In general, outsourcing is not really scary. All about outsourcing is to shift some of IT functions from in-house to external IT service providers. Your strategy to deal with outsourcing is to make yourself fit in the trend. There is another kind of outsourcing – offshore outsourcing, that could cause real threat to us. We’ll talk about offshore outsourcing in the next chapter.

1. The Outsourcing Trends

According to IT labor market research, 35% to 45% of full-time IT jobs in the U.S. and Canada will be shifted to contractors, consultants, offshore technicians or part-time workers by 2005. Some analysts and IT labor experts predict these figures even higher.

Shifting IT job functions from in-house to outside service providers is so called outsourcing. As this trend gets increasingly popular, more and more executives want to give it a try and throw something to the outsourced den.

Outsourcing benefits to business

Like it or not, outsourcing is an inevitable trend because:

• Outsourcing is cost-effective for many IT functions from application development to systems support.
• Outsource provides specificalized expertise in the latest technologies that could be hard to achieve through training in-house staff because of the fast pace on new technology advancement.
• Outsourcing could eliminate certain HR problems and labor conflicts and reduce HR management and payroll functions within the company, thus improve overall operating efficiency.
• By reducing the in-hours workforce, Outsourcing out some pressure on existing staff and push them to improve performance. It also helps in-house staff learn new technologies and skills from outsourced contractors and consultants.
• As software products become standardized in component based modules, it makes more sense to outsource software development projects.
• Internet technologies make remote and distributed IT service outsourcing cheap, easy, practical, and effective. Using the Internet, outsourced technical services such as remote DBA and online support become possible.

Negative side of outsourcing

Outsourcing is often touted as an easy way to achieve more functionality for less money, with less aggravation. However, not all management people agree with outsourcing. Concerning issues of outsourcing include:

• For some business and companies, outsourcing hasn’t proved to be a lower-cost alternative to keeping IT inside corporate walls.
• Outsourcing can make company locked into long-term contracts that may not be relevant to the business anymore due to changes of economy. In this case, in-house function is a better choice if you want to be in control of your own destiny.
• Security is often a concern in outsourcing, especially offshore outsourcing. In order to safeguard critical business secrets and technologies, companies often keep IT inside the corporate boundary.

After all, outsourcing is not magic to solve business problems. In fact, very few corporations outsource the entire IT body. More or less they keep some of IT functions inside the corporate wall. A lot of companies still do everything in-house.

2. How to Fit in

The strategy to dealing with outsourcing is to fit in with the trend. The outsourcing trend moves IT jobs from corporations to IT consulting firms that provide software development, network support, system integration, and so forth. Thus, instead of having a corporate career, you may find your position as an outsourcing provider – you can work as a consultant, contractor, or temp worker; you may need to work on multiple projects concurrently; you may be on your own as an independent consultant.

If you lost your corporate job due to outsourcing; if you feel it’s harder to find a permanent job with a corporation, you should turn to IT service opportunities with a consulting career. As more and more IT jobs go outsourcing, there is an increasing demand for IT consultants. Although you don’t have the same good benefits and stability as on a corporate job, you get better paid and have more flexibility when working as a consultant. Also, you have better chance to learn new technologies and build experience quickly as you may be assigned to various challenging projects.

US-based companies are sending more and more tech jobs to overseas. Hiring overseas technical talent to do the job is so called offshoring. In recent years, rush to offshore outsourcing has become a significantly growing trend in IT industry – significant enough to draw us to pay serious attentions.

1. The Offshore Trend

All IT industry leaders -IBM, Microsoft, HP, Oracle, just name a few, are going offshore to reduce costs. When smaller firms see this from the leadership, they must follow. Competitors to these leading firms also have little choice- they must drive down labor costs or be priced out of markets.

In a typical offshore project, 50 to 80 percent of the work shifts to offshore countries, most likely India. India is currently the undisputed offshoring leader, but other countries cited by executives as prospects for offshoring include China, Ireland, the Philippines, Russia and even Vietnam.

Offshore tasks range in a wide board of functions from programming to maintenance, as well as technical support and other “grunt work,” Jobs that can stay in North America are likely among high-design, high-touch, and high-creativity works.

Why offshore

Cheaper labor overseas is the main advantage to shifting technical work to offshore operations. The cost of some types of IT work is 20% to 50% less in places such as India, Eastern Europe and parts of South America.

Some executives claimed that they cannot find qualified American IT workers so they have to go offshore. That’s not true. There are in fact plenty of technical talents in homeland. The only problem is, employers don’t want to pay the premium, or they cannot afford. Since the nature of the business has changed, corporations can’t afford to retain the whole IT operations in the U.S. anymore.

2. What Makes Offshoring Possible

The key factor to offshoring success is precise definition of tasks. As for general IT tasks such as software development and maintenance, the biggest problem in US-based companies’ offshore projects has been the fuzzy spec. Fuzzy specifications increase communications overhead, and can even make the project fail.

Recent changes in information technology have removed many obstacles to offshore solution. New technologies have been utilized to commoditize software and business application development. Today’s application systems have become component-based, and these components are perfect candidates for offshore work.

The most significant driving force that made offshore work possible is the ability to precisely specifying system design and architecture using Unified Modeling Language (UML). UML can help eliminate communications problems and increase efficiencies by reducing the need for discussion. With UML architects can layout complicated enterprise system accurately and define each system component in detail level.

New tools that implement UML provide a realistic way for software systems architects to precisely define all aspects of a prospective system. By following the UML blue print, offshore workers know exactly to do. They can build and deliver products and services efficiently, and they have very little chance to fail.

3. Offshore Impact to Homeland Techies

The incredible labor cost savings in offshore operations are becoming ever more attractive in a slow economy. Offshore migration is making IT jobs in the USA very different from what they were 10 years ago. US IT professionals who used to hop jobs and earn fat bonuses now face an uncertain future when their jobs are outsourced to companies in India and other nations.

Offshore operations pose immediate pressure on the area of software programming and application development. American programmers will have tougher time in the future. They will see less job opportunities as well as low or no pay increases. Offshore outsourcing is the contributing factor in this situation. In addition to offshore competition, US-based competition from eager immigrant programmers is also taking its toll on North America labor rates for programmers.

Currently offshore operations target on areas including:

• Data entry
• Software programming
• Custom application development
• Back-end processing
• Technical support

As time goes by, American corporations will aggressively find a much broader set of projects that can be accomplished offshore. However, no matter how offshore goes crazy, there will always be enough work for us to do onshore. With the right strategy, we can beat it and win.

4. How to Beat Offshore Trend

Don’t let your career prospects be roiled by offshoring. The strategy to beating offshore competition is to position yourself on functionally homeland based tasks that cannot be shifted to offshore. You must acquire certain skills and knowledge in order to secure such a position. The following guidelines are important for you to survive from offshore challenge.

Moving to management

IT workers facing offshore challenge should consider moving to management area. While many IT projects are outsourced to offshore, the management functionality must stay close to clients and corporate centers. Those who retrain themselves in project management will be saved.

Becoming technological leader

Every offshore project keeps technological leadership onshore. To avoid getting marginalized, onshore IT workers must focus on current technologies and become technological leader in the organization. Offshore projects require USA-based workers to take on additional leadership tasks. If you want to work onshore, you’d better position yourself for that type of role.

Offshore competition only threatens those who lost the edge. So don’t get stuck in dead-end technologies. If you are a programmer, you need to move beyond coding and maintenance. Get you hands on the latest technologies – J2EE, .NET, Web Services, IT security, wireless networking, etc.

Watch the trend closely and plan ahead. You should actively seek projects that keep you working with the latest technologies, and you must keep learning. Always Aim for the top. Get certified and take training classes to make yourself more competitive at home and abroad.

Focusing on design and architecture

The safe harbor shielded from offshoring threats is the area of design and architecture. If coding is your thing, you want to be an architect. Architect is the highest paying IT job that does not require the management of people. If management is not your choice, then go architect. Jobs in architecting function are usually titled Enterprise Architect, Data Architect, Systems Designer, or Business Systems Analyst. The core tasks are among analysis, specification, planning, design, and architecting.

In fact, a lot of programmers and senior developers are preparing themselves to move into the role of architect. They are seeing that offshoring has turned software code into a commodity and the boom in programming salaries is over. The focus on IT projects is longer in coding. It’s in analysis and design.

The big opportunity in architecting jobs will be taken by first movers who start to migrate skills away from programming and towards design functions. Because only a few design positions are needed for every dozen coders, programmers who make the move now have better chance to fill those slots. Those who wait too long to transition will find themselves completing with plentiful global labor for the actual coding and construction of these systems.

On the other hand, offshoring is driving demand for USA-based architects. Because America based companies must provide solid specs before engaging offhsore firms, the number of architecting jobs will be increasing.

To become a high demand architect, you must have programming experience, you must you know the business, and you must communicate well.

The following preparations are necessary in order to transaction from programming to architecting:

• Mastering Unified Modeling Language (UML) – learn it quickly.
• Building experience on enterprise platforms – either J2EE or .NET.
• Leaning to create and use framework – Apache Strut is a good one to start.
• Having deep understanding on design pattern.
• Knowing the business model.
• Improving communication skills.

If you have integrated skills of programming, UML design, and the business itself, you can become a successful architect.

Knowing the business

A competitive onshore IT worker must demonstrate business savvy. Becoming a technological leader with proven business know-how can strategically secure your position onshore. Therefore, you need to learn about the inner workings of your company, the business model, and the industry. Strong knowledge of the specific business can help your career in many ways.

Improving communication skills

Develop solid oral and written communications skills. You must communicate like a pro – Get your message out to users, company clients and managers as well as colleagues.

In IT industry, layoff is inevitable. Most likely, layoff has nothing to do with employee’s job performance but often caused by uncontrollable external situations. In such a highly competitive environment, companies were sometimes forced to reduce workforce due to economic conditions and business operation problems. Layoff is often a result of company reorg, merger and accusations, and so forth.

As IT pros, a lot of us had been handed the pink slip or at least see co-workers let go. Layoff is one of the most frustrated career challenges we have to face. The pressure, frustration, and emotions could impact our career negatively for long time. To avoid career damage from layoff, we offer you the practical tactics that you can apply easily in you work. By using these tactics you can often skip layoff, or recover quickly if it does happen to you.

1. How to Avoid Layoff

While no one is immune from layoffs these days, those who have built stronger career base have more power to fight back. A strategic career base includes positioning, qualification, and affinity:

• Positioning: If you can dynamically position yourself in work environment, you can somehow exclude yourself from layoff, or defer it to win time.
• Qualification: Qualification delivers value. Those who were valued high have more fighting power.
• Affinity: Never overlook the power of affinity that derives full-dimension network of strategic relationship across all levels, layers, and boundaries in your workplace.

Career base cannot be built overnight. It takes time and it is a continuing process. If you were not aware of it before, it is now the time to evaluate how strong your career base is and how to enhance it. So, let’s discuss a few applicable tactics to reinforce your career base by improving your positioning, qualification, and affinity. With these improvements, you have much better chance to beat layoffs.

Becoming a key player

You must work as a key player within a team, project, division, department, or the entire company. Key players work on systematic projects instead of isolated assignments. Key players are often involved in design, architecture, and systems. For instance, an application architect and a database administrator could be the key players in a project. If you are just one of the low key programmers in the development team, you may be laid off easily because your work can be replaced or transferred without impact the overall project. However, if you are a key person in system design and data architecture, it is not that easy to let you go unless the company is out of business.

As you can see, this tactic contributes positioning and qualification to the career base.

Showing your value

Do high quality work, complete project under budget, always meet the deadline, show your company how much they need you …that job was made for you. If necessary, put additional effort and your own time to your work. Keep learning new skills and enhance your experience.

Enhancing visibility

Visibility is about positioning. Our research shows that highly visible employees are not easily to be targeted in layoff decisions. It is understandable that people of high visibility have greater influence on the team and environment, thus the management would rather leave them alone in order minimize the impact of layoff.

It is fairly easy to increase visibility in work place. Work harder than you have ever worked especially layoffs are on the way. Be the first to come and last to leave. Let everyone see your commitment dedication to the company. Make a habit to take every opportunity to stand out from the crowd. Talk to people often and make them know you. Show your interest on what others are doing. Always offer help. Provide suggestions the management. Prepare yourself to make impressive speech in meetings.

Acquiring business knowledge

It’s not enough to be good at technical details. You must learn how the business operates and know your company inside out. Your business knowledge builds more qualification and adds more value on you. Also, with enough business knowledge you can see the whole picture of the company and can identify problems and threats at the early stage, thus you can prepare and make quick response. For instance, when you see the development division where you are working may be eliminated due to out-sourcing, you may find a way to transfer to system support division that will be kept in house.

Acquiring business knowledge is easy. What you should do is pay attention to how the company’s business works. You should also build a wider scope of contacts within the organization. Try to know people in different departments and divisions, and learn what they are doing.

Building personal relations with decision power

When you get into a work place, you need to quickly identify who are among the decision power. Most likely they could be your boss, your manager, or supervisor. For sure you must build good working relationship with them, but that’s not enough. Going one step further, you should try to build personal relations and make friends with them. Once you become friends, personal relations will be intuitively factored in for decision making and you will be protected by your friends. That’s the power of affinity.

This approach is not easy to everyone. Fortunately, there are many books available to teach you how to create successful relationship with all kinks of people.

Offering compromise

When layoff seems unavoidable, don’t just wait for fate. It is the time to communicate with the management and do whatever you can to influence their decision in your favor. In this case, the most effective way to defer layoff is to offer compromise solutions.

What you need to do is to talk to your management team and discuss the layoffs openly. First you should express your understanding of the company’s situation and show your support to the management’s decision for saving the business. Then you could offer comprise solutions such as voluntary pay cut or unpaid time off as an effort to help company through the difficult time. During the discussion you may review your past achievement with the company and demonstrate your commitment to help the company and the management term by personal sacrifice.

This is an effective strategy of positioning. In most of the time, this could truly impress your boss thus eliminate or defer your layoff. Smaller paycheck is better than no job. More importantly, you win the time to prepare for the next move. In general, an offer of 15% pay cut or one week unpaid leave per month would be sufficient enough.

2. Preparing for the Worst

Layoff can happen to every employee, however most of us do not think about that possibility until we are actually laid off. Don’t let layoff turn you down, prepare it ahead and keep you career move. To make yourself prepared, you must be able to sense early signs before layoff happens; you must have a financial plan to cover the worst situation; and you must make yourself ready to jump onto the job hunting boat.

Watching for early signs

Stay alert in the workplace so you can sense early signs before mass layoff announcement. That can give you precious lead time to maneuver your career. Specially, pay attention to the following events in your company:

• HR policy and rules change: An announcement of hiring freezes in either your department or companywide is definitely a bad sign that indicates a problem in operation and profitability. The next logical would be the cut of head count if the problem cannot be solved soon. Other policies, i.e., new rules in regard to vacation or internal processes such as expense reports could also indicate potential problems within the company.
• Stock performance: If you work for a public trade company, then your company’s stock is a good indicator to signal problems. Layoff is near if you see sings such as (1) Stock price declines consequently for more than 6 months, (2) Stock has been on the “strong sell” list for the last quarter, or (3) corporate earnings have been flat or declining. You can check out your company’s filling report to find out more about its financial situation.
• Company re-org: Over 90% of re-org results in down sizing, elimination of divisions, and outsourcing, and of course, layoffs follow. As early as possible, you should assess how re-org could affect your job, project, and division. If your position would be affected, you should start to look for transfer within the company or outside opportunities.
• Merger and acquisition: If your company is planning to merge with other company, acquire other company, or be acquired, then watch out your job. Merger and acquisition create redundant functionalities that often results in multiple people for one position. Since a team effort to complete one person’s job is not necessary, layoffs will happen.
• External changes: Changes in external environment could lead to your company’s layoff. These changes include national economic conditions, up and down in industry sectors, business development in certain geographic area, and world wide competitions. So stay alert and keep on top of trends.

Financial Preparation

The significant impact of layoff is financial disturbance. It gets worse if you have a family and are the primary wage earner. So it makes sense to plan ahead. The following tips are helpful in financial preparation:

• Reserve emergency cash – As suggested by most financial advisors, you should save the equivalent to six months’ salary to tide you over if you lose your job.
• Cut spending – If the noise of layoff is in the air, you need to come up with a plan for cutting expenses. A home budget analysis is necessary in order to eliminate most unnecessary expenses.
• Defer major Purchases – As layoffs come close, it is not a good time make major purchases – new car, electronics, PC, etc. Even if you have already save money for them, hold it and defer the purchases.
• Manage debt – Uncontrolled debt can cause financial disaster in jobless situation. If you are already in debt, particularly credit card debt, you may want to consolidate your loans into a single monthly payment with a lower interest rate. If you own a home, consider a low-interest home equity loan.

Job hunting readiness

Make yourself ready all the time so whenever necessary, you can get into the job market as quickly as possible. This way you make precious lead time and have a better chance to maneuver your career ahead smoothly. The following preparations are needed:

• Keep resume updated – Review your resume every two months and update it with new skills and experience, tune the focus according to new technology trends. Prepare multiple versions with different focuses and areas. Update corresponding cover letters too.
• Manage career network – Make regular contact to your career network – your previous and current co-workers, friends and families. Organize and update contact information.
• Follow job market – Know what’s going on in the current job market in your career area. See what’s hot what’s not. Check out employment section in the local newspaper and online job sites.
• Have references ready – Keep in mind that who you are going to use as you job reference. Make contact and refresh relationship with your reference people.

3. How to Survive from Layoff

Whether you’re a young techie or a seasonal IT pro, the chances are, sooner or later you may find yourself, often through no fault of your own, out of work by layoff. Although painful, this is not the end of world. You can survive, and it is possible that it can turn out to be a better world. Here’re some tips to help you beat layoff:

• Negotiate a Severance Package – Most companies offer some severance when you’re let go. You should negotiate a better package at the time you are laid off. Talk to the management, review your contributions to the company, and ask more.
• Apply for unemployment insurance – Take the pink slip and apply for unemployment insurance benefit at the Social Security Administration Office. Do this as soon as possible because it takes time to process before the benefit check arrives. The check is certainly much less than your salary but it helps.
• Take advantage of government programs – In the event of a layoff, you are most likely eligible for federal or state sponsored unemployment assistance programs. These programs can help you in training, education, and even loans to help you set up your own business. Programs vary from state to state. Check them out and take advantage of them.
• Look for part time or temp job – While you are searching for permanent employment, also consider part-time or temporary jobs. Part-time and temporary jobs are more flexible and need less commitment from employers, thus are easier to land.
• Go with out-sourcing – If your job was eliminated as result of out sourcing, then contact the out-sourcing company and present your skills and experience with emphasis on specific industry and business knowledge, you have a chance to be hired to provide out-sourcing service to the same company.
• Keep in touch with employer – Even after layoff, you still need to keep in touch with the company and communicate with key people there. In a lot of time you can find opportunities to do some project-based contract work. But don’t put too effort to try to go back. You major goal should be find new job.
• Use your network – You can never overlook the power of network. Contact your career network and let everyone know you are look for job. Ask for help, nothing to shame here.
• Search for job online – The most online job site are monster.com, dice.com, and careerbuilder.com. Make sure you post your resume to these sites at least. Update your resume every week so yours goes to the top of the list. Local newspaper’s website may also provide job search in local area.

Microsoft

http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/

Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP)

Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD)

Microsoft Certified Application Developer (MCAD)

Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA)

Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA)

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE)

Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT)
Oracle

http://www.oracle.com/education/certification/

Oracle9i Database Administrator Certified Associate

Oracle9i Database Administrator Certified Professional

Oracle9i Database Administrator Certified Master

Oracle9i Application Server Certified Associate

Oracle Forms 6i Developer Certified Professional

Cisco

http://www.cisco.com/public/training_cert.shtml

Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)

Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP)

Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP)

Cisco Certified Design Associate (CCDA)

Cisco Certified Design Professional (CCDP)

Cisco Certified Internetwork Professional (CCIP)

IBM

http://www-1.ibm.com/certify/

IBM Certified Database Associate – DB2 UDB

IBM Certified Database Administrator – DB2 UDB

IBM Certified System Administrator – WebSphere Application Server

IBM Certified Solution Designer – DB2 Content Manager

IBM Certified for e-business – Solution Designer

IBM Server Certified Specialist – AIX System Administration

IBM Certified Solution Designer – CICS Enablement for e-business
Sun Microsystems

http://suned.sun.com/

Sun Certified Java Programmer (SCJP)

Sun Certified Java Developer (SCJD)

Sun Certified Architect for J2EETechnologies (SCJA)

Sun Certified Web Component Developer (SCWCD)

Sun Certified Network Administrator in Solaris

Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris

Sybase

http://www.sybase.com/education/profcert/

Sybase Certified Adaptive Server Administrator

Sybase Certified Replication Server Administrator

Sybase Certified Adaptive Server Anywhere

Sybase Certified EAServer Developer

Sybase Certified Enterprise Portal Developer

Sybase Certified PowerBuilder Developer

Sybase Certified SQL Developer

Novell

http://www.novell.com/training/certinfo/

Certified Directory Engineer (CDE)

Certified Novell Administrator (CNA)

Certified Novell Engineer (CNE)

Certified Novell Instructor (CNI)

Master Certified Novell Engineer Master (CNE)

Citrix

http://www.citrix.com/site/SS/training/

Citrix Certifed Integration Architect (CCIA)

Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA)

Citrix Certified Enterprise Administrator (CCEA)

Citrix Certified Instructor (CCI)

BEA Systems

http://certification.bea.com/certification/

BEA Certified Specialist: Server

BEA Certified Specialist: Integration

BEA Certified Specialist: Portal

BEA Certified Specialist: Tuxedo

BEA Certified Administrator

BEA Certified Architect

Nortel Networks

http://www.nortelnetworks.com/servsup/certification/

Nortel Networks Certified Design Expert (NNCDE)

Nortel Networks Certified Design Specialist (NNCDS)

Nortel Networks Certified Field Specialist (NNCFS)

Nortel Networks Certified Network Architect (NNCNA)

Nortel Networks Certified Support Expert (NNCSA)

Nortel Networks Certified Support Specialist (NNCSS)

Hewlett Packard

http://h10017.www1.hp.com/certification/index.html

HP Certified Advanced IT Professional

HP Certified IT Professional

Symantec

http://www.symantec.com/education/certification/

Symantec Certified Security Engineer (SCSE)

Check Point

http://www.checkpoint.com/services/education/certification/

Check Point Certified Addressing Expert (CCAE)

Check Point Certified Managed Security Expert (CCMSE)

Check Point Certified Security Administrator (CCSA)

Check Point Certified Security Expert (CCSE)

Check Point Quality of Service Expert (CCQE)

Juniper Networks

http://www.juniper.net/training/certification/

Juniper Networks Certified Internet Associate (JNCIA)

Juniper Networks Certified Internet Expert (JNCIE)

Juniper Networks Certified Internet Professional (JNCIP)

Juniper Networks Certified Internet Specialist (JNCIS)

Red Hat

http://www.redhat.com/training/

Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE)

Red Hat Certified Technician (RHCT)
Brocade

http://www.brocade.com/education_services/

Brocade Certified Fabric Professional (BCFP)

Brocade Certified SAN Designer (BCSD)

Brocade Certified SAN Manager (BCSM)

Macromedia (Allaire)

http://www.macromedia.com/support/training/

Macromedia and Allaire have merged.  Allaire.com has been
integrated into Macromedia.com.

Macromedia Certfied Dreamweaver MX Developer none

Macromedia Certified ColdFusion MX Developer none

Macromedia Certified Flash MX Designer none

Macromeida Certified Flash MX Developer none

Lotus

http://www.lotus.com/services/education.nsf/wdocs/certificationhomepage

Certified Lotus Instructor (CLI)

Certified Lotus Professional (CLP)

Certified Lotus Specialist (CLS)

Principal Certified Lotus Professional (PCLP)

RSA Security

http://www.rsasecurity.com/training/certification/

RSA Certified Administrator (RSA/CA)

RSA Certified Instructor (RSA/CI)

RSA Certified Systems Engineer (RSA/CSE)

Sniffer Technologies

http://www.sniffer.com/education/

Sniffer Certified Expert (SCE)

Sniffer Certified Master (SCM)

Sniffer Certified Professional (SCP)

LEGATO

http://portal1.legato.com/education/certification.cfm

LEGATO Certified Professional

LEGATO Certified Availability Administrator (LCAA)

Apple

http://train.apple.com/cert/

Apple Certified System Administrator (ACSA)

Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC)

CISSP Certification can enhance a professional’s career and provide added IS credibility. Obtaining CISSP certification is a matter of both personal and professional commitment, and on-going dedication to excellence in the information security [IS] industry. Since there is a growing demand on security professionals, there are many reasons to achieve a CISSP certification:

- Become an expert in the hottest field in IT industry.
- Enhance your knowledge of security concepts and practices.
- Increase you marketability and competitive advantage.
- Secure your current job by offering security expertise.
- Increase salary in current job or in new opportunities.

CISSP Exam

The CISSP Certification examination consists of 250 multiple-choice questions. Candidates have up to 6 hours to complete the examination. Ten CISSP information systems security test domains are covered in the examination pertaining to the Common Body of Knowledge (CBK):

Access Control Systems & Methodology
Controlling access to critical system resources that require protection from unauthorized modificaton or disclosure. Topics include two factor authenticaiton, single sign-on, biometrics, etc.

Applications & Systems Development
The integration and unity of the controls within the application design, databse security models, implementation of multi-level security.

Business Continuity Planning
Planning issues used to address catastrophic system failure, natural disasters, and other severe network service interruptions.

Cryptography
Mathematics, techniques, and infrastructure required to provide confidentiality, data integrity, non-repudiation, and other cryptographic functions.

Law, Investigation & Ethics
Legal issues surrounding computer security. Topics include computer forensics, chain of evidence, computer surveillance, privacy, anonymity, netiquette.

Operations Security
Protection issues that occur during the operation of the networked systems. Covers Java and mobile code security issurs, hacker threats, penetration testing.

Physical Security
The real world security issues that sites must address to be secure. Topics includes facility issues, fences, guards, lighting, etc.

Security Architecture & Models
Topics concerning desktop and network security issues. Covers desktop security policies, physical security of desktop and laptop systems, desktop and network data backup security issues, viruses, secure remote access.

Security Management Practices
People and organization issues. Security awareness, enterprise security architecture, risk assessment.

Telecommunications, Network & Internet Security
Communications protocols, network services, and their vulnerabilities. Covers firewalls perimeter security, extranet access control, Internet based attack, application layer, network layer, and transport layer security, security of communication protocols.

To qualify to take the CISSP exam, you must have three years of direct work experience in one or more of the ten domains that make up the CBK.

The CISSP exam is made up of 250 multiple-choice questions and you are given up to six hours to complete it. Each question has four choices with only one right answer.

Recertification is also required every 3 years, with on-going requirements for maintaining your credentials in good standing.

The exam registration fee is $450.

Resources

(ISC)2 and CISSP’s offical home page

https://www.isc2.org/

CISSP and SSCP open study guides website

http://www.cccure.org/

The web portal for CISSP

http://www.cissps.com/

Computer Security Instutite CISSP page

http://www.gocsi.com/cissp.htm

Boson’s Practice Tests for CISSP exams

http://www.boson.com/tests/secure.htm

Yahoo! Groups HIPAA-CISSP

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HIPAA-CISSP/

Then we get a problem, – help wanted for building and maintaining the ever growing wireless world. There are over 100 different brands of wireless networking equipment on the market today, and that no one is qualified to administer all of them. How to train wireless professionals, where to find skilled people, what credential to use in selecting qualified workers.

Here comes the Certified Wireless Network Professional Program (CWNP). CWNP is the first vendor neutral certification program to address the IT industry’s hungry demand for skilled wireless experts that are required in all aspects of wireless networking.

Developed by Planet3 Wireless, the CWNP program offers exams to certify wireless networking knowledge in the following 4 tracks:

1. Certified Wireless Network Administrator (CWNA™)

CWNA is the foundation of the CWNP program. Covering a broad range of wireless networking topics, CWNA brings IT professionals who are new to wireless networking up to speed quickly. For those individuals already familiar with wireless LANs, earning the CWNA certification fills in any gaps in their knowledge. Students learn how to administer, install, configure, and troubleshoot wireless network systems.

2. Certified Wireless Security Professional (CWSP™)

CWSP measures the IT professional’s knowledge of how to defend a wireless LAN from intruders. The material presented for CWSP will help lead to a successful implementation of a wireless network within an enterprise by educating the network engineer in necessary tools and processes available for securing wireless networks. Students will learn basic and advanced processes and techniques for keeping the enterprise wireless network data secure.

3. Certified Wireless Network Integrator (CWNI™)

CWNI covers advanced RF technologies and the skills necessary to combine existing wired networks to newer wireless networks. CWNI status indicates that a candidate has solid understanding of how these differing technologies work together, as well as how to design and implement wireless networks into existing infrastructures. Students will learn how to design wireless networks, connect disparate wired and wireless networks through wireless bridging and integrate wireless clients into traditional wired networks.

4. Certified Wireless Networking Expert (CWNE™)

CWNE is the highest level of certification in the CWNP program. To earn the CWNE certification, IT professionals will measure their knowledge of wireless packet and protocol analysis by passing a written exam, and their practical knowledge of building wireless LAN solutions by passing a hands-on lab exam. IT professionals who earn the CWNE certification demonstrate that they have the most advanced skills available in today’s wireless LAN market.

The first track – CWNA, is the foundation of the CWNP program covering a broad range of wireless networking topics. You can start from CWNA to become a certified wireless professional. The CWNA exam is available at all Prometric Testing Centers worldwide. The CWNA exam (Exam# PW0-100) consists of 90 multiple choice and multiple answer, delivered randomly. A score of 70% is required to pass the exam.

For more information on CWNP, visit its official website:

http://www.cwne.com/

where you can find the CWNA Exam Objectives and training information.

Due to all these sweeping changes we experienced in recent years, we are all sure that security will stay as the No.1 priority in IT system implementation, and the demand for security professionals will never die. Security is definitely the growth sector of the day. Thus, the security career track can be a highly remunerative direction.

Because Cisco dominates the network kingdom, anything related to network, such as security, can be influenced by Cisco in a big way. For an individual professional planning career on security field, Cisco security technology is the right choice.

Here’s is a common rule in IT career, – what ever you do, get certified. If you decide to put your career on focus of Cisco security, obtain Cisco security certifications. Cisco certification provides professional-level recognition in designing and implementing Cisco security solutions.

Cisco created this career path through the security certification program because the demand is high and Cisco has a great interest in securing the networks of their clients. With Cisco ranking among the top certification paths for great salaries and job stability, having the security path as part of your resume may prove to be one of the best decisions any IT professional could ever make.

To approach this path, you can check out Cisco certification’s requirements and find out what knowledge and skills are needed to work on the job, and then, do whatever you can to get these knowledge and skills as effectively as possible. Your goal is not only getting the certification credential, but also obtain the real skills. You can reach both goals by self-study, through training, and on-job practicing.

Cisco’s professional-level certifications provide a clear career path in the IT security market. They offer IT professionals the knowledge, skills, and credentials necessary for designing and implementing end-to-end security solutions. Cisco certification program offers one flagship certification and three focused certifications in the security track:

Cisco Certified Security Professional (CCSP)

Cisco Firewall Specialist

Cisco VPN Specialist and

Cisco IDS Specialist

The security certifications meet heightened customer and channel partner demand for knowledgeable network professionals who can design, build, and implement security solutions that include Cisco Secure networks. They are also part of Cisco’s security strategy to embed security throughout the network, making it a transparent, scalable, and manageable aspect of any business infrastructure.

The Cisco Certified Security Professional certification (CCSP) prepares an individual for a career in the IT security market. This certification provides network professionals with professional level recognition in designing and implementing Cisco secure networks. CCSP covers key areas of network security, including identity, firewalls, VPNs, intrusion-prevention systems and security management. CCSP certification is valid for three years.

CCSP recognizes the increased importance placed on today’s IT professionals who are responsible for developing business solutions and integrating security devices with the underlying network architectures. CCSP holders are actively involved in developing business solutions and designing and delivering multiple levels of security departments.

As a CCSP you will understand major networking protocols, procedures and how to integrate security devices with the underlying network. By obtaining all the knowledge and skills required for CCSP certification, you should be fully prepared to design and implement fully secure networks that will thoroughly protect any organization’s IT infrastructure.

The three focused certifications concentrate on the needs of individuals who want to pursue skills in specific areas of network security. These certifications enable individuals to achieve the highest level of technical knowledge and expertise in Cisco specific security technologies and solutions including intrusion detection, firewall and VPN. The focused certifications are valid for two years.

Cisco security professionals are required to demonstrate sound fundamental knowledge and skills on network systems. In fact, in order to obtain these certifications, you must have a valid CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) first in addition to taking and passing the corresponding exams.

In the workplace, you as a Cisco security professional are actively involved in designing comprehensive security solutions for businesses of all sizes. You must demonstrate your ability to secure a network using Cisco IOS Software, ACS, Cisco PIX Firewalls, the Cisco VPN 3000 Series Concentrator, IDS technologies and CiscoWorks VMS. You must be flexible to work within various environments, including IT department, enterprise security, or simply as a consultant.

1. How Certifications Help

What’s Behind Certification

Almost all IT vendors, big or small, offer certifications on their technologies, products, systems, and tools. Why do they do this? What’s their intention? Do they want to test your skills? Are they really interest in you career path? Probably not. But they do have a big motivation to do this… – the money! You see, certification is such an effective marketing tool and endless revenue generator.

Through certification, these vendors achieved wonderful goals. Here are some:

• Royal User Base – After you spent all your time and money to get a certification on a product, more likely you’ll use it and stick to it in the long run. That’s exactly what they expect.
• Customer Relationship – Customers who own a certification of a product or technology have improved ownership experience of the product and feel higher level of satisfaction.
• Revenue on Training – When certification is a goal, it becomes incentive for taking training class. Go to Oracle website and check the price of online courses, you’ll see how well it works.
• Product Marketing – For their own sake, certified professionals do recommend the products and tools from the certification vendors. What such a wonderful sales team, and it’s free!

Now you see what the IT certifications for, they are NOT built for you. Keep this in mind, let’s see what certification cannot do for you.

What certifications cannot do

A certification is NOT your ticket to a dream job. Also, it doesn’t guarantee a fatter paycheck. It is just something you MUST have…

Why You Need to Be Certified?

• It’s Industry Standard – Almost all established vendors offer certifications on their products, systems, and tools. A lot of IT organizations offer vendor-independent certifications.
• Everyone has it! – Getting certified is a popular achievement among IT professionals. Almost every IT guy has at least one kind of certification or thinks getting one.

2. Paper Certifications

Paper certifications, meaning certifications earned without experience, are often criticized because a paper certification without real life experience only makes yourself look good but doesn’t add obvious value to employers. When employers hire certified IT professionals, they expect to acquire working experience that should have been tested by the certification vendors. In fact, most of IT certification holders do offer proven experience in this industry. If employers find out that your experience is only on the “paper”, they may be disappointed.

However, on the job seeker side, it’s another story. To seek a job in IT, you need to beef up your resume with all possible IT contents, including experience and credentials. IT certification is just one of common credentials wildly recognized in IT. While you have to be on the job to get hands-on working experience, you can earn an IT certification anytime you want/need simply by taking the exams with on constrains attached.

As you see, certification is an easier and faster way to beef up your IT resume when you have less experience. For example, if you cannot write “Experienced Java programmer” in your resume, you can put “Sun Certified Java Programmer” as soon as you pass one Java exam. This addition builds several advantages to your resume:

• Demonstrating industry recognized credential status.
• Creating stronger image as a serious IT professional.
• Showing commitment in IT profession.
• Imply skills and experience in Java programming.
• Add 3 keywords to your resume (Sun, Java, programmer)

That’s a lot of help to a less experienced IT job seeker. After all, if you are competing with others who have the same level of experience but only you hold an IT certification, you’ll for sure be considered first. That’s the competitive advantage of paper certification.

Thus, if you don’t have enough IT experience, get a paper certification. Clear enough?

3. Easy IT Certifications

The beauty of certification is, you are in control. You don’t have to depend on anyone, — your employers or your professors, to achieve the goal. You take the time to learn and pay the money to get it. It’s all up to you. Then, how easy is it? It is not only easy, it is very easy.

At least, if you don’t have any IT experience, it is not harder for you to get paper certification than one with experience. Whether you have experience or not, you sill have to spend time to read preparation books, get to know the type of questions, and take the exam. In fact, it’s more worth the time to get paper certification. If you are already experienced in IT, it will be boring to prepare the certification exams. But if you are preparing a paper certification, it is really a wonderful learning experience.

For beginners, there are several easy but valuable certifications to take. They are industry-wide popular credentials and you only need to take one exam to get one of it:

Microsoft Certified Professional

Microsoft, the king of IT, offers certifications in many subjects. You can choice a certification path and take one exam of your interest. Once you pass the first exam, you are entitled Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP).

Almost all of Microsoft exams let you earn MCP. It depends on your interest and intention of career path to decide with exam to take. If you are familiar with Windows operating system, it should easy for you to pass “Exam 70-270: Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional”; if you are interested in programming, then prepare the VB exam “Exam 70-305: Developing and Implementing Web Applications with Microsoft Visual Basic® .NET and Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET”; if you take database as career path in mind, you should consider “Exam 70-028: Administering Microsoft SQL Server 7.0″.

For updated information about Microsoft certifications, check at
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/

Sun Certified Java Programmer

Everyone in IT knows Java is hot. If you have Java, you have the job. Period.

The shortcut for Java to Job is Java certification. You take only one exam to become Sun Certified Java Programmer. Java as a language is a little bit hard to learn than IDE based languages like Visual Basic. But once you start and get a clue, you’ll be able to go on quickly. Plus there are a lot of resources online and in book stores.

Check the following URL to learn more about Java certification.
http://www.sun.com/training/certification/

4. Top Tier IT Certifications

For highly experienced IT professionals, entry-level certifications like MCP along don’t make much sense. To make your credentials support your impressive achievements, you should present top tier IT certifications.

For IT professionals with over 5 years of experience looking for senior level positions, the following top tier certifications will be helpful.

Oracle Certificated Database Administrator

In the IT world, Oracle means database. Having an Oracle DBA certification could help secure your profession in database field. Oracle certifications used to be harder to get. When Oracle database was on 8i, you had to take 5 exams, — PL/SQL, Administration, Performance Tuning, Network, and Backup & Recovery to become certified. Now you only need to take 4, — the first 2 exams give you “Oracle Certified Associate” and another 2 will make you become Oracle Certified DBA. Oracle certification information can be found at:
http://www.oracle.com/education/certification/

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE)

Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) is one of the oldest top tier certifications in IT industry. MCSE helps prove your expertise in designing and implementing the systems and network infrastructure based on the Microsoft Windows platform. Showing MCSE in resume immediately enhance your image in Windows and network. If your career path leans to Microsoft platform with focus on OS and network, then MCSE is the sure choice. Get more information of MCSE at
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/mcse/

Sun Certified Enterprise Architect (SCEA)

SCEA is one of the high-end and difficult certifications in IT. The certification requirements include a knowledge-based multiple choice exam, an assignment and essay exam. It requires some working experience to complete the project assignment. SCEA is for enterprise architects responsible for architecting and designing Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) technology compliant applications, which are scalable, flexible and highly secure. Many IT professionals use this certification to pave the way from basic programming job to higher paid architect position. Check the following URL to get more about SCEA:
http://www.sun.com/training/certification/java/java_archj2ee.html

Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)

IT security has become ever more important in today’s business world. A lot of career-concerned IT professionals notified this trend and many of them have moved to higher-paid, more secure jobs specialized in IT security. If you are interested in joining the growing force, then the Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification is very helpful. CISSP is a vendor neutral certification by International Information Systems Security Certifications Consortium – (ISC)2. As the first ANSI ISO accredited credential in the field of information security, CISSP presents very high value. The URL below provides more information about CISSP.
https://www.isc2.org/

Project Management Professional (PMP®)

The Project Management Professional (PMP®) certification from Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world’s most recognized professional credential for individuals associated with project management. Earning a PMP certification helps you migrate from technical fields to IT management or practice as an independent consultant. As many IT professionals plot their career path to management as the destination, they choose PMP to demonstrate their mastery in managing complicated IT projects. For more PMP information, check at
http://www.pmi.org/

5. Preparing Certification Exams

Many experienced IT professionals use certifications to help advance their career, some just want to take a paper certification as the ticket to enter the industry. No matter what level of experience, you still need to spend time to prepare. I’ve seen seasoned IT experts failed an easy exam but someone who never coded a computer program passed both VB and Java exams. When you prepare for certification exams, you can’t count on your experience too much; just remember practice makes perfect.

In many metropolitan areas there are classroom trainings for IT certifications, but they are expensive and you may not have time to attend classes if you have a full time job. Online training classes are available for many certifications but the quality is not guaranteed. The easiest and most economic approach is to get an exam preparation book, read it through, and work on the exam questions. The Exam Cram series published by Coriolis should meet your needs for many popular certifications.

An alternative resource is certification exam e-books. If you search Google for “actual exam for IT certifications”, you’ll find several websites which offer certification e-books of exam questions and answers that are almost real. Many of these websites are operated in foreign counties like India and Pakistan. Several years ago a few China-based websites sold real exam questions but many of them had been shut down due to copyright violations. As IT professionals, we all should respect intellectual properties, thus if I see a website violates copyright I’ll send an email note to the site owner and may report to authority as well. On the other hand, it’s your right and choice to buy an e-book for your needs. With this type of e-book, you only need to remember every question and answer and then go to take the exam, most likely you’ll pass.

_____________________

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe, and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.

_____________________

2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

Did you say, Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant, and close the refrigerator? Wrong Answer.

Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions.

_____________________

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All of the animals attended except one. Which animal did not attend the conference?

Correct Answer: The Elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator.  Remember, you just put him in there. This tests your memory. Okay, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your true abilities.

_____________________

4. There is a river you must cross but it is used by crocodiles, and you do not have a boat. How do you manage it?

Correct Answer: You jump into the river and swim across it. Have you not been listening to anything I’ve said? All of the crocodiles are attending the animal conference called by the Lion King. This tests whether you learn quickly from your previous mistakes.

____________________

According to Anderson Consulting Worldwide, around ninety (90%) percent of all professionals tested got all of the questions wrong, but many of the preschoolers tested got several correct answers. Anderson Consulting says this conclusively disproves the theory that most professionals have the brains of a four-year-old.

Author Unknown

The human resources manager tells him, “You will be hired at minimum wage of $5.35 an hour. Let me have your e-mail address so that we can get you in the loop. Our system will automatically e-mail you all the forms and advise you when to start and where to report on your first day.”

Taken back, the man protests that he is poor and has neither a Computer nor an e-mail address. To this the manager replies, “You must understand that to a company like ours that means that you virtually do not exist. Without an e-mail address you can hardly expect to be employed by a high-tech firm. Good day.”

Stunned, the man leaves. Not knowing where to turn and having $10 in his wallet, he walks past a farmer’s market and sees a stand selling 25 lb. crates of beautiful red tomatoes. He buys a crate, carries it to a busy corner and displays the tomatoes. In less than 2 hours he sells all the tomatoes and makes 100% profit.

Repeating the process several times more that day, he ends up with almost $100 and arrives home that night with several bags of groceries for his family. During the night he decides to repeat the tomato business the next day.

By the end of the week he is getting up early every day and working into the night. He multiplies his profits quickly.

Early in the second week he acquires a cart to transport several boxes of tomatoes at a time, but before a month is up he sells the cart to buy a broken-down pickup truck.

At the end of a year he owns three old trucks. His two sons have left their neighborhood gangs to help him with the tomato business, his wife is buying the tomatoes, and his daughter is taking night courses at the community college so she can keep books for him.

By the end of the second year he has a dozen very nice used trucks and employs fifteen previously unemployed people, all selling tomatoes. He continues to work hard.

Time passes and at the end of the fifth year he owns a fleet of nice trucks and a warehouse that his wife supervises, plus two tomato farms that the boys manage.

The tomato company’s payroll has put hundreds of homeless and jobless people to work. His daughter reports that the business grossed a million dollars.

Planning for the future, he decides to buy some life insurance. Consulting with an insurance adviser, he picks an insurance plan to fit his new circumstances. Then the adviser asks him for his e-mail address in order to send the final documents electronically.

When the man replies that he doesn’t have time to mess with a computer and has no e-mail address, the insurance man is stunned, “What, you don’t have e-mail? No computer! No Internet! Just think where you would be today if you’d had all of that five years ago!”

” Ha!” snorts the man. “If I’d had e-mail five years ago I would be sweeping floors at Microsoft and making $5.35 an hour.”

Author Unknown