CompTIA to Support White House's IT Training and Certification Program for Veterans

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- CompTIA, the leading provider of vendor-neutral skills certifications for the world's information technology (IT) workforce, has committed to support the White House's new initiative, the IT Training and Certification Program.  This partnership includes Cisco, Futures Inc., Global Knowledge, GogoTraining, and several other certification organizations.  The program enables thousands of service members to receive training and earn industry-recognized IT certifications before they transition from military service to civilian life.

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As part of the IT Training and Certification Program, CompTIA is donating vouchers for certification exams, such as CompTIA A+ and CompTIA Security+, to program participants. This continues CompTIA's longstanding commitment to the Department of Defense and the Armed Forces. CompTIA participates in the DoD Information Assurance Program and contributes to the Wounded Warriors Project through its foundation, Creating IT Futures.

"We are honored to be a part of this pilot program that the White House is launching.  Many in the military already possess technical skill sets due to their military occupation specialties (MOS) but need just an extra push to translate those successfully into getting a job after the military," said Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO, CompTIA.

"We have ample data that shows that employers in the private sector highly value individuals who have industry recognized certifications along with on-the-job experience. By getting more of these soon-to-be veterans trained and certified, we expect this will lead to higher than average paying jobs in the private sector.  We also expect this will help fill the IT skills gap that currently exists. Whether a core IT function or an emerging area, employers need trained and certified IT staff to maximize their return on technology investments and achieve business success," Thibodeaux stated.

Today's launch of the IT Training and Certification Program is an extension of the First Lady's Joining Forces initiative which launched in February 2013 and is dedicated to helping our military families.  Among its many ambitions, Joining Forces challenges our nation's governors to take executive or legislative action to help our troops get the credentials they need to successfully transition to the civilian labor market by the end of 2015.  CompTIA was featured in the Joining Forces initiative when it launched its own Troops to Tech Careers program last year that connects military veterans with IT trainers, certification and employers.  Nearly 12,000 veterans have received IT certification from CompTIA in the last 18 months.

About CompTIA
CompTIA is the voice of the world's information technology (IT) industry. As a non-profit trade association advancing the global interests of IT professionals and companies, we focus our programs on four main areas: education, certification, advocacy and philanthropy. Please visit: www.comptia.org.

SOURCE CompTIA