Category: Info

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Technology Degrees Explained

Twenty years ago, technology degrees were divided in two categories: information technology management and computer science. However, during the last decade, universities have developed a variety of new programs to capitalize on the increased diversity of organizational technology needs. For the college student, this means trying to figure out how each of these degrees will help them meet their career objectives.

Computer Science

Computer Science degrees have been around for decades. These degree programs typically involve lots of math and an in-depth study of computer programming, algorithms, and a deep understanding of computer architectures. CS students often study more than one programming language during their program. Students with Computer Science degrees often pursue careers as in software development.

Information Technology Management

Like Computer Science degrees, Information Technology Management degrees have been around for decades. These programs are more aimed at network and system administration. Courses in Windows and Unix management as well as database are common. Additionally, students will often study network routing and switching protocols. IT majors typically manage an organization’s networks.

Cybersecurity

A relative newcomer to the realm of IT degrees, the Cybersecurity degree path is similar to Information Technology Management. However, the Cybersecurity professional has a much deeper knowledge of how to secure networks as well as how to find and exploit vulnerabilities. Additionally Cybersecurity degrees may include additional training on subjects such as law, cryptography, ethics, and risk management.

Data Analytics

Another relative newcomer, Data Analytics degrees mix knowledge of Computer Science with a deeper understanding of data. This understanding of data can then be used to enable the student to create artificial intelligence models for solving complex business problems. Like the Computer Science student, the Data Analytics student will learn programming. However, whereas a CS student may learn Java or C++, the Data Analyst is more likely to learn Python or R as well as a more in-depth study of statistics.

Software Development

Another newer degree, the Software Development degree takes a wide view of software development. While the Computer Science student dives deep into programming and algorithms, the Software Development degree path includes a much broader view of software to include project management, quality assurance as well as network management and databases.

Conclusion

While the number of paths is ever increasing, the truth is that there is a tremendous amount of overlap between each path. Additionally, whether your degree is in Computer Science, Data Analytics, or Software Development, you can find jobs as a computer programmer. However, each path will provide you with a slightly different part of the big picture of computing technologies.

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Overview of CompTIA Certifications

A variety of computer certifications exist today. Those certifications fall into one of two categories – vender-neutral or vendor-specific. In the vendor-neutral category, CompTIA is the industry leader. Most well-known for their A+ certification, CompTIA has been around for 40 years and certified over 2.2 million people.

Today, CompTIA issues over a dozen IT certifications for everything from computer hardware to project management. Beyond single certifications, CompTIA also offers what it calls ‘Stackable Certifications’. These certifications are earned by completing multiple CompTIA certifications. For example, earning both A+ and Network+ certifications will result in achieving CompTIA IT Operations Specialist certification.

Hardware Certifications

Individuals who want to work with computer hardware maintenance and repair should start with the A+ certification. This exam covers basic computer hardware and Windows administration tasks. For anyone wanting to work with computers, this exam covers the fundamental knowledge required for success.

Once you have mastered computer hardware, the next step is computer networks. This knowledge is covered by CompTIA’s Network+ certification. Topics in this exam include both wireless and wired network configuration, knowledge of switches and routers, and other topics required for network administration. Note, this exam is vender-neutral. As such, knowledge of specific routers (such as Cisco) is not required.

Security Certifications

CompTIA offers a variety of security certifications for those who wish to ensure their networks are secure or to test network security. The first exam in this category is the Security+ exam. This exam covers basics of security including encryption, WiFi configuration, certificates, firewalls, and other security topics.

Next, CompTIA offers a variety of more in-depth security exams on topics such as penetration testing (PenTest+), cybersecurity analysis (CySA+) and advanced security issues (CASP+). Each of these exams continue where the Security+ exam ends and requires a far more extensive knowledge of security. With all of the security issues in the news, these certifications are in high demand among employers.

Infrastructure Certifications

CompTIA offers several tests in what it calls the ‘infrastructure’ category. These exams are particularly useful for people who administer cloud systems or manage servers. Certifications in this category include Cloud+, Server+, and Linux+. If your organization utilizes cloud-based platforms, such as AWS or Google Cloud Platform, these certifications provide a vendor-neutral starting point. However, if you really want to dive deep into topics like AWS, Amazon offers numerous exams specifically covering their platform.

Project Management Certification

While not hardware related CompTIA offers an entry-level certification for project management called Project+. This exam is less detailed and time consuming than other project management certifications but covers the essential details of project management.

Conclusion

For the aspiring techie or the individual looking to advance their career, CompTIA provides a number of useful certifications. While certifications from other vendors may cost thousands of dollars, CompTIA exams are generally under $400. This is money well spent in the competitive IT world as CompTIA is one of the most respected names in vendor-neutral IT certifications.

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What is Computer Vision?

Computer Vision is a rapidly growing technology field that most people know little about. While Computer Vision has been around since the 1960s, it’s growth really exploded with the creation of the OpenCV library. This library provides the tools necessary for software engineers to create Computer Vision applications.

But what is Computer Vision? Computer Vision is a mix of hardware and software tools that are used to identify objects from a photo or camera input. One of the more well-known applications of Computer Vision is in self-driving cars. In a self-driving car, numerous cameras collect video inputs. The video streams are then examined to find objects such as road signs, people, stop lights, lines on the road, and other data that would be essential for safe driving.

However, this technology isn’t just available in self-driving cars. A vehicle I rented a few months ago was able to read speed limit signs as I passed by and display that information on the dash. Additionally, if I failed to signal a lane change, the car would beep when I got close to the line.

Another common place to find Computer Vision is in factory automation. In this setting, specialized programs may monitor products for defects, check the status of machinery for leaks or other problematic conditions, or monitor the actions of people to ensure safe machine operation. With these tools, companies can make better products more safely.

Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence are also becoming more popular for medical applications. Images of MRI or X-Ray scans can be processed using Computer Vision and AI tools to identify cancerous tumors or other problematic health issues.

From a less practical view, Computer Vision tools are also used to modify videos of user content. This may include things such as adding a hat or making a funny face. Or, it may be used to identify faces in an image for tagging.

Ultimately, Computer Vision technologies are being found in more and more places each day and, when coupled with AI, will ultimately result in a far more technologically advanced world.

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What is the Dark Web?

Most people have heard of the Dark Web in news stories or tech articles. But what is it? How does it work? Is it worth visiting?

The Dark Web is a hidden network of highly encrypted machines available over the internet, but not using a typical web browser. While any content can be stored on the Dark Web, the majority of the content is of a questionable nature – such as child pornography, snuff films, drug and fake ID stores, and similar content. One such marketplace, Dark Amazon, provides users an Amazon-like shopping experience.

However, not everything on the Dark Web is illegal or unethical. In fact, the Dark Web can be a very useful tool for individuals in China to access Facebook (they have a Dark Web site) or for intelligence operatives in Iran to contact the CIA (they’re on the Dark Web too).

In short, the Dark Web is a useful tool if you are trying to remain anonymous or operating within a country that has strict internet controls. But what do you need to get started? Simple – download a TOR browser. TOR stands for The Onion Router. The idea of an onion is that there are multiple layers of encryption and that the traffic is routed through numerous machines to prevent tracking. TOR browsers exist for all major platforms – including mobile – and are really no different than any other web browser.

The real challenge, however, is finding content. For that, you will need a Dark Web search engine – such as TOR66. However, a few suggestions before you give it a try. First, run a VPN. While there is nothing illegal with using a TOR browser, you may draw suspicion from your ISP and it is always possible that TOR users are being watched by law enforcement. Second, make sure you have antivirus up-to-date on your machine – you never know what’s out there. Third, trust no one. The Dark Web is a place of thieves, con artists, drug dealers, and other people with questionable ethics.

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Cool Tech Gifts for Christmas

Circuit Board

With Thanksgiving behind us, it’s time to start looking for gifts for the important people in our lives. If one of those people happens to be a techie, what can you get them? Particularly if they’re a teen? Here are some ideas of cool tech toys for the people on your list.

Electronics

There are some really great products out there for learning more about electronics. One of my favorites is littleBits. Each piece contains a separate electronic component – such as a speaker, button, or power cell – than can be connected magnetically to create circuits. With a variety of sets available, you can create all kinds of projects.

Another cool electronic toy is Snap Circuits. Snap Circuits are more like a traditional electronics learning set, but instead of using wires connected to metal springs, the pieces are snapped on a board with metal buttons. These buttons connect pieces together to create the electrical circuitry.

Both of these sets are appropriate for children as young as elementary school and are great for learning the basics of electrical engineering with countless online and print books available for project ideas.

Microcontrollers

For the techie with a bit more experience in electronics, a microcontroller may be the perfect gift. Today, there are countless microcontrollers available. However my two favorites are the Arduino and the micro:bit.

The micro:bit was developed by the BBC to teach children more about electronics and programming. It’s a small device, but it packs a lot of cool features including a grid of LEDs, an accelerometer, buttons, and built-in bluetooth support. They’re very easy to program and fairly inexpensive. NOTE: buy two, you’ll need them to play with the bluetooth functionality!

For more mature electronics enthusiasts, the Arduino is amazing. In fact, it is well beyond a toy for learning and has transcended into the hands of professionals creating prototypes and products. Countless kits exist on sites such as Amazon that include wires, motors, LEDs, buttons, resistors, and countless other components to build just about anything. In addition, since Arduino is truly the industry leader, it’s easy to find books and online resources for help as well as inspiration.

Microcomputers

With more power than microcontrollers and more versatility as well, microcomputers offer unlimited opportunities to create and explore. The industry leader in this real has long been the Raspberry Pi. About the size of a credit card and costing substantially less than a typical computer, the Raspberry Pi is an excellent platform for learning and exploration. You can interface the Pi with custom hardware, learn to program with Scratch, create a custom video game console, or explore countless other options. And, much like the Arduino, online retailers have numerous kits with all kinds of parts to aid in learning and fun.

A newcomer to the microcomputer realm, the NVIDIA Jetson Nano offers programmers and techies a new real to explore – artificial intelligence! This small box (about the size of a Raspberry Pi) features an NVIDIA graphics processor specifically configured to perform the intense number crunching associated with AI processing. This is an excellent gift idea for those who already have some background in programming and electronics and want to take their ideas to the next level!

Conclusion

This is a great time to be a techie. With countless low-cost gadgets available to encourage exploration and experimentation, the barrier to learning technology has never been lower! Take time to explore the products out there and buy something that may encourage someone in your life to join the tech revolution!

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Simple Tips to Avoid Scammers

Gangster

It seems that every day criminals find new ways to separate victims from their money. However, most of these tricks can be avoid with three simple rules.

Assume all email is junk mail until proven otherwise

Email is the easiest way to scam people. It takes little effort to send out thousands of messages, and scammers win if even a small percentage of people act on their messages.

Don’t click on links. If you believe the email to be from a reputable source, go directly to their website instead of using the email link

Don’t open attachments. This is particularly true for unsolicited Microsoft Office documents such as Word and Excel, but equally important for any other attachment. If you believe the attachment to be valid, contact the sender by phone and confirm they sent it.

Contact the sender directly. If you get a message claiming to be from someone important in your organization and asking you to do something that seems odd, contact the person and verify authenticity.

Assume all phone calls are spam

Suspect local numbers. If a caller claims to be from your credit card company or the IRS, but their phone number is from your area, it’s a scam.

Ignore callers from India. Does the speaker have an Indian accent? It’s a scam. The overwhelming majority of spam calls originate from call centers in India.

Caller can’t provide you with information. Does the caller know your name, address, account number, or other information? If not, are they really your bank? I doubt it.

Avoid entering data in unencrypted sites

Check for the secure icon in your browser. If the web site you’re visiting isn’t encrypted, be skeptical. Particularly if they’re asking you to enter personal information. Never, under any circumstances, enter your credit card information in a non-secure site.

Conclusion

The simple answer for security in the modern age can be summed up “trust no one”. Assume everyone is out to scam you, and you’re probably not far from the truth. If you want to conduct business with an entity, go to their web page directly or contact them on the phone. Always assume the incoming solicitations you receive are from people trying to cheat you and you will likely avoid most scammers.

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Business Continuity

The Road Ahead

During the last several months, we have seen unprecedented damage to businesses. Every single day, we see more reports of closures and bankruptcies. Yet, among all the carnage, we see some businesses that managed to thrive. What was it that allowed these businesses to perform so well during this time? Business Continuity Planning.

Of course, some businesses – like grocers and stores with other necessities – were less impacted by the virus. And others, such as hair stylists and nail salons, are utterly unable to perform their job without close contact. But in between those two lie a large number of businesses. In those businesses, the winners were those with business continuity plans that included technology.

As businesses closed down in Pennsylvania, one of the first stores inundated with business was BestBuy. Within short order, all of their computers and laptops were gone. Why? Because businesses were equipping their employees to work from home. Businesses with the ability to setup an online store quickly found they had to. But the biggest winners were those who already had the technology in place. Those businesses were already able to function remotely and their staff had done so before with work from home policies or as a necessary part of their business travel.

Recommendations

How can you be better prepared next time? Here are some technology recommendations for businesses to ensure they’re in a better position next time.

First, find a technology for remote communications. Zoom has been heavily mentioned during the past few months, but dozens of other options exist. As a software company, I like Slack. Others like Google Hangouts. Whatever your choice, make sure your staff is familiar with it.

Second, setup your office for remote access. This can be as simple as a service such as GoToMyPC.com or as detailed as a VPN setup. Whatever it is, make sure all your staff is able to access all necessary systems from outside the office.

Third, invest in cloud technologies. Whether they are off-the-shelf or custom solutions, get as much as you can outside your network so that those systems are easily accessible by your remote workforce.

Fourth, examine relative mobile technologies. Many cloud solutions have mobile apps, and many other work functions can be performed on tablets or phones. This will allow greater availability of your team regardless of where they are – at home or on the road.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this is a black swan event that does not occur again within our lifetime. But even if it doesn’t, you may be impacted by natural disaster, fire, or other extraordinary events that have the same impact – difficulty performing business function. Put the tools into place today so you are better able to handle the next disaster.

If your business needs help with custom cloud or mobile solutions, please reach out to us. We can create solutions for small business or large enterprise. Then, you can sleep easy knowing your business will continue regardless of what goes on around you!

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Remote Connections

Computer on a Tree Stump

As a techie, I often need to connect to a variety of computers to accomplish my work. But as a small business owner, I enjoy the freedom to do my work from wherever I choose. How can you accomplish both? Remote connections! Through a variety of technologies, I am able to access the resources necessary to do my job from anywhere around the globe.

SSH

The simplest means to remotely connect to a computer is through Secure Shell – better known as SSH. SSH is a secure replacement for the much older (and insecure) telnet protocol. SSH uses public-key cryptography, so you can setup keys to connect to your server instead of a password. This makes connecting easier and more secure. SSH is a text-only connection type and is particularly well-suited for Linux machines. However, while SSH is a great tool for controlling a Linux server remotely, it doesn’t allow you to use resources on that server (or network) from your local machine. For example, if the remote server runs a website, you won’t be able to access that site via SSH.

SSH Tunnel

While SSH won’t allow you to access remote resources directly, you can turn options for tunneling. Tunneling will map local ports to remote ports so that your local computer can access resources on a remote computer. For example, if your remote server runs a MySQL server, you can setup an SSH tunnel to forward localhost:3306 to remotehost:3306. Then, you can setup your MySQL client to connect via your local machine. The SSH tunnel will then forward your requests to the local machine. I heavily use this technology for web sites on my development build server. For example, I run a Jenkins server on port 8080. I can SSH into my machine and create a tunnel to port 8080. This allows me to view my Jenkins web server from anywhere. I even have an Android application (JuiceSSH) that allows me to setup SSH tunneling from my phone. So, when I need to control a Jenkins build on the road, I connect via JuiceSSH and make the necessary changes.

VPN

Sometimes, a tunnel just isn’t enough. Maybe you need your computer appear to be on another network. Running my own business, I have some clients who allow me to access their systems – but they require me to connect from my office IP address. Since I like to travel – or work from home – I need a way to remotely connect to my network. A VPN is the perfect solution. I can access everything on my network, and I appear to be on that network by other systems. Unfortunately, a VPN is a little more complicated to setup. OpenVPN software is available to setup a server, but I have found it more difficult to setup than I would like. (When I did get it setup, I found it frequently locked up on my Linux server too.) So, I decided to buy a Netgear Nighthawk router. Their embedded VPN works great from Android, Mac, iOS, and Windows.

An added bonus of a VPN is that it can be used to secure your connection when you are using a public WiFi connection. Additionally, since you will appear to be at a particular IP address, you can access services that are only available from your geographical area. For example, web-based TV programs only available to users within a specific geographical area.

Conclusion

The ability to remotely access resources means you can work from any location in the world. You don’t need to be at your office. You can even access your home computer from work or from your phone. If you’re looking for an easy way to connect, look at SSH – it’s a simple and very effective way to access remote computers!

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Scheduling & Planning

Schedule

Last January, I made a decision that profoundly changed my life – I started scheduling and planning my time. Most people are subjected to schedules and plans at the workplace, but few take their life so seriously. As a consequence, we all end up in a place we never intended to be. We all have hopes and dreams, but we fail to plan the steps necessary to get there. During the last year, I started my business full time, completed 61 college credits in 6 months, read four books in Chinese, and accomplished more than I have in years. None of these things would have happened without planning and scheduling.

Pen & Paper

Many people may use electronic tools like Google Calendar or their iPad Reminders. While these are both great tools, they are way too easy to ignore. I have found that using a written planner is so much more effective. Every night, I plan out out the most important things I need to accomplish the following day. On Sunday, I plan the big items I need to accomplish throughout the week. I take notes of what happened in any given day so that I can reflect on my progress later and see where I can improve. I nearly always have my journal nearby so that I can capture anything important to me.

Electronic Tools

While I prefer to do my scheduling and task lists on paper, there are some things that simply work better via electronic scheduling. For instance, when I write a blog post, I schedule it to be published at a future date. That way, I can write several posts during one block of time and have them go out during the upcoming month. For my social media, I use HootSuite for the same purpose. I can schedule all my media for the week or the month and not worry about it during the week. This ensures that my blog and my social media are constantly fresh and updated without the necessary worry about posting every day.

The End Result

Through the use of scheduling tools, I have found that I am able to be substantially more productive than ever before. Tasks get accomplished on time, more gets done, and I have more free time to focus on the things I enjoy in life. Even more importantly, I know where my life is headed. I have a plan, and I know where I’m going. Do you?

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Lessons Learned

A little over a year ago, I decided to start using a planner to keep track of my todo list, take notes, and keep track of progress on projects. Each week, I review what happened during the week and note any lessons learned during that week. At the end of the year, I compiled all the lessons into a PDF document that I can frequently review. This helps me to continuously improve myself both personally and professionally. Some of the things I’ve learned may be worth sharing.

Fall in Love with Customers

I’d like to say this one was mine, but I read it somewhere and it really resonated with me as an owner of a service company. Imagine if you treated every customer like you were as infatuated with them as you are with the man or woman of your dreams. Deliver that level of service! This is a hard one, but if you can do it you will never be without clients!

Be a Leader in Everything You Do

It’s easy to lay back and relax, and let someone else take charge. But your success will only be achieved when you make it happen! If you want to be successful, you need to be a leader in everything you do – in your home, your workplace, your place of worship, your social clubs, absolutely everywhere.

Focus on People

As a business owner, it’s easy to focus on money. We worry that we won’t have enough or that our sales pipeline is drying up. When we do that, we lose focus on people. But relationships are really what matters most. Every job I’ve ever had – whether as an employee or a contractor – started by having a relationship with someone.

Be Selective of How You Spend Time

Life is short, and you’re busy. Do you really have time to commit to a new project? Volunteer at the school? Take on additional responsibility? If the answer is no, don’t commit. It’s easy to become overcommitted – and burned out. If you don’t have the bandwidth or the desire to do something – don’t do it. Focus your time on the things that will aid in achieving your goals.

Set Goals

I have found that by setting goals – both annually, quarterly, and weekly, I am able to achieve substantially more than I could before. I heard it once said “plan the work and work the plan”.

Conclusion

While I have hundreds of other lessons learned, the above represent some of the most important. This year, I have been trying to do a better job at all of the above. I’ve got far to go, but I can see the fruit of my labor when I look at how far my business has come during the past year.

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