September Flew By; October Disappeared

Did I just have an unusually long blink? Where did September go? AND October is gone?!

Lots of exciting news from September, maybe that’s why it went by so fast…

It all started with getting to meet a LearnKey Alumni that relocated to AZ for an IT job at Spectrum. It was an honor to shake his hand and see the joy in his eyes brought on by finding a career in his field. LearnKey has assisted nine Blue Ocean graduates finding a new career in their field in the last six months.

Next, I was shocked by the final itinerary for my Remote Year experience! It could not have imagined a better list of places! Emotional roller coaster is a term that I continue to use to describe my experience but it is more like ton of happy, exciting, anxiety bricks hitting you at any moment, like when you are celebrating a moment with a friend who you may not see for an entire year, presenting a resume and interview workshop in Las Vegas, or ya know, just breathing, just hits you. Seeing the places in which I will live made this experience become very, very real. And, here they are https://remoteyear.com/itinerary-kanyini .

Speaking of that resume workshop and Interview workshop, I had the pleasure to work with an amazing company called Three Square. Three Square is Southern Nevada’s only food bank providing food assistance to the residents of Lincoln, Nye, Esmeralda, and Clark counties. Three Square’s mission is to provide wholesome food to hungry people, while passionately pursuing a hunger-free community. We combine food banking (warehousing canned and boxed goods), food rescue (obtaining surplus or unused meats, bread, dairy and produce from hospitality and grocery outlets), and ready-to-eat meals to be the most complete food solution for Southern Nevada. They, in partnership with LearnKey, have stepped up to take its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, outreach efforts to the next level. Three Square approached the state with a proposal that it create a pilot program to train SNAP recipients in call-center work, with an eye toward becoming a certified third-party training provider.

I had the privilege to administer the Resume Writing and interview Workshop to the students in the pilot program for Three Square as of October 10, 2017, 3 out of the 5 participants have been hired.

Honorable Mentions:

Went to the HeroZona Launch Luncheon for Arizona’s Veteran’s week, find more information here: https://www.herozona.com/
Met with an AZ Congresswoman’s Community Liaison who mentioned that the VA is moving to hire more work-from-home customer services representatives, more information will be shared as it is received.

September 2017 has changed my life for the better with all the inspiring events. I look forward to sharing my October with y’all!

Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3 Specialist (70-480) Released!

Today, we are excited to announce the release of our Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3 Specialist course.

Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3 Specialist (70-480)

The Programming in HTML5 with JavaScript and CSS3 Specialist (70-480) course readies one for the Microsoft 70-480 exam and will increase employability prospects for anyone looking to get into a web design and web development career. The course covers document structures and objects, program flow, accessing and securing data, and the use of Cascading Style Sheets in applications. This exam (or the 70-483 exam for Programming in C#) plus the 70-486 exam (for developing ASP.NET applications) earns one an MCSA for App Development.

Our hope is that through our courseware we may provide learners with the guidance, preparation, and skills they need to succeed. For more information and to learn about additional LearnKey products visit our website.

MTA Introduction to Programming Using JavaScript Released Today!

Today, we are excited to announce the release of our MTA Introduction to Programming Using JavaScript course.

MTA Introduction to Programming Using JavaScript (98-382)

The MTA Introduction to Programming Using JavaScript (98-382) course is an excellent course for those looking to gain valuable introductory JavaScript skills. Topics covered include: learning about JavaScript operators, keywords, and methods, using variables, data types, and functions, implementing decisions and loops, interacting with the DOM (Document Object Model), and interacting with forms. In all of these topics, students will clearly see how JavaScript is used to enhance existing webpages. Furthermore, this course covers the material on the MTA 98-382 exam, and will help anyone looking to improve their employability prospects in the areas of designing and building webpages.

MTA Introduction to Programming Using Python Released Today!

Today, we are excited to announce the release of our MTA Introduction to Programming Using Python course.

MTA Introduction to Programming Using Python (98-381)

LearnKey’s MTA Introduction to Programming Using Python (98-381) course covers Python, a very versatile programming language which can be used to power websites, build games, and even program hardware. This course is also an excellent course for someone new to programming, as many of the topics covered are basic programming topics which carry over well to other programming languages. Specifically, this course covers data types and operators, decisions and loops, input and output, code documentation and structure, troubleshooting, and modules and tools. The course topics directly map to the MTA 98-381 exam and will help anyone looking to improve their employability prospects in Python and for programming jobs in general.

New Security+ on the Way

Hello, everyone. It’s fall season here at LearnKey, and a busy fall it is going to be with many new courses on the horizon. One of the major courses we are working on (in fact we are filming this one very soon) is the brand new Security+ course, to map to the CompTIA Security+ SY0-501 exam (also brand new).

This new version of the Security+ exam really reflects the changing landscape of both security needs in an organization and the role of the Security Administrator or similar position in an organization. Today’s security administrator needs to be a very versatile individual, not only able to secure an existing IT infrastructure but be more involved in planning security, specifically as it relates to Architecture and Design and Risk Management, which, by the way, are two domains on the new Security+ exam.

The other four domains on the exam are: Technologies and Tools; Threats, Attacks, and Vulnerabilities; Identity and Access Management; and Cryptography and PKI (Public Key Infrastructure). For each of these domains, we will have comprehensive video training, pre-assessment and post-assessment tests, practice labs, and a robust project workbook, all mapped to the Security+ exam objectives. And, though I won’t reveal exactly how (you’ll have to see the course to find out) we’re going to present this in such a way as to improve your employability prospects for any junior to mid-level security administrator position, I will say this: If you want to know what it’s like the first few days on the job as a new security administrator, you’ll actually feel like you are there through this course.

Well, time for me to get back to putting the finishing touches on the material for this course. Stay tuned to this space for more updates as we will be releasing several courses this fall in the areas of IT administration and programming.

Programming in C# Course Released!

Today, we are excited to announce the release of our Programming in C# course.

Programming in C# (70-483)

LearnKey’s Programming in C# course is geared toward those who have some programming experience and are looking to improve their employability prospects for jobs requiring intermediate C# knowledge. The course is also geared toward those looking to take and pass exam 70-483, a Microsoft Certified Professional-level exam. 70-483 is one exam that leads toward the MCSA: App Builder certification. Specifically, this C# course covers managing program flow, creating and using types, debugging applications, implementing security, and implementing data access.

Next Up on the Programming Track: Programming in C#

Greetings, one and all. Every once in a while, I’ll step on a golf course that says, “recommended handicap of 15 or lower for the championship tees.” For you non-golfers, this means that one should have decent skills before taking on the challenge of playing a golf course from a challenging set of tees. Those who aren’t quite there should play from the regular tees, as this will (in theory) make their day more enjoyable.

In some respects, this metaphor applies to our upcoming Programming in C# course, which ties to the Microsoft 70-483 exam, Programming in C#. A lot of what we do for courses is geared toward the MTA certifications, which are terrific for first-level certifications. This course isn’t one of them. This and other MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) courses assume you have some programming experience, or the equivalent therein. Does that mean that if you are brand new to programming, you shouldn’t take this course? Absolutely not. But, you should take the Introduction to Programming course and maybe the Introduction to Programming using Python course (also coming out soon) to get some experience working with a programming language. Oh, by the way, that language I said in the Introduction to Programming course we use that I wouldn’t reveal then? It’s C#. So that course is helpful for C# knowledge as well.

In this Programming in C# course, there are four main topics:

Managing Program Flow
Creating and Using Types
Debugging Applications and Implementing Security
Implementing Data Access

Not only do these map to the 70-483 exam, these are topics that are essential for improving your employability prospects in the programming field. You can take what you learn here and apply it to other programming languages as well. So, for those of you who have a little experience and are looking to take your skills to the next level, this will be a good spot for you indeed.

As to whether my golf game is good enough for those signs that tell you what tees to play from, well, my handicap number isn’t for public consumption, but I’ll just say I usually play from the championship tees. I like a good challenge.

Animate CC Course and Workbook Released!

Today, we are excited to announce the release of our Animate CC course.

Animate CC

LearnKey’s Animate CC course covers topics such as, setting project requirements, understanding rich animated media, the Animate program, creating rich animated media content using Animate, and testing and publishing these documents. Mapped to cover the exam objectives for the Animate CC ACA exam, this course will improve the employability prospects for anyone looking for work requiring skills in developing rich animated media through Animate.

Timing is Everything – A Programming Track Update

A hearty summer greetings to you from your humble senior instructor. I have occasionally brought to you in this blog space some news about our new programming track. Well, it has officially started with last month’s release of the Introduction to Programming course, which is a course that focuses mainly on programming and design concepts.

Now, about the “timing is everything” part. In building this programming track, we were (or at least I was) trying to come up with a way to bridge the Introduction to Programming courses to some of the existing Microsoft MCSA Certifications, which are more geared for those with 1-2 years of experience in programming (or possess equivalent knowledge). And, a great percentage of you looking to explore this programming track are probably new to programming (hence the Intro to Programming course).

All that said, Microsoft is rolling out, over the next few months, four new MTA (Microsoft Technology Associate) certifications. They are:

Exam 98-381: Introduction to Programming using Python
Exam 98-382: Introduction to Programming using JavaScript
Exam 98-383: Introduction to Programming using HTML and CSS
Exam 98-388: Introduction to Programming using Java

These courses/certifications are the perfect gap between the Introduction to Programming course and the MCSA and other advanced courses we have for our programming track, which we are rolling out over the next several months. And, these courses fit in nicely with our three programming tracks: Web Development, Mobile Development, and General Languages. They mold so well, we even built a road map for you, which you will find a link to at the end of this blog.

Over the next several weeks, I will be posting blog entries for each of the courses in the programming track we are releasing this year.

You see, timing is everything.

Oh, that link: https://www.learnkey.com/careertracks/programming_and_development

Entrepreneurship and Small Business Course Released!

Today, we are excited to announce the release of our Entrepreneurship and Small Business course.

Entrepreneurship and Small Business

LearnKey’s Entrepreneurship and Small Business course is designed to prepare a student to sit for the Entrepreneurship and Small Business certification exam. The course provides scenarios and example questions to apply knowledge of fundamental entrepreneurship and small business management concepts. Topics covered include: defining an entrepreneur, recognizing an opportunity, starting and operating a business, how to market a business, managing sales, and basic financial management. The course is designed for a student who has taken a small business management class, but will prepare any student for the ESB exam.