How valuable are IT certifications?

How valuable are IT certifications? 
IT positions make up more than 10% of all job openings, and IT certifications can help get you in the door. An overwhelming majority of IT professionals and their hiring managers agree on the value of certifications. More than 90% of hiring managers believe certifications are beneficial, and IT certifications can provide increased value to employers and their organizations.

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Raspberry Pi Foundation suggested the Pi has now surpassed sales of

A round of applause for the U.K.-made Raspberry Pi microcomputer — which has just passed the 5 million sales mark, some three years after it was first launched with the over-modest goal of selling “a few thousand” Pi over its entire lifetime, as creator Eben Upton has said. How wrong can you be, and how good must that feel?

Having a tasty price-point — of $35 for the Model B Pi, and just $25 for Model A — has kindled remarkable interest in Pi-powered homebrew computing. Everything from DIY computers to robotics projects are being built with Pi at their core. Whole startup businesses have also found a use for a low cost credit card-sized microcomputer.

The original Pi mission was about getting more schoolkids coding, and it’s making progress there. But Pi’s influence has spread far further — it’s proved especially popular in North America, according to Upton. The Foundation also recently launched a fully fledged sequel: the Pi 2, which is around 6x faster and has double the memory but retains the $35 price-point.

The Pi 2 makes a decent entry level PC that much cheaper. No surprise that Microsoft is keen to make sure Windows reaches the people Pi will be reaching, announcing it intends to offer Windows 10 to Pi devs for free. The launch of the Pi 2 also doubtless helped bump Pi’s overall sales figures past the 5M mark. At the start of this month overall sales were around 4.5M, with gen-one Pi sales clocking sales of around 200,000 per month.

Tweeting its new sales milestone today, the Raspberry Pi Foundation suggested the Pi has now surpassed sales of iconic, U.K.-made home computers of the past — such as the Sinclair Spectrum and BBC Micro —  which had themselves been an inspiration for the creation of Pi, having helped a generation of U.K. kids become coders. (NB: The Foundation was referring to the speed of Pi sales, rather than overall total. In a blog they note the Pi still has a way to go to pass Amstrad’s 8M total sales.)

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Windows 10, free to users of the Raspberry Pi microcomputer later this year

Microsoft has announced it will be offering the latest version of its desktop OS, Windows 10, free to users of the Raspberry Pi microcomputer later this year — as it seeks to keep pace with, and remain relevant to, developments powering the Internet of Things (IoT).

“We see the Maker community as an amazing source of innovation for smart, connected devices that represent the very foundation of the next wave of computing, and we’re excited to be a part of this community,” said Kevin Dallas, General Manager, Windows IoT Group, writing on Microsoft’s Windows blog.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation unveiled the next generation of its low-cost microprocessor, the Pi 2, today — adding a quad-core chip and double the memory, while retaining the $35 price-tag — taking the maker-friendly hardware “firmly into the PC space”, as they put it.

That $35 “entry-level PC” price-point is both an opportunity for Microsoft to expand usage of its OS, but also a threat — given the free Linux alternatives Pi users might turn to.

Giving away Windows 10 to makers is one way to try to keep pace with Pi’s push into the PC space, while also generating goodwill, engagement and — Microsoft will be hoping — driving adoption of its services within a developer community that’s expanding as more types of devices become Internet-connected devices.

In his blog, Dallas notes that Microsoft created the Windows Developer Program for IoT last year, and added support for Windows for Intel’s Galileo board — another single-board computer (like the Pi) that’s compatible with Arduino development hardware and software.

Support for Pi, via free access to its developer tools, is the “next step”, he said today, adding: “Raspberry Pi 2 is a surprisingly powerful device that opens up the world of computing and programing to a huge range of people and skill levels.

“We are excited about our work with the Raspberry Pi Foundation and to share that Windows 10 will support Raspberry Pi 2. We will be sharing more details about our Windows 10 plans for IoT in the coming months.”

Redmond announced Windows 10 last month — along with another freebie offer aimed at driving uptake: users of Windows 7, Windows 8.1 or Windows Phone 8.1 are eligible for a free upgrade inside the first year of Windows 10.

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The most in-demand IT skills

The most in-demand IT skills 
Cybersecurity and information-security experience top the most-sought-after skills for 2015, Dice says. Project management, agile, DevOps expertise and SQL database understanding also ranked highly



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State of IT skills & hiring 2015

State of IT skills & hiring 
As companies spend more on IT -- 89% plan to increase their technology investments in 2015 -- they also seek improvement on the IT skills front. The great majority (87%) experience some degree of IT skills gap and need to hire more workers. Nearly half of U.S. businesses plan to increase their number of IT staff (48% for 2015)


I buy most of my training at Training Planet. Great prices and selection of certifications.