Hey everyone!
Hope you had a fantastic winter break, and that you got to see and do all
the things you were too busy to do during the semester. If it's not already
on your schedule, here's a reminder that Spring semester starts on January
24, 2022.
ClubIT will meet this semester starting Wednesday, February 2, 2022 and
ending on Wednesday, May 25, 2022. This leaves the first and last week of
school free for other priorities.
Yesterday was the *New Student Seminar* at the Oceanside campus; Doug and I
got to meet a fantastic group of new students, some of whom are interested
in joining us this semester! They had lots of questions about IT and what
we do, so here's a brief overview of what the Information Technology (IT)
field includes:
⦁ Computer Hardware and Software
⦁ Information Systems
⦁ Network Technology
⦁ Network Security
⦁ Computer Programming (Often IT specific coding for software and scripts)
⦁ Database Management
⦁ Data Science
⦁ Data Visualization
Some students we spoke to yesterday were especially interested in
*cryptocurrency */ blockchain. This is a topic we discussed often last
semester, thanks to the expertise of our resident crypto bodhisattva,
Professor Rick White. So if you're very interested, this is the place to
learn!
As some of you already know, IT employers are looking for these three
things, in this order: *experience*, *certifications*, and *college degrees*.
With this in mind, one of my goals for ClubIT this semester is to establish
routines and spaces where we can collaboratively practice for
certifications and create situations where we can gain experience in
Information Technology. I've spent the winter amassing resources for us to
work with this Spring, but thankfully, we are not limited to my toolbox.
Club IT has two external support systems for this: National Cyber League
(NCL) and CyberHire* (a division of workforce).
⦁ NCL gives training and experience in cybersecurity through an online
platform and nation-wide competitions
⦁ CyberHire's primary focus is getting you experience through internships,
paying for your professional certifications, and seeing you graduate with
an additional Systems Administration certificate through MCC
*Both NCL and CyberHire are free. *
⦁ NCL requires an activation key (distributed early in the semester)
⦁ CyberHire requires a fairly simple application, a statement of why IT is
your passion, and a few 15 minute interviews over Zoom. (I put in maybe 90
minutes of my time, total, and they're paying for all of my certifications)
Club IT also has social events, times to just have fun with each other.
These are discussed during club meetings and on Discord.
Last semester we held a computer refurbish event and donated those PCs to
the EOPS program at the school. This semester we will find other
opportunities for service learning, which can also be translated to
experience that you can speak knowledgeably about in a job interview.
We all have different levels of knowledge and practical ability within our
ClubIT. Some members are already working in the field, and others, started
from zero and became heroes. No matter where you start, you will improve
your skills with us!
*ClubIT meeting times:* Wednesdays from 3:30pm - 5:00pm
*Place: *Room 4803B (I think, will let you know if it changes!)
*To receive weekly updates, get on our mailing list at:*
https://www.freelists.org/list/mcc_clubit
See you soon!
daphne demarchi
ClubIT President
"Be here now." - Baba Ram Dass
