Generalist vs Specialist - A Discussion About Crafting Your IT Career

This panel discussion will focus on the experiences and career differences, implications and possibilities of generalizing or specializing your IT Career. Regardless of where you are now, this discussion will shed light on the opportunities out there regarding advancing or starting your IT career. Pros and Cons of both possibilities will be discussed, compared and presented. Refreshments will be served too.

Networking: 6 pm - 6:30 pm
Panel Discussion: 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
After Discussion Networking: 7:30 - 8:00 pm

Panelists

John Mongeon is a 15-year veteran of the IT certification industry and currently serves as a Senior Manager of Development for CompTIA. In this role, John leads CompTIA’s efforts with the US Military and their ongoing cybersecurity workforce development initiatives, including DoD 8570. Prior to his role at CompTIA, John has served in management roles at Sprint, Alltel and (ISC)2. https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnmongeon/

Jeff Fudge is a passionate technology leader and a big cloud advocate. He founded both the Tampa Bay Azure and Tampa Bay AWS user groups, and loves to both share and learn all things cloud related. Jeff became experienced with managing on-prem infrastructures as the CTO of Beall’s Inc., and since then has been involved with leading the migration to the cloud for four different companies, ranging from startups to billion-dollar corporations. - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefffudge/

George Wolf is the Director of Operations for Resource Solutions Group (RSG), an agency specialized in placements related to IT, Healthcare, and DoD professionals. He also oversees the Multi-Site Deployment operations for RSG, where they handle over 7,000 dispatch tickets for IT Technicians on a national scale. His true passion is finding ways to improve the ways companies approach staffing, and in the ways candidates approach their career search—especially in the Tampa Bay area. He is an active participant in many events aimed at both startups and emerging markets in the area, and is a lifelong learner continually looking to meet someone that can teach him something new. -https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-wolf/

Ted Arent- For more than 20 years, Ted Arent has passionately pursued a career in IT. Ted’s diverse experience includes leading IT teams in both regulated and non-regulated industries. He is a leading IT trainer / speaker in the local area and shares his experience with students regularly. Ted possess numerous IT Certifications and is currently the IT Director for PeopleGuru, a cloud based HR solution for companies of all sizes. In many roles, Ted has had to work with numerous technologies, all at the same time, and although considered an expert by most Ted humbly believes his career has been crafted by continuous education and hard-work. Ted is a proud Navy Vet. - https://www.linkedin.com/in/tedarent/

Moderator - Suzanne Ricci is a best-selling career success author and certified career coach. She serves as the executive director at Computer Coach Training Center. Computer Coach helps individuals transition into computer careers or enhance their current careers through hands-on courses within the growing fields of IT Networking, Coding, Cyber Security and Project Management. For more than 20 years, Suzanne has coached over 1000 individuals into rewarding and successful IT and project management careers. https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannericci/