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.

Digg It! Bookmark to del.cio.us

Best Web Sites on Capitol Hill

Beantown Web maintains a policy of not discussing politics. This posting is an exception. Feel free to contact your Senator or Representative to discuss the findings presented in this story.

There are 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 100 members of the U.S. Senate. The websites of these 535 members of the U.S. Congress were graded by the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF). A press release is available for review.

The most common grade issued: "D"

Less that 14% of websites received an "A" rating. The 85 best websites received one of three Mouse Awards as follows:

• 18 Gold Mouse Awards (A-plus)
  
• 27 Silver Mouse Awards (A)
  
• 40 Bronze Mouse Awards (A-minus)

Two Bronze Mouse Awards were issued to Massachusetts Congressmen:

• Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
• Representative Ed Markey (D-MA)

Massachusetts Senators not receiving awards:

• Senator John Kerry (D-MA)
  

Massachusetts Representatives not receiving awards:

• Capuano, Michael E., Massachusetts, 8th
• Delahunt, William, Massachusetts, 10th
• Frank, Barney, Massachusetts, 4th
• Lynch, Stephen F., Massachusetts, 9th
• McGovern, James, Massachusetts, 3rd
• Meehan, Marty, Massachusetts, 5th
• Neal, Richard E., Massachusetts, 2nd
• Olver, John, Massachusetts, 1st
• Tierney, John, Massachusetts, 6th

The Congressional Management Foundation did not release the grades of any students other than the "A" students.

If you are not from Massachusetts you can identify your U.S. Senator and your U.S. Representative and then check to see if he or she was one of the 2006 CMF Mouse Award Winners.

"One of the key purposes of the awards is to highlight best practices so offices can improve their sites by learning from those doing a good job," said a CMF resprsentative.

Websites were evaluated based on how well they incorporate five basic building blocks of web communication effectiveness:

• audience
• content
• usability
• interactivity
• innovation

A downloadable report (pdf) presents a nice 20-page discussion on "Building a Successful Web Site" using the five basic building blocks listed above.

Sources of Hire Survey

Where do companies find new employees? Organizations that track this information refer to the data captured as Sources of Hire (SOH). An annual SOH survey sheds some light on which strategies might yield the best results for job seekers attempting to obtain gainful employment.

The survey, now in its sixth year, covers 40 large highly-competitive, high-profile companies that employ nearly 1.3 million people. Smaller companies are less likely to track SOH data. So, these findings may not be consistent with how smaller companies find qualified workers.

The Sources of Hire survey was coordinated by CareerXroads. A summary is available from ZoomInfo.

Here are a few highlights from the most recent survey covering 2006 hiring data:

• positions filled by internal transfers and promotions (34%)
• positions filled by employee referrals (26%)
• positions filled via the company website (21%)
• positions filled via job boards** (12%)

** Monster.com, CareerBuilder and HotJobs are the top three job boards.

Best Strategy

So, the best strategy appears to be getting your foot in the door, perhaps through a temporary assignment via a placement agency. Then, you have an inside shot at bidding for open positions -- full-time employees are usually given preference for these jobs.

Next Best Strategy

The next best strategy appears to be good old-fashioned networking. An employee referral is the primary source that companies use to fill vacancies with external candidates. So, expanding your network of contacts remains a reliable job search strategy.

Alternative Strategy

When you are not already on the inside and don't have an internal connection, you are nearly twice as likely to land the position if you apply via the company website, as opposed to, a job board. So, if you see the job you want on a job-related website, go directly to the company website and follow the online application instructions.

Suggested Game Plan

To improve your job search prospects, it pays to expand your network of contacts. One strategy for doing so was outlined in a Beantown Web posting published one year ago entitled Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

In this article I introduced readers to a social network for business professionals called Linkedin. My Linkedin network at that time consisted of one contact. One year later my network has expanded to more than 100 contacts. These contacts have more than 8,600 direct connections.

One key to successful networking is to offer something of value to your network of connections. Beantown Web is one strategy I use to offer value. If you are a Web professional and find that the resources I have made available on this blog have helped you, here are several ways for us to connect:

• I would be happy to add your e-mail address to my distribution list if you don't already receive e-mail notices of new postings.
• If you have an idea for an article or a service that could help your Web-related career I'd like to hear from you.

Where would you like to go today? Perhaps, I can help you get there? My contact information is listed in the right-hand column.

BATEC Workforce Study

"Technical skills get you the interview, soft skills get you the job."

This is just one conclusion from a study presented at the Boston Area Advanced Technological Education Connections (BATEC) IT Futures Forum conducted at Staples headquarters on February 2.

This study presented data on current and future information technology (IT) workforce skills requirements in the Boston area. Data was compiled as a result of live focus groups and telephone interviews and was gathered from the following three sources:

• IT workers
• hiring managers
• strategic planners

For students the research attempted to answer two questions:

• Who is getting the jobs now?
• Who gets to keep them in the future?

Technical skills:

Career growth potential is a function of the technical area that you chose to focus on. In general, Web developers (programmers) with database knowledge and expertise should do quite well. The research projected the following outlook for the greater Boston area:

Much faster than average growth potential:

• database design and administration

Faster than average growth potential:

• Web development and administration
• Digital media (desktop publisher)
• Programmer

About average growth potential:

• technical writing
• technical training

Declining growth potential:

• technical support (help desk)

Soft Skills:

In addition, customer service skills are in demand as more IT jobs are becoming customer-facing. Technical workers should highlight experience working with the following three groups:

• internal customers
• external customers
• potential customers

Finally, employability skills, in addition to technical skills, factor into the soft skill set that will help win over the hiring manager. Listed below are eight general skills that employers are looking for. Providing examples during an interview of how you have implemented these skills in a work setting will help separate you from your competition:

• communication (oral and written)
• work productively in teams and groups
• customer and business focus
• listen for meaning and comprehension
• resourceful and creative problem solving
• prioritize work and self evaluate
• comprehend and communicate quantitatively
• develop original solutions to novel problems

The PowerPoint presentation and streaming video of Peter Saflund's presentation are available on the BATEC website. The full report is expected to be published by the end of February.

Productivity ROI Calculation

The Challenge:

Managers spend up to two hours a day searching for information. This productivity drain occurs because the majority of managers store information on local hard drives and in individual e-mail accounts. Only 16 percent use a collaborative workplace such as a company’s intranet portal.

The Solution:

Web designers and developers are in a unique position to improve corporate productivity by helping organizations store and retrieve valuable information via a Web portal.

The Economics:

Assuming that the corporate expense for a middle manager is $50 per hour (substitute your own figure here), two hours of lost productivity equates to a daily productivity drain of $100 per manager. An organization with 10 middle managers loses $1,000 of productivity per day simply trying to find information! This calculation can be used to estimate the return on investment that the development of an intranet can bring to an organization.

Additional Background:

The data was compiled as a result of an online survey of more than 1,000 middle managers of large companies in the United States and United Kingdom. It was coordinated by Accenture and a press release is available for review.

Additional findings include the following:

• More than half (59 percent) of middle managers said that as a consequence of poor information distribution, they miss information that might be valuable to their jobs almost every day because it exists somewhere else in the company and they just can’t find it.

• Nearly half (45 percent) of respondents said gathering information about what other parts of their company are doing is a big challenge.

Two Big Ideas:

1. Web developers can develop their own intranet to easily access technology that may be valuable, but not easy to access, if stored in books at a remote location. For example, I have decided to move the contents of my technology books online for my benefit and the benefit of students I work with at CDIABU. Check out the beta version of the Web Apprentices Training Center.
   
   
2. Web developers can utilize the results of this survey as a catalyst to explore the marketplace for "content management." One open-source solution for managing online content is WordPress.com. Check out the beta version of the Web Apprentices Training Center Blog created using WordPress that will allow readers to comment on the Web Apprentices Training Center.

Centralized data access and online collaboration are two tools that Web developers can use to enhance productivity. These tools can help position you on the profit side of the corporate ledger and enhance your value to any organization that wants to be more productive.

2007 IT Salary & Skills Report

"The rate at which your salary increases is proportional to the extent that you take personal responsibility for your continued education."

"Specific technical skills are less important than the more management-focused communication and planning skills."

These are two conclusions reached from a survey of more than 1,600 information technology (IT) professionals. The survey focused on two key areas: salaries and skills.

Salaries

The survey listed 17 technology job functions.

The average survey respondent had the following profile:

• base salary exceeds $71,000
• more than half received a bonus last year averaging nearly $4,000
• age: 42
• experience: 11 years in IT

The average salary for Web/Internet developers is $63,800.

Skills

The number one concern of survey respondents:

• keeping up with skills

This concern rated higher than any of the following responses:

• IT compensation
• IT job market
• Job security
• Outsourcing

More than 60% of respondents attended training within the past nine months. To demonstrate how important technology professionals feel about keeping up with technology skills, nearly 20% paid for their own training!

Some employers are more generous with time off for training than others:

• no training time off (31%)
  
• one week of training (38%)
• more than one week of training (31%)

Nearly two thirds of employers paid all training expenses, in addition to providing paid time off.

To learn more about the factors that impact compensation for technology professionals, access 2007 IT Salary and Skills Report from Global Knowledge.

Boston Market -- February

Are you looking for a Web-related job in Massachusetts? A research report released last week may have some bearing on the direction that technology spending might be heading in 2007.

With the launch of Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system 5,000 new tech jobs will be created in Massachusetts according to a report issued by Framingham-based International Data Corp. The report is summarized at Information Week. The Boston Globe provides a more detailed summary of the research findings. The report was commissioned by Microsoft.

One reason why web-technology professionals should be aware of this report is that "18% of total IT employment in the state will be Vista-related." Businesses and consumers will be purchasing software and hiring third parties to provide installation, support and training. This is money that might otherwise be earmarked for Web-related projects.

If money starts to temporarily shift away from Internet development and towards infrastructure upgrade, then now might be a good time for Web professionals to take a look at Microsoft's approach to creating dynamic Web pages.

This month's analysis of the Boston job market focuses on Microsoft-centric technologies. For Web professionals these include Internet Explorer 7, ASP.NET and SQL Server 2005 .

Internet Explorer 7

The rapid upgrade from Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) to Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) continues. Three months after its official release IE7 now accounts for a greater percentage of the browser market than Firefox, Safari and all other browsers combined. Still, the vast majority of Web surfers (54%) continue to use IE6 which is a troublesome browser for Web design professionals to work with. However, if the upgrade to IE7 continues at the current pace, IE7 might become the most popular browser on the Web as soon as April.

Note: Web browser statistics for January are located in the right-hand column.

ASP.NET

ASP.NET is a set of web application development technologies marketed by Microsoft and used to build dynamic web sites. PHP is one popular open-source alternative to ASP.NET.

The number of jobs listed at BostonWorks.com in the greater Boston area that request knowledge in each of these technologies are as follows:

• ASP.NET [ 185 ]
• PHP [ 52 ]

Currently there are more than three times as many opportunities for Microsoft-centric Web programmers than for open-source Web programmers.

SQL Server 2005

SQL Server is a relational database management system (RDBMS) developed by Microsoft. MySQL is one popular open-source alternative to SQL Server.

The number of jobs listed at BostonWorks.com in the greater Boston area that request knowledge in each of these technologies are as follows:

• SQL Server [ 377 ]
• MySQL [ 51 ]

Currently there are more than seven times as many opportunities for Microsoft-centric database developers than for open-source database developers.

If you are not yet familiar with Microsoft's approach to Web development, perhaps now is a good time to test the waters while the Microsoft marketing machine is in full gear. Knowing Microsoft-specific technologies opens the door to three to seven times as many job opportunities as compared with open-source alternatives.

Exploring these technologies need not be expensive. For example, Microsoft provides you with all of the software and training videos you need to get started. These resources are FREE. Simply access ASP.NET to get started today. You can even begin learning Microsoft's implementation of Ajax, a buzzword that is associated with Web 2.0.

Note: "Average Salaries in Boston" and "Top 10 Web Technologies in Boston" have been updated to reflect February statistics. Data and links are located in the right-hand column.

National "Dream Jobs" Survey

Only 16 percent of workers in the United States are currently in their dream job according to a recent survey of workers.

Boston heads the list of metropolitan areas where workers report the highest incidence of feeling they are currently in their dream jobs. Here are the top five metropolitan areas with the happiest workers:

• Boston (37 percent)
• Sacramento (26 percent)
• San Francisco (23 percent)
• Philadelphia (22 percent)
• Salt Lake City (20 percent)

So, if you live in Boston and you do not now have a dream job, it could be that you are just not having enough fun at work!

Here are the three most important factors in determining a dream job according to survey respondents:

• having fun at work (39 percent)
  
• making a difference in society (17 percent)
• money (12 percent)
  

What does it take to have a little more fun at work? Awareness and commitment. Feel free to share these findings with your coworkers, supervisor, and human resources representative. A little more fun can go a long way in determining whether or not you have a dream job, or are simply dreaming about landing another job!

The National "Dream Jobs" Survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive among more than 6,000 workers. A press release summarizing the results is available at CareerBuilder.com.

Chowda Chat: Dean Fossella

Beantown Web introduces a new service called "Chowda Chat" which features a conversation with an influential member of the Greater Boston technology community. The purpose of "Chowda Chat" is to provide Web technology professionals with information to help advance their careers. The format involves three questions and responses followed by one final thought.

The inaugural issue of "Chowda Chat" presents the thoughts and observations of Dean Fossella, Chief Technology Officer for a Division of Thomson Learning, a $2 billion provider of tailored education, training, reference, and assessment solutions to organizations and higher education institutions.

1. How has India affected the marketplace for Boston area Web technology professionals?

"India is a good place for getting work done that is well documented and well managed. That is really an important statement if you think about it. This means that as outsourcing increases, and it’s not just India – look for China, the Philippines, and even Vietnam – the need for Project Managers and Business Analysts increases. Architects, Project Managers and Business Analysts are in increasing demand as outsourcing is more prevalent. Architects because design needs to be in-house in order to maintain interoperability with other systems, technical oversight and technical strategy, Project Managers because you need control of the project in-house and Business Analysts because an organization needs to define it’s own projects."

2. What is the one skill or characteristic that you find most lacking in candidates you interview?

"Business skills are most often lacking in technology candidates. The technology supports the needs of the business, just like marketing, selling, finance, etc… The more business skills (analysis, strategic thinking, innovation, financial knowledge, etc…) one possesses the better decisions one will make for the good of this business."

3. What strategy would you suggest to someone who wants to gain experience when just starting out?

"Look to gain skills that bring you closer to customer needs. Go on sales calls, learn about the market, strive to understand the customers and how they use your products and/or services."

Final Thought: "Business needs drive technology requirements. Knowledge of business, customers and markets will separate you from other technology candidates. The most in-demand Web technology professionals will deliver a 'value proposition', not just a 'wow factor.'"

Thanks Dean for providing our readers with a business perspective on how technology professionals can focus their energies by learning non-technical skills that add value to an organization.

Boston Market -- 1st Quarter, 2007

The Wall Street Journal Online published an article last week entitled "Is 'Web 2.0' Another Bubble?" In the article two technology venture capitalists discuss the valuations of companies attempting to capitalize on the Web 2.0 trend. According to the article Web 2.0 can be defined as "online collaboration and sharing among users."

The article concludes as follows:

"I was recently asked by an entrepreneur what I thought would be the next great technology in the coming year. I told him I thought it would be the Internet. We have just started scratching the surface of the enabling power of the Internet. Whether it is called "Web 2.0" or "New Media" or "Enterprise 2.0," Internet services are going to drive the world's economies for the foreseeable future. To me that doesn't spell bubble, that spells opportunity."

Web 2.0 is alive and well. While web designers are needed to help present the look and feel of Web 2.0 sites, Web developers are needed to facilitate "online collaboration and sharing among users." The tools required to make this happen include programming skill and database knowledge.

Consider the following two searches at BostonWorks.com:

• Web Designer -- 58 job openings
• Web Developer -- 1,171 job openings

In the greater Boston area there are 20 Web developer jobs for every Web designer job!

The ratio of developer to designer jobs is 20:1.

Could this be a statistical aberration? To find out let's search for jobs on BostonWorks.com using common technology keywords. For example, two skills commonly associated with Web design are CSS and Photoshop. Here are the number of job listings that mention these terms in their job descriptions:

• CSS [ 89 ]
  
• Photoshop [ 78 ]

When placed in a broader context of demand for other Web-related technology skills, CSS and Photoshop barely make the top 10:

1. SQL [ 664 ]
   
2. Oracle [ 614 ]
3. HTML [ 378 ]
   
4. SQL Server [ 344 ]
5. XML [ 333 ]
   
6. JavaScript [ 184 ]
7. ASP.NET [ 150 ]
8. JSP [ 117 ]
9. CSS [ 89 ]
   
10. Photoshop [ 78 ]

On closer examination some of these programming and database jobs -- Oracle, for example -- are not strictly Web-related. However, SQL -- the language of creating database queries -- is a core Web developer skill. Knowledge of how to access a relational database (Oracle or SQL Server, for example) and present that information in an (X)HTML format is a critical skill in enabling the "online collaboration and sharing among users."

Database knowledge is a core Web 2.0 skill.

The second 10 of less-in-demand, Web-related skills are as follows:

1. Flash [ 67 ]
   
2. Ajax [ 57 ]
3. DHTML [ 45 ]
   
4. Visual Studio [ 41 ]
5. MySQL [ 40 ]
   
6. PHP [ 39 ]
7. Dreamweaver [ 38 ]
   
8. ColdFusion [ 25 ]
9. VBScript [ 25 ]
   
10. XHTML [ 23 ]

The relentless pace of technology change will continue for the foreseeable future. Web technology professionals must be diligent to maintain and upgrade skills according to market demand. Here is my challenge to the Web technology community for the next three months:

1. Identify one skill from the Top 10 list above to improve on
2. Develop a teach-yourself training plan to learn that skill
   
3. Implement the training plan
4. Demonstrate your new skill in a Web project

I will report my progress in early April, 2007.

The State of the CIO -- 2007

No organization of any size can operate efficiently without information technology (IT) -- the use of technology in managing and processing information. Larger organizations employ Chief Information Officers (CIOs) to coordinate this effort.

CIO magazine surveyed more than 500 CIOs on various topics for the 2007 version of their annual report called The State of the CIO. Since Web-related projects are coordinated, either directly or indirectly, through IT departments, Web professionals should be aware of the challenges facing today's IT leaders. Let's review a summary of the survey results.

More than half of CIOs expect to add full-time staff in 2007. The top three skills most in demand are the following:

• project management (52%)
• application development (50%)
• database management (39%)

Web professionals with expertise in these areas can get the attention of CIOs with documented experience in one or more of these three areas.

Web-related technology solutions were rated lower on the list of skill sets in demand:

• Web services (32%)
• Website development (26%)

Web-related technologies that are part of Web services include XML and SOAP.

CIOs need help. They are swamped with work citing the biggest barrier to job effectiveness as follows:

• Overwhelming backlog of requests/projects

The best way for Web professionals to help CIOs with this backlog is to provide solutions that help CIOs meet their expectations for 2007. When asked "What impact do you expect IT will have in the year ahead?" CIOs responded as follows:

• Enable business innovation (54%)
• Reduce business costs (48%)
• Improve customer (external) satisfaction (48%)
• Create competitive advantage (38%)

Web professionals should consider setting goals for the New Year to document how their Web projects meet the above four criteria. By quantifying these results you can get the attention of business leaders and create your own competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Before your next meeting with a business leader to discuss a Web project download and review a copy of the 2007 State of the CIO survey. The 16-page summary is free, but registration is required. By understanding the IT needs of an organization you will be in better position to solve problems, overcome objections and land the assignment.

Outlook 2007, Part 2

This article is the second of a two-part series [ view Part 1 ] on career prospects for Web designers and developers in 2007. In Part 2 of Outlook 2007 we'll take a closer look at the demand for technology professionals and identify three skill sets that Web professionals should focus on developing in the New Year.

According to 2007 Job Forecast, a survey of more than 2,600 hiring managers and human resource professionals in private sector companies, 40 percent report they will increase their number of full-time, permanent employees in 2007. Information Technology is one of the areas that employers will be recruiting for the most (13 percent of respondents). For a detailed evaluation of corporate hiring plans access 2007 Annual Job Forecast (pdf) available from CareerBuilder.com.

A closer look at the information technology (IT) marketplace reveals that skilled IT professionals are in demand. According to the Robert Half Technology 2007 Salary Guide, one and a half million new computer and IT-related jobs will be created between 2004 and 2014. The Salary Guide helps identify the specific skills required to fill those job in 2007 and what the salaries are likely to be for Web professionals with those skills.

The IT positions in the United States that are expected to experience greater than average demand in 2007 are as follows:

• Software Developers
• Web Developers
  
• Data Warehouse Managers
  
• Project Managers
  
• Application Architects

"Web developers are in high demand as web-based tools, services and applications – collectively referred to as Web 2.0 – gain popularity among companies of all sizes and industries," according to the Salary Guide.

Three areas that Web professionals should focus on developing in 2007 that relate directly to the five in-demand areas are as follows:

• programming skills
  
• database expertise
  
• project management experience

Access the Robert Half Technology Website to obtain a FREE copy of the 2007 Salary Guide.

A closer look at the IT hiring landscape can be gleamed from the Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report , a survey of more than 1,400 Chief Information Officers (CIOs) from companies with more than 100 employees.

Here are the skill sets that are most in demand by CIOs at large companies:

• Microsoft Windows administration (Server 2000/2003) (77%)
  
• network administration (Cisco, Nortel, Novell) (71%)
  
• database management (Oracle, SQL Server, DB2) (63%)

On the programming side these larger companies tend to be more Microsoft-centric with 23% of CIOs reporting demand for Microsoft-specific skills (i.e. ASP.NET). Open source Web programming skills (i.e. PHP) were not reported to be in demand at these larger companies.

Here's the three-step plan for career development in 2007:

1. seek opportunities to develop project-management skills -- the ability to develop a project plan and deliver on that plan in a timely and cost-effective manner


2. develop programming skills -- ASP.NET if you are focusing on larger companies; PHP (open source) if your target market is smaller organizations


3. develop database skills -- Oracle, SQL Server, DB2 if you are focusing on larger companies; MySQL (open source) if your target market is smaller organizations
   

By developing a project plan to improve two skills -- one programming skill and one database skill -- your skill set will expand, your confidence will grow and your marketability will improve.

Here's wishing all of my readers a healthy and prosperous New Year!

Outlook 2007, Part 1

This article is the first of a two-part series [ View Part 2 ] on career prospects for Web designers and developers in 2007. In Part 1 of Outlook 2007 we'll take a broad view of the economy and identify one area of development that Web technology professionals should learn more about in the New Year.

One snapshot of the economy comes from Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of large corporations with more 10 million total employees. They predict slow steady growth for the first half of 2007.

Here are a few key findings from a recent survey of 124 CEOs:

• nearly 70% expect sales to increase over the next six months
  
• more than one third expect employment at their U.S. operations to increase

The biggest concern among CEOs:

• more than 50% cited the rising cost of health care as the greatest cost pressure facing their business

The implications from this survey are clear: workers should continue to find employment opportunities during the first half of 2007, but don't be surprised if an increasing number of these opportunities take the form of contract work without benefits.

Complete details are available in the quarterly CEO Economic Outlook Survey available from the Business Roundtable.

For a closer look at job opportunities within the information technology sector, let's see what Chief Information Officers (CIOs) have to say. The Forrester/ITAA U.S. Tech Sector Index reached a five and a half year high in its most recent quarterly survey. "Improved profits and surprisingly optimistic CIOs drove the index to its highest level since Q1 2001," according to a five-page report summary.

However, the IT sector is going through a period of "refinement and digestion." According to the report, " . . . the current period . . . should end around 2008, and it is becoming clearer that Web 2.0, software-driven computing will likely lead the charge."

While the report did not define Web 2.0 the implication is that Web professionals with knowledge and experience in designing and developing database-driven Web applications will fair well in 2007 and 2008.

On a local level, here are two opportunities to connect with technology leaders to learn more about their perspectives on the technology economy in Massachusetts:

• What's Next for The Digital State in 2007, sponsored by MITX -- Wednesday, January 17
  
• IT Futures Forum, sponsored by BATEC -- Friday, February 2

In Outlook 2007, Part 2 we'll take a closer look at the demand for technology professionals and identify three skill sets that Web professionals should focus on developing in the New Year.

Happy Birthday CSS

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) celebrated its 10-year anniversary this week. In an unrelated event Adobe Systems launched CSS Advisor, a community-driven Website. Designers and developers who use CSS will want to take a look at this free service. The location acts as a central repository for cross-browser/cross-platform CSS issues and solutions.

CSS Advisor is currently in public beta and is available to anyone with an Adobe login and password. Registration is free. The site helps professionals in the following three areas:

• Find solutions to CSS and browser compatibility issues
  
• Share solutions and workarounds you've discovered with the community
  
• Comment on and improve existing solutions
  

The plan is for CSS Advisor to be incorporated into the next version of Dreamweaver where it will automatically detect CSS compatibility issues in your code and take you to the proper page on the CSS Advisor site.

While you are at the Adobe Website check out the Dreamweaver Developer Center. Articles, tutorials and downloads cater to a wide range of developer experience from Building your first CSS site to Adobe Spry, a new Ajax framework available for download. If you are new to Ajax, check out the Spry Demos Gallery.

To learn more about CSS Advisor, access an InfoWorld article. Also, check out editorial commentary at Digital Media Online.

Internet Explorer 7: CSS Support

With the recent release of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) for Windows, Web designers and developers may finally get relief from the challenge of cross browser compatibility. Or will we?

To provide the Web development community with answers, O'Reilly Media, Inc. has just released a document that details support for Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in the new IE7. Here are a few topics covered in this timely report:

• Flaws in IE6
• Fixes in IE7
• What you won't find in IE7
• Hacks and Workarounds in IE7
  

In addition the document presents a rationale for how quickly IE7 might replace IE6 as the primary browser that the vast majority of Internet users will use to view Web pages. For example, IE7 is now the second most popular Web browser surpassing both Firefox 1.5 and Firefox 2.0 in November.

Every Web professional should be current on issues related to design and development for different operating systems and browser products. If you'd like to learn more, Releasing CSS: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love IE7 is available for purchase and instant download. The investment in this 69-page document is only $10.

[Full Disclosure: As the publisher of this blog I have no financial arrangement with O'Reilly Media, Inc. and do not benefit financially or otherwise from recommending its products. I have been searching the Internet for the past month to recommend resources to help designers and developers identify challenges and solutions relating to the recent release of both IE7 and Firefox 2 and have concluded that this is the most comprehensive product available at this time.]

Microsoft Vista/Office Launch Tour

Windows Vista is the highly touted, long overdue operating system from Microsoft. It will eventually replace Windows XP.

Office 2007 is Microsoft's latest upgrade to the Office 2003 suite of productivity tools which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, among other programs.


Microsoft wants to tell you all about Windows Vista and Office 2007 and has reserved the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center for one giant marketing extravaganza! Boston is the fourth stop on a planned 15-city tour designed to promote the first simultaneous upgrade of Microsoft's operating system and Office suite since 1995.

The giveaways are usually top of the line. The party is free. And space is limited. So act now if you would like to attend Ready for a New Day: Launch Tour 2007 on Wednesday, January 24, 2007.

Boston Market -- December

The Monster Local Employment Index for Boston reached a new high in October. "In addition to heightened seasonal demand for retail workers, the index for Boston showed an increase in online job opportunities in IT, science and engineering professionals," according to a Monster press release.

If you are a recent college graduate your prospects of finding a quality job are especially good according to Job Outlook 2007, an annual survey published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

"This marks the fourth straight year that employers have projected percentage increases in the double digits," says a NACE representative. According to the survey, employers plan to target the following degree areas to fill positions:

• business
• engineering
• computer-related

Not all computer-related skills are valued equally by employers, however. The job market analysis below reveals which computer-related skills are most in-demand in the greater Boston area [ along with the number of jobs listed for that skill at BostonWorks.com ].

The following skills are typically associated with Web Design:

• Photoshop [ 67 ]
  
• CSS [ 67 ]
  
• Flash [ 52 ]
  
• Dreamweaver [ 35 ]
  
• XHTML [ 18 ]
  

The following skills are typically associated with Web Development:

• XML [ 238 ]
• ASP [ 182 ]
  
• JavaScript [ 118 ]
  
• ASP.NET [ 104 ]
  

The following skills are typically associated with data management:

• Oracle [ 390 ]
  
• SQL [ 447 ]
  
• SQL Server [ 214 ]
  

Web design skills continue to lag behind Web programming skills. Database skills (including XML) continue to be in highest demand by Boston area employers. Average salaries reflect this demand curve and are listed below:

• Graphic Artist / Designer | $45,000
• Web Designer | $46,500
• Senior Web Designer | $48,000
• Webmaster | $57,000
• Web Programmer | $65,000
• Web Developer | $65,000
• Database Administrator (DBA) | $85,000

For a more complete list of skills, along with direct access to job postings at both BostonWorks.com and Monster.com, review Boston Market -- 4th Quarter, 2006.

100 Million to One

Now that there are more than 100 million Websites on the Internet, how do you get search engines to find yours?

What if you have more than one website that you manage? Wouldn't is be efficient if there were just one process to help streamline the task of having the major search engines find the most current information on the websites you manage?

Google has such a process and Yahoo! and Microsoft have agreed to support it. It's called Sitemaps. Google's Webmaster Help Center provides an introduction to Sitemaps and links to other webmaster tools.

The process is fairly simple:

1. create an XML file
2. place it on your Web server
   

Visit Sitemaps.org for details. The Protocol page will show you how to create the XML file and the FAQ page will show you where to place the file on the server.

To learn more access Search Giants Find Common Ground for Webmasters from NewsFactor.com.

NOTE: Approximately 85% of all searches are processed through Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft search engines.

Boston Market -- November

Monster.com released its Employment Index for October and reported a three-month upward trend in job postings indicating "continued strong demand for IT professionals across the country". The Index including design professionals also participated in the three-month upward trend.

While this report confirms a strong job market for technology workers, not all technology workers are valued the same. For example, a new free salary service from CareerBuilder.com called CBSalary.com provides an insight into pay scales for workers with Internet and database skills. Check out the following average salaries in the greater Boston area:

• Web Designer | $40,000
• Graphic Artist / Designer | $43,000
  
• Senior Web Designer | $55,500
  
• Web Programmer | $63,250
  
• Web Developer | $63,250
  
• Webmaster | $63,250
  
• Database Administrator (DBA) | $80,000

From this simple analysis Web programming skills command a 50% pay premium over Web design skills. Database skills command a 100% pay premium over Web design skills.

What about the demand for these skills? Once again a similar trend emerges.

Listed below are several skills typically associated with Web Design [ along with the number of jobs listed for that skill at BostonWorks.com ]:

• Photoshop [ 74 ]
• CSS [ 72 ]
• Flash [ 48 ]
• Dreamweaver [ 34 ]
• XHTML [ 13 ]

Listed below are several programming skills that are more typically associated with Web Development:

• ASP [ 337 ]
• XML [ 262 ]
• JavaScript [ 145 ]
• ASP.NET [ 142 ]
• JSP [ 106 ]

In addition, here are a few skills typically associated with Database Administration:

• Oracle [ 523 ]
• SQL [ 519 ]
• SQL Server [ 273 ]

The demand trends and the compensation trends track each other as follows:

• Web Designer [ lower demand → lower pay ]
• Web Developer [ moderate demand → moderate pay ]
• Database Administrator [ higher demand → higher pay ]
  

If you are looking to upgrade your skills consider one of the following FREE online courses enrolling later this month at the HP Learning Center:

• Introduction to Programming
• Microsoft® ASP.NET: Building Applications

Web Research: A Look in the Mirror

If job candidates use the Internet to identify jobs and research companies why can't companies use the Internet to research job candidates?

A survey of 1,150 hiring managers reveals the following Web tools that are used in the candidate screening process:

• one-in-four use Internet search engines
• one-in-ten search social networking sites

Check out these staggering findings:

• More than half (51%) of candidates are excluded from receiving an offer after the hiring manager performs an Internet search
• Nearly two thirds (62%) of candidates are excluded after a search of social networks

What does the Internet say about you? Have you googled yourself lately? What kind of "digital dirt" can be unearthed on your MySpace or Facebook site?

To learn the leading reasons for being dismissed as a candidate access a press release of the survey results from CareerBuilder.com. Also listed are three steps you can take to safeguard your online persona.

If you are looking to use the Web to present a favorable image to prospective employers consider the following list of reasons that hiring managers found to help confirm their decision to hire a candidate:

• candidate’s background information supported their professional qualifications for the job (64%)
  
• candidate was well-rounded, showed a wide range of interests (40%)
  
• candidate had great communication skills (34%)
  
• candidate’s site conveyed a professional image (31%)
  
• researcher got a good feel for the candidate’s personality, could see a good fit within the company culture (31%)
  
• other people posted great references about the candidate (23%)
  
• candidate was creative (23%)
  
• candidate received awards and accolades (19%)

What the Web says about you can land you in a bigger cubicle on the road to the corner office or in the grandstand as you watch others accepting better paying jobs and wonder why you are not receiving offers.

Salary Guide -- 2007

The following technology roles are expected to be in high demand in 2007:

• software developer
• web developer
• data warehouse manager

These roles require expertise in programming and database management which confirms the findings in Boston Market -- 4th Quarter, 2006 as follows:

• High demand -- database skills (SQL)
• Moderate demand -- programming skills (ASP, JavaScript & ASP.NET)
  
• Low demand -- design skills (XHTML, CSS & Flash)

The annual base compensation ranges for the top three in-demand roles are as follows:

• Software developers [ $60,250 -- $94,750 ]
  
• Web developers [ $54,750 -- $81,500 ]
  
• Data warehouse managers [ $85,500 -- $113,500 ]
  

The industries forecasting particularly strong demand for IT professionals in 2007 include the following:

• financial and business services
• insurance
• technology
• healthcare
• manufacturing

Additional technology roles and their expected salary ranges include the following:

• Project managers [ $72,750 - $106,250 ]
  
• Quality assurance analysts [ $52,250 - $74,500 ]
  
• Applications architects [ $80,000 - $112,750 ]
  
• Network security administrators [ $69,750 - $98,500 ]
  
• IT auditors [ $69,250 - $97,000 ]
  

A press release of the Robert Half Technology 2007 Salary Guide is available for review. You can also register to receive a FREE copy of the guide along with other resources including a Glossary of Job Descriptions.