Boston Market -- March

Signs of a continuing strong job market persist. Here are three positive indicators:

1. CEO Economic Outlook Index: Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) believe that the economy is growing at a comfortable pace. "The projections for sales, capital spending and employment all point to steady growth with no significant acceleration or slowing over the next six months."
2. CEO High Tech Business Climate Survey: More than two thirds of CEOs of Massachusetts-based technology companies expect job expansion this year, a 13 point increase from 2006.
3. Monster Employment Index: This index of online recruitment activity stands at its highest level since its inception more than three years ago. Opportunities for workers with design and creative backgrounds have increased mostly due to an increase in advertising, marketing and public relations opportunities.

According to Certification Magazine three of the fastest-growing segments of the information technology industry are as follows:

• software publishing
• Internet publishing and broadcasting
• Internet service providers, Web search portals and data-processing services

Access Newbies: How to Break Into the IT Industry for hints and tips on getting started with a career in these areas.

The following categories (right-hand column) have been updated to reflect March statistics:

• Average Salaries in Boston
• Top 10 Web Technologies in Boston

Two of the Top 10 Web Technologies are JavaScript and Photoshop with 220 and 95 job listings, respectively. Training opportunities this month for these two skills, as well as, for MySQL (63) and PHP (60), include the following:

• JavaScript: Web Programming Basics
• Adobe Photoshop CS2: Advanced
• PHP & MySQL: Building Web Applications

All classes begin Thursday, March 15 and are FREE, compliments of the HP Learning Center.

Also, for the first time since September, 2002 no single browser version commands a majority market share. In the fall of that year Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) was used by at least 50% of Web surfers. That percentage climbed steadily as IE6 replaced IE5 as the preferred Web browser. Now that IE7 is replacing IE6, IE6 usage should continue to fall in the coming months. This is good news for Web designers as IE7 provides better support for Web standards. Browser data is also presented in the right-hand column.

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