The best fit for a tech position is a candidate who’s done the same job before, right? Maybe not, says CEO, award-winning author and social innovator Charles Eaton. In this episode, Charles explains how employers seeking to fill jobs working with technology must learn to trust qualifications beyond specific experience.

TechGirlz founder Tracey Welson-Rossman sits in for Charles Eaton to recount the organization’s successes since being acquired by Creating IT Futures earlier this year. She also previews the new trails TechShopz will blaze in 2020. 

Which is at greater risk from our nation’s cybersecurity talent gap? Government or private technology infrastructure? Before answering, maybe we should consider whether, today, the distinction between public and private tech even matters. And in this episode, we did just that, with Randi Parker, senior director at Creating IT Futures, an attorney and long-time advocate for cybersecurity workforce development on Capitol Hill.

The tech skills gap in the U.S. Economy is about numbers, right? Employers have more jobs working with technology available than qualified candidates to fill them. Simple, yes? No, says CEO, social innovator and award-winning author Charles Eaton. The tech skills gap is a challenge with a complex mix of perceptions, biases and misconceptions confronting aspiring technologists and employers alike.

Clever ducks fly in formation, working together to go farther, faster. How can this principle from nature be applied to narrowing the IT Skills Gap? Amy Kardel, CompTIA’s new Vice President of Strategic Workforce Relationships, has some answers in this guest interview from the recent ChannelCon conference.

What cybersecurity skills are most in-demand in today’s IT job market? Building firewalls? Spotting malware? Penetration testing? None of above, says our guest expert CompTIA CEO Todd Thibodeaux, who believes soft business skills – such as researching, writing, teaching, learning and collaborating – are what set candidates apart from the cybersecurity crowd in the eyes of employers.

Great technologists hold themselves to standards that don’t tolerate racism, sexism, ageism or any approach that demeans others inside or outside their organizations. How? Award-winning author, social innovator and CEO Charles Eaton says technologists foster and support business cultures of diversity and inclusion by planning for them, talking about them and working at them.

Ever heard the expression “Love what you do, and you’ll never work a day in your life?” Nonsense, says CEO, author and social innovator, Charles Eaton, who explains the real secrets to a successful career working with technology. Hint: It’s not about having a passion for gadgets.

The measure of success is avoiding failure, right? Wrong, says CEO, author and social innovator, Charles Eaton, especially when working with technology. True technologists, Eaton explains, not only admit failure, they embrace it.

Research shows that girls can lose interest in pursuing tech careers sometime between age 9 and the 9th grade. How can U.S. businesses prevent this potential loss of tech talent before these young women reach high school? Tracey Welson-Rossman, CMO of IT consulting firm Chariot Solutions, shares the mission of TechGirlz (www.techgirlz.org) the non-profit organization she founded and Creating IT Futures recently acquired.