Shock your brain into learning faster

 By Sarah Morgan

Now you can learn Microsoft in minutes and Cisco in seconds, thanks to neurostimulation. Firebrand Training is firing electric energy at students’ brains in the classroom, with astounding results. They call this ‘electric-learning’, or e-learning for short.

As the providers of Accelerated Learning, Firebrand Training is constantly looking for new ways to help its students learn faster. They’ve now taken this to controversial new levels, by sending electric signals to students’ brains through a futuristic headset. All with very few side effects…

It sounds like something from the Matrix; though increased brain functionality is possible using neurostimulation. Through transcranial direct current stimulation(tDCS) a constant current is applied to the surface of the scalp, which increases cognitive performance.

Introducing the Firebrand FastLearn Headset

Firebrand’s Learning Labs have worked with the country’s leading scientists to develop the FastLearn Headset. The student puts the headset on for 10 minutes just three times a day, and their learning speed is supercharged to 10 times the speed of traditional training. The headset wraps a magnetic coil over the student’s scalp, inducing an electrical current in the brain.

Scientific studies have proven that tDCS has the ability to enhance attention span, problem solving and memory. This is because synapses are jolted to conduct nerve impulses 10 times faster, allowing information to pass between neurons more quickly.

How to learn at 10 times the speed of regular training

Studies showed students using tDCS were able to learn technical IT skills 10 times faster than the control group. Weeks later the students still had those new skills, meaning tDCS allowed them to unlock their brains’ true potential.

Firebrand’s Lead Instructor Yardis Alpolfo explains: “Firebrand students learn through 12-hour training days, so every four hours they come to our FastLearn Lounge, to get a quick blast of electricity to the brain. Neurostimulation has been proven to be completely safe, through rigorous FDA clinical trials. We’ve trialled the headset on some of our staff; all are expected to make a full recovery, and only a few have lost their hair.”

“We also offer IT apprenticeships, and the younger generation are mad for the tDCS. They’re gaining a lifetime’s worth of IT knowledge in a week – and taking this back to the office and embarrassing their bosses. Now those bosses are sending more of their staff to Firebrand to learn faster.”

About the Author:        

Sarah writes for Firebrand Training on a number of IT related topics. This includes exams, training, certification trends, project management, certification, careers advice and the industry itself. Sarah has 11 years of experience in the IT industry. 

Discover the latest winner of Free Training for Life

In March, 2015, we relaunched our Free Training for Life competition for the third time. Up for grabs was the life changing prize of unlimited free access to our portfolio of 200+ courses, for life.

After 12 months - and more than 25,000 entries from 30 countries - the wait is finally over. I am excited to announce our winner, who will join Mario and Joseph as a holder of the illustrious prize.

And the winner is…

Congratulations to Darren Edmondson!

Darren has been working in the IT industry since 1998, where his experience has primarily been on the infrastructure management side of IT. No stranger to certification, Darren is the proud holder of MCSE (Server 2003 and NT4), PMP and ITIL certifications.

He is currently Head of IT for Gamma Telecom, where he has worked for the past 8 years. He manages a team of 13 staff, together they design and support the IT services for the company.

Now what...

Upon winning the prize, I spoke with Darren to discuss his initial reactions, he said: 

" SHOCK! I have never won a prize draw before!"

After unveiling aspirations to pursue CISSP, CCSP, CEH and PRINCE2 certification, Darren elaborated on what the prize meant for him:

"Winning the prize will give me the opportunity to get the training I’ve always wanted, but never had the money or backing to do. With the training I will be able to accelerate my IT career in the direction I want it to go. 

Going forward I will always be able to keep my knowledge up to date, and so no longer have the 'out of date' qualifications."

These are exciting times for Darren, with his track record of certifying, we can't wait to see what he does with the prize.  Check our winners page to keep track of his progress.

dynamic serving vs responsive design : customising your design for mobile users

As we explained in the last responsive mobile design post.There are 3 ways to optimize your mobile website.These are 1) Creating a responsive website 3) dynamic serving and 3) Creating a mobile website

CHOOSING THE RIGHT MOBILE DESIGN APPROACH :WHEN TO USE DYNAMIC SERVING FOR YOUR MOBILE USERS 

 

In this post we look at " how to use dynamic serving for mobile users and under what circumstances this design is used 

Dynamic serving is a server side development approach that detects which type of device your visitors are using to view your website delivers .Dynamic serving specifically optimize the website content based on the device your users are using and the server responds accordingly .

Like responsive design, the dynamic serving uses one single set of url's for all content regardless of how the content is seen, irrespective of a desktop, PC, laptop or me. However that's when the similarity ends .In dynamic serving the url too remain the same,but the content delivered to mobile device is not always the same as in desktop

This is because dynamic serving is a server side approach that alters the content code (HTML, CSS and php ) based on the device that is asking for it before the content is delivered to the browser.This code allows the server to alter the content of the page without altering the URL of the page

 CIRCUMSTANCES WHEN YOU SHOULD USE DYNAMIC SERVING

1)When your website needs to include complex mobile friendly functionality such as multi-page form and interactive dashboards.Dynamic serving allows you to serve the best experience based on user circumstances

2)When you see that your website needs to serve 2 different device markets very differently. One example is that iPhone users take a different path to conversion as compared to android users . Dynamic serving is also used when you want your webpages to render differently for your tablet users and smartphone users.

3)When your visitors largely use different keywords to access your website via desktop search and mobile search. Dynamic content allows you to altered the way the " content is rendered on page by page basis

 4)Dynamic serving  is the best solution If you want to optimize specific pages for high volume keywords phrases without changing the desktop language and if you want your desktop visitors and mobile visitors to convert in different ways

mobile first strategy :when to choose responsive web design

MOBILE FIRST STRATEGY :

How do you choose your mobile content delivery platform for your mobile users :Traditionally marketers have 3 ways of doing this 1) Responsive web design, 2) dynamic serving 3)mobile website 

Because a desktop monitor and smartphone are different in size, designing on mobile implies that you have to do either of these 3 things 1) build a responsive design website that dynamically adjusts content from desktop format to mobile format

2) Use dynamic serving to make the mobile experience device specific and control how the mobile content is delivered and viewed page by page  3)Create separate mobile website specifically made for your mobile users

Planning your mobile content delivery platform: when to use responsive design, dynamic serving and mobile site

Option 1 :Responsive design :Responsive design is a web design technology that uses CSS ad series of coded rules to dynamically change and adjust the appearance of your desktop content so that it fits within the screen size parameters of different mobile devices.Currently, responsive design is the mobile-friendly configuration recommended by both Google and Bing. Responsive design uses java script and client side serving to alter the way the pages appears in the mobile or desktop browsers after the server has already loaded the page.The below is the  illustration how this works

 You can use responsive design for your mobile users if it fulfills these  three criteria's listed below 1)When you want a coherent and an integrated desktop and mobile experience.

2)you have developed a strong desktop website that and have managed to built up a reputation in terms of page strength inbound links, unique content ,optimized for search engines and link equity, trust, and industry authority, and You want to pass on these factors to your mobile version of the page . In these cases responsive mobile sites benefit from shared indexing with desktop sites. No 3 (see below)

3) When you want your mobile users to follow a similar " page navigation, data flow and conversion metrics as they do in your desktop version.When you have limited development resources, which can make maintaining a custom mobile experience with custom content seem out of the question.The responsive web concept is also the best option when you want to manage the maintenance and search engine indexing of just one version of  site, and the seo benefit passes on to the mobile version of the site as well.

science of writing meta tag descriptions : 5 best practices for seo

The significance of Meta description  :While the perceived (and real) importance of meta data across search has depreciated , the attribute still plays a significant role in SEO rankings  :Meta Description has 3 primary uses

META DESCRIPTION TAG SEARCH ENGINES: 5 BEST PRACTICES 

Meta Descriptions Role in Search

1)describe the content of the page accurately and succinctly 

2)Serve as a short term advertisement for to click on your pages in the search engine 

3)to display the targeted words not for ranking purposes but to indicate its content to searchers 

5 rules to write the best meta descriptions: 

1)Number of characters :. Descriptions should be succinct and compact

2)Keep the length to 160 characters ( for google) and Bing up to 200 characters :However you are allowed to keep your descriptions to an average of 165, including spaces

3)Test, Refine, Repara and Rephrase : Just like ad ad which undergoes a plethora of tests , ensure that the description actually fits the content or the theme of the page in question. Each web page ideally has to have its own description pages.

3)Include relevant keywords : Its very important to have the right keyword in the meta description tag - the boldface that the search engines apply which can make a huge difference in visibility and the cilck thro rate of the website in question.

4)Ensure tagged facts in the description: You can include other structural tagged facts in the information apart from standard information . While news or blog posts can list the author, date of publication, or byline information. What about a product page? How do you incorporate product information like —price, age, manufacturer, features which lies scattered throughout a page. A good meta description can bring all this data together. For example, the following meta description provides detailed information about a Ian Fleming.

5)Understanding User Psychology of Search Disparity: take into account user differences in terms of search behaviour . For example an organic search user will not see your website the same way as users which comes from" PPC search'.While creating the meta decsription its important to keep in mind this basic fact . Users looking for information and users looking to shop online are clearly two different sets of consumers and you need to create descriptions based on which kind of users are your target segment


6)Employing Universal descriptions: Some search marketers are of the view that " you should not always write a good descriptions".Conventional logic holds that its wiser to write a good meta description to maximise the chances of it being used in the SERPs, rather than letting the engines build one of them. However this isn't always true

If the page in question is targetting one , two or three heavily searched terms or keyword phrases , go with the meta descriptions that targets user performing those searches . However if you are targeting long tail traffic with hundreds of articles or blogs entries, it can sometimes be wiser to let the esarch engine decide and themselves extract the relevant text The reason is simple to understand.When the search engines show a page in the , SERPs they always display the keywords and the surrounding phrases that the user searched for. However If you try to force a meta description, you can end up creating one that is not appropriate for the search phrase your page gets matched too

5 best practices in title tags construction for search engines

For keyword optimization title tags are most critical elements for search engine relevance .The title tag is in the <head> section of the html document and  the only pieces of meta information about a page that  has  influences relevacy and ranking

section of the html document and the only pieces of meta information about a page that has influences relevacy and ranking the following 6 rules represents the best practices for title tag construction. One of the things to keep in mind is to ensure that the title tag of any given page has to corresond to that page content

1)incorporate keyword phrases : an obvious thing to do, is to use title tag wherever your keyword research shows as being the most valuable keywords for capturing searches

2)Place your keywords at the beginning of the title tag.This provides the most search engine benefit. If your doing this and also wish to employ your brand name in the title tag, always place it at the end There is a trade off here between seo benefit and branding benefit that you should think about explicitly before taking the decision .Well established and well known brands might want to have their name at the start of the title tag as it may result to increase click thro rates (CTR)

 3) Limit yout title to 65 characters including spaces Content in the title tag should not be more than 65- 70 characters for allmost all search engines, any content beyond 65 characters gets cut off the SERPS

4)Focus the title on click thro and conversion rate : The title tag is exceptionally similar to title you generally write for paid search ads.However this data specifically is hard to measure and improve as the stats are not found easily and readily. If the  market you serve has  relatively stable search volumes , you can do some testing and see if you can improve your CTR

5)Target the searcher's  intent: while writing titles and descriptions  keep in mind what users are doing to reach your site  either by search engines or referrals.Study the top 10 landing pages and try to find " why users are coming to your site for "

If the searcher's intent is researching.. you need to tweak your title and maybe the structure needs to have more descriptive .However if users are purchasing online and looking at discounts at your site  your title should clearly mention that these functions are available .example " digital cameras now at 40% less: axax( name of website ): the top selling bestdigi cams online

5 ways of optimizing domains for search engines

6 ways of optimizing domain names and urls 

1)Brainstorm 5-10 keywords : before you set up a website, it is important for you to create few url's and brainstorm on the keywords you wish to target via your website :Once you have this list, you can start to pair them or add pre fixes and suffixes to create good domain names . For example if your about to start a website/blog on mortgage related domain. You might want to start with keywords such as " Mortgage , finance , home loan, house payment  

2)make the domain unique : creating a domain which is often confused with a popular website which is already owned by someone is a  recipe for disaster. Among some of the popular ways webmasters often tries to leverage the " popularity of an existing key phrases or urls  is to book domain names that are simply plural names,hyphenated or misspellt  version of already established domains

However this seldom helps, as a the strength of the site in question is always big enough ( assuming the site in question is really big) a misspellt  keyword will eventually lead users to the original site compared to yours as the domain authority of the page will be always be higher than yours

3)Make the url easy to sound and easy to type :  Any brand that has a trouble being read or even being written.. has already lost round one .Ensure you use a name that " is easily recognizable by what it means to users along with an imagery. 

Make your url easy to pronounce, be shared and passed around :Word of mouth remains the fastest way of bridging distances between 2 people 

4)Keep the domain short and sweet :Domain names should ideally should not exceed 10 words, unless you cater to very niche industries. Avoid repetition of numbers ,alphabets and numbers. Do not create a url that looks more like a password !

5) Not all names sounds familiar: consumers do not react to all names in the same way.Some names create positive vibes among users while some do not.. This is not due to any inherent bias..as even users are unaware of this.However neuro marketers has some answers to why this happens.Apparently they explain " human beings including consumers loves familiarity more than the unknown.The unknown has an element of fear". while the known has no fear. 

This is one of the reasons why domain names like autotrader., Realty,webmd sounds familiar as the user can guess the theme of the site by hearing their names.as opposed to zillow.com and monster.com 

6)Reject hypens and numbers : both hypens and numbers make it hard  to convey the domain name verbally .Also avoid roman numerals and large caps and small caps combination or being case sensitive

how google hummingbird was the precursor to semantic search revolution

HOW GOOGLE HUMMINGBIRD UPDATE STARTED THE SEMANTIC SEARCH REVOLUTION 

September 16th, 2013  was a  a watershed day in the history of search marketing, as Google dropped its Google Hummingbird Bombshell on  its knowledge graph as it announced that Google hummingbird was live and its search algorithm  undergone a dramatic makeover.

When hummingbird flew in, the old way of just matching up strings of characters in a search query  just went out of window. With its Hummingbird update Google changed  its core prowess from strings  to things and in the process it changed google from a search engine to a knowledge engine

The Need For Semantic Search:All  search engines compete among themselves to keep their search keywords more relevant  and in tune with users  actual intent. While a users input device might increase 10 times or 20 times, their intent does not change.. For any search engine its true test starts and begins with user intent  as it tries to understand the query itself and not only just the keywords and in the query. Once a semantic search  engine understands the context  and relevance..it will throw up the same results and meanings of their words as humans do

For example a search query "what is the height of Barrack Obama",  a conventional search engines will try to bring up pages which may have " stories on Obama, height of something, which might or might  not have any connection to Obama, news on American Presidents". This 

is a typical machine to machine learning in progress

However by  bringing on the human element ..where one user asks the other .. whats the height of Barrack Obama..Its being made amply clear  that we are interested  to know the height of the American President. This conversation is now aided by semantics

In terms of semantic search, The Hummingbird update takes the small but a significant step towards bridging the gap between machine led learning to human  based  learning. The best example of how Hummingbird update finally manages to bridge the semantic gap is this example shown below

A search for “pizza hut calories per slice” used to list an answer like this, Google said, but not one from Pizza Hut. However Now,  after the Google Hummingbird update it lists this answer directly from Pizza Hut itself, Google says. 

Google Hummingbird has been the precursor  to  start the  first Semantic search revolution. Semantic search technology seeks to extract entities from its databases as answers and displays personalised results based on the individuals personal  browsing habits

Hummingbird and Voice Search: Hummingbird paved the way for voice search by ability to search by speaking your query into search engine using a smartphone . The ability of the the search engine to understand spoken search queries by users intent and contextual meaning which are today used  in spoken conversation is an perfect application of using semantic technology across  search engines . 

Imagine being able to talk  to your computer the same way  you talk to your friend. 

"Hey I saw this awesome Oscar nominated bridge of spies.movie.. Why dont you watch it too? do you want me to find out wheres it playing at NJ "?

Semantic search is revolutionizing how people search because they can not merely  interact  by keywords but in conversational line . With mobile penetration burning up all records.. Voice based search is set to grow in numbers that will defy all expectations 

how metasearch engines differ from general search engines

how metasearch engines works : how different are they as compared to traditional search engines 

 Metesearch engines  are  search engine aggregator, which extracts the search results from different search engines and presents the users with the top ranked sites .. Metasearch engines do not maintain databases of its own, but rather it extracts  and combines data from results from  several other search engines  and displays it in a search engine SERP format.

One of the biggest advantages  that metasearch engines have is that " They often combine the best search results across many search engines and displays the best results based  on the user query for the keyword"

 The more results  that can be seen in one place the better it is for users .Among the top 2 biggest metasearch engines are 1) Dogpile and Duckduckgo.

While Dogpile pulls results from Yahoo and Google in one place, Duckduckgo gives you a overview of search results without creating a personalised feed of your search rankings.This creates a more filtering approach  to all the indexed data gathered from the other search engine sources.The ads appear at the top and bottom  with organic search  called " web results" appearing in the middle .The Biggest proposition which  duckduckgo provides  is the fact that  its the only known search engine that does not track user behavior 

After pulling the necessary data from known search engines, The metasearch engines , retains the top  search rankings from the separate search engines and presents the user with top ranked sites  This is different from running an algorithm  to find the best sites for a keyword by creating an index  

New SQL Server 2014 certification update

 By Sarah Morgan

When Microsoft launched SQL Server 2014, it was announced for the first time that there were no plans to update the MCSA SQL Server certification to align to the new technology. However, Microsoft did go on to include SQL Server 2014 content for the MCSE: Data Platform and MCSE Business Intelligence curriculum and exams.

MCSA: SQL Server update details

On February 17th 2016, the industry was surprised with changes to the MCSA: SQL Server exams announced via Larry Kaye on the Microsoft Born to Learn blog.

The MCSA: SQL Server exam will now include content and measure skills on SQL Server 2014 as well as 2012. This is to keep the certification relevant, proving database professionals skills on both versions of SQL Server.

The certification will now be re-branded to reflect the updates and will now be called MCSA: SQL Server 2012/2014. The following exams, aligned to the certification, will now include the SQL Server 2014 content:

• 70-461 : Querying Microsoft SQL Server
• 70-462 : Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases
• 70-463 : Implementing a Data Warehouse with Microsoft SQL Server

How does this affect current MCSA: SQL Server 2012 holders?

While current MCSA: SQL Server 2012 holders will obviously not have studied SQL Server 2014 skills or practices, this update doesn’t require existing certification holders to take action. They will have their transcript updated to reflect the new name of the certification.

The future of SQL Server and the MCSA

Looking to the future, Microsoft SQL Server 2016 is on the horizon. Whilst Microsoft have not yet announced a planned release date, they have revealed some details and features SQL Server 2016 will likely bring, and you can check these out here. There is a completely new Microsoft MCSA: SQL Server 2016 certification to accompany the technology’s release date. This is likely to be available soon after the release of SQL Server 2016 itself.

About the Author:        

Sarah writes for Firebrand Training on a number of IT related topics. This includes exams, training, certification trends, project management, certification, careers advice and the industry itself. Sarah has 11 years of experience in the IT industry. 

5 most popular kinds of search engine spam

 How to spot search engine spam : 5 tell tale signs of spam impacting search engines

Search engine spams refer to an  attempt to deceive search engines by telling them to override " existing" search engine best practices  and " laying emphasis on a set of given criteria, which under ideal conditions does not deserve to be ranked at all.

In this post we discuss the most popular kind of search engine spam and how to recognize them.However never try to use them no matter how much you are tempted, as this will only result in your site being black listed

HIDDEN LINKS : White texts or links on a  white background renders  texts invisible to the users  unless the text is highlighted  by right clicking the mouse .Spammers then use relevant keywords or hyperlink that the spiders can read and counts as relevant 

TEXT LINKS HIDDEN BY A LAYER :  One of the tricks  most used by black hat seo webmasters  is to use CSS to  hide spiderable  content under this page which is not visible to the naked eye or by highlighting the page 

DOORWAY PAGES : Doorway pages are web pages  that are made to meet specific search algorithmic  requirements  for various search engines,and are not meant to be shown to ordinary users .In short the doorway pages do not earn the ranking but deceive the search engines into ranking by design  whose main intention is to spam the search engine index  so that it appears high in the SERPS. However  when a user clicks on it , it is automatically redirected /  to another site or page within the same site..

UNCLICKABLE LINKS: creating a link that has  only a single1-x-1 pixel as an anchor , that uses  the period on a sentence as an anchor or  that has no anchor at all . For users there is nothing to click, but the search engine can still follow the link

CLOAKING : In cloaking  the content showed to search engines and the version which is shown to the user browsers  are different. Spammers may cloak by IP  address( information used to find out where your computer or server may be located  or the user agent : HTTP header  describing whether  your a person or a search robot which is requesting the page. When a user is identified as a search spider  a server side script delivers  different version of a web page , in which the content is different from what is viewable by the searching user browser

5 reasons why you should get your TOGAF certification

 By Sarah Morgan

Getting TOGAF certified proves you’re at the top of the enterprise architecture field. It helps you learn and demonstrate a full understanding of the reasons behind every element of its structure. It also gives you the ability to develop and re-organise your business architecture to fix its shortcomings.

As great as this is, there a many more benefits of TOGAF that exceed this, making you more valuable to your business and the rest of your team. Plus, there are industry-wide factors that are fantastic motivation to get TOGAF certified. Below is a breakdown of the five best reasons you should invest in your skills, aiming for the pinnacle of enterprise architecture, TOGAF certification.

1. TOGAF Demand is soaring

One huge reason to get your TOGAF certification is because the demand for enterprise architects is soaring. The UK is the global leader in TOGAF certified professionals, accounting for around 16% of all TOGAF certifications worldwide. From 2013 to 2014, the number of newly certified TOGAF professionals increased by around 11,000 (around 45%). These figures give you a sense of the rate at which the certification is growing as well as its popularity in the UK. The momentum TOGAF currently has, is down to the demand for more TOGAF certified professionals. 

One cause of the rise in demand, is that more people in IT and other sectors are realising the long term importance of enterprise architecture and its certifications. As IT technology and architecture advances and becomes more prominent in all parts of business, it’s becoming equally important to plan how your business’s enterprise architecture will be managed in the short and long term. If you don’t do this, businesses face the risk of their technology and architecture becoming obsolete. This is why businesses are looking for more TOGAF certified professionals, and why you should look to get certified and take advantage of the growing demand.

Image from The Open Group blog

2. Learn a common language

TOGAF certified professionals share a common language and a common knowledge of expertise. This is a fantastic skill to possess. As it’s unique to enterprise architecture professionals, it’s a great asset to help fuel the development of IT and enterprise architecture. 

This language and its skills also have the potential to improve your management skills. A main aim of TOGAF is to show you how to better identify the needs of your business. Once you learn the language of enterprise architecture, you’ll be much better placed to guide your team, and the business as a whole to meeting these needs, making you a better manager.

3. Better meet your organisation’s demands 

Another principal aim of TOGAF is to teach you how to meet the demands of your organisation most effectively. This means identifying how the IT budget is being spent and then finding areas where the budget could be spent more effectively. On top of this, TOGAF aims to teach you how and where teams have the potential to fit together better. Combined, these skills make the running of your business far more fluid.

This is an area where a TOGAF certification can make a big difference. Learning how all the different parts of the business fit together, gives you the ability to spot how these processes can be streamlined. This reduces costs and friction, making departments and the business as a whole, more efficient. TOGAF can give you the ability to take on the role as the simplifier in your business and is a great way to impress managers and directors as its insight hard to come by.

4. More trust from employers, clients and colleagues

We’ve already mentioned that the skills you’ll learn from the TOGAF certification are valuable and unique. On top of this, as TOGAF is a globally recognised certification, it brings a high level of trust from your customers, employees and colleagues. This helps reduce friction in the management of enterprise architecture. Getting certified increases your reputation, demonstrating you have proven,  elite level skills.

5. Great investment in your future

Building upon the previous point, getting certified can increase your worth to businesses. This could mean a potential pay rise after achieving your certification. As a whole, getting TOGAF certified is a fantastic investment in your skills and your future. According to itjobswatch.com, someone who is TOGAF 9.1 certified commands an average salary of £67,500. Also, because of its growth in demand, more industries are realising the importance of enterprise architecture, meaning TOGAF is becoming increasingly versatile and applicable to a variety of job roles. A final reason why TOGAF is a solid investment in your skills, is due to its position at the top of the enterprise architecture field. This means once you’re certified, there is no great need for further enterprise architecture certification, increasing the longevity of your investment and the value of your certification.

TOGAF is one of the most popular enterprise architecture certifications that many EA professionals should be aiming for. This is due to its versatility, longevity and return on investment in many areas. It’s growing in demand, is applicable to many different industries and job roles. It can improve fluidity and efficiency in the running of many business areas, as well as providing you with great career prospects. Make sure that the certification is right for you and your area of business, but if you think it is applicable and you’d benefit from enterprise architecture skills, TOGAF is an excellent certification for you.

About the Author:        

Sarah writes for Firebrand Training on a number of IT related topics. This includes exams, training, certification trends, project management, certification, careers advice and the industry itself. Sarah has 11 years of experience in the IT industry. 

Trailblazer IT apprentices leading the path for women in tech

 By Sarah Morgan

The number of women in the technology industry is growing at a rate of 238% faster than men, according to Sphero, showcasing the wide road being paved for the future women in IT.

With the theme of International Women’s Day 2016 #pledgeforparity, Firebrand celebrates the next generation of young women breaking the glass ceiling for girls in tech in the 21^st century.

We have historically done a disservice to the multitude of women in the IT industry by allowing so many to exist in relative anonymity, relying on famous figureheads like Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook when referencing the industry.

Female apprentices paving the way for women in tech

While underrepresented as a whole across STEM subjects, there is an increasing number of high profile women pushing the technology agenda forward such as Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook) and Marissa Mayer (CEO of Yahoo). Firebrand’s female IT apprentices gave their thoughts on how the industry can inspire more young women:

Kimberley Bolton, Microsoft Apprentice of the Year 2014

Highlighting the importance of both men and women being role models for girls in tech, Kimberley says, “Many of the males I've worked with have been the foundations for my achievements and I'm lucky to have made great friendships with many of them.”

Jamila Telliam, Support Technician

“I believe the interest should be encouraged from home as well as in school and it's great that schools are encouraging young people to start coding.”

Guen-Ziu Dang, IT Support Technician

“My apprenticeship facilitator has been in the IT industry for more or less than 10 years. Hearing her stories (what companies she used to work for, how she got to where she is) really inspired me and I’m grateful to have her look after me as an apprentice.”

Jane Simmons, Developer

“If anything, now is the best time for women to show interest in IT. They are more likely to be taken on and accepted by companies for work experience and apprenticeships because the computer world needs more of them - for fresh ideas and a new way to look at the field.”

Inspire a generation of female IT pioneers with Trailblazer apprenticeships 

For over three years, Firebrand has been opening the doors to future female leaders in IT, giving them a route into in an industry historically dominated by men. With IT apprentice employers nationwide hiring female apprentices, Firebrand is inspiring the future generations of women continuing to inform, educate and develop cutting-edge technology by delivering higher and intermediate  trailblazer apprenticeships.  

To grow and develop an IT apprentice with Trailblazer apprenticeships, call us free on 0800 081 6022 or enquire online.