Sunday, June 30, 2019

Best Business Books | 2018

 
wall of books

"What we really need is not more authors, 
or better publishers.  What we most need is 
a vastly better system to identify the books we will love."



Beantown Web has developed such a system. For the 11th year running Beantown Web has conducted a quasi-scientific meta-search to identify the best business books published during the calendar year. These books are most likely to add value to your career. 

This year's search began by identifying 11 "Best of" lists. This resource list is available upon request. Presented here are the results.

A total of 119 books were mentioned on at least one "Best of" list -- 79 of these books were mentioned only once.


The Honorable Mention Shelf


An additional 27 books were mentioned on two lists and these books comprise the Honorable Mention list.

The Must-Read Shelf


Eight books were mentioned on three lists and have been placed on the Must-Read shelf:


The Top Shelf


Three books were mentioned on four lists:
One book was mentioned on five lists:
One book was mentioned on six lists:

The Art of Gathering The Billionaire Raj
When New Power
Bad Blood


Personal Recommendations


If 13 books are too many to chose from, then check out the following Short List.  The four highest rated books on Goodreads (of the 13 listed here) are as follows:
These four books are now on my Short List.

I have read one of five books on the Top Shelf and four from the eight books on the Must-Read shelf.  As I work through this reading list, I will post my reviews at Goodreads.com and share links here.
You can access reviews of all 98 Leadership and Strategy books I have read at Pinterest.


Suggested Success Strategy


Regardless of your professional discipline, business is the engine that drives economic well-being. The economy continues to improve and job growth continues to look promising in 2019.  However, the winds of caution have started to rustle the leaves.  You can help enhance your personal economic prospects -- and prepare for an uncertain future -- by learning more about the business of business.

Goal: Select one business book from the five pictured above, read it, practice its principles and shift your career into a higher gear in 2019.  Of course, you can select all 13 books, read more than one per month, and receive a guaranteed seat in business class!

[ NOTE: The 13 Best Business Books of 2018 -- those making at least three "Best of" lists -- are being counted down on Facebook.  Follow Beantown Web on Facebook by becoming a Fan of Beantown Web and on Twitter @genebabon. ]

View recent Best Business Books blog postings.

Monday, February 18, 2019

Boston Web Tech Job Market | Q1, 2019




Photo credit: CNBC.com 
"The competition for skilled talent is set to rise in the first quarter of 2019 as employers across the U.S. are reporting the strongest hiring intentions in 12 years." ~ ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey

The Headlines


U.S. Hiring Intentions at 12 Year High as Demand for Workers is Set to Grow in 2019

Companies added way more jobs than expected in December


Boston Web Tech Job Market


Despite economic and political uncertainty, the job market continues to expand.  Should there be a downturn in tech hiring, trends monitored by Beantown Web reflect these changes as we proceed through 2019.  Until then ... full speed ahead. 


The list of Top 25 Web Technologies in Boston has been updated for January and appears in the right-hand column.  This list is based on keyword searches in job postings at Indeed.com. The most in-demand keywords are listed more frequently than less in-demand keywords.  This list reflects the change in the last seven months.

Indeed.com is a meta-search engine that offers a maximum number of search possibilities.  All searches encompass a 25-mile radius of Boston.  Search parameters can be adjusted to fit your personal needs. Indeed helps more people get hired than any other jobsite.


Top 25 Web Technologies in Boston

Here is an abbreviated list of the 25 most in-demand web technologies in Boston.  or  from June 2018 ] listed by number of job postings at Indeed.com:

January, 2019
  1. agile *** | 4,308  6%
  2. SQL | 4,124  5%
  3. Python | 3,409  12%
  4. Java | 3,198  5%
  5. social media | 2,197  1%
  6. AWS | 2,038  16%
  7. JavaScript | 1,991  4%
  8. SaaS | 1,863  13%
  9. scrum *** | 1,428  2%
  10. C# | 1,223  13%
  11. Web Services | 1,220  1%
  12. Oracle | 1,165  5%
  13. API | 1,186  15%
  14. UI | 1,058  4%
  15. HTML + CSS | 1,014  15%
  16. Git | 989  12%
  17. UX | 987  13%
  18. SQL Server | 936  25%
  19. Azure | 847  22%
  20. Docker | 787  33%
  21. Android | 773  15%
  22. JIRA | 765  30%
  23. Hadoop | 744  1%
  24. Ruby | 699  3%
  25. Angular | 693  1%
*** Note: While "agile" and "scrum" are not technologies, they are methodologies used in technology development.  These two keywords appear in many web development job descriptions.  Experience with "agile" and "scrum" is often preferred, if not required, in many web development jobs.

Career Training


Tech job seekers should feel confident that plentiful opportunities will continue through the first half of 2019.  If you are looking to upgrade your tech skills, consider joining Boston PHP Meetup and one its 10 virtual self-study groups [FULL DISCLOSURE: Gene Babon is one of the Co-Organizers of Boston PHP Meetupthe largest education-focused Meetup in New England with more than 3,700 members.]

The Top 50 Web Technologies in Boston are being counted down over the next two months on Beantown Web's Twitter page @webapprentices.

[ NOTE: You can also become Fan of Beantown Web on Facebook. ]