The second half of my summer was a bit challenging and derailed my certification efforts.  On July 17th I had ACL reconstruction surgery, resulting in limited mobility for a couple of weeks.  I’m still struggling a bit with having to wear a leg brace and get around with crutches.  I was hopeful that I could avoid having to use these, but that won’t happen until my appointment with the doctor on September 7th.  With school having started last week, it is a bit of an effort to teach my four on-ground classes.  Best I think to focus on more positive things like getting back into teaching and lifelong learning activities. At least it helps pass the time.

In terms of studying, I’m holding off on the CompTIA CASP exam until I receive confirmation that it has been accepted by DOD as a level 3 exam.  I do think that it will be a good alternative to the CISSP exam because of its lower cost.  Challenge of course is that it will take some time to get the brand recognition that ISC2 has with its certification.

I am going to focus this semester on learning Java programming.  Given that my last programming was done on Fortran 4 in the late ’60s utilizing IBM keypunch cards, this is going to be an experience.  Interest was spurred as the result of an opportunity provided to community college faculty by the MPICT. That’s the same organization that paid for the Citrix training I received earlier this summer.

The training begins in an online fashion.  Training particulars are as follows:

• Virtual training runs October 1 – December 21, 2012 (12 weeks) online.
• Virtual training is followed by 3 days of in-class training from January 17 – 19, 2013 at the San Mateo Office of Education STEM Center and will include an on-site visit to Oracle Headquarters.

Good news relating to cost is as follows:

• There is no cost for the professional development or the course materials.
• Participant costs include travel and accommodations for the 3-day training event in Redwood Shores.

At the conclusion of training I’ll be in a position to take the Oracle certification for Java programming.  It isn’t that I want to be a programmer at this stage of my life.  I simply want to have a better understanding of today’s object oriented programming to be able to be a better instructor for my information assurance and networking classes.

One final comment relative to this semester.  I’m going to work at getting my students interested in participating in the National Cyber League semi-annual competition.  I’d encourage you to look at what this is all about.

Steve