The Lady Programmer

I am into Information Technology and to really progress through the IT career, knowledge of new technologies is very important. Certifications taken years back may not be useful anymore, due to the surge of new computer technologies that are constantly being introduced in the IT world. The IT is different from other occupation in the sense that certifications always keep the IT professionals abreast with the latest technologies.

Getting a Cisco certification could really be worth pursuing for those whose IT jobs are pretty much related to this profession. According to PayScale.com, Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) whose work is into network administration, their median salary is $50,376 in the US. TCPmag.com has also stated that CCNA workers get an average of $76,500 in 2006 to 2007 – a rise from the average of $60,000 in 2004. Cisco trained personnel are indeed one of the most sought after jobs because there are only a few who are certified enough to maintain and setup computers and machines that power up the backbone of the internet.

One can get a head start in Cisco training through Cisco Learning Network. Cisco Learning Network has all the necessary Cisco training that it can offer – from IP networking to more advanced courses such as Advanced Routing and Switching, Security and Wireless LAN. CCNA Wireless network is one hot occupation – this is truly the trend that the world tries to adapt and Cisco Learning Network discusses the reasons about this growing need for Cisco skills.

Sponsored Reviews has recently announced to its members that they will be performing house cleaning – they have already rejected 2000 blogs because some members fail to follow the rules after their blogs have been approved.

Blogs should be cached in Google and other major search engines. Posts must be of good quality. Paid content of 2 non-paid posts to one-paid post shall also be checked. Advertiser ratings is also another item that Sponsored Reviews will be looking into.

Bloggers who ignore these rules are often “downgraded” by Google and their blogs are usually removed from the Google index.

The housecleaning task shall last for a few days.

I’ve been seeing this in my Payoneer account lately: load money with Western Union. I’ve seen this while I was doing a fund transfer from Paypal to Payoneer account. This is a new option that was not available before.

Before Western Union is available, Payoneer cards are usually loaded using US bank accounts and credit cards. I have not tried any of these to load my card – I often got it loaded through Paypal transfers and earnings from several freelance sites.

Western Union transfers are currenly available only in the US. I hope this gets to be available in the Philippines too.

Do you have special preference for folk-rock and acoustic music? I do, and I always love to listen to music as I go about my daily freelance programming and blogging duties.

I just got into Sites and Sounds where I took out a couple of songs that are related to these favorite genres of music. Those who are into country, ballad, pop, alternative and other related genre may also find some gold mine here. Give it a try – the link below should get you started with the site:

Get free music at Sites and Sounds

I’m not saying that this site is a repository of MP3 music – it is actually a great new blog that unearths lesser known artists that are hanging around iTunes and LastFM… Well, lesser known as they’d be they deserve to be given chances to be listened and appreciated. What I like about the music of these people is that their music does not get all worn-out in famous record stores. Best of all their music is free – probably because they depend more on the internet population to bring their music to the world.

Head over now and discover New and Free music at Sites and Sounds. You might even be surprised to be one of the first to listen to music before the artist gets to be known the world over.

I’ve been trying to do a new blog in my Friendster account and I discovered that the free version does not have the same flexibility as Blogger and WordPress sites. For one it allows me to upload only 50 pictures (if you’d notice I always place at least one picture in this blog and my other blog). I also only have 12 templates to dress up my site and it does not permit me to play around with the design of the site. I just can’t easily add a new widget or even add simple HTML text at the sidebar.

However the “upgrade” option is available in different plans. The free blog will cost me a banner advertisement at the top and bottom of the blog – I do not really like the one that I see on top. If I were to remove that I have to pay at least $4.95 per month to remove all the ads and let me place something on top. If I had to fully control the site (including the HTML) and purchase my own URL or domain I had to go with the Pro version that will cost me $14.95 per month. The billing agreement is by credit card (sorry Paypal users).

photo credit: bloodylery (SXC)

It is no wonder why Pinoys prefer blogging on WordPress and Blogger.