Center News & Updates: Fall 2012

What’s New?

Register for November Certified Ethical Hacking Now!

This class is not being advertised to the public – it is being offered to InfoSec and Digital Forensics professionals and college- level educators November 5-9, 2012 at Edmonds Community College, Snohomish Hall, Room 123.

Tuition includes the official course ware, certification test, study guide, and practice question banks to prepare for the CEH exam. Access to the study guide and practice question banks will be given when a student enrolls in the course.

The target audience is InfoSec and law enforcement professionals from the Puget Sound area in Washington State as well as college level educators nationwide. If you want a seat, send an email to

Steve Hailey at steve.hailey@cybersecurityacademy.com (opens in a new window) .

Your instructors (opens in a new window) will be Steve Hailey and Mike Andrew – both CEH’s and authorized instructors. Look at the overview (opens in a new window) to find out what CEH v7 (opens in a new window) covers.

Review of IT/CS CTC Programs (Degrees & Certificates) by Industry Professionals

The Center works with its IT/CS industry professionals (from multiple career pathways – web programming, programming, development, engineers, networking, systems, database, hardware/software technicians, and gaming, etc.) to review up to 12 Washington state CTC IT/CS program degrees and certificates each year that are currently in place (one degree or certificate per college). The Center is now accepting applications for its fall 2012 review session at no charge. The deadline for the fall review session is Friday, November 16, 2012.

Since 2010, the Center has performed 25 ICT degree/certificate reviews at no charge for 27 Washington State community and technical colleges. After each review by industry professionals, a custom report summarizing the recommendations made by the industry review team, as well as provide a high-level workforce trend scan, employment trends if applicable, and possibilities for emerging trends that might impact curricular changes or developments, is issued to each college that submitted an IT degree or certificate.

Interested in having your program reviewed? Complete our online application! (opens in a new window)

An IT Common Course Initiative Focusing on Articulating Specific Introductory Courses for an Application Development and Software Engineering Program of Study

The Center was funded through the Washington State Workforce and Technical Training Board to host a meeting with two- and four-year higher education institutions. At that day-long session the two- and four-year faculty created three common courses that a student could take at a community or technical college that would be accepted at the four-year university or college so they wouldn’t have to retake the courses.

There is more work ahead for this common course initiative. The work session on July 20, 2012 was very productive. Another take-away was that the two- and four-year higher education institutions felt that it was extremely important that a high school graduate who had gone through an IT programs of study focusing on software development, programming, engineering must have completed precalculus by the time they entered either a two-year CTC or a four-year university or college.

The three courses where the group came to consensus on learning outcomes were: Programming I/II (opens in a new window) and Data Structures. The Center will be sending out further information to the CTC system, K-12, and four-year higher education institutes to assess next steps. If you are interested in joining our network of educators who are working on this project, please contact the Center of Excellence.

Your Future in IT (YourFutureIn.IT)

The Center offers you a sneak peek at a new website Your Future in IT (opens in a new window) . It is currently in alpha, close to beta; however, by September 15, 2012 a number of planned features and overall tool functionality will be up-and-running.

The site has tools, resources, academic planning guides, an IT interest quiz, etc. for IT academic and career pathways focusing on Application Development and Software Engineering, Systems & Network Administration, and, Web Design, Development & Digital Communication.

So, about the site:

It serves as an informational resource as well as providing a number of resources and tools for students
It promotes understanding, awareness centered around the coursework students need to focus on to both create a seamless articulation as well as tips and advice that are designed to increase student success as they start their journey towards an information technology academic and career pathway
Students can set up an account and customize a coursework and extra-curricular activity planning guide that they can use to prepare for their four-year educational experience(whether it’s starting at a community and technical college and then continuing their B.A. or B.S. at a four-year university or college, or entering a four-year college or university directly
Short informational and awareness articles and resources that address how to overcome math-anxiety; why taking certain courses between grades 7-12 will enhance their two- or four year post-secondary journey; how to plan for the transition to the college or university experience; and, much, much more…
Awareness and targeted informational and awareness articles for young women and under-represented populations that support their access to tips and ideas that are designed to increase their interest and chances of succeeding in an IT educational and career pathway.
A searchable Washington State college and university information technology and computer science degree and certificate directory
And, more… (opens in a new window)

Mark Your Calendars For…

Careers in IT: The Real Story

Careers in IT: The Real Story will be taking place on Wednesday, April 17, 2013, in the Carlson Theater at Bellevue College. Mark your calendar and registration will open late Fall 2012.

If you missed last year’s event, you can watch (opens in a new window) the industry professional panelists, and hear what they have to say about majoring in computer science; what it’s like to work in the gaming industry; what does a data analyst do; and, more…

About Careers in IT: The Real Story

Are your students curious about Information Technology (IT) or do they think IT is only for geeks? Do they think offshore outsourcing has eliminated all high paying technology jobs in the United States? Do your students believe they don’t have the computer skills, technical competence or aptitude to do well in the information technology sector? Tell them to think again! Note: Clock hours are available for our K-12 educators.

Watch behind the scenes of Careers in IT: The Real Story. Here from the students, the presenters, the director and get a look at what it takes each year to make this event happen. Click on the image to the left and take a few minutes to consider the fun, excitement, and very useful and timely advice from IT professionals. And, find out why an educational and career pathway in IT is where you want to be heading.

For questions, comments, inquiries, contact Maureen Majury at maureen.majury@bellevuecollege.edu.

You can download the PDF of the newsletter here (opens in a new window) .