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Under the bill, veterans are eligible for 100 percent reimbursement of the US $395 cost of taking the Certified Software Development Associate (CSDA) exam for entry-level developers and the $495 cost of taking the Certified Software Development Professional (CSDP) exam for mid-level professionals.
The IEEE Computer Society also provides a 50 percent discount for unemployed veterans who would like to get started in preparing for the CSDA or CSDP certifications by taking the online assessment course.
“Being involved with the US Department of Defense and a Certified Software Development Professional (CSDP), I am very pleased that the IEEE Computer Society is reaching out to the men and women who have served this country,” said Susan K. (Kathy) Land, 2011-2012 IEEE Division VIII Director and a chief engineer of product development with the US Department of Defense Missile Defense Agency’s Command, Control, Battle Management, and Communications (C2BMC) project.
The Post-9/11 GI Bill provides financial support for education and housing to individuals with at least 90 days of aggregate service on or after September 11, 2001, or individuals discharged with a service-connected disability after 30 days.
Approved training under the Post-9/11 GI Bill includes graduate and undergraduate degrees, vocational/technical training, on-the-job training, flight training, correspondence training, licensing and national testing programs, and tutorial assistance. All training programs must be approved for GI Bill benefits.
The CSDA, currently being updated, is intended to provide undergraduate computer science and software engineering students their first credential toward a solid career foundation as a software development practitioner. The CSDP certification is intended for mid-career software development practitioners. The CSDA and the CSDP are the first two certifications that conform to the ISO/IEC 24773 standard, which stipulates methods of certifying software engineering professionals worldwide.
US President Barack Obama has proposed tax credits and training programs to spur hiring of the thousands of
In addition, the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs will lead a task force to ensure that members of the service receive the training, education, and credentials needed to transition to the civilian workforce or pursue higher education. Enhanced career-development and job-search packages will be available for veterans at the Department of Labor’s One Stop Career Centers in 23 cities.
Overall, employment of computer software engineers and computer programmers is projected to increase at a much faster average rate than for other occupations, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. In addition, CSDA and CSDP certifications are being recommended or required by more and more employers. To see a list of employers that support these certifications in their software development job descriptions, visit http://www.computer.org/portal/web/certification/Employers-Requiring-CSDA/P.
For more information, visit http://www.computer.org/vets. To see the CSDP and the CSDA listed, go to: http://inquiry.vba.va.gov/weamspub/buildSearchLCCriteria.do and click on
About the IEEE Computer Society
The IEEE Computer Society is the world’s leading organization of computing professionals. Founded in 1946, and the largest of the 38 societies of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Computer Society is dedicated to advancing the theory and application of computer and information-processing technology, and is known globally for its computing standards activities. For more information, go to http://www.computer.org.
