LearnKey Blog

LearnKey First Quarter rollout of enhanced courses and products for 2012!

It is starting to be really busy with our LearnKey 2012 production shoot schedule, and I’m very excited with some of our new courses and exams recently released the past three weeks. It started with our February 2012 release of our  Advanced Security Practitioner Certification (CASP) course designed to provide students with an explanation and understanding of conceptualization of security topics, as well as theoretical instruction/demonstrations in designing and engineering security solutions. This training course prepares students for the CompTIA exam CAS-001. LearnKey Expert course instructor Tom Carpenter does a very thorough and solid job covering the key objectives.

Earlier this week we successfully released our Flash CS5 MasterExam™ that helps IT certification candidates put the finishing touches on their comprehension and confidence as a final step before sitting for the exam. With over 200 questions, this supplements the training and hands-on experience needed to pass the Adobe® Certified Associate (ACA) Rich Media Communication with Adobe® Flash® certification exam.

Another release this week is our PowerPoint 2010 MasterExam 77-883 which is a great way to assess the skills of your staff with the individual components of PowerPoint 2010. Increase productivity by discovering and correcting skill deficiencies, or to find out how proficient prospective employees are before you hire them.

We ended the week releasing our Dreamweaver CS5 MasterExam™ with over 200 questions that supplements the training and hands-on experience needed to pass the Adobe® Certified Associate (ACA) Web Communication with Adobe® Dreamweaver® certification exam.

Over the next couple of weeks I will share with you our 2012 Production release schedule for the remainder of the year. One teaser I can share with you is a very exciting course we plan to release about leveraging behavior – a perfect life skills and career readiness topic.

We are off to a great start, and I promise to keep you posted on our most recent product releases!

Veteran benefits provide certifications and new job skills through LearnKey courseware

I just want to write a few words about a friend of mine that I met through our VA vocational rehabilitation program. Chris and I were introduced over this last summer when he began using the LearnKey program to advance his IT career. At the time, he was working in an IT role, but in a limited, part time position. Over several months of interaction, I have come to think of Chris as a friend as our whole group has been following his progress and cheering his success. In January, I was able to meet Chris face to face as he came into our recording studio to shoot a testimonial video. It was a great experience to get better acquainted and to learn that Chris served as a combat engineer in Baghdad, the same role in which my father served during WW2.

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Veteran Certification on Veterans Day


Showing support at the 2011 St. George Veteran’s Day Parade

LearnKey has been working with the VA VR&E (Vocational Rehab and Employment) program for the last year. The VR&E program is specifically for those veterans who have partial service related disability and the goal is to help the veteran find suitable employment and careers. We offer a number of courses and bundled program packages for the veterans which range from Web design, Graphic design, Cisco Pro, Video production, SharePoint, Office 2010, QuickBooks, CompTIA, Project Management, Database design, Windows Server, etc. We even help the veterans to find jobs with employers where they will truly fit in with the company culture.

I wanted you to know that just yesterday, we had one of the veterans we work with certify in CPEH (Certified Professional Ethical Hacker)! Chris L. has been studying using his LearnKey program that was provided by the VR&E program at the VA. He has been working hard and that work is certainly paying off. He is the first veteran in our program to attempt the CPEH and he will soon take the CPTE (Certified Pen. Testing Engineer) exam. Great job and good timing Chris, you managed to get that certification just in time for Veterans Day!

CTP+ Replaces Convergence+

CompTIA has replaced Convergence+ with CTP+ as its convergent technologies exam. This exam focuses on knowledge and skills needed to sell and service convergent technologies some of the concepts covered are requirements analysis, voice and multimedia applications. It is recommended that candidates have attained Network+ certification and have work experience in data networking and/or telephony fields. (View more information about CTP+)

At this time we are not offering this course, but I would like to find out if people are interested in this certification. Is this the certification you have been waiting for? Do you have previous certifications and are looking to add to your resume with this certification? If you are interested would you be getting it for you current position and if so what are some of your job roles?

JavaScript Fundamentals Course Available!

mlassoff-java2

If you read the recent post about Dice.com’s jump in ITIL requests, you should definitely finish reading this. JavaScript skills requests jumped by 98% to nearly 7,919 postings. In a recent article on Dice they talked about how there were 1,100 positions availble for people with JavaScript experience in the Silicon Valley alone.

If you are looking for a new career path to follow, with so many positions available, this may be the one! LearnKey has just released our newest JavaScript Fundamentals Course – for more information visit the product page at www.learnkey.com/js_fundamentals.

Is ITIL Your Next Career Move?

itil

Dice.com recently came out with the January 2011 Dice Report, which documents the demand for various IT jobs, and it shows that requests for Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) have increased by 89% year to year with 1,619 job postings. That is more than twice the market rate!

Not only is there a need, there is money there as well. According to a recent survey of IT Certification holders the average salary for ITIL v3 Foundation Certification holders was $101,185 in 2010. Not bad in a down economy!

If you are looking to take the next step in your career and need help getting certified check out LearnKey’s ITIL Foundation Course – ITIL v3 Foundation at www.learnkey.com/itil_foundation.

New Year, New You – Certification Maps for 2011

If you are like me, you profess every New Year that you are going to make changes… Well it is almost February, and I haven’t even started to make any changes yet. If this sounds like you and certification is on your list this year, we have something to help you get started.

certification_tracks

If you are like me, you profess every New Year that you are going to make changes… Well it is almost February, and I haven’t even started to make any changes yet. When you decide to make these changes you usually do not take into consideration that figuring out what steps to take next can be so overwhelming, you quit before you start. For example, every year somewhere on my list is to be healthier (I am sure like many of you), but more often than not, sifting through all of the diets and exercise programs out there overwhelms me, and I just continue with my same routine.

If this sounds like you and certification is on your list this year, we have something to help you get started. Continue reading “New Year, New You – Certification Maps for 2011”

Most in Demand IT Certifications for 2011

The Robert Half Technology Salary Guide 2011 has found the most in demand job titles, skill sets, and certifications for the coming year. If you are looking to change careers or add to your skill set you need to read this to make sure you are looking at career paths that are in demand.

There will be high demand for application developers, .NET developers, systems administrators, database administrators and desktop support professionals.

In demand skill sets for the coming year include; programming , business mindset, technological proficiency, security, networking, infrastructure support, and electronic medical records.

Certifications in demand- Cisco certifications (Cisco Certified Network Associate), Linux (Red Hat Certified Engineer), Microsoft certifications (Microsoft Certified Applications Developer, Microsoft Certified IT Professional, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, and Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist), Project Management Professional (PMP), and Security certifications (Certified Information Systems Security Professional, Check Point Certified Security Administrator, and Check Point Certified Security Expert).

Check out the training LearnKey has available to help you get certified!

CCSP Now CCNP?

In mid October, Cisco announced that the CCSP certification would be evolving into the CCNP Security certification. After April 2011 CCSP exams will no longer be available and CCSP certifications will not be given after October 2011. All CCSP certifications will be valid and recognized for a 3 year active period until 2014. This has caused quite a bit of confusion for all of the folks who are in the middle of getting this certification or who already have a CCSP certification. In response CISCO has created the CCSP Exam Certification Tool to help you figure it all out. 

The tool allows you to select the CCSP exams and shows you the required exams and the elective exams along with the last day they will be available. This will help you map everything out and plan ahead for your certification making the process smooth.

Do you have any questions about the upcoming Cisco certification changes? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll do our best to answer them!

LearnKey’s Fast Track to CompTIA “Certify for Life”

If you are looking to start a career in IT and have decided on CompTIA certifications you should be aware of the changes that will be implemented in the coming year. Starting January 1, 2011 when you earn a CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, or CompTIA Security+ certification you will have to renew your certification every three years. In the past, earning one of those three certifications guaranteed you “Certified” status for the rest of your life. This seems good for the people earning certifications, but the drawback is that you aren’t required to keep up on current technology – earning your A+ Certification ten years ago meant learning a whole different set of skills than what you would need today. With the new policy, the certified must keep their certifications current by either retaking the current exam or earning Continuing Education Units (CEUs). CEUs are earned a number of ways – attending industry events, teaching/lecturing on relevant industry topics, taking *ahem* computer based training courses

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