IT Career Management

Certifications

This glossary contains definitions related to IT Certifications.

• Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)

  Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) is a certification and globally recognized standard for appraising an IT auditor's knowledge, expertise and skill in assessing vulnerabilities and instituting IT controls in an enterprise environment.

• Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)

  Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) is an advanced certification that indicates that an individual possesses the knowledge and experience required to develop and manage an enterprise information security (infosec) program.

• Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)

  The Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) is a vendor-neutral, entry-level certification to help individuals acquire project management (PM) skills.

Cloud Computing

Terms related to cloud computing, including definitions about on-demand, distributed computing and words and phrases about software-as-a-service, infrastructure-as-a-service and storage-as-a-service.

• What is fog computing?

  Fog computing is a decentralized computing infrastructure in which data, compute, storage and applications are located somewhere between the data source and the cloud.

• Amazon Resource Name (ARN)

  An Amazon Resource Name (ARN) is a file naming convention used to identify a particular resource in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud.

• open API (public API)

  Review this definition to learn about open APIs, also known as a public APIs, including their associated benefits, industry use cases and unique attributes.

DevOps

This glossary contains definitions related to the DevOps movement. Some definitions explain the meaning of words used to describe how a DevOps culture breaks down silos between software development and operations teams. Other definitions are related to the software tools that DevOps engineers use to lower costs, achieve higher productivity and automate tasks.

• poka-yoke

  A poka-yoke is a mechanism that is put in place to prevent human error.

• black box (black box testing)

  Black box testing assesses a system solely from the outside, without the operator or tester knowing what is happening within the system to generate responses to test actions.

• behavior-driven development (BDD)

  Behavior-driven development (BDD) is an Agile software development methodology in which an application is documented and designed around the behavior a user expects to experience when interacting with it.

IT Career Paths

• chief trust officer

  A chief trust officer in the IT industry is an executive job title given to the person responsible for building confidence around the use of customer information.

• Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)

  Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) is a certification and globally recognized standard for appraising an IT auditor's knowledge, expertise and skill in assessing vulnerabilities and instituting IT controls in an enterprise environment.

• Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)

  Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) is an advanced certification that indicates that an individual possesses the knowledge and experience required to develop and manage an enterprise information security (infosec) program.

IT Operations

Terms related to the processes and services implemented and managed by an organization’s information technology (IT) department. Topics covered include systems management, configuration management, API management and DevOps, as well as real-time performance monitoring and management.

• operational efficiency

  Operational efficiency is the ability of an organization to reduce waste in time, effort and materials as much as possible, while still producing a high-quality service or product.

• application lifecycle management (ALM)

  Application lifecycle management (ALM) is an integrated system of people, tools and processes that supervise a software application from its initial planning through retirement.

• Application Performance Index (Apdex)

  Application Performance Index, also known as Apdex, is an open standard intended to simplify reports of application performance.

Marketing and CX

Terms related to business software, including definitions about billing and words and phrases about supply chain, CRM, POS, ERP, accounting, payroll and inventory.

• field service management (FSM)

  Field service management software enables companies to manage dispersed workers and resources. These workers can gain access to schedules, work orders and customer information via mobile devices.

• virtual desktop

  A virtual desktop is a computer operating system that does not run directly on the endpoint hardware from which a user accesses it.

• reference checking software

  Reference checking software is programming that automates the process of contacting and questioning the references of job applicants.

Network Admin

Terms related to managing computer networks, including definitions about LANS or WANS and words and phrases about network design, troubleshooting, security and backups.

• virtual desktop

  A virtual desktop is a computer operating system that does not run directly on the endpoint hardware from which a user accesses it.

• Variable Length Subnet Mask (VLSM)

  Variable Length Subnet Mask (VLSM) is a subnet -- a segmented piece of a larger network -- design strategy where all subnet masks can have varying sizes.

• fixed-length subnet mask (FLSM)

  A fixed-length subnet mask (FLSM) refers to a type of enterprise or provider networking where a block of IP addresses is divided into multiple subnets of equal length (i.e., an equal number of IP addresses).

Project Management

Terms related to project management, including definitions about project management methodologies and tools.

• chief risk officer (CRO)

  The chief risk officer (CRO) is the corporate executive tasked with assessing and mitigating significant competitive, regulatory and technological threats to an enterprise's capital and earnings.

• project scope

  Project scope is the part of project planning that involves determining and documenting a list of specific project goals, deliverables, tasks, costs and deadlines.

• Project planning: What is it and 5 steps to create a plan

  Project planning is a discipline addressing how to complete a project in a certain timeframe, usually with defined stages and designated resources.

Security Admin

Terms related to security management, including definitions about intrusion detection systems (IDS) and words and phrases about asset management, security policies, security monitoring, authorization and authentication.

• script kiddie

  Script kiddie is a derogative term that computer hackers coined to refer to immature, but often just as dangerous, exploiters of internet security weaknesses.

• cipher

  In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for encrypting and decrypting data.

• What is risk analysis?

  Risk analysis is the process of identifying and analyzing potential issues that could negatively impact key business initiatives or projects.

Software Developer

Definitions related to software development, including tech terms about programming and words and phrases about Scrum, Agile and waterfall methodologies.

• go-live (go live)

  Go-live is the time at which something becomes available for use.

• poka-yoke

  A poka-yoke is a mechanism that is put in place to prevent human error.

• open API (public API)

  Review this definition to learn about open APIs, also known as a public APIs, including their associated benefits, industry use cases and unique attributes.

Technical Support

Terms related to computer fundamentals, including computer hardware definitions and words and phrases about software, operating systems, peripherals and troubleshooting.

• data center

  A data center -- also known as a datacenter or data centre -- is a facility composed of networked computers, storage systems and computing infrastructure that businesses and other organizations use to organize, process, store and disseminate large amounts of data.

• storage volume

  A storage volume is an identifiable unit of data storage. It can be a removable hard disk, but it does not have to be a unit that can be physically removed from a computer or storage system.

• integer

  An integer (pronounced IN-tuh-jer) is a whole number (not a fractional number) that can be positive, negative, or zero.