Friday, July 07, 2006

Boston Market -- Third Quarter, 2006

The Monster Employment Index hit another all-time high in June -- its eighth new high in the last 12 months -- indicating strong job demand. "Higher demand for white-collar occupations such as management, finance and IT suggests continued momentum of U.S. economy amid increasingly tight labor market," according to a Monster press release.

Beantown Web monitors IT jobs (Web-related jobs to be specific) on a monthly basis via the "Boston Market" series of postings. Beginning this month, and continuing on a quarterly basis, Beantown Web will conduct a more thorough TACK analysis. Acronyms abound throughout the technology industry and TACK is Beantown Web's contribution to the naming confusion. TACK stands for Tools, Acronyms, Containers, and Knowledge.

  • Tools -- software programs used in Web design and development
  • Acronyms -- languages used in Web design and development
  • Containers -- database programs used to store information
  • Knowledge -- certifications that indicate proficiency in a specific technology area

One way to gauge the current job demand is through a keyword search on specific technology skills at selective online job sites. Beantown Web monitors two sites: BostonWorks and Monster. Keywords are then grouped into one of the four TACK categories.

A few of the common keywords associated with Web design and Web development jobs are included in the listings below.

Note: the numbers in parentheses indicate the number of job postings that list that keyword in the job description. [ First number: BostonWorks.com ][ Second number: Monster.com ]

Tools (software)

  • Photoshop [ 92 ][219]
  • Flash [ 44 ][ 38 ]
  • Dreamweaver [ 46 ][ 81 ]
  • Visual Studio [ 29 ][ 116 ]

Acronyms (languages)

Containers (databases)

Knowledge (certifications)

  • The demand for certified professionals varies by discipline. All things being equal certification helps to distinguish you from your competition. An appropriate certification entry point for Web design and Web development professionals is Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW). For a complete listing of all technology certifications, along with links to the appropriate certification Website, be sure to check out the Web Apprentices Career Center.

A few quick observations:

  • Monster.com consistently lists twice as many opportunities as BostonWorks.com
  • Acronym (language) skills are in greater demand than Tool (software) skills
  • Container (database) skills are in greater demand than Tool (software) skills

Web designers and developers who want to maneuver their careers (TACK through the winds of constant technology change) should focus on one Acronym (language) and one Container (database) and set a near-term goal to obtain additional training and experience.

Recommended training courses for July are as follows:

All three courses are available for FREE compliments of the HP Learning Center. Classes begin Thursday, July 13.
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Wednesday, July 05, 2006

The 86 Best Places to Work

Computerworld has identified the 100 Best Places to Work in IT in America. Three of them are in Massachusetts:

The Society of Human Resource Management has identified the 50 Best Small and Medium Businesses to Work in America. Three of them are in Massachusetts:


The Boston Business Journal has identified the 80 Best Places to Work in Massachusetts in four categories as follows:

Emerging Companies (10-24 Employees)

Small Companies (25-100 Employees)

Midsize Companies (101-500 Employees)

Large Companies (500+ Employees)

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Friday, June 23, 2006

The Business of Blogging

On average a new blog is created every second of every day -- that's 75,000 new blogs a day, according to Technorati, a website that tracks the blogosphere. Many of these blogs are personal, but increasingly, they are seen as valuable business tools. In fact, . . .

"Blogs will make or break your business." This opening sentence sets the premise for a new research report published by the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. The study surveyed 74 well-known and established bloggers in their respective fields.

From a business perspective blogs can act as "huge ongoing focus groups providing feedback and ideas." So the question that researchers asked was "how does a business enter and thrive in the blogosphere?"

The two primary reasons for starting a business blog are as follows (percentage of respondents):
  1. marketing / promotional use (31%)
  2. public relations / communicate with customers (27%)
Here are a few blogosphere truths outlined in the report:
  1. Blogs take time and commitment
  2. Blogs must be part of a plan
  3. A blog is a conversation
  4. Transparency, authenticity, and focus are good. Bland is bad.

For complete details access, Behind the Scenes in the Blogosphere: Advice from Established Bloggers (pdf).

Once you launch your business blog, consider providing a link to the iBlog Business Directory. Billed as the World’s First Business Blog Directory Solely Dedicated to Business and Corporate Blogs, your submission is free and the service could help put you in touch with potential readers for the business topic you are writing about.

What are the implications for Web designers and developers? That's easy. We possess the tools and information to help guide business leaders in establishing a presence on the Internet. A business blog is another tool designed to help businesses communicate and we are uniquely positioned to advise business leaders on the process. Download this report today, study it, and use it to open a dialogue with current and prospective clients.
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Thursday, June 22, 2006

IT Labor Market Update

New online job ads increased in May according to The Conference Board Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series™. The number of new online job ads in May was slightly lower than the record levels in March. New England remains the region with the highest number of new online jobs. For every 100 workers there were 2.38 job ads.

A closer look at the technology marketplace reveals that U.S. tech employment is near an all-time high while unemployment is around 3.0%, near its record low. According to a WashTech/CWA report unemployment is underreported and is actually around 3.6%. Any number less than 4% is below the national average for other sectors and suggests a healthy tech employment environment.

So where are the IT jobs? According to a quarterly survey of Chief Information Officers (CIOs), 13 percent of executives polled plan to add IT staff in the next three months and three percent anticipate cutbacks. The net 10 percent hiring increase is up two percentage points from the previous quarter’s forecast.

"As the employment market becomes more competitive, technology executives will need to focus their efforts on sound retention strategies," according to the Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report.

When asked which technical skill sets were needed most within their IT departments, CIOs responded as follows (percent responding):

  • Microsoft Windows administration (Server 2000/2003) (79%)
  • network administration (Cisco, Nortel, Novell) (76%)
  • database management (Oracle, SQL Server, DB2) (69%)

The implication for Web designers and developers is clear: to improve marketability formalize your training and expand your experience in the following two areas:

  • Web server administration
  • database-driven Web applications
One class to consider is Firewall Basics available for FREE at the HP Learning Center.
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Saturday, June 10, 2006

Offshoring Update

Are technology jobs moving offshore? Research suggests that concerns are overblown. If fact, "IT positions requiring advanced degrees and business knowledge are growing at a pace on par with the boom years experienced in the 1990s," according to a newly released research study.

However, low-level technology jobs are most at risk for moving offshore. These jobs generally meet the following criteria:
  • labor intensive
  • easy to codify
  • requires little face-to-face contact

A press summary and a detailed report (pdf) of "Offshoring of Information-Technology Jobs: Myths and Realities" is available from American Sentinel University.

So, what are some of the high level technology jobs that are likely to continue to be in demand?

According to Money Magazine's Best Jobs in America two of the Top 10 jobs are the following:

How does your job compare? Check out the statistics on The Top 50 jobs, as well as, 166 additional job titles.
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Sunday, June 04, 2006

Boston Market -- June

Average IT workers are doing well financially in America. Average is good enough to earn $73,000 as an IT staffer. If you have management expertise then average is good enough to earn $99,000 as an IT manager. These figures represent salaries (and bonus, if applicable) and do not reflect the value of benefits which can add an additional 30% beyond salary. These findings are summarized in the InformationWeek Research's National IT Salary Survey, an annual query of more than 10,000 technology professionals.

The lowest-paying IT jobs are in the following categories:

  • networking
  • training
  • IT support

Job titles matter. If you want to earn a six-figure income work your way into a job title that includes one of the following:

  • architect
  • sales support engineer

If you are manager the largest pay packages includes that following job functions:

  • data mining and data warehouse
  • human resources IT
  • Web infrastructure
  • ERP
  • enterprise application integration

Charts are available to graphically represent the compensation for staffers and managers in the most common IT functions. Compensation for Web design and development averages $64,000 for staffers and $88,000 for managers. How does your pay check compare?

So, what do you do if you want to enjoy a bigger pay day? Here are three options to consider:

  • acquire additional technology skills
  • prepare for a move into management
  • acquire business skills

"Technology is integrated into all aspects of business, which means technical aptitude alone will not suffice for IT candidates," according to a representative of Robert Half Technology. Their national poll of more than 1,400 CIOs from large companies reveals that forty-one percent said they are placing greater emphasis on job candidates’ knowledge of business fundamentals. To be competitive in today's IT marketplace technology workers need basic business proficiency in finance, marketing and management.

So, here's the training recommendation for June:

  • Learn higher level technology skills
  • Learn to manage projects and people
  • Learn more about business
In order to earn more you have to learn more. What you learn this month will be reflected in what you earn next month and beyond.
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Friday, June 02, 2006

20 Questions

IT workers are on the move. Nearly half of all IT workers are planning a job change. Here are the three top reasons why technology professionals are testing the waters:

  • higher compensation
  • not liking their current company's management or corporate culture
  • seeking more personal fulfillment
The following "niche pockets" are seeing a greater than average demand for talent:

  • business analysis
  • project management

For details on the survey of more than 8,000 employed U.S. adults including more than 500 who hold IT jobs, access Information Week.

So, let's say you are a Web technology professional preparing to shop your talents. Here's a game plan for preparing for a potential interview.

  • Step #1 -- review the 20 potential interview questions below
  • Step #2 -- select one question a day for the next 20 days and formulate your response

Step#1

A Seattle-based search engine optimization (SEO) company called SEOmoz developed the following 20 interview questions:

  1. What industry sites and blogs do you read regularly?
  2. Do you prefer to work alone or on a team?
  3. How comfortable are you with writing HTML entirely by hand?
  4. What is the w3c?
  5. Can you write table-less XHTML? Do you validate your code?
  6. What are a few of your favorite development tools and why?
  7. Describe/demonstrate your level of competence in a *nix shell environment
  8. What skills and technologies are you the most interested in improving upon or learning?
  9. Show me your portfolio!
  10. What sized websites have you worked on in the past?
  11. Show me your code!
  12. What are a few sites you admire and why? (from a webdev perspective)
  13. Fix this code, please.
  14. I just pulled up the website you built and the browser is displaying a blank page. Walk me through the steps you'd take to troubleshoot the problem.
  15. What's your favorite development language and why?
  16. Do you find any particular languages or technologies intimidating?
  17. Acronym time (oh boy!)
  18. What web browser do you use?
  19. Rank your interest in these development tasks from 1 to 5 (compiled from a list of tasks the job requires)
  20. What are a few personal web projects you've got going on?

For details about the rationale for each question access Interviewing Web Developers and consider SEOmoz for your search engine optimization needs as a way of rewarding them for their contribution to the Web development community.

Step #2

Tackle a few of the more time-consuming questions first, one at a time, because they can make the most difference in separating you from your potential competition. In particular, the questions related to organizing your work and training experiences include the following:

  • Show me your portfolio!
  • What sized websites have you worked on in the past?
  • Show me your code!
  • What are a few personal web projects you've got going on?
If you are just starting out and don't have an amazing portfolio, that's OK. You're not expected to. However, organizing the work you do have in one clean, easy-to-navigate Website can go a long way to making a positive first impression.

Remember: The World is Flat -- start running!
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Tuesday, May 30, 2006

The World is Flat

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion,
or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle,
or it will starve to death.
It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better start running.

This African proverb provides the tone for The World is Flat, a Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. Author Thomas Friedman will receive the award for Webby Person of the Year at the 10th annual Webby Awards on June 12.

Business executives across the country have kept this book atop the BusinessWeek Best-Seller List for more than a year. These leaders are making decisions about the future of work in America, the future of your work -- your job. Can you afford not to add this book to your personal reading list?

Friedman chronicles The Ten Forces That Flattened the World. Starting with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 these ten forces reached a tipping point around the turn of the century. About that time you and I began competing, unknowingly, with 150 million educated, Web-enabled workers outside the United States. These workers want your job and are willing to take a lot less money to do it.

Friedman details how you and I can stay relevant and remain competitive in a flattened world. The goal is to become an Untouchable -- a person whose job can not be outsourced. Untouchables come in four categories:

  • workers who are "special"
  • workers who are "specialized"
  • workers who are "anchored"
  • workers who are "really adaptable"

The bottom line is that "while technology advances make last year's work a commodity, reskilling, continual professional education and client intimacy to develop new relationships keeps him or her ahead of the commodity curve and away from a potential offshore."

The World is Flat, start running!
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Tuesday, May 16, 2006

The Globe 100

The Boston Globe has released The Globe 100 -- the best performing public companies of 2005 in Massachusetts. Topping the list as Company of the Year is dot-com survivor Akamai Technologies, Inc. of Cambridge.

A complete list of 27 stories is available at the Boston Globe. Registration is required, but is free.

If you are looking for a job, consider the 50 Fastest Growth Companies. You can also consider the Top 10 Technology Companies ranked by revenue. They are as follows:

  1. Raytheon
  2. EMC Corporation
  3. Analog Devices
  4. CMGI
  5. Teradyne
  6. Avid Technology
  7. Parametric Technology Corp.
  8. Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates
  9. Kronos
  10. MKS Instruments
Looking to work for a company a little closer to home? Then access an interactive map of The Globe 100.
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Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Webby Awards -- 2006

The Webby Awards is the leading international honor for Web sites and the innovators behind them. New York Times proclaimed the Webby Awards "the online equivalent of an Oscar." This year's winners have been announced in 69 categories.

The 10th Annual Webby Awards received a record 5,500 entries from over 40 countries around the world. In addition, more than 300,000 votes were cast by people around the world to identify the People's Voice Awards.

Organizers also announced recipients of this year's Webby Special Achievement awards, including the following:

[ NOTE: Beantown Web will review Friedman's influential book, The World is Flat, in a upcoming issue. ]

The 2006 Webby Awards winners are as follows:
Learn more about the Webby Awards by accessing a press release. You can also review the People's Voice Winners and additional category nominees at the Web Awards Website.
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Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Boston Market -- May

Trend #1: The Consumer Confidence Index rose in April to its highest level since March 2002. "Recent improvements in the labor market have been a major driver behind the rise in confidence in early 2006," according to a Conference Board representative.

Trend #2: The most recent Monster Employment Index for Boston (pdf) reached its highest level since it was launched 12 months ago.

Trend #3: The Yoh Index of Technology Wages ended the first quarter of 2006 at the highest level since its inception.

Trend #4: Microsoft will invest an additional $2 billion in a variety of technologies designed to transform its way of doing business on the Web.

So how do technology professionals capitalize on these powerful trends? By making a commitment to learning Microsoft's Web-based technologies. SQL is the generic database language that cements these technologies together.

BostonWorks.com lists the following opportunities:

Monster.com lists the following opportunities:

The best training value this month is to download the following FREE software:

Then, make an investment in one of three new Dummies books:

You invest $20. Microsoft invests $2 billion. Where can you get a better return on investment than that?
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Sunday, April 23, 2006

Streaming Media

In 2005, broadband Internet access surpassed 50 percent of U.S. households and is expected to reach 75 percent by 2011 according to a new research report released Friday. Along with high-speed connection comes the capability to deliver quality video content.

An increasing number of Websites are offering video content, not only in the form of entertainment (Lost and Desperate Housewives), but also in the form of product demos, educational seminars, and other so-called "streaming media" service offerings.

For additional information about the report findings access a press release and a market research report summary available from Insight Research.

So, what is streaming media? Two definitions follow:
  • media (Web content) that is consumed (read, heard, viewed) while it is being delivered (source: Wikipedia)
  • the transmission of digital audio and video files over an IP network or wireless network in real time or on-demand, while prohibiting users from storing the files locally (source: Insight Research)

The most important factor driving the consumer segment is content-on-demand -- the desire by consumers to listen and watch what they want at the time and place of their choosing.

The practical implication for Web developers is that clients will increasingly seek to differentiate their Web-based offerings via streaming media content and designers and developers should become knowledgeable and proficient in educating clients on the available options.

To learn more about streaming media access University of Wisconsin's Understanding Streaming Media tutorial series. Then visit the Creation and Production section to learn more about the five most popular streaming media technologies.

To understand the specific HTML code you would use to add rich media content to a Website access Embedding Streaming Video in a Web Page available from Media College. In particular, check out the technique used to enable video to be displayed in both Internet Explorer and Firefox. Code is available in the following formats:

As the Web evolves so must a Web professional's skills. And rich media content development is a skill consistent with the recent increase in demand for Web Marketing skills.
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Thursday, April 20, 2006

Skilled Tech Workers in Demand

Virtually all CEOs of the fastest growing technology companies say they have plans to grow their workforce over the next 12 months. However, 41 percent said finding, hiring and retaining qualified employees remains the major challenge.

Here are some of the strategies technology companies are using to attract quality workers:

  • increase stock options or some form of ownership interest (71 percent)
  • offer flexible work hours (49 percent)
  • offer additional vacation days (23 percent)
  • offer training and development programs (35 percent)
  • provide a career growth plan (28 percent)

So, what does it take to succeed at a fast growing high tech company? According to CEOs their success can be attributed to the following qualities:

  • entrepreneurial spirit (72 percent)
  • sheer determination to succeed (66 percent)

Making a lesser contribution were factors such as technical knowledge, upbringing, luck, personal relationships, and education.

A press release of The Technology Fast 500 CEO Survey can be found at the Deloitte Website. To access the websites of the 50 Fastest Growing Technology Companies in New England visit the Web Apprentices Career Center.
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Monday, April 17, 2006

New Year, New Life

Behind every runner is a story. And today more than 22,000 stories will unfold in the 110th running of the Boston Marathon. Setting an ambitious goal, such as completing a marathon, can be uplifting for the individual and inspirational for others. I can personally attest to the power of accomplishing such a "feet" having successfully navigated the Hopkinton to Boston course in 1990. My desire to help others set and achieve this special goal lead to the publication of The Race to Boston.

If today's event fuels a desire to dream big and make a change in your life, then resources are available to help you navigate the course. Whether that change is professional or personal, having a plan and consistently implementing the plan are just a few of the cornerstones for unlocking the secrets of motivation.

You may be familiar with the work of Anthony Robbins through his infomercials and audio training products Personal Power and Get the Edge. Tony wants to help you set and achieve one significant goal of your choosing and he has offered a FREE online mini-seminar, New Year, New Life to help guide you though the process. This audio coaching service will help you turn your resolutions into actions and results.

If you find yourself inspired by the stories that will emerge from today's race, then use the power of momentum to script your own story of achievement that you can use to help inspire others next year.
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Friday, April 14, 2006

Boston Market -- April

Demand for business and financial workers surged in March as corporations staff up due to continued expansion efforts. Details of this increasing job expansion can be viewed in the Monster Employment Index which reached another all-time high last month.

In keeping with the marketing focus in the last two articles, this month's market analysis highlights a few of the technology skills needed to help businesses market their products and services.

A quick search on the "e-commerce" keyword reveals the following job listings in the greater Boston area (number of listings):

  • BostonWorks.com (77)
  • Monster.com (390)

According to an annual survey of 250 e-commerce executives conducted by the e-tailing group, "e-commerce is becoming an important, stand-alone sales channel and websites are increasingly seen as revenue generators and important profit centers." A summary of the survey can be accessed for a limited time via eMarketer.

According to the survey the top three Web-related initiatives planned for 2006 are as follows (percentage of executive responding):

  • enhanced onsite merchandising features (75%)
  • more targeted e-mail marketing programs (74%)
  • improving onsite search (70%)

If your skill-set includes knowledge and experience in these areas then your skills are in demand. To obtain knowledge and experience in these in-demand Web marketing areas consider the following FREE training plan that focuses on two popular Web development technologies that can be used to develop and maintain a company's e-commerce strategy:

ASP.NET focus:

PHP focus:

Web technology + marketing skills = career opportunities
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Tuesday, April 11, 2006

IAC Award Winners

The Web Marketing Association has announced its 2006 Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Award winners. The awards were developed to honor excellence in online advertising, recognize the individuals and organizations responsible, and showcase the award winning Internet advertising.

The judging criteria was as follows:
  • creativity
  • innovation
  • impact
  • design
  • copywriting
  • use of the medium

The Best of Show winners for 2006 are as follows:

Additional winners in the The Best of Industry award level can be accessed at the IAC Winners website.
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Monday, April 03, 2006

Wanted: Marketing Skills

Question: Where are corporate marketing departments spending their money in 2006?
Answer: Internet marketing

A survey of more than 1,700 marketing professionals at Fortune 500 companies across the United States and Canada provides insights into what areas of marketing large companies plan to focus their attention on in 2006.

More than half of all large companies plan to increase spending on Internet marketing, according to the "2006 Spending & Staffing Trends for Corporate Marketing Departments" study. Other areas receiving increased focus are brand marketing (42%) and advertising (39%).

The survey also found that an improving economy and an impending labor shortage combine to raise the following concerns among large corporations:

  • 59 percent of companies are concerned about employee retention
  • 78 percent believe employee turnover will be a challenge over the next five years
So, large companies are concerned about retention and turnover and they are looking for workers with marketing and Internet experience. Web designers and Web developers who can document Web-based marketing project expertise can position themselves today to take advantage of the opportunities of tomorrow.

To supplement your technical training with marketing knowledge sign up for one of three Web-based marketing classes:

You can review the highlights of the marketing survey in a press release or obtain a free copy by contacting Kelly Shumaker at Aquent Marketing Staffing, a Boston-based a global professional services firm.
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Monday, March 13, 2006

SXSW Web Awards

The SXSW Web Awards is an international competition that attempts to uncover "the best new websites and celebrate those who are building and implementing tomorrow's online trends." The awards focus primarily on sites that went active or were redesigned in 2005.

Sixteen categories were selected with five finalists in each category. A People's Choice Award was given to one site in each category. Here are the sixteen categories along with the respective award winner:

Amusement: Heart Attack
Art: AIGA Design Archives
Blog: Avalonstar
Business (For-Profit): Timberland: Build Your Own Boot
Business (Green/Non-Profit): GE - Geoterra
CSS: Kutztown University Communication Design
Classic: Compound Pilot
Community/Wiki: 9rules Network
Educational Resource: MAKEZine
Experimental: Meebo
Film/TV: IMAX's Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D
Flash: LeapFrog/FLY
Music: Eminem.com
Personal Portfolio: David Josue Photography
Student: HipCal
Technical Achievement: Technorati

People's Choice (online public's favorite finalist): Eminem.com
Best of Show (judges favorite finalist): Technorati

For a more detailed explanation of each category visit the SXSW (South by Southwest) 9th Annual Web Awards Winners Web page. To view the additional four nominees for each category visit the Awards Finalists Web page.
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Thursday, March 09, 2006

CIO Survey - Second Quarter

Executives at firms with more than 1,000 employees plan a net 20 percent increase in IT hiring activity during the second quarter, according a survey of more than 1,400 Chief Information Officers (CIOs) at companies with more than 100 employees.

“Competition is rising for professionals skilled in the hottest applications and specialties, and multiple offers are increasingly common,” according to the executive director of Robert Half Technology, sponsors of the quarterly study.

The top three technical skill sets most in demand within their IT departments are the following (percentage of CIOs responding):
  • Microsoft Windows (NT/2000/XP) administration (81 percent)
  • Wireless network management (52 percent)
  • SQL Server management (49 percent)

The following four Web development-related skills all were mentioned as being in-demand by at least 20 percent of CIOs:

  • .NET development
  • ASP development
  • Java development
  • XML development
To learn more access a press release about the Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report.
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Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Boston Market -- March

This month's analysis of the Web technology marketplace in the Boston metro area is vendor-specific. Read beyond this sentence only if you are open-minded about advancing your career. The focus for March will be on developing Microsoft-centric skills.

Web design evolves into Web development when interactivity and database connectivity are added to a Website. So, database knowledge and programming skills help to differentiate a developer from a designer.

In the database arena Oracle remains king (number of listings at Monster.com):

Structured Query Language (SQL), the common language of database access, is the single most valued technology skill with more than 1000 listings!

In the skill set of Web programming Java Server Pages (JSP) holds the lead:

So, adding SQL Server and ASP.NET skills to your resume will significantly enhance career prospects.

Late last year Microsoft launched SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005. Along with these tools they announced the upgrade of ASP.NET to ASP.NET 2.0. Two new books are now on the market to help learn the Express (FREE) Editions of these two products:

Amazon offers both books together at a discounted price of only $42.88. There might not be a better training investment out there this month, except for this one . . .

Attend three Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 Webcast Series seminars (FREE) and you will receive Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition software ($299 retail value) and other training materials FREE! If you have prior experience with JSP, PHP or ColdFusion, Microsoft wants to introduce you to ASP.NET 2.0. (If you have no prior experience with these technologies select the PHP option.) Webcasts begin Tuesday, March 7.

Now, if you are really into it, you can catch a 17-minute interview with Bill Gates as he discusses these and other technologies that Microsoft is building its future on. Note that this is an in-house interview from Channel 9, Microsoft's own news channel. The interviewer is not a threat to challenge Katie Couric for the coveted CBS Evening News assignment.

Microsoft has received the focus of attention this month simply because I have found no other vendor committed to providing resources to helping Web professionals develop their skills at little or no cost. If you are aware of other vendors -- Adobe (Macromedia), Oracle, IBM, Sun, to name a few -- that offer low-cost, no-cost software and training to help develop skills that are highly valued in the marketplace, then please let me know. I'll be glad to spotlight their offerings in future articles.
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