Monday, August 04, 2008

Boston Market | August 2008

News Flash #1

In July the unemployment rate in the United States rose to its highest level (5.7%) in more than four years. There has been a net loss of more than 460,000 jobs in the U.S. since the beginning of 2008 according to Bloomberg.com. In general, Massachusetts is fairing better than the national economy. The statewide unemployment rate stands at 5.2% according to the Boston Business Journal.

News Flash #2

In July employment in the information technology (IT) professions reached an all-time high. The report by the National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses (NACCB) covers the most recent data from June and a press release is available from Reuters. NACCB issues its IT Employment Index (pdf) monthly.

While the roof appears to be collapsing in the overall economy, workers in Massachusetts are fairing better than most and workers with information technology skills remain a valuable commodity.

Boston Market

The Boston Web technology marketplace continues its cautious rebound from two dramatically down months in April and May. The Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston has been updated for August and appears in the right-hand column.

Five of the top six technologies have demonstrated an increase in job postings for the second month in a row. The six most in-demand technologies are as follows:

  1. SQL
  2. Oracle
  3. Java
  4. XML
  5. SQL Server
  6. JavaScript
Only Java opportunities are down this month, and only by six job postings. Of the remaining 14 technologies, two technologies posted increases for the second month in a row. These technologies are as follows:
  • Web Services | #9
  • PHP | #18

These trends are quite remarkable given that June and July are traditionally slow hiring months -- even in a strong economy!

Implications

One conclusion that can be inferred from the data might be that Web 2.0 skills are in demand. Web 1.0 websites are static. Web 2.0 websites are interactive. While (X)HTML and CSS skills are required to build a Web 1.0 site, two additional skills are required to transform that site into an interactive site that engages viewers and prompts potential customers to take action. Those skill categories are as follows:

  • programming > Java, JavaScript, Web Services, PHP
  • databases > SQL, Oracle, XML, SQL Server

August Opportunities

The best training opportunity for August is the following:

This FREE online course is brought to you by the HP Learning Center. Registration has begun and the first of six lessons has been posted.

The best networking opportunities for August are the following:

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