Happy New Year to everyone!

Here’s a little history about our chapter….. The Capella University ACM Student Chapter was chartered in November 2012. We are now entering our 7th year as a student chapter supporting the ACM! We thank each member for their contributions to the student chapter. YOU are the reason we continue to thrive!

This year, every 3rd Thursday of the month (with the exception of January) there will be a general meeting hosted by Mr. William Breckenridge, the current Student Chapter Chairperson for the Capella University ACM Student Chapter.

Special thanks to Dr. Bernard Sharum, the Faculty Advisor for the Capella University ACM Student Chapter. He continues to provide astounding mentorship to the officers of the chapter and has been advising this chapter since the very beginning.

We hope to see each of our chapter members in our upcoming meetings, which generally have key speakers. In the meantime, with the new year here, we want to know……..

What are some of your IT New Year resolutions? Share with us in the comment section.

Posted by: Cierra Ortiz
Blog Contributor

Many people ask the question, what is information technology (IT)? The average person with no discernable idea about IT thinks that those in the field play with a computer or mobile telephones all day, but that is far from the case. The word IT has a broad meaning and a rich combination of offerings that are more than mere computers. The term information technology original appeared in a 1958 article published in the Harvard Business Review; authors Leavitt and Whisler commented, “the new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology (IT)” (para. 2). They used three categories to define the term: “techniques for processing, the application of statistical and mathematical methods to decision-making, and the simulation of higher-order thinking through computer programs” (para. 2).

Today, the term IT is used to talk about computer, computer networks, systems that have their information distributed, like televisions and telephones. It also includes products and services, like computer hardware, software, electronics, semiconductors, Internet, telecom equipment, cloud storage, security, and more (Chandler & Munday, 2011).

Now you may be asking yourself, what that means to you and your choices in life? IT is a thriving industry that is interwoven in every aspect of our lives today, from personal to professional. Careers in IT are growing across the nation and worldwide. It is an industry that will continue to expand and offer up opportunities to the vast knowledge and do more each year with your life. Moreover, you will never get bored!

Therefore, here is a countdown of the top 20 IT Professions for 2018 and their median annual salary as reported by Best Schools (The 20 Best IT Jobs for 2018 and Beyond, 2018) for those interesting in the world of IT:

1. Hardware Engineer $85,441
2. Network Administrator $57,142
3. Data Architect $112,825
4. Solutions Architect $115,231
5. Computer Network Architect $116,332
6. Computer Technical Support Specialist $48,309
7. Site Reliability Engineer $119,024
8. Computer Systems Analyst $66,910
9. Software Engineer $81,940
10. User Interface Designer $63,313
11. Database Administrator $71,513
12. Business Intelligence Developer $78,076
13. Information Technology Manager $84,440
14. Data Scientist $90,958
15. Development Operations (DevOps) Engineer $91,465
16. Applications Architect $107,831
17. Cloud Solutions Architect $120,067
18. Web Developer $58,005
19. Information Security Analyst $70,521
20. Mobile Application Developer $72,066

References

Chandler, D. & Munday, R. (2011). Definition of Information Technology. Media and Communications.  Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=nLuJz-ZB828C&pg=PA211#v=onepage&q&f=false

Leavitt, H. J. & Whisler, T. L. (1958). Management in the 1980’s, from the November 1958 Issue of Harvard Business Review. HBR website. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/1958/11/management-in-the-1980s

20 Best IT Jobs for 2018 and Beyond, The. (2018). The Best Schools website. Retrieved from https://thebestschools.org/careers/best-information-technology-jobs/

Post written by:
Dr. Valerie Mills, Ph.D. Information Security & Cybersecurity
Capella University FlexPath Tutor – IT
Blog Contributor

Capella University ACM Student Chapter Speaker Presentation

On Tuesday, December 6th at 7:00 P.M. Central Time (in the United States), our chapter will be attending a presentation provided by Dr. Kondo Litchmore. Dr. Litchmore will be presenting his dissertation titled:

My Dissertation Journey and Dissertation – A Comparative Study of Agile Methods, People Factors, and Process Factors in relation to Project Success.

Capella learners stay tuned for more information on how to connect with us on Tuesday. The information will be posted in the IT Community of Interest group forum.

Cierra Ortiz,
Capella ACM Student Chapter Chairperson
Blog Contributor
Web Development Team Lead

The officers of the Capella University ACM Student Chapter hope that all U.S. veterans had a wonderful Veterans Day yesterday. I would like to express my gratitude to all those who served and continue to serve today. As a veteran myself and a military spouse, Veterans Day means a lot to me. It’s OUR day! Those who served and still serve sacrifice a lot. We all join for different reasons and under different circumstances. Whatever the reason you joined, we thank you for your service to our nation.

Cierra Ortiz,
Capella ACM Student Chapter Chairperson
Blog Contributor
Web Development Team Lead

Hello my fellow veterans,

The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies, a part of the Department of Homeland Security, offers veterans free online cybersecurity training. The Federal Virtual Training Environment (FedVTE) provides over 800 hours of free training and prepares you for various IT certifications! Some of the coursework includes training on ethical hacking, cloud computing security, CCNA, CompTIA A+, and risk management. You can check it all out here: https://niccs.us-cert.gov/training/federal-virtual-training-environment-fedvte. If you do not currently have a military email address, follow the instructions on the website on how to verify your identity using ID.me. Although, I am close to finishing my Masters, what interests me the most about signing up is the certification training. Additionally, there is a lot of information to be read on the website. I encourage you to read and research your educational opportunities. I stumbled upon this new discovery myself and I will be signing up for it to see what it’s about.

Source: https://niccs.us-cert.gov/training/veterans

Cierra Ortiz,
Capella ACM Student Chapter Chairperson
Blog Contributor
Web Development Team Lead

Packet sniffers are also called packet analyzers. Hackers use packet sniffers, but so do IT security professionals in various corporations.  Sniffing involves capturing, decoding, inspecting and interpreting information inside of a network packet, (I am sure we all can agree with that).  The hacker’s purpose here is to steal information. Usually it is the user IDs, passwords, network details, credit card information, etc.  Sniffing generally is a passive type of attack, where the attacker can be silent on the network.  It makes it difficult to detect, and hence it is very dangerous.  The sniffing process is used by hackers to either get information directly or map the technical details of that company’s network he or she is trying to create further attacks on.  What they are doing at this point is just gathering information. You can use a packet sniffer available from Wireshark (a widely-used, free open-source tool) to look at packets to see what information is trying to be captured, or you can use it for routing network issues.  As you can see, there is a good and bad side of packet sniffing.  I have used Wireshark a few times at home, just to mess with my wife and pick on her on what she is viewing when she is on her phone, and yes, it can grab wireless traffic as well.  I was sitting in the kitchen one day at the bar top and I would look over at her as she is on her phone. I ask, “What are you buying now on QVC?”  She would ask, “How do you know being over there in the kitchen that I am buying something on QVC?”  As you can see, it comes in handy sometimes.  Come back we will discuss ethical and unethical usage of a packet sniffer.

William Maree,
Capella ACM Student Chapter Vice Chair
Blog Contributor
Web Development Team Member

It has been a year since I have graduated with my Master’s degree in Information Systems Management from Capella.   Before I entered the program, I did my research on the top IT professions for a few reasons.  One, I wanted to know what jobs were out there and in demand in IT.  Second, I wanted to ensure that I received a good return on investment.  If I was going to invest money and time into a Master’s degree, I wanted to be certain that I entered a profession that would benefit me not just financially, but I wanted to enjoy it as well.  Informationweek.com compiled a list of the top ten IT professions. The list looks pretty impressive!

Websites like Glassdoor.com, Informationweek.com and Forbes.com  create  lists of top IT professions that are growing and in high demand and I often look at these sites to see what is out there.  Times are changing and so is the IT industry.  I was surprised to see that Web Development did not rank high on these lists.  I assume it may be due to the median salary.  Most of the professions on the top ten list have a median salary of $75,000-130,000.  I called out the web developer profession because I am currently working towards working as a web developer.  My current job role is an IT Business Analyst at a Healthcare organization.  Many of my skills as a BA (Business Analyst) are transferable to the role of a web developer.  But I digress!  I hope that you find this information helpful if you are currently or thinking about working in the Information Technology Profession.

1. Data Scientist – Median salary $116,840
2. Solutions Architect – Median Salary $119,500
3. Mobile Developer – Median Salary $90,000
4. Project Manager – Median Salary $106,680
5. Software Engineer – Median Salary $95,000
6. Analytics Manager – Median Salary $105,000
7. Software Development Manager – Median Salary $135,000
8. QA Manager – Median Salary $85,000
9. UX Designer – Median Salary $91,800
10. Software Architect – Median Salary $130,000

Written by: Shontelle Flowers,
Capella ACM Student Chapter Treasurer
Blog Contributor
Web Development Team Member

MEMORIAL DAY

The officers of the ACM and the Web Development team would like to take this time to wish everyone a safe and wonderful Memorial Day as we commemorate our nation’s fallen heroes. As a fellow veteran, I would like to thank the family members of our fallen heroes, those who have served our nation, and those who are still serving today. There aren’t enough words to explain the sacrifices we make. Thank you for your selfless service.

Cierra Ortiz,
Blog Contributor
ACM@Capella Vice Chair
Web Development Team Lead