta Business Library at Emory University, as well as a part-time instructor.

Logan holds CompTIA Network+, MCP, MCDST, ACHDS, and Dell certifications and is currently working on CompTIA Project+ and ACTC.

What advice does Eric Logan have for IT professionals who want to move up in the industry? Read more.

Julia Olson shares her experiences as an IT professional - Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Help your students get ahead by teaching them skills hiring managers want. CompTIA has surveyed training/education companies, channel companies and product vendors to determine what skills they are looking for in their employees and job candidates.

There is good news for your students - more than one-half (54%) of respondents indicated needing new tech support/customer service hires in the next 12 months in order to achieve business goals. Customer service and tech support were highlighted by respondents as extremely important skills for employees at a successful organization. Respondents ranked customer service and tech support as extremely important (68%), closely followed by sales (59%) marketing (40%) and general management (40%). When combining "important" results with “extremely important,” a slightly different ranking occurs, with tech support/customer service still ranking highest at 92%, but operations is the second highest ranked at 86%, followed by general management at 85% and sales at 81%.

Find out what other skills employers are looking for. Read more.

Learn about other IT professionals in the industry. - Wednesday, August 02, 2006
This issue features Ken Jennings, a system administrator and telephone technician.

Mr. Jennings shares his experiences in IT, and lends advice to others who are entering the industry. Read more.