Modern Workplace IT SkilLS
September 10th 2025
The baseball manager Earl Weaver once said, ‘It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.’
IT Standards, Governance & Best Practice
Information Technology is not a free-for-all and, like many areas of endeavour, needs frameworks in which to operate. This state of affairs is to facilitate agreed communications across the IT world, otherwise chaos would ensue as there would, for example, be no agreed protocols to follow. They are the Esperanto of the IT world.
You may also need to know the difference between de facto and de jure standards.
Useful Subscriptions
These organisations are useful ones to subscribe to for updates on the various subjects they specialise in and, in many cases, already published resources. The list is not exhaustive and does not constitute a recommendation. You will, as an IT practitioner, find your own favourites over time.
Rather than interpret their missions and usefulness, it is left as an exercise for you, the reader. Remember, lifelong learning is up to you; there are no official courses on it and, in some cass you may have to sign up to access some sites.
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Arcserve
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Howstuffworks search on topics
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radware security
IT Standards
What is a Standard?
'By definition a standard is a set of rules or guidelines approved and monitored by an authorized organization. Every day, in one way or another, we use a variety of standards as part of our daily private and professional lives. We use standards for communicating, taking care of our health, building things, cooking, growing food, baking a cake or just relaxing. Standards provide a basis or foundation by which activities are governed, benefiting us personally as well as, helping businesses, their consumers and the economy.' Source
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OpenGL graphics vs. PHIGS (de jure)
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TCP/IP vs. OSI (de jure)
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Microsoft Windows, office products and others (see the link)
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Computer standards list of hardware and software
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Languages (list). There are standards which apply to different languages and vendors often offer functional extensions. Some extensions may be compatible across vendors, others not.
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The 2022 list of most popular languages is here. Of course, this list may vary over time. There are thousands of active existing programmes written in FORTRAN (scientific) and in COBOL (commercial) so a knowledge of these is not a waste of time.
This list is not exhaustive but hopefully useful.