Technology Fast 50

Fast growing companies are more likely to hire people than slow growing companies.

Technology companies are more likely to hire technology professionals than non-technology companies.

Here are the 50 Fastest Growing Technology Companies in New England as identified by Deloitte & Touche and reported by Mass High Tech:

1. Click Tactics, Inc., Waltham, MA
2. Salary.com, Needham, MA
3. MBI Benefits Inc. (Metavante Corporation), Waltham, MA
4. VoiceSignal Technologies, Inc., Woburn, MA
5. Capital Fulfillment Group, Hingham, MA
6. WorldWinner, Newton, MA
7. VistaPrint, Lexington, MA
8. Oasis Semiconductor, Inc., Waltham, MA
9. NeuroMetrix, Inc., Waltham, MA
10. athenahealth, Waltham, MA
11. Cardiotech International, Inc., Wilmington, MA
12. Biogen Idec, Inc., Cambridge, MA
13. Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Lexington, MA
14. Netspoke (Premiere Global Services), Woburn, MA
15. OpenAir, Inc., Boston, MA
16. S4, Inc., Burlington, MA
17. Evergreen Solar, Inc., Marlboro, MA
18. Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc., Cambridge, MA
19. LocatePLUS Holdings Corporation, Beverly, MA
20. PACE Medical, Inc., Waltham, MA
21. Outcome Sciences, Inc., Cambridge, MA
22. BuyerZone.com, Watertown, MA
23. Ecora Software Corporation, Portsmouth, NH
24. AVANT Immunotherapeutics, Inc., Needham, MA
25. Picis, Wakefield, MA
26. Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc., Waltham, MA
27. Phase Forward Incorporated, Waltham, MA
28. Intranets.com, Burlington, MA
29. Matritech, Inc., Newton, MA
30. Unica Corporation, Waltham, MA
31. IntelliReach Corporation, Dedham, MA
32. eCopy, Inc., Nashua, NH
33. Curis, Inc., Cambridge, MA
34. Datafarm, Inc., Marlboro, MA
35. Sepracor, Inc., Marlborough, MA
36. e-tractions, Bedford, MA
37. Caliper Life Sciences, Inc., Hopkinton, MA
38. iBasis, Inc., Burlington, MA
39. Skyworks Solutions, Inc., Woburn, MA
40. Elcom International, Inc., Norwood, MA
41. Palomar Medical Technologies, Burlington, MA
42. PaperThin, Inc., Quincy, MA
43. Bentley Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Exeter, NH
44. LeMaitre Vascular, Inc., Burlington, MA
45. CrunchTime! Information Systems, Inc., Boston, MA
46. IntelliCare, South Portland, ME
47. Softscape, Inc., Wayland, MA
48. Bruker BioSciences Corporation, Billerica, MA
49. ScanSoft, Inc., Peabody, MA
50. Clinical Data, Newton, MA

What CIOs Want

Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are looking for more than a few good networkers. Their IT departments are hiring and if you have knowledge and experience with computer networks they want to hear from you.

The results of a quarterly national poll of more than 1,400 CIOs from U.S. companies with 100 or more employees are summarized in the Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report.

The following technical skill sets are most needed by CIOs in their IT departments (percentage of CIO response):

• Microsoft Windows (NT/2000/XP) administration expertise (81%)
• SQL Server management (51%)
• wireless network management (49%)

The specialties most in demand in IT departments are as follows:

• networking (19%)
• help desk/end user support specialists (15%)
• applications developers (12%)
• data/database managers (11%)

If you are new to computer networking help is just a click away at the HP Online Learning Center. Two courses to consider include the following:

• Servers 101
• Network administration best practices

Both classes begin Thursday, September 15, have no prerequisite, and are FREE.

Back to School -- HP

Looking for technology training this Fall? Check out Hewlett-Packard's Online Courses. The three classes that offer the most promise include the following:

• Introduction to programming
• Advanced Adobe Photoshop CS2
• Building web applications with PHP and MySQL

Classes appear to begin and end at different times. The three classes above begin Thursday, September 15. Enroll now. Popular classes fill up quickly -- they are FREE!

What CIOs Are Saying

Two out of three Chief Information Officers (CIOs) expect to increase hiring in the next 12 months according to an annual Labor Day Poll conducted by CIO Magazine. The vast majority of these tech workers will be direct hire (77%), as opposed to, domestic-based contract workers (11%) or foreign-based contract workers (10%). A detailed press release is available for review.

A second survey of CIOs conducted by Robert Half Technology provides insight into the background of the ideal tech candidate. IT executives say that, all things being equal, the following three qualifications will tip the scales in the favor of the selected candidate:

• industry-specific experience (43%)
• soft skills (32%)
• relevant certification (15%)

The survey's author recommends candidates new to a particular field focus on transferable skills. "To convince hiring managers they can excel in the organization, prospective employees should relate previous work experience directly to the requirements of the job opening," says Katherine Spencer Lee.

Boston Market -- September

The Monster Employment Index for August rose to its highest level ever indicating continued labor market strength as the Fall hiring season approaches. A search of Web development keywords for opportunities in the Greater Boston Area confirms this demand.

Skills in greatest demand include knowledge and experience with the following:

• databases (SQL, Oracle, SQL Server, Access)
• Web page development (HTML, XML)
• Web programming (Java, JavaScript)
• Website / database connectivity (ASP, JSP)

Here is a sampling of the opportunities available (approximate number of listings in parentheses):

• SQL (1,000)
• Oracle (1,000)
• Java (700)
• SQL Server (600)
• HTML (500)
• XML (500)
• ASP (400)
• Access (300)
• JavaScript (200)
• JSP (200)

Skills that continue to lag the marketplace with less than 100 listings each include the following: Flash, Dreamweaver, DHTML, CSS, MySQL, PHP and Cold Fusion.

The links on the right side (under Career Links) provide easy access to Web development opportunities listed at the Monster.com Website which consistently lists twice as many opportunities as BostonWorks.com.