Certification - November 2008 - (Page 3)

EDITOR’S LETTER Tools and Techniques for the IT Professional VOLUME 10 ISSUE 11 NOVEMBER 2008 GROUP PUBLIShER John R. Taggart | jrtag@certmag.com EDITOR IN ChIEF Norman B. Kamikow | nkam@certmag.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Mike Prokopeak | mikep@certmag.com SENIOR EDITORS Agatha Gilmore | agilmore@certmag.com Brian Summerfield | bsummerfield@certmag.com Kellye Whitney | kwhitney@certmag.com COPY EDITOR Meagan Polakowski | meaganp@certmag.com ASSOCIATE EDITORS Deanna Hartley | dhartley@certmag.com Lindsay Edmonds Wickman | lwickman@certmag.com DIRECTOR, CREATIVE & PRODUCTION SERVICES Kendra Chaplin | kendra@certmag.com ART DIRECTOR Kasey Doshier | kdoshier@certmag.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Linda Dziwak | linda@certmag.com TRAFFIC COORDINATOR Ishea Brown | ibrown@certmag.com WEB DESIGNER Spencer Thayer | spencer@certmag.com WEB SPECIALIST Michael Elmore | melmore@certmag.com E-MEDIA DESIGNER Rahel Haile | rahelh@certmag.com VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS Gwen Connelly | gwen@certmag.com EVENTS MANAGER Trey Smith | tsmith@certmag.com EVENTS COORDINATOR Kara Shively | kshively@certmag.com EVENTS SALES MANAGER Kristian Walters | kwalters@certmag.com MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Laura Cibuls | lcibuls@certmag.com BUSINESS MANAGER Vince Czarnowski | vince@certmag.com CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Cindy Cardinal | ccardinal@certmag.com LIST MANAGER Jay Schwedelson | mediatec@worldata.com REPRINTS reprints@parsintl.com OR call David Einziger at 212-221-9595, ext. 407 ASSOCIATE PUBLIShER & ADVERTISING DIRECTOR James R. Yeakel | jyeakel@certmag.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Dave Lienemann | davel@certmag.com Lisa Newton | lnewton@certmag.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Wayne Anderson Rick Bauer Andrew Bonslater Agatha Gilmore Deanna Hartley Katherine Spencer Lee Meagan Polakowski Ken Wagner Lindsay Edmonds Wickman Improving IT Through Diversity AGAThA GILMORE In most businesses today, the implementation of diversity and inclusion practices is more than simply commonplace — it’s a bottom-line strategy. After all, different perspectives yield richer results. While IT companies are no exception, they face additional obstacles when it comes to a well-rounded workforce. For one thing, the pool of available IT employees isn’t as heterogeneous as one might hope. According to the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), only about one in four IT workers is female, and women account for a mere 13 percent of corporate officers at Fortune 500 technology companies. Our cover story this month further analyzes this issue. Also, the state of the economy and the competitiveness of the IT marketplace might be precluding many young, would-be IT professionals from getting a foot in the door. In fact, as our IT Culture feature explains, some are turning to volunteering as a way to build the experience they need to open the door to future job opportunities. Luckily, the bottom-line impact of a diverse IT workforce is already being documented. Though women account for only 9 percent of U.S. technology patents, for example, the NCWIT points to a study that found those patents created by mixed-gender teams are the most highly cited (which demonstrates their usefulness). Dennis Wisnosky, chief architect and CTO for the Department of Defense Business Mission Area, stressed the importance of diversity in IT today. “You have to have people with different points of view,” he said. “Diversity can come in [the form of] men and women, young and old, different cultural backgrounds. If everybody looks like me, that’s not a good thing.” As we draw closer to ushering in the New Year, let’s think about the ways we can promote and leverage diversity to make the IT workforce of tomorrow richer, stronger and even more capable. Norman B. Kamikow PRESIDENT Philip S. Wolin GENERAL COUNSEL John R. Taggart EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Patricia Pierce ChIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Certification Magazine (ISSN 1529-6903) is published monthly by MediaTec Publishing Inc., 318 Harrison St., Suite 301, Oakland, CA 94607. Periodicals Class Postage Paid at Oakland, CA and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to: Certification Magazine, P.O. Box 2083, Skokie, IL 60076-7983. Subscriptions are free to qualified IT professionals. Non-qualified paid subscriptions are available at the subscription price of $39.97 for 12 issues. Canada/Mexico orders must be prepaid in U.S. funds with an additional $15 postage charge. All other countries outside the U.S. must be prepaid in U.S. funds with an additional $40 postage surcharge. Certification Magazine, CertMag and CertMag.com are the trademarks of MediaTec Publishing Inc. Copyright © 2008, MediaTec Publishing Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of material published in Certification Magazine is forbidden without permission. Agatha Gilmore Senior Editor agilmore@certmag.com Printed by: RR Donnelley Inc., Mendota, IL November 2008 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE http://www.CertMag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Certification - November 2008

Certification - November 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Tech Careers Dear Techie Virtual Village Data Stream Academic Connection Troubleshooting What We Like Look Ahead The Gender Gap: IT Lacks a Woman’s Touch IT for Free: Volunteering Today Interface Technical Architect: Learning, Growing, Innovating Inside Certification Endtag Ad Index

Certification - November 2008

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