Every graduate aspires to succeed in his or her career and the basic reason for them to pursue a graduation course is to open doors to the right professional opportunities. Information technology, for the last 3-4 decades, has been growing exponentially and is one of the hottest and lucrative career paths right now. Graduation in IT is one of the most preferred academic choices of student these days.

When graduating with a degree in Information Technology, you’ll seek to gain a deep insight into the several subsets of IT and then follow specific specialization. Since IT is fast changing and a highly dynamic industry, every day new requirements and functions are created and older ones become obsolete. The academic field is unable to keep pace with these changes.

It’s because of the obsolescence of the academic literature that the graduates find their skills incompatible with the industry requirements. To resolve this issue, graduates enroll in several certification courses that help them update their knowledge and skill levels. These certifications add value to them and enable them to get the right job. They are able to acquire specific skills that give them an edge over those who have a basic graduation degree.

Graduation courses impart more basic and generalized knowledge whereas a certification course offers a more specialized and current knowledge that is in demand in the market. Due to these factors, several young individuals speculate about the efficacy of a degree. They doubt if it would not be better for them to just pursue a shorter duration certification course instead of a degree course that could take years to complete. The knowledge they gain from graduation is also not updated as frequently as it should be.

This may seem a credible argument at face value but a deeper analysis will reveal the fact that a degree is more important than it is generally presumed to be. Graduation courses are generally underestimated. Graduation must receive more respect than it is accorded. It cannot be denied that certification courses impart more practical knowledge and update the skills of the candidates; however in the rapidly changing field of IT, even these skills soon become outdated. Those with just certifications very soon find it difficult to sustain themselves.

Graduates during their courses gain more basic and foundational level knowledge, which helps them have a better conceptual understanding. It means when they pursue a certification course, they are in a better place to fully comprehend the various aspects of the certification course. They can keep learning new skills in future because what they learned during their graduation phase makes their basic knowledge strong. They are more adept at learning when pursuing certification courses.

Certification courses are complementary to graduation and are not a replacement. Graduating from an average to good institute is important and when these graduates pursue certifications, more value is added to their knowledge.

Getting a graduate degree is just a prerequisite for finding a suitable job. The academic system has failed to deliver a quality education, and as a result, most graduates do not have the required skills. In order to address this issue and bridge the skills gap, it’s important for graduates to take initiatives themselves and pursue certification courses that will help them get suitable job offers. To begin, the graduate must evaluate the various courses that are available and identify the right option. The first obvious step is to identify the courses based on one’s own qualifications, aptitude and liking.

There is no point in pursuing a course with herd mentality and then regretting the decision. A course might enable the person to get a job, but if it doesn’t do justice to the skills and aptitude of the individual, there is a very little chance they will be able to sustain their career for long.

There are several courses and a large number of institutes that offer these courses. Some of them look pretty attractive due to a high level of window dressing done to them. Therefore, to identify the right kind of certification course, job aspirants must first evaluate the authenticity of the certification.

For instance, there are several institutes that offer a large number of technical courses with the promise of providing certifications and job placements. However, a large number of them simply provide basic knowledge of the subject matter and many of them operate from a single room classroom and use pirated software. The certifications provided by them is local and isn’t associated with the software developer.

In this process, the first step is to check whether the certification provided by such institutes is genuine and is provided by the developer of the application or system. Next is to check the credibility of the training institute; its teaching faculty, infrastructure, type of certification and placement record. Training institutes must have the right infrastructure capable of imparting quality training. These should also be able to provide the required level of on the job training. The placement opportunities offered by these institutes must match the skills and qualification levels of the course participants.

There are several other factors that are subjective to each individual. Do your research and check with actual professionals about the efficacy of the various courses. Working professionals are the right people to guide young graduates since they are a part of the professional world and understand it better than anyone else.

The current educational system mandates that students or even professionals must obtain other valuable certifications. The degree received after completion of one’s graduation or post-graduation does not hold much value in the job market unless the applicant has well-developed skill sets that add value to their job application.

A college degree is just a prerequisite and companies hiring candidates target them who have advanced certifications. It is a known fact globally that despite the increase in the educational levels, the skill levels of these graduates are undeveloped and they lack even the basic knowledge of their own domain. It is the major reason why certification courses give an individual much higher advantage in the job market and Oracle courses are among the best when it comes to honing the skills of the employees for the job market.

Oracle offers several courses across a wide spectrum of Information Technology and business domains. There are various Oracle courses that can be classified into Applications, Database, Enterprise Management, Foundation, Industries, Java and Middleware, Operating Systems, Systems and Virtualisation.

Several of these courses pertain to core IT domains while there are several that are concerned with business functions. These courses are designed with the perspective of imparting training regarding most recent and updated technology and business trends and hence make a candidate the right fit for various job positions.

An Information Technology engineer for example learns just the basic theories during his degree course. Even the practical trainings included in the traditional educational programs are outdated and are insufficient to groom a person for the real work requirements. A person with just a college degree is inept at even performing the most basic tasks and it is exactly for this reason it is feasible to obtain a certification in the relevant Oracle course.

Oracle is one of the widest used platform in the business world and most of the major organisations globally use Oracle based applications and database for storing and analysing their data. They require employees who have an understanding of an Oracle based environment and hence prefer hiring someone who is proficient with Oracle. For those who do not have much exposure to Oracle, it is a wise decision to choose and Oracle course since it will not just make the person a suitable candidate for the job but will also make him or her industry ready.

Oracle course not just helps candidates with securing a job but also boosts their career by giving them an advantage over their colleagues in terms of promotions and higher job roles. It becomes easier for an Oracle certified professional to climb the corporate ladder as compared to someone who has just the basic technical or business knowledge. A finance professional capable of generating financial reports from an Oracle database is better placed to take the right decisions due to the access to the quantifiable information available. Such a person has a better chance of being given a higher role as compared to those who do not know how to operate such applications.

In a world driven by technology, the business environment changes frequently. This dynamic environment requires organisations to make quick and better decisions and make necessary changes based on their requirements. Unlike earlier times, long term strategies do not work anymore and there has to be an inherent agility in the way organisation formulate their strategies.

Technology is the game changer as well as the enabler that allows businesses to have a competitive advantage by forming winning strategies. Organisations that are aware of this phenomenon and are willing to adopt new technologies are better placed than their competitors. While technology has made it possible to access a large volume of data, the key is to identify useful pieces of information from this big data.

Business Intelligence is the process that enables organisations to identify, synthesize and extract meaningful information from a large volume of vague data. It will not be an exaggeration to say that it is similar to finding a needle in a haystack. There is a lot of data generated from external and internal sources. This big data consists critical information but due to its large volume, it is a difficult task to find the most relevant and meaningful information.

One of the most important function of the management is making decisions. The decisions need to be right and the process should be fast. However, important decisions cannot be based on hunches. There has to be concrete quantitative and qualitative information. This information is extracted from the big data chunks, analysed using analytical tools and is then presented to the management for decision making. Business Intelligence handles the entire process of extracting and analyzing raw data and converting it into meaningful information.
Due to the importance of these business and technical functions, business intelligence courses have a high weight-age in the job market. Companies prefer hiring employees who have a decent exposure to business intelligence functions either through work experience or relevant courses. Business Intelligence courses help prepare a job aspirant for the suitable jobs by developing relevant skills.

There are several Business Intelligence courses based upon the job specifications and requirements. These can be broadly classified into below categories:
a. Courses for Business Intelligence Administrators
b. BI Developers
c. Reporting Analysts
d. Data Analysts
e. Data Scientists
f. Information Workers
g. End Users

These courses cover aspects such as Data Warehousing, Data Mining, Management of Enterprise Data, Business Process Modelling, Business Process Analysis, Critical Performance Management, Predictive Analysis and addressing Management Issues pertaining to Business Intelligence.

Based upon one’s education qualifications, experience and job preferences, students can select the appropriate course for themselves. They can also choose from various platforms such as Microsoft or Oracle for their choices of Business Intelligence courses.

 
Technology has impacted every aspect of human lives. Technology which was almost non-existent a couple of decades ago are now used by billions of people around the globe and every day we see a new technology being introduced to use. Some of these are minor while some of them make a significant impact on our lives. Let’s have a look at some of the major technologies that will change the way live in the years to come.

Internet of Things

Internet of Things or the IoT is one of the most advanced technological breakthroughs that we have witnessed in the recent times. Internet is primarily used for communication and access to information. Moving a step forward, internet is now also being used to manage things around us. The technology has already existed for a while but it has gained traction in 2015 and will soon be a part of our lives. Internet will soon be used to control devices and manage things. Everything around us will be connected with each other through the internet. Soon you will be able to check the list of things in your refrigerator on your mobile device and based on the requirement can shop for it. There are several such applications of the Internet of Things that will be a part of our lives very soon.

3D Printing

3D Printing is expected to be the next big thing and has tremendous applications. The technology already has several commercial and industrial applications and soon it will be widely used for medical purposes. Medical students will be able to study 3D printed body parts and organs. 3D printed prosthetic limbs will be available shortly and these will be of far superior quality than the currently available prosthetic limbs. Research is underway for developing prosthetic ears, skin tissues, dental implants and even skin using 3D technology.

Cloud Computing

With the advances in mobile technology, people now use more than one device and also change them frequently. This has given rise to the requirement of easy sharing of data. Businesses operate on a global scale and require their employees to work on the same applications or information. It is also important that the information accessible to them is updated. Cloud computing has seen tremendous fillip in the recent years and 2015 has seen this technology grow exponentially. Companies like Google, Microsoft and Apple offer cloud computing solutions and it is fast becoming a part of our lives.

Driverless cars

Google has been testing driverless cars and there are several other car companies experimenting with driverless cars. Some of these companies have displayed their driverless cars in their respective expos this year and soon these will be running on our roads.

Wearables

The wearable industry is fast expanding and most of the large smartphone manufacturers have been introducing products such as smartwatches. Companies like Samsung and LG introduced their watches last year while Apple’s Watch was announced last year in September and was launched this year in April. In September 2015, at its annual fall event, Apple introduced several new updates and apps for its Watch. One of the most interesting app is iTranslate capable of translating words from over 90 languages.

Important Statistics about the eLearning Market for 2013 – Infographic
Would you be interested to know what are the TOP 10 Statistics about the eLearning Market?
http://elearningindustry.com/important-statistics-about-the-elearning-market-for-2013-infographic

The Top 10 statistics about the eLearning Market 2013 that should be highlighted are:
1. eLearning is a $56.2 Billion business and is likely to double in size before 2015.
2. The U.S. and Europe utilize 70% of the world’s eLearning, but Asia Pacific is gaining ground.
3. The fastest growing eLearning markets are Vietnam and Malaysia.
4. 77% of American Corporations use online learning.
5. 72% of companies surveyed report that eLearning keeps them on top of their industry changes.
6. In 2011, 51% of companies did at least one training session with eLearning to more than 50% of their employees.
7. Corporations save 50-70% when they replace instructor-based training with eLearning.
8. eLearning classes are generally 25-60% shorter in duration than traditional classes.
9. 23% of employees leave their jobs because the position lacks opportunity for development and training.
10. Online education is proven to increase knowledge retention by 25-60%.

Source: http://elearningindustry.tumblr.com/post/44775050791/important-statistics-about-the-elearning-market-for

GogoTraining announced yesterday that it will offer ISO/IEC 20000 Foundation and Associate Bridge Courses beginning in June 2013, rounding out it’s curriculum in the ISO/IEC 20000 topic area.

The ISO/IEC 20000: IT Service Management Foundation Bridge course offers you an expedited method of learning about ISO/IEC 20000, the international family of standards around Service Management, by recognizing your ITIL® Foundation certificate. Learn what needs to be in place to manage the Service Management processes and initiatives, and the contents, requirements and use of a Service Management System (SMS). Explore the fundamental concepts around what you ‘must’ do in an adapt and adopt initiative in Service Management.

The Associate Bridge course focuses on the Service Management System (SMS) – internationally accepted requirements for managing Service Management initiatives. These requirements, briefly covered in ITIL, are clearly documented and supported in the standard. Additionally, this course will focus on the similarities and differences between ISO/IEC 20000 and ITIL processes as well as the benefits of deploying the PDCA model.

The Associate Bridge course allows one to fast-track into the study of ISO/IEC 20000. Recognizing the student who has already gained a Foundation Certificate in ISO/IEC 20000 and who has earned at least two (2) ITIL® Practitioner (v2) or Intermediate (2007/2011) certificates, the requirements of the Associate certificate in ISO/IEC 20000 have been reduced.

This week in Network World there is a great article on Datacenter Transformation.  The rapid transitions occurring require people to really understand (1) the basics of data center equipment, from power to cooling to IT, (2) the impact of changes on energy efficiency, cost, and data center uptime, and (3) what can be done to facilitate and manage these changes.  Dave Cole has consolidated more than 20 years of experience into 18 hours of training that will allow you to understand how a data center works and specific steps you can take to improve energy efficiency, reduce costs, and improve operational efficiency in the data center.  Everyone from a new data center manager  to experienced professionals will benefit from this training.

Excerpts taken from The White House, Office of the Press Secretary on Monday, April 29, 2013.

Today, speaking at the White House Forum on Military Credentialing and Licensing, First Lady Michelle Obama will announce the IT Training and Certification Partnership, a new public-private partnership that will enable thousands of service members to earn industry-recognized information technology (IT) certifications before they transition from military service. Today’s announcement builds upon President Obama’s June 2012 announcement of partnerships with the manufacturing sector that enable service members to earn high-demand advanced manufacturing certifications, and the establishment of the Department of Defense’s Military Credentialing and Licensing Task Force. Additionally, the event is an extension of the First Lady’s challenge to our Nation’s Governors in February 2013 to take executive or legislative action to help our troops get the credentials they need to successfully transition to the civilian labor market by the end of 2015.

Industry leaders include Cisco Systems, Microsoft Corporation, Oracle, CompTIA, NetApp, HP, Futures Inc., Global Knowledge, GogoTraining and SANS Institute and Global Information Assurance Certification

GogoTraining is providing access to their online self-paced Information Technology training platform to help transitioning military personnel prepare for careers in the private sector. With the help of GogoTraining’s learning platform, experts bring their classroom courses to life online enabling service members to fit training into their schedule while still receiving the same high quality classroom content and support. GogoTraining courses and programs will help exiting personnel prepare for careers in computer programming, database administration, software and mobile application development, and obtain key certifications in areas such as CompTIA and Oracle.

Buckminster Fuller created the “Knowledge Doubling Curve”; he noticed that until 1900 human knowledge doubled approximately every century. By the end of World War II knowledge was doubling every 25 years. Today things are not as simple as different types of knowledge have different rates of growth. For example, nanotechnology knowledge is doubling every two years and clinical knowledge every 18 months. But on average human knowledge is doubling every 13 months.  According to IBM, the build out of  the “internet of things” will lead to the doubling of knowledge every 12 hours.

In a recent lecture at Harvard University neuroscientist Jeff Lichtman, who is attempting to map the human brain, has calculated that several billion petabytes of data storage would be needed to index the entire human brain. The Internet is currently estimated to be 5 million terabytes (TB) of which Google has indexed roughly 200 TB or just .004% of its total size. The numbers involved are astounding especially when considering the size of the human brain and the number of neurons in it.

A transition from the linear growth of human knowledge to the exponential growth of human knowledge has taken place.. According to researchers dealing with this information will necessitate the development of vastly more complex software, shareability, and artificial intelligence.

Author Clem Chambers, in a Forbes article on Amazon’s “Mechanical Turk” believes leading edge computer technology will be combined with artificial intelligence allowing collective problem-solving on a larger scale and the creation of vast amounts of data.

Industry Tap Into News, April 2013.