Security+ (SY0-501) Course Released!

Today, we are excited to announce the release of our Security+ (SY0-501) course.

This CompTIA certification course helps to prepare students to take and pass the SY0-501 Security+ exam and obtain the Security+ certification. This course is excellent for those looking to increase their employability prospects in security administration careers. Specific topics covered in this course include: security threats, attacks and vulnerabilities, tools and technologies, architecture and design, identity and access methods, risk management, and cryptography.

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.

Preparation and arrival for the Job Ready Gypsy – Remote Year

Week one of Remote Year ends, I must remind myself that it is in fact only 1 week! After a short week of a crash course in acclimating to a new culture, new location, and total opposite time zone, I find that I am blown away that even with all those distractions, we have already created deep connections with a talented, diverse group of nomadic professionals. In our travel family of 35 people we have IT professionals, graphic designers, attorneys, HR/management and political consultants, producers, operations managers, finance professionals and entrepreneurs. The work ethic is astounding, the talent is mind-blowing, and I get an entire year with this group.

Packing:

WAY harder than I expected. How does one pack for a year?! Be warned, this is not an advising entry.

Round 1

Supplies: Bagail packing cubes, 24-inch Samsonite suitcase, and 30-liter North Face Backpack

Packed each packing cube individually, weighed them, added up to about 38 pounds. Too easy. Ready to combine that with my 8-pound suitcase should be totally fine. Oh, but wait, that is 46, must be under 20 kg which Is 44.9 pounds.

Take out two shirts and extra pair of shoes I won’t need. No problem.

Let’s get this all together now.

Everything is going my way! Room to spare in the suitcase, easy to close, this is way too easy. I lifted it up to the scale, feels a bit heavy.

Scale: 52.8 pounds. I took stuff out and it weighs more than originally?!

Round 2 Beth vs. Samsonite

Take out a pair of jeans, two more shirts, and some luxury items I enjoy (the struggle was real on that one). Sweating as if I am running a marathon in 70% humidity.

Scale: 47.2. Dear baby Jesus, please help guide me, give me strength.

I need reinforcements. “Mom, I need help!” Mom provides sound advice, that I of course, do not take, because, Yes! I DO need 7 tank tops!

Round 3

Back hurts. I am sweating. Start heeding mom’s advice.

No extras, less shirts, one bra, still tough to remove dresses, but down two more dresses, 1 skirt, really… I am not even sure what is left.

Scale: 43.6

Hallelujah! I can successfully board the plane.

Street food street, where I got my first Malaysian meal and ringgit, the local currency

Arrival Day

Immigration: My first time out of North America and I stood in line for an hour just to be asked, “are you traveling alone?” said with an awkward giggle from the immigration dude/officer. Is that normal? Seemed a bit anticlimactic. Then, wait for it, the FIRST stamp in my Passport! Wow, what an incredible experience. I feel like I accomplished something. Made the 24 hours of travel and loss of one day all worth it.

Airport: Surprisingly western. Littered with overpriced stores and souvenir shops. You know you are not in the states because of the smells of curry being carried to your nose in the humid, wet air, as if you were face-first over the hot pot of freshly cooked curry. Another shocking difference was the restroom. I was not expecting to squat but after being on a plane for almost 5 hours, any bathroom would suffice. At first, I thought it was so kind for two women to let me ahead of them in line, I thought, “they must see the emergency in my eyes.” Then I waked into the stall only to have the metaphorical wind knocked out of me in shock. Knowing I was being looked at, I acted like, oh, I got this. One thing the Army teaches you, you can pee anywhere. So, I used the “squat” toilet, only to realize as I left, there were western toilet options. The women were not allowing me to go ahead, they were waiting for the western toilet. Well, when in Asia!

Fast forward to about five days into the year: More than enough clothes, but should have brought my little bottle of Tide (MOM!) and my water filter. Could have done without 1 pair of jeans (too hot and humid). Overall, there is no way of knowing what you will need for an entire year. If the rest of the locations are like Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, there will be plenty of places to buy anything you need.

Lying Down on the Job

I know, I know. I haven’t been in this blog space for a while. As you can see, I’ve been lying down on the job. Well, not really. The past several weeks I’ve been doing anything but lying down as our production crew has been busy filming not one, but two new CompTIA courses: Security+, and Network+. The Security+ course, which will be out soon, is tied to the new Security+ exam, exam SY0-501. The exam covers these security topics:

Threats, Attacks, and Vulnerabilities
Technologies and Tools
Architecture and Design
Identity and Access Management
Risk Management
Cryptography

Security+, in my humble opinion, has really gained in importance for anyone who wants to be employable in an IT Security position. I’ve known companies to actually make this a requirement as a condition of employment, i.e., get the Security+ certification in the first 90 days to stay at the job.

The other major course we are working on is the new Network+ course, tied to exam N10-007. Again, a Network+ certification certainly helps employability, specifically in the area of network administration jobs. The Network+ course goes through these topics:

Networking Concepts
Infrastructure
Networking Operations
Network Security
Troubleshooting

This course and exam will be out early in 2018.

By the way, which concept were we filming when I was lying down here? It is one that is actually in both the Security+ and Network+ courses. And, a certain TV character named Malcolm would get it right away. That’s your hint. The answer will come in the next blog. In the meantime, with around 1400 exam objectives between the two courses, I think I will lie down here for a just a few minutes longer and rest a little before resuming production.

Hello December: T-Minus: 52 Days until take-off

Welcome to December, y’all!

It is officially official, my Remote Year experience has a launch date. On January 26, 2018, I will be flying from Phoenix to L.A., then on to Hong Kong, and finally landing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia! The longest flight I have taken to date has been six hours from NYC to L.A., which is a stroll to the park compared to the 16-hour flight to Hong Kong. I can barely sit for six hours, let alone 16! Oy! Any tips for long flights are appreciated, so please feel free to comment. Also new in November, as part of the Remote Year program, we have gotten to meet our community! I have already spoken with several co-travelers that I will be with, and three are from Arizona! With even that limited information, this travel has become less daunting and mysterious and more welcoming. Enough about me…

In mid-October, I had the pleasure to work with LearnKey’s production team to create a marketing video for our sister company, Brighton College. I am giving a HUGE shout-out to the incredible work of Mer, Jason, Seth, and Neil. They create masterful videos with ease. If you have never been on a production shoot, it is NOT easy. I, the amateur, probably had 15 takes just to say, “the need is urgent”. Neil creatively edited the video, resulting in me sounding less awkward. Thanks Neil! Feel free to check out the video below. Side note: Neil and Seth have amazing taste in horribly-terrific holiday horror films.

The Job Ready Team is pleased to announce that three BO students were hired and started work in November! LearnKey is proud to improve employability every day! We are also giving our online Job Ready Resource Center a new look, launching in 2018. Please keep a lookout for the improved layout.

Wishing you all an inspired holiday season. Next blog will be from Kuala Lumpur!

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.

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.

Linux+ MasterExams Released Today!

Today, we are excited to announce the release of our Linux+ Part I and Linux+ Part II MasterExams.

MasterExam™ test prep tools from LearnKey help IT certification candidates put the finishing touches on their comprehension and confidence as a final step before sitting for the exam. With hundreds questions, the all-new Linux+ Part I/Part II MasterExam™ supplements the training and hands-on experience needed to pass the Linux+ Part I/ Part II exams.

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.