CompTIA Launches Podcast Hub

Once upon a time, blogging was the hot new medium to make yourself heard online. Blogs have by no means disappeared, of course, and recent years have even witnessed the rise of new platforms for bloggers. The best way to make yourself heard online, however, is probably literally to make yourself heard.

Since the early 2010s, podcasting has moved from definitively to the forefront of online self-expression, conversation, and discussion. There's a simplicity to podcasting that makes it appealing from a production standpoint, and consumers who are often not willing to wrestle with a 5,000-word article will gladly plug into a 50-minutes pod.

Of course, as will all online content creation and distribution, mastering the medium is only half the game. Great content only matters if people know where to find it, and that may explain the decision by tech industry association CompTIA to create an online hub to popularize its handful of tech-related podcasts.

The newly launched "podcast central" created by CompTIA, which also administers some of the most popular certifications in the IT industry, has been functionally (if not particularly inventively) dubbed CompTIACasts. The site offers a gateway to six different CompTIA-connected 'casts, including one each hosted by CEO Todd Thibodeaux and Charles Eaton, CEO of CompTIA's Creating IT Futures tech employment advocacy arm.

Some of the podcasts have been up and running for quite some time: Channel Chief Talk, where Thibodeaux is a regular cohost, has CompTIA-centric episodes in the can dating back to April 2016. And CompTIA's own Volley podcast posted its 53rd episode at the end of last week.

The female-centric Women TechCast and the CompTIA TechServicesSuccesses show both have fewer episodes on tap but have been in production for nearly a year, while Coffe Break with CompTIA Councils and Eaton's Technologist Talk are essentially brand new.

CompTIA executive Nancy Hammervik said in a media release announcing the launch of CompTIACasts that her organiztion's broad array of industry contacts provides a wealth of expert sources for CompTIA podcasts to draw on as podcast guests and contributors.

"Thousands of individuals and companies are engaged with CompTIA, giving us access to a roster of experts unmatched anywhere in the tech industry," Hammervik said. "This rich expertise makes CompTIACasts the place to go for insights into the latest emerging tech and innovation."

Tech professionals looking for workout fodder, or for something to fill up the morning (or afternoon) commute, now have an intriguing new option for podcast content.