IT Career Juice Blog

A guide to penetration testing certifications, including what they are, why they're valuable, and the best pen testing credentials for your cybersecurity career path.

This post will be updated annually with the top pen-testing certificates. Latest update: 2023

Penetration testing - a.k.a. “pentesting” - involves simulating attacks on networks and computer systems to identify vulnerabilities which can then be shored up by the cybersecurity team. Pen testing is a vital component of an organization’s information security strategy.

Pen testing certifications are professional credentials earned by IT security specialists who demonstrate a level of proficiency in this field. The leading pen-tester certificates are offered by various types of institutions, including cybersecurity industry associations, globally-recognized certifying bodies and technical training providers.

In this post, we will identify the best penetration testing certifications by experience-level and specialization. For each certificate we’ll highlight the key skills it covers, prerequisites, costs, benefits, training options and more.

A quality college education isn't cheap - especially in a hot field like computer science - but deals abound if you know where to look. Here are some of our favorite affordable online CS degrees.

This article will be updated continually with the best cheap online computer science programs.

Some of today’s most lucrative IT careers are in fields like cloud computing, cyber security, software development, data analytics and artificial intelligence. While courses and certificates can help you get your foot in the door, the best jobs in these domains require at least a bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field. This article will highlight some of the best online CS degrees in these fields that won’t break the bank.

With the proliferation of online learning, obtaining a computer science degree has never been easier or more affordable. According to the latest data from the Education Data Initiative, the average tuition price for an online bachelor’s program is a whopping $51,091 before financial aid and scholarships are applied. We analyzed the field of accredited comp-sci degrees under this price - most of which came in at a far lower cost - and selected the most relevant, high-quality and economical programs to compile this list of the cheapest online bachelor’s in computer science.

After a 2022 that saw massive layoffs in the high-tech workforce, 2023 is heralding more of the same.

In this article we'll identify which tech companies laid off the most workers, the reasons behind this ongoing spike in layoffs, and how you can boost your job security in a volatile IT workforce.

Layoffs data on this page will be updated continually. For up-to-the-minute layoff tracking, visit Layoffs.fyi - an aggregator of tech layoff announcements since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Which tech companies are laying off workers?

ITCareerFinder analyzes the latest technology trends and employment data to identify 10 IT skill sets that will boost your market value in 2023 (and beyond).

With more employers moving toward skills-based hiring and compensation models, acquiring new, in-demand skill sets is the key to remaining relevant and commanding higher pay in the coming year.

Assessments of recent job posting data confirms that skills, not degrees, are fast becoming the new currency of work.

For instance, professional networking site LinkedIn has seen a 21% rise in job postings that advertise for skills and responsibilities rather than qualifications and requirements. Given the trend, there’s never been a better time to boost your abilities and your paycheck.

If you’re looking to advance your career by acquiring new technology skills in 2023, here are ten of the hottest areas you may want to consider and some of the best skills to learn in each:

ITCareerFinder analyzes key data points in technology, employment and livability to uncover the best cities for IT professionals to call home.

This page will be updated annually with the latest and greatest tech cities. Current year: 2022.

Many of the best computer jobs can now be done remotely. This is a welcome change for many of us. For everyone else, choosing the right city to live, work and play in can be vital to happiness and success. This study merges key statistics on America's high-tech workforce with livability factors in over 150 cities to find the best places to live in - or relocate to - as an IT professional.

To determine the best cities for tech jobs, we analyzed key employment data like IT salaries, the number of jobs and the percentage of workforce in technical roles, as well as the leading indexes for cost of living and quality of life, because after all, once the 9-to-5 is over you still have to live there.

Jump down to the bottom of the page for the ranking methodology and source list, or read on for this year’s top 8 cities for IT professionals.

Here are the best cities for technology jobs and workers:

ITCareerFinder highlights some of the most popular and accomplished women in computer science.

Women account for only 19% of computer science graduates in the US, according to the latest data from the National Center of Education Statistics. This disparity is confirmed by an extensive study from the Allen Institute for AI which place the rate of male to female computer scientists at 4:1.

Despite representing a small percentage of the CS workforce, female computer scientists have made some revolutionary contributions to the field. These achievements are made doubly special because women have historically had far less access to education and employment.

This page will spotlight the great women of computer science and outline some of their key accomplishments.

Here are the 5 most famous female computer scientists:

ITCareerFinder breaks down some of the most sought-after jobs in the metaverse and the skills you need to level-up in each position.

This page will be updated regularly with the latest and greatest metaverse career paths.

In October 2021, Facebook changed its name to Meta and announced plans to create 10,000 new high-skilled jobs in the European Union (EU) to help shape the metaverse.

It turns out that Facebook isn’t the only one betting heavily on the growth of the metaverse, over 160 companies are jumping in too.

So what is the metaverse and what types of jobs might it create?

Broadly speaking, the metaverse is a shared virtual world. In theory, people will be able to create an avatar and travel into this immersive virtual world to socialize, play games, work, create, shop or even remotely attend a concert or sporting event by wearing virtual reality headsets.

Much like the transition to Web 2.0, mobile technologies and the Internet of everything (IoT) devices, the metaverse is creating new IT and hybrid job opportunities, which require a combination of technical and non-technical skills.

To keep your career thriving in the metaverse, here’s a look at 6 roles that are in demand right now and poised to explode in the future.

There's a wide range of scholarships for aspiring tech pros; here are some of the most interesting and valuable.

This page will be updated continually with the latest and greatest scholarships and deadlines.

Information technology is among the most lucrative and opportunity-rich domains in the modern workforce, and a college degree is the best way to get a leg up in this competitive field. However, in today’s economy, paying for school can be challenging. Thankfully, there’s a variety of scholarships that can help you fund a world-class education in CS (computer science), IT (information technology) and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines.

We scour the web, evaluate and reevaluate the most dynamic scholarships with the biggest payouts to find the best awards for students pursuing a career in IT. Most of the scholarships on this list are tech-focused, but we’ll also feature some undeniable awards that can be applied toward any field. Some contests only accept applicants from a certain demographic or socioeconomic group - in these cases we’ll outline those requirements in the scholarship’s description.

Here are our favorite scholarships for computing and information technology majors: