Recent months have proven the lack of security in IT systems is a grave concern. Millions of Personally Identifiable Information records have been leaked, websites defaced, and services brought to a halt from hackers, who are not only refusing to relent but are developing more advanced attacks. These events are costing corporations millions of dollars and detracting energy and focus from what their company is made for. With government oversight on the horizon and the growing threat of data loss, IT staff can stay ahead of the curve through security certifications.
Technologies and platforms evolve as business needs grow and change with the capabilities gained by the advancement of technology. Naturally with time, certain certifications will rise and fall in value along with a technologies’ worth. Independent benchmark and research firm, IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index that reports the pay for 483 different IT non-certified skills, such as SAP products, web development, versus certified skills, such as Microsoft products, and Cisco.
An increasing senior citizen population, along with technology innovations in the health care sector, has shown a growing and realistic need for health care Information Technology professionals. The health care industry, in recent years, consistently ranks as a top growth market for Information Technology business. Recognizing this need, the U.S. President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and the HITECH Act of 2009. Tasked with implementing many of the tenants of the Act, the United States Department of Health & Human Services keep track of the Act at hhs.gov/recovery. As a part of that initiative, a new certification is offered through Pearsonvue testing facilities, called the Health Information Technology Professional (or HIT Pro). Also, for the initial HIT Pro certification seekers, because it is a new test and the U.S. government believes that the need is so great, that they are providing vouchers that cover the cost of the three hundred dollar exam. Yes, this certification can be paid with tax-dollars. Continue Reading »
Getting certified for a technology or product often seems to be the end-goal. Proving that you have the preparation and knowledge of a certain area of technology, a certification recognizes a person’s aptitude and expertise. However, a certification does not guarantee that all of his or her future work will be robust and solid and up to certification standards. A certification is a mere acknowledgment that a person is fully aware of the guidelines and best practices. A rigorous understanding of the technology, it can sure be that, but ultimately it is nothing more than an declaration that a person is competent in what it takes to be compliant. It takes dedication by the certification holder to actually conform to the guidelines and perform up to certified standards.
As tempting as getting a copy of exam before the test sounds, be cautious when using so-called “braindumps” or exam dumps. These are exam questions and answers recalled by various test-takers just after completing the exam. They are an old practice, not a new idea and a practice that does have its merits. Though usually thoroughly vetted by other test-takers, dumps should only be used to get an idea of what the exam will be like and to measure your knowledge of the subject, but they should not be used as a primary source of preparation.
While dumps vary in accuracy and relevancy, they should be used as any practice exam would be used, as a means to measure and test your knowledge of the information that you gained and learned elsewhere. You don’t start with the practice exam. You start by studying and then you take the practice test to gauge your aptitude. Many test-takers make the mistake of using it as a cheat-sheet or shortcut; one only needs to memorize the answers to pass the test. Using this reverse approach can possibly get you through some weaker, low-stakes certification, but even if you pull of this stunt and are certified, realize that you are essentially, truly incompetent in an engineering field.
If you are serious about your profession, your career, and your certification actually meaning something, do not take the reverse approach to studying. In the past when discussing the popular use of exam dumps in MCSE certification, we published that the practice “is a shame since these people basically cheated.” Start with a strong understanding and true knowledge of the subject and apply it to exam dumps and practice tests. In the end, it will be like the sanctioned cheat-sheets in school, by making your own cheat-sheet you were actually studying at the same time because you had to know what answers to put on the cheat-sheet. Use exam dumps as if they were a practice exam, but put in the study time, by studying the subject at hand, and not by memorizing question and answers from a some braindump.
Government jobs are perhaps not looking completely secure right now; talk of a government shutdown isn’t encouraging, after all. But government workers (and candidates) can increase their value by holding a security clearance, and a recent study identified the connections between security clearances and certifications.
One of our customers sent in a support request regarding a memory leak which was assigned to me to investigate. It actually turned out to be rather an interesting problem and provided a fix for a bug in Sun’s own code so read on for the full details and the patched jar.
To hunt down the bug, I used the excellent JProfiler to see if it would give me a clue as to what was going on. Here is a screenshot.
Programmers, you should check this out. Cloud9 IDE has the biggest innovation in IDEs since Microsoft brought us Visual Basic: everything runs on the cloud.
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