For the last eight weeks it has been my privilege to train twenty students in the fundamentals of computer and network support. I have been working as an independent instructor in association with A Critical Path, CompTIA, and their non-profit foundation Creating IT Futures. The eight weeks of instruction that I delivered is designed to provide lecture and hands-on instruction in computers, networks, protocols, operating systems, security, user administration, and the like. All of the instruction leads to completion of CompTIA’s A+ Certification.
This was an amazing opportunity that kind of fell out of the blue into my lap, courtesy of LinkedIn. I accepted a connection request from Adam Turner of A Critical Path. Then he contacted me. Would I be interested in teaching an 8 week IT class to a group of twenty unemployed, under-employed, and in some cases ex-military students? 9 am to 4 pm Monday through Friday? Could I start in three weeks? Do you think you can become certified yourself before class starts?
I accepted. But there were a lot of challenges to overcome, we have a business of our own, so I had to find someone to replace me in the field with my clients. My partner and spouse had to take the reins of the day to day operation of our business. I quickly had to prepare to take the CompTIA 220-801 and 220-802 exams. Basically we had to drop everything and turn our lives upside-down to make this work, but I have to say it has been the best thing I ever did and got paid for doing it.
The students were outstanding, and it was really great to work with them and to see them learn and progress on their path to future employment as an IT professional. This week they have all been taking the two exams, and I have been really pleased with the results. Their effort to learn the material and commitment to achieving a goal has made this very much worth it for me.
And if anyone in the Twin Cities area who reads this post is looking for a bright, well trained, and highly qualified IT employee, please drop me a note and I will introduce you to one of my students.
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About the Author:
I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com