This feels like the most important article I have written in my life – #climatechange

What if I told you that humanity stands on the brink of utterly destroying the world’s oceans? Of destroying all of the coolest ocean species, everything from coral reefs to blue whales? Come learn how this catastrophe will unfold…

It is time for humanity to create gigantic global parks to protect Earth’s rainforests and other critical ecosystems – without it the rainforests collapse leading to a global tragedy –

Had the chance to talk about HowStuffWorks with Aaron Dinon on his WebMasters podcast. It is available at a variety of podcast outlets:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/web-masters/id1530077719

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy50cmFuc2lzdG9yLmZtL3dlYi1tYXN0ZXJz/episode/MDdmZGUzOGEtOTdiNS00ZjhjLWE2MmItNWUyNWE4YmRjMzJi

The Internet has always been a place to learn about new things. But, in the early days of the Web, one writer took that opportunity for learning to an extreme by creating an entire website devoted to explaining how stuff works. His name is Marshall Brain, and he named his website — quite appropriately — HowStuffWorks.com.

HowStuffWorks became a popular online destination for people to learn about the inner works behind everything from internal combustion engines to water towers. It eventually expanded from the Web into books, magazines, TV shows, and even podcasts. In fact, even now it remains a popular infotainment websites.

On this Web Masters episode, Marshall shares the story of building and growing HowStuffWorks, from writing his first article to leading the company to a successful acquisition.

There is an article today that shows one high-paying job category that has a lot of unfilled positions. That category is Cybersecurity and here is the article:

U.S. has almost 500,000 job openings in cybersecurity

From the article:

“There are about 465,000 open positions in cybersecurity nationwide as of May 2021, according to Cyber Seek — a tech job-tracking database from the U.S. Commerce Department — and the trade group CompTIA. The need for more web watchmen spans from private businesses to government agencies, experts say, and most of the job openings are in California, Florida, Texas and Virginia. That means for anyone looking to switch careers and considering a job in cybersecurity, there’s no greater time than now to find work, the job trackers said.”

It is fairly easy to learn to be a truck driver. Cybersecurity requires a little more brainpower, and it is best fitted to people who enjoy technology and computers. But if you are that kind of person, Cybersecurity is probably easier to learn that, say, software development. The article puts it this way:

“You don’t have to be a graduate of MIT to work in cybersecurity,” said Tim Herbert, executive vice president for research at CompTIA. “It just requires someone who has the proper training, proper certification and is certainly committed to the work.” Switching careers to cybersecurity could be as easy as grabbing a Network+ or Security+ certification, said Michelle Moore, who teaches cybersecurity operations at the University of San Diego. An  eight-week online course could help someone land an entry-level job as a “pen tester,” a network security engineer or an incident response analyst, Moore said. Those jobs pay between $60,000 to $90,000 a year, she added. 

There are many different ways to get the certifications. You could start with a Google search like this:

https://www.google.com/search?q=learn+cybersecurity

If you want to get a taste of what Cybersecurity is about, this 8-hour long (!) YouTube video is a free starting point:

Many other free options like this are available. Or if you prefer to pay for a course, lots of options are available there as well. Either way you will need to pay for the certification tests, and once you have passed you are ready to find a job.

More Jobs Articles

Easy directory of all of Marshall Brain’s Jobs-related blog posts:

1. Introduction to “Getting a Good Job in America”
2. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 2 – How do you gain skills?
3. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 3 – Newsweek weighs in with 19 jobs
4. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 4 – Driving a Truck
5. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 5 – Information Technology (IT) and Cybersecurity jobs
6. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 6 – Google Career Certificates
7. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 7 – Becoming an Engineer
8. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 8 – Making the most of entry-level sales jobs
9. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 9 – Jobs to Avoid
10. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 10 – Medical jobs like Nurse Practitioner
11. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 11 – Electrical Lineworker
12. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 12 – Software Developer and “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 12.1 – Software Developer
13. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 13 – Cybersecurity

Let me add on to the previous post with a resource that may be useful to you if you think “Software Developer” is something that you might want to try. Take a look at this website:

https://www.freecodecamp.org/

This is a free site with many different offerings on tap. You can learn about:

The only problem here is that none of these are “beginner topics”. But if you are past the “beginner” phase, some of these are fantastic and can lead toward high-paying jobs. For example, anyone good at Machine Learning right now is in high demand.

If you ARE at the very beginning, this offering from Apple may be helpful:

https://www.apple.com/in/everyone-can-code/

It starts in an extremely simple way and then builds up to the more advanced concepts. Also free. Or try the beginner offerings here:

https://www.codecademy.com/

If none of these work for you, hop into Google with a search like this:

https://www.google.com/search?q=learn+to+code+for+free

You will find hundreds of resources – one of them will be right for you.

More Jobs Articles

Easy directory of all of Marshall Brain’s Jobs-related blog posts:

1. Introduction to “Getting a Good Job in America”
2. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 2 – How do you gain skills?
3. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 3 – Newsweek weighs in with 19 jobs
4. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 4 – Driving a Truck
5. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 5 – Information Technology (IT) and Cybersecurity jobs
6. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 6 – Google Career Certificates
7. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 7 – Becoming an Engineer
8. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 8 – Making the most of entry-level sales jobs
9. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 9 – Jobs to Avoid
10. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 10 – Medical jobs like Nurse Practitioner
11. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 11 – Electrical Lineworker
12. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 12 – Software Developer and “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 12.1 – Software Developer
13. “Getting a Good Job in America” Part 13 – Cybersecurity