“How’s the weather?”

“It’s getting awfully cloudy!”

Movement to the cloud is certainly trending for businesses, but this phenomenon mustn’t be overlooked by IT professionals either. Opportunities are created every day as a result of companies sprinting to adopt cloud-based technologies.

IT professionals who position themselves correctly have to potential to reap great rewards in this ever expanding, rapidly changing area of IT.

So how’s the weather? Well, right now it’s getting awfully cloudy. Just make sure you don’t get caught in the rain!

A new market research report forecasts a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) in the Healthcare IT Market of 7.4% between 2012 and 2017. That’s a $9.4 Billion increase!

The report lists several reasons for this expected growth as well as constraints that keep this growth lower than it could or would be.

One of those constraints is a shortage of healthcare IT professionals!

The first Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchise was sold in 1952. The first Walmart opened its doors in 1962. Intel Corporation began operations in 1968, and the first McDonald’s Corporation Franchise opened in 1955.

So what do these four extremely successful businesses have in common (besides two of them being fast food chains)?

Col. Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken was 62. Sam Walton, Walmart’s founder was 44. Co-founder of Intel, Robert Noyce was 40, Ray Kroc the man responsible for McDonald’s was 53.

There seems to be a whole lot of advice flying around about finding a way to make money by doing something you’re passionate about. Generally, I would say such a notion makes a lot of sense.

Obviously, if you’re passionate about something, you likely enjoy doing it, talking about it, and hearing about. If you can find a way to parlay that into an income, then all the better, Right? Maybe!

Cyber and information technology career fields are a great career choice for many of us. They still offer great wages, opportunity abounds, and there’s something for almost anyone. Specialization choices remain as diverse as the talented pool of professionals that have made it their career choice.

However, entry-level positions in IT will now and forever be the single biggest hurdle to anyone vying to enter the field, and the competition is stiff.

Not only are you competing with college graduates, IT hobbyists, and others who have chosen to exchange their current careers for an alluring new one in the exotic world of Information Technology, but your strongest competition just might be brand new high school graduates.

Just like the NBA, companies want the best of the best, and the earlier they can get them, the better.

Today's podcast is about investing in yourself, but more specifically making yourself better by starting with personal accountability. I discuss how a 115 year old essay is as true today as when it was first published!

Today's guest is Jason Ingalls.

Jason is Founder and CEO of Ingalls Information Security.

His company specializes in Penetration Testing, Forensics, Incident Response, and host of other Cyber Security-related services.

Mark share his career journey, and talks about the importance of being open to learning new technologies. He emphasizes how doing so has benefited his career,

In this session we're going to address how to get past whatever it is that's holding you back. You will learn to give yourself permission to succeed by turning your ideas into deeds!

Willie Nelson turned 81 years old today, and Monday he earned his 5th degree black belt. Amazing!