Competition between people has been around for as long as we’ve been documenting history. Yet, there’s been much debate – especially in recent years – as to the value of designating a winner and a loser. When it comes to technology, competition runs rampant, whether it is applicants gunning for the same job or seasoned IT pros challenging malicious hackers. Win or lose, competitions help each party raise their individual performance – making it a win–win for everybody involved.
Last month CompTIA hosted its first virtual cybersecurity competition designed for technology students, consisting of a variety of missions and a battle school in a game-like setting. Several CompTIA Student Chapters (formerly AITP) participated in the two-day virtual competition pilot – and one came out on top. Chattahoochee Technical College’s team of students successfully completed the assigned missions and earned top honors, along with free CompTIA certification exam vouchers for each team member.
The three-person team of Kevin Borah, Will Duncan and Michael Grimes was led by chapter president Stacy Harris and faculty advisor Max Trivers. We caught up with the winning team to find out why students valued the competition, what they learned from their experiences and where they’re headed next. Here are five ways our winners say student competitions enhance their learning.
5 Ways Competitions Improve Your IT Skills
1. Test Your Skills and Identify Your Strengths and Weaknesses
Participating in peer competitions provides an excellent opportunity to test your knowledge and skills in a real-world environment without the pressure of mistakes and consequences. Chattahoochee Technical College Faculty Advisor Max Trivers said this kind of event puts classroom curriculum into a real-world scenario.
“For some people, this was the first non-educational experience they have had,” he said. “And by making it a competition against other schools, they worked as a team and stayed engaged to win.
Will Duncan echoed Trivers’ sentiment. “I had an excellent experience with this competition. It was my first time really experiencing a situation in which I got to apply the things I’ve learned along the way at school,” he said.
With graduation on the horizon next May, Kevin Borah said this competition was an eye-opening experience.
“It really showed me where I’m weak and where my current strengths are,” he said.
2. Test Out an IT Specialty to See What You Like
Of course, one’s competition experience could have a different outcome – and that’s just as important. Taking advantage of the opportunity to field test tasks that are inherent in a specific job is an opportunity you don’t want to pass up. You may find you enjoy aspects of a job you hadn’t even considered, or you may discover the job isn’t what you thought it was. Either way, learning what you enjoy and what you don’t is an invaluable discovery.
Michael Grimes, a first-year student said the virtual competition was the first time he was able to test his Linux knowledge. Grimes balances his studies with a full-time job as a network operations engineer and gives credit to this competition for opening his eyes to some new opportunities.
“Getting my hands dirty in a realistic environment like this may have piqued my interest to specialize in more hands-on work regarding offensive and defensive practices as opposed to just system and network security consultation for companies,” he said.
The Chattahoochee Technical College students who won the CompTIA cybersecurity competition, from left to right: Will Duncan, Michael Grimes, Kevin Borah and Max Trivers.
3. Learn How to Work as a Team
A successful career in technology is not an individual sport – it’s a team effort that reaches well beyond the skills of the IT department. Continuous development of professional skills (like collaboration) is essential to meeting organizational goals and outcomes. The team concept carried throughout this virtual competition was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the experience, according to our winners.
In fact, Chapter President Stacy Harris said watching the team work together to solve problems was the best part. Duncan agreed.
“The best part was collaborating with other people on the team when we got stuck,” he said. “There were a lot of times that you had flexibility in working around issues, so there was more than one solution.”
Trivers said these important skills are absolutely transferable outside of school. “These skills are necessary in the professional cybersecurity industry. You work as a team, you have people working against you, and you need to dedicate the time and energy to win,” he said.
4. Build Your Resume
Perhaps one of the most obvious benefits of a competition like this one is the chance to beef up student resumes with quality experiences. Again, it’s not about winning or losing. Of course, being able to add a winning title is fantastic – but simply participating shows potential employers you are serious about learning, willing to put yourself out there and are dedicated to taking initiative.
This is top of mind for Duncan right now, as he is currently job hunting. “Ideally I’d like to find work that allows me to continue to grow my knowledge base in the cybersecurity field,” he said.
Borah is also looking for an internship or a full-time job as a cybersecurity analyst to gain some real-world experience as he continues attending hacker groups to learn how to be a penetration tester.
5. Boost Your Confidence
While the win has instilled a sense of pride with these students – and earned each of them a free CompTIA certification exam voucher – they all said it’s not so much about the prize itself as it is about confidence. Duncan said that while the win was satisfying, the whole experience was about so much more.
“It’s awesome that we won,” he said. “But what I really got out of it was confidence in my knowledge and abilities. I wasn’t very sure of myself prior to this experience.”
So, what’s next for these students? Well, Borah plans to pursue CompTIA Security+ next to open doors to an analyst position.
Duncan will use his winning exam voucher to re-obtain his CompTIA Network+ certification after having to let it expire.
Grimes will study for CompTIA Network+ as part of his plan to pursue the CCNA.
And Harris has CompTIA Network+ and CompTIA Security+ on his to-do list before he graduates.
Let’s face it, competition with others (and ourselves) only makes us better. Understanding where our strengths are and identifying weaknesses is par for the course if you want to elevate your skills and take your technology career to the next level.
The success of this pilot event paves the way for CompTIA to host future student competitions. In fact, a larger competition is currently in the works, tentatively scheduled to take place in the spring.
CompTIA Student membership provides access to CompTIA product discounts, scholarships and other great resources. Become a member and be the first to hear about the next competition. Join today
