Article Round-up
What useful articles have you read recently about the state of the IT industry and programs that get students ready to enter that workforce? The National Convergence Technology Center (CTC) is always on the lookout for stories related to the ongoing evolution of both the IT workplace and the IT classroom. Below is a sampling of some of the things we’ve been reading these last few months. They’re worth a look, faithful blog readers.
Road goes up in the sky illustration
Thirteen Tips for Creating and Sustaining a Women in Computing Group on Your Campus – from NCWIT (if your school isn’t a member of their Academic Alliance, it should be; it’s free to join) – offers concrete suggestions and best practices on how to develop a successful female group.
The Lines of Code That Changed Everything from Slate.com itemizes the landmark coding that delivered big change, huge social influence, or, as the authors called it, “tilted the world on its axis.” It’s a fascinating history of computing and technology, from ENIAC to Bitcoin.
CollegeInfoGeek.com provides a list of 50 examples of effective personal and portfolio websites, which dovetails with the National CTC’s ongoing effort to encourage IT programs to incorporate student portfolios in their curriculum. Job interviews often go better for the interviewee if there is a sample of past work to showcase and discuss.
The Best Job in America Pays Over $108,000 from MSN.com looks at statistics for the high demand – and high pay – of data scientists and software developers.
Researchers Find Five Types of Computing Students from the Boulder Daily Camera reports on findings from NCWIT (there they are again!) that identified five types of computing students: inexperienced and alienates, experienced and onboard, inexperienced and onboard, experienced but alienated, and semi-experienced and open. Understanding these differences, of course, can help with classroom engagement.
Top Tech of CES from DigitalTrends.com discusses the more innovative and forward-thinking technologies demonstrated on the exhibit hall floor at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show.
The Top Must-Have Skills for an IoT Developer – from IoTIFY.com, an IoT sensor simulator platform vendor – provides a detailed list of skills that often goes beyond technical coding know-how. Even better, the article provides specific suggestions (with links) on how students can sharpen these skills.
The Information Technology Disaster Resource Center helps restore technical resources in disaster zones. Steve Linthicum, a longtime collaborator with the National CTC, recently traveled to the Bahamas with the ITDRC to restore IT networks after a hurricane. His blog post offers a fascinating look into this important, but thankless and unheralded, work.
Evil USB Cable Can Remotely Accept Commands from Hacker from PCMag.com – an article recommended by one of the National CTC’s BILT members – demonstrates the need for what our BILT member calls “component level testing.” IT students need to always be mindful of possible threats and vulnerabilities to the systems they develop and manage.
Programming Languages Businesses Demand Right Now from Dice.com, a database resource for technology professionals, presents an overview of the most in-demand languages (Python and Java are #1 and #2, respectively), along with brief words explaining the overall industry trends the list suggests.