Spring has arrived and job opportunities for technology professionals with Web-related skills are starting to come alive. Green is the color of the month as 13 of 20 skills show an increase (green up arrow) from last month.
The list of the most in-demand Web-related technologies appears in the right-hand column. Links are also provided to job postings mentioning that skill. All jobs are located within a 50-mile radius of Boston.
This quarterly analysis expands the popular monthly Top 20 ratings. Listed below are the Top 50 most in-demand Web-related skills in Boston.
The Top 10
Here are the Top 10 most mentioned Web-related skills [number of times mentioned in job postings]:
- SQL [ 512 ]
- Oracle [ 468 ]
- Java [ 287 ]
- SQL Server [ 229 ]
- XML [ 212 ]
- JavaScript [ 158 ]
- C# [ 153 ]
- Perl [ 125 ]
- "Web Services" [ 125 ]
- Ajax [ 96 ]
If you are currently in the job market, demonstrating proficiency in several of these skills will enhance your employment opportunities. Note that all ten skills are database- and programming-related -- core skills for Web Developers.
11 Though 20
- JSP [ 86 ]
- e-commerce [ 85 ]
- ASP.NET [ 76 ]
- Flash [ 73 ]
- SharePoint [ 70 ]
- IIS [ 70 ]
- Apache [ 67 ]
- HTML + CSS [ 64 ]
- MySQL [ 62 ]
- SOAP [ 54 ]
Back end server skills (SharePoint, IIS and Apache) dominate the Second 10 along with Web development skills (JSP and ASP.NET). Web Design skills (HTML + CSS and Flash) begin to make an appearance on this list.
21 Through 30
Rounding out the Top 30 are the following 10 technologies:
- Python [ 53 ]
- PHP [ 52 ]
- Photoshop [ 49 ]
- DB2 [ 48 ]
- Tomcat [ 44 ]
- SEO [ 43 ]
- Visual Studio [ 42 ]
- Illustrator [ 40 ]
- Web 2.0 [ 39 ]
- API [ 38 ]
The programming theme continues with Python and PHP. Additional design skills (Photoshop and Illustrator) appear on this list along with more nebulous Web skills such as search engine optimization (SEO) and Web 2.0.
31 Through 40
Rounding out the Top 40 are the following 10 technologies:
- Social networking [ 35 ]
- SSL [ 34 ]
- VB.NET [ 31 ]
- DHTML [ 30 ]
- "Content Management System" [ 26 ]
- Acrobat [ 24 ]
- ColdFusion [ 22 ]
- Struts [ 21 ]
- SaaS [ 21]
- blog [ 21 ]
Popular Web 2.0 buzzwords (social networking, content management systems and blog) are less popular and fall out of the Top 30. Viable, yet more obscure, technologies also populate this Top 40 list.
41 Through 50
Rounding out the Top 50 are the following 10 technologies:
- InDesign [ 19 ]
- Ruby [ 19 ]
- VBScript [ 19 ]
- XHTML [ 18 ]
- wiki [ 17 ]
- Dreamweaver [ 16 ]
- jQuery [ 14 ]
- JSON [ 11 ]
- RSS [ 10 ]
- CS3 [ 9 ]
The hoopla around technologies such as Ruby, jQuery and JSON simply does not translate into mass-market job opportunities. Adobe Creative Suite programs such as InDesign and Dreamweaver also don't generate much excitement in the current technology job market.
NIT Candidates
Popular Web-related technologies that weren't invited to "The Big Dance" this quarter include the following:
- Silverlight [ 7 ]
- Drupal [ 7 ]
- Rails [ 7 ]
- Adobe + Flex [ 6 ]
- Fireworks [ 3 ]
- WordPress [ 2 ]
- Adobe AIR [ 0 ]
- Joomla [ 0 ]
It's not that these technologies are not valuable, it is simply that there is relatively little market demand for Web professionals with expertise in these skills compared to the Top 20 Web Technologies.
The Final Four
If you want to compete in today's Web technology marketplace, you should be proficient in at least one of the top four skills. The most versatile skill from this list is the following:
- SQL
To round out your Final Four skill set, you should possess four additional Sweet 16 skills. Web developers should consider the following:
- JavaScript
- Ajax
- ASP.NET
- Flash
If you walk onto the court with these five skills, you can compete with any team in the country!
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