New ISACA Certification Helps Students and Career Changers Build IT Knowledge and Hands-On Skills to Thrive in IT Jobs

Sydney, Australia (16 March 2021)—Those seeking a strong foundation in IT knowledge and hands-on experience to set themselves apart as they seek technology jobs can now earn the new Information Technology Certified Associate (ITCA) certification from global IT professional association and learning organisation ISACA. 

A dynamic addition to ISACA’s globally recognised credentials, ITCA offers students, recent graduates, those new to the IT profession or professionals seeking a career change with a flexible, hybrid format comprised of both traditional knowledge-based learning and performance-based learning through live labs in a virtual environment. The certification can be achieved at one’s own pace by completing all the following modular certificates that focus on different domain areas in IT—which can also be earned separately or stacked in different ways:   

• Computing Fundamentals 
• Networks and Infrastructure Fundamentals
• Cybersecurity Fundamentals
• Software Development Fundamentals
• Data Science Fundamentals

“A key part of ISACA’s commitment to providing tools for lifelong learning is supporting professionals at every stage of their career journey, including in that critical period at the very beginning—whether they are new graduates or professionals seeking to make a career change to IT,” says David Samuelson, ISACA CEO. “We are proud to be able to serve this new generation of IT professionals and thought leaders, including those transitioning their careers due to the pandemic, by helping them differentiate and elevate themselves as they enter the job market and start their careers.”

With the ITCA certification, young professionals, students or recent graduates with degrees in IT or computer science, and those seeking a job change can prepare themselves for in-demand jobs like computer systems administrator, technical support specialist, database administrator, systems engineer, applications developer, front-end web developer, and quality assurance analyst— in a flexible format that can fit into existing school and work schedules. According to the Australian Government’s Job Outlook, employment in software and application programmers is predicted to grow by 33,000 jobs by 2024, and more broadly the Professional, Scientific and Technical Services industry is estimated to grow 15% in the same time period. 

The certification can also serve more experienced audit, security or governance professionals looking to enhance their understanding of foundational IT concepts. 

“Working within the IT industry presents so many amazing opportunities for recent graduates, young professionals and career-changers,” says Daisy Jardine-Viner, recruitment specialist, NDK Infosec. “It’s a constantly evolving and in-demand hiring environment that offers the chance to work at the forefront of technology. There are multiple paths to consider going down—you don’t need to be a developer or programmer to be successful. There is a position in IT that will suit everyone’s skillsets and passions.”

The ITCA program offers study guides, self-paced training courses, performance-based labs, and exams for each certificate, available at discounted rates to ISACA members. Once all five exams are completed, the candidate can apply to become ITCA certified.

This new certification joins an established set of ISACA credentials that have been part of the professional community’s learning journey for years, including Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC), Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT), CSX Cybersecurity Practitioner Certification (CSX-P) and Certified Data Privacy Solutions Engineer (CDPSE).

For more information about ITCA, visit www.isaca.org/credentialing/itca. More detail about ISACA’s other credentials can be found at www.isaca.org/credentialing.