Startup Watch | November 2010

Openings for IT (information technology) contract workers are at their highest level in more than a decade, according to a Boston Globe article. David MacKeen, CEO of Eliassen Group, an IT staffing firm, was quoted as saying, "I think we’re on the verge of a substantial growth cycle."

One place to look for opportunities is in the start-up community. According to StartUpHire there are more than 800 job openings at Boston area startup companies. talentGraphz provides a listing of nearly 300 startup companies in the Boston area.

Startup Watch for November

Mass High Tech highlights startup companies each week in a series called "Five You Should Follow."

Here are 23 startup companies in the greater Boston area that Mass High Tech suggests you keep your eye on:

[NOTE: Hover over company name to view a tooltip summary of that company's value proposition.]

» Active Interview | Cambridge

» BookBlunder | Boston

» CardStar, Inc. | Boston

» CaringWise, Inc. | Boston

» Carrot Medical LLC | Boston

» CellMosaic LLC | Worcester

» Entheogen Corp. | Boston

» EximFlow, Inc. | Boston

» eZuce, Inc. | Newburyport

» FloDesign Sonics, Inc. | Wilbraham

» iCar | Somerville

» Karyopharm Therapeutics, Inc. | Newton

» Media Armor, Inc. | Boston

» Nemucore Medical Innovations | Worcester

» Practically Green LLC | Boston

» ProctorCam LLC | Boston

» Retroficiency, Inc. | Boston

» Styleta, Inc. | Cambridge

» TapWalk | Medford

» Tarpon BioSystems, Inc. | Marlborough

» VisitorsCafe | Boston

» VivoPath LLC | Worcester

» Wingu, Inc. | Cambridge

Five new startups are listed every Tuesday at Mass High Tech -- The Journal of New England Technology. Access Startup News for details. If your company was founded within the last three years, and would like to be considered for the Watch List, contact the Startup Watch editor.

Access previous Startup Watch lists:

• Startup Watch | October 2010
• Startup Watch | September 2010
• Startup Watch | August 2010
• Startup Watch | July 2010
• Startup Watch | June 2010
• Startup Watch | May 2010

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Boston Market | December 2010

Two new hiring reports promise a bright New Year for information technology professionals with in-demand job skills.

Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, Q1 2011

After five straight quarters of employment growth Manpower has released the most optimistic hiring expectations in more than two years.

A survey of more than 18,000 employers revealed the following expectations for the first quarter of 2011:

• 14% expect an increase in staff levels
• 10% expect a decrease in staff levels
  

The result is a Net Employment Outlook (NEO) of +4%. The following industry sectors have the highest outlooks:

• Leisure & Hospitality (+12%)
• Professional & Business Services (+11%)
• Information (+10%)

Information technology professionals will be in demand in 2011. Access a press release for a summary or a more detailed 12-page report.

Dice Report, December 2010

For a drill-down into information technology skills most in-demand, access a Special Edition of the Dice Report for December 2010.

Six in ten hiring managers and technology recruiters expect to increase hiring in the first half of 2011 as compared to the previous six months. When asked what their top hiring priority was for 2011, developers held five of the top six slots as follows:

#1 ~ Java developer
#2 ~ .NET developer
#3 ~ Software developer
#5 ~ Mobile developer
#6 ~ Web developer

Nearly 850 human resource managers and recruiters responded to the Dice survey.

Boston Market, December 2010

The list of Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston has been updated and appears in the right-hand column. Consistent with the Dice findings Top 10 developer skills include the following:

#3 ~ Java | 510 job listings
#5 ~ C# | 288 job listings
#10 ~ ASP.NET | 160 job listings

Surprisingly, the following mobile technologies barely crack the Top 50:

#48 ~ iPhone | 21 job listings
#49 ~ Android | 20 job listings

Best Training Opportunity

If you are new to Web development consider joining the Boston PHP Meetup. The December 15 meeting will feature a presentation on Google Analytics by Jay Murphy.

The meeting will also feature an announcement of the introduction of PHP Percolate!, a virtual self-study group designed to help beginners learn PHP programming.

[ NOTE: Beantown Web is now on Twitter. Follow Beantown Web @webapprentices ]