The Southeastern New England Defense Industry Alliance (SENEDIA), a non-profit organization focused on national security issues, has developed five-day certification preparation programs for cybersecurity professional candidates in collaboration with the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI).  Created through a Real Jobs RI grant, the next session for CompTIA A+ is scheduled to begin Monday, June 20, at CCRI in Newport.

This five-day rapid certification training program, launched in May 2016, is designed to address business and talent requirements in the defense and non-defense sectors of the Rhode Island economy in the area of cybersecurity.  A U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Directive requires every full- and part-time military service member, defense contractor, civilian and foreign employee with “privileged access” to a DoD system to obtain a commercial certification credential.  The credential is a requirement regardless of job series or occupational specialty and must be accredited by the American National Standards Institute.

The program will concentrate on network security, computer hardware and software, and will prepare participants for certification tests such as the CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network, CISCO CCENT, and CISCO CCNA.

For more information about the program, click here:  SENEDIA Cybersecurity Training

“SENEDIA member companies have repeatedly discovered that a cybersecurity job candidate with certifications is much better equipped to contribute right away as a new hire than someone without certifications,” said Molly Donohue Magee, Executive Director of SENEDIA.   “SENEDIA developed this training plan with our Real Jobs RI partners to give Rhode Islanders interested in this field a competitive advantage.”

“With the forthcoming updates to the directive from the Defense Department and new requirements for employee education and certification, now is the opportune time to prepare staff with the information they will need to pass the basic-level approved certification, CompTIA A+,” Magee added.

The Community College of Rhode Island, Newport County Campus, is hosting the 5-day certification preparation training courses.  SENEDIA and CCRI will offer rolling enrollment until December 2016.  For more information, please visit http://www.senedia.org/initiatives/real-jobs-ri/