Kids who write those "What I Did with My Summer Vacation" essays for school probably don't ever spin a flowery yarn about mixing it up with the computer technology industry's "leading solution providers, vendors, distributors, IT professionals and media."

Adults also take summer vacations, however, and sometimes career development is as good an excuse to visit Austin, Texas, as any other. The Music City in the Lone Star State will play host to CompTIA ChannelCon 2017 starting July 31 and continuing through Aug. 2. So if you work in IT and you've always wanted to find yourself within Austin's city limits, well, there you go.

If you're a dedicated and certified IT professional, then there are a number of good reasons to participate in industry conferences and conventions. It's an excellent opportunity, for example, to engage in a little professional networking, making the sort of connections that could lead to, say, your next full-time job.

CompTIA has also made a point of highlighting educational programs and other benefits specifically designed for IT professionals planning to attend the 2017 gathering. ChannelCon sessions listed under the Tracks4Techs heading even qualify for the Continuing Education Units (CEUs) needed to renew CompTIA certifications.

Among the Tracks4Techs sessions being offered at this year's event are the following:

• Edge Computing: Data Center on Wheels — How edge computing addresses many challenges that enterprise IT faces when running data-centric workloads in the cloud.
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• Skills Required to Implement the Cloud: A Report from the Industry — Examine the practical skills that the cloud worker of tomorrow needs.
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• Threat Hunting: The Advent of Modern Information Security? — Threat hunting proactively looks for adversaries and traces of their activity. Learn the benefits and drawbacks of "active defense," and where it fits in with other security activities.
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• Tools of the Trade: Security Analyst Skills for IoT, the Cloud, or Any Network — An examination of security analytics tools that can be used to find and combat vulnerabilities.
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• IoT Tools of the Trade for IT Pros — A discussion about the technologies, processing and storage devices used today; and emerging technologies like 5G networks and the promises they may bring.
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• The Irreplaceable Help Desk Worker — How new technologies and automation have impacted the help desk worker, and what can you expect in the next five years.

If you still aren't convinced, bear in mind that employers often pick up the tab for professional development activities. All you have to do is convince your manage that your attendance at ChannelCon is a net positive for the company, and you can turn a self-funded pilgrimage into a business trip.

Also worth noting is that ChannelCon 2017 unfolds over a three-day period at the start of the work week, Monday through Wednesday. So if you want to do a little sightseeing while you're in Austin, take Thursday and Friday off as well and you'll have the whole weekend to relax and unwind.