Beantown Web

Friday, May 20, 2016

Boston Web Tech Job Market | Q2 2016

The job market continues to expand as we move into the summer months.

~ Tech Employment Stayed Strong in Q1

~ Hot Streak Continues for American Job Market

~ Thirty-four Percent of Employers Plan to Hire Full-Time, Permanent Employees in Q2

Beantown Web's quarterly Boston Web Tech Job Market analysis confirms that demand, especially for web technology workers, continues to expand, albeit at a less robust pace than last quarter.

Boston Web Tech Job Market

The list of Top 25 Web Technologies in Boston has been updated for the second quarter. It appears in the right-hand column and below. 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.

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 early February ] listed by number of job postings at Indeed.com:

May, 2016

SQL | 6,697 6%
Java | 4,118 5%
agile *** | 3,508 11%
JavaScript | 3,203 4%
Python | 2,688 6%
Oracle | 2,574 6%
social media | 2,312 4%
iOS | 1,754 0%
SaaS | 1,663 6%
C# | 1,638 1%
HTML + CSS | 1,582 1%
Web Services | 1,532 8%
SQL Server | 1,331 3%
UI | 1,292 1%
Android | 1,269 2%
scrum *** | 1,241 5%
jQuery | 1,216 2%
AWS | 1,186 7%
Ruby | 1,125 1%
Git | 1,087 11%
MySQL | 1,079 4%
XML | 1,069 15%
Perl | 1,022 5%
PHP | 936 4%
API | 907 6%

*** 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.

Recommended Skill Strategy

Select five technical skills in the Top 25 and focus on becoming proficient -- if not expert -- in each technology. Then, list three links to projects that demonstrate your proficiency in these technologies.

What is the one technical skill holding you back? If you developed a greater competency in this skill, it would open up more opportunities for you.

Guard against being distracted by "shiny new object" skills that are not listed in the Top 25. Without having solid core skills in high-demand technologies, you may not experience an optimum return-on-investment in terms of time and energy invested in becoming proficient at lower-demand technical skills.

To help you develop your technical skills consider joining Boston PHP Meetup and participating in one of the following virtual self-study groups:

PHP Percolate, Season 8
Drupal Diner, Season 2

[ Full Disclosure: The author of this blog is one of the co-organizers of Boston PHP Meetup. ]

Recommended Search Strategy

When it comes to landing a new position, here are the strategies that tech workers have found to be most successful:

~ a friend referred them (28 percent)

~ websites other than Stack Overflow (17 percent)

~ external recruiters (14 percent)

~ seeking out an opportunity directly (10 percent)

~ in-house recruiter (10 percent)

~ career fair (6 percent)

So, use Indeed to identify a new opportunity (17 percent), then use your LinkedIn network to land a referral into that company (28 percent). This combination strategy will maximize your odds of landing an interview, and ultimately, the job.

If you are going to use external recruiters (14 percent), consider working with those recruiters who come highly recommended by others.

Boston's Top 100 Web Technologies

An expanded version of this list -- Top 100 Web Technologies in Boston -- is being counted down for the next two months @webapprentices.

[ NOTE: Follow Beantown Web on Twitter @webapprentices and become a Fan of Beantown Web on Facebook today. ]

Monday, May 09, 2016

Boston's Rockstar Recruiters | Q2 2016

~ Larry Bird -- All-NBA First Team nine consecutive times
~ Magic Johnson -- All-NBA First Team nine consecutive times

These are indicators of high standards of performance on the basketball court.

In the recruiting industry nine remains the current standard for performance. Technical recruiters need nine to make The List. They need nine LinkedIn recommendations to make The List of Boston's most-recommended recruiters -- Boston's Rockstar Recruiters.

Boston's Top 100 Technology Recruiters

In the fall of 2012 Beantown Web asked the question, "Who are Boston's Rockstar Recruiters?" Welcome to the 15th installment of The List.

To begin the quest, Beantown Web identified nearly 500 technology recruiters via LinkedIn. Most are located in the Boston area. Some are located in New Hampshire and Rhode Island and conduct a significant amount of business in the Boston area.

Beantown Web then turned to LinkedIn to identify customer satisfaction scores. In particular, how many people were willing to provide a public recommendation for each recruiter?

Athletes have championship trophies and honors such as All-NBA first team. For those of us who perform in different arenas, we have LinkedIn recommendations to recognize our performance. Less than 100 out of nearly 500 technology recruiters in the Boston metro area has earned Boston Rockstar Recruiter status with at least nine LinkedIn recommendations received.

Top 10 in Scoring

Boston's Top 10 Rockstar Recruiters perform to a higher standard. The best in the recruiting business have received at least 52 LinkedIn recommendations each.

Here are the Top 10 Boston Rockstar Recruiters for the second quarter of 2016 [number of LinkedIn recommendations received + given]:

Chris Fountas [108 + 9] -- Hollister Staffing
Scott Dunlop [96 + 6] -- The Bivium Group
Brendan Andersen [81 + 20] -- CyberCoders
Doug Schade [80 + 11] -- WinterWyman
Jamie LeBlanc [78 + 2] -- The Bivium Group
John VanderSande [65 + 2] -- WinterWyman
Brian Abrams [59 + 18] -- PMO Partners, LLC
Danielle Lief [57 + 8] -- InnoTECH Staffing
Roy Evans [55 + 20] -- CyberCoders
Maureen Lawson [52 + 57] -- Clear Point Consultants

Top 10 in Assists

Some basketball players are valuable because they score a lot of points. Other basketball players are less heralded; they are particularly good at distributing the ball to others. This second list ranks "assists." It answers the following question:

"Of the recruiters listed in the Top 100, who are the most generous in offering recommendations to others?"

The Top 10 most generous Boston Rockstar Recruiters for the second quarter [number of LinkedIn recommendations [given + received] are as follows:

David Perlman [59 + 19] -- Grenadier Search Group
Maureen Lawson [57 + 52] -- Clear Point Consultants
Scott Ragusa [40 + 26] -- WinterWyman
Tim Halloran [34 + 10] -- JVT Advisors
Marsh Sutherland [31 + 12] -- Walden Recruiting
Jordan Goldberg [31 + 11] -- The Bowdoin Group
Carol Taylor [30 + 18] -- Private Clients
Andrea Williams [29 + 32] -- Career Minded Recruiting, LLC
Sean Dowling [21 + 25] -- WinterWyman
Brendan Anderson [20 + 81] -- CyberCoders
Roy Evans [20 + 55] -- CyberCoders

Congratulations to Maureen Lawson, Brendan Anderson and Roy Evans for attaining Top 10 status (with ties) on both the receiving and giving lists! If you had only three recruiters to contact, why not start with these three? [Full disclosure: I had the pleasure to have worked with Maureen Lawson at CDIA. You can review my recommendation on her LinkedIn page.]

Team Scores

Now, for the team scores. The following teams placed the most recruiters (at least three) in the Top 100 [number of recruiters in the Top 100]:

Gold Category:

WinterWyman [7]

Silver Category:

CyberCoders [5]

Bronze Category:

Suggested Strategy

There are no live sportscasts on network television that document technical recruiting excellence. In fact, there is no single measure we can all agree on to decide which recruiter or recruiting firm might work best for you as a candidate or as a hiring manager.

However, there is one place to start your search. It is the same place many of us start when buying a car, or looking for a plumber or finding a dentist. That place is personal recommendations. LinkedIn provides personal recommendations. Banks use credit scores as proxies for trustworthiness. We can use LinkedIn recommendations as a starting point to determine networking currency.

If you have technical skills and believe you offer above average value in the marketplace, then consider working with recruiters who have consistently demonstrated above average customer service in the form of personal recommendations -- both receiving them and giving them.

The complete list of Boston's Rockstar Recruiters is made available exclusively to the 400+ Web Design and Web Development alumni of CDIA, some of the most talented designers and developers I have had the pleasure to teach, mentor and collaborate with. You will hear more about the CDIA Alumni in the very near future.

The list of the 97 most recommended technical recruiters (out of nearly 500) in the Boston metro area is being counted down throughout the quarter on the Beantown Web page on Facebook.

[ NOTE: You can follow Beantown Web on Twitter @webapprentices and become a Fan of Beantown Web on Facebook. ]

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Boston Web Tech Job Market | Q1 2016

All Systems Go. The job market in the New Year continues on an upward trajectory.

~ The unemployment rate dipped below five percent for the first time in nearly eight years.
~ A record 78 percent of hiring managers anticipate more hiring in the first half of 2016 compared to the second half of 2015.
~ Software developers and security talent continue to be in high demand.

Beantown Web's quarterly Boston Web Tech Job Market analysis confirms that demand, especially for web technology workers, continues to expand.

Boston Web Tech Job Market

The list of Top 25 Web Technologies in Boston has been updated for the first quarter. It appears in the right-hand column and below. 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.

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 job site.

Top 25 Web Technologies in Boston

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

February, 2016

SQL | 6,051 2%
Java | 4,342 9%
agile *** | 3,935 6%
JavaScript | 3,337 7%
Oracle | 2,724 2%
Python | 2,539 9%
social media | 2,219 0%
SaaS | 1,775 7%
iOS | 1,755 12%
Web Services | 1,668 0%
C# | 1,654 3%
HTML + CSS | 1,568 12%
SQL Server | 1,469 2%
UI | 1,310 9%
Android | 1,298 10%
XML | 1,256 1%
jQuery | 1,243 4%
scrum *** | 1,177 2%
Ruby | 1,133 14%
MySQL | 1,119 11%
AWS | 1,111 19%
Perl | 1,075 3%
Git | 976 7%
PHP | 973 15%
UX | 714 14%

Supply vs. Demand

This market research only looks at the demand side of the equation. Dice.com has analyzed the supply side and reported its findings in What's Hot (and Not) in Tech Skills. Of the Top 25 skills listed here (demand only), Dice reveals that the two skills that are rated HOT (greatest demand vs. supply imbalance) are as follows:

~ Python | 2,539 9%

~ Git | 976 7%

If you are competent in these skills, employers will come knocking on your door.

Recommended Strategy

Select five technical skills in the Top 25 and focus on becoming proficient -- if not expert -- in each technology. What are your top five technology skills?

________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________

List three links to projects that demonstrate your proficiency in these technologies?

________________________
________________________
________________________

Boston's Top 100 Web Technologies

Monday, January 25, 2016

Best Business Books | 2015

"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."

TechCrunch

Beantown Web has developed such a system. For the eighth 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 173 books were mentioned on at least one "Best of" list. Of these recommendations, 129 of these books were mentioned only once. An additional 21 books were mentioned on two lists. These 21 books have attained Honorable Mention status.

The Fifth Shelf

Seven books were mentioned on three lists and have been placed on the Fifth Shelf:

The Fourth Shelf

Six books were mentioned on four lists and have been placed on the Fourth Shelf:

The Third Shelf

Five books were mentioned on five lists and have been placed on the Third Shelf:

The Second Shelf

Two books were mentioned on six lists and have been placed on the Second Shelf:

The Top Shelf

Three books were mentioned on seven lists and have been placed on the Top Shelf:

Personal Recommendations

If 23 books are too many to chose from, then check out the following Short List. The six highest rated books on Goodreads (of the 23 listed here) are as follows:

Red Notice (4.41 rating out of 5.00)
Extreme Ownership (4.28)
Rising Strong (4.24)
How Music Got Free (4.23)
Elon Musk (4.22)
Team of Teams (4.22)

These six books are now on my Short List.

I have read two of the three books on the Top Shelf and four of the 20 books on the remaining shelves. As I work through this reading list, I will post my reviews at Goodreads.com and share links here.

Elon Musk ★★★★★
Extreme Ownership ★★★★
Misbehaving ★★★★
Rise of the Robots ★★★★★
Team of Teams ★★★★
Work Rules! ★★★★★

You can access reviews of all 100+ books that I have read on Leadership and Strategy 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 2016. You can help enhance your personal economic prospects by learning more about the business of business.

Goal: Select one business book from the 10 pictured above, read it, practice its principles and shift your career into a higher gear in 2016. Of course, you can select all 10 books, read one per month (take some time off over the summer) and receive a guaranteed seat in business class!

[ NOTE: The 21 Honorable Mention books, as well as, the 23 Best Business Books of 2015 listed here are being counted down on Twitter. Follow Beantown Web on Twitter @webapprentices and on Facebook by becoming a Fan of Beantown Web. ]

View recent Best Business Books blog postings.

Friday, January 08, 2016

Boston's Rockstar Recruiters | Q1 2016

~ The West Wing -- most Emmy wins (9) for a Drama Series in its first season
~ Breaking Bad -- most Emmy wins (9) for a Drama Series in its final season
~ The Simpsons -- most Emmy nominations (9) for an Animated Program in a single year

These are indicators of high standards of performance on the acting stage.

In the recruiting industry nine remains the current standard for performance. Technical recruiters need nine to make The List. They need nine LinkedIn recommendations to make The List of Boston's most-recommended recruiters -- Boston's Rockstar Recruiters.

Boston's Top 100 Technology Recruiters

In the fall of 2012 Beantown Web asked the question, "Who are Boston's Rockstar Recruiters?" Welcome to the 14th installment of The List.

To begin the quest, Beantown Web identified more than 450 technology recruiters via LinkedIn. Most are located in the Boston area. Some are located in New Hampshire and Rhode Island and conduct a significant amount of business in the Boston area.

Beantown Web then turned to LinkedIn to identify customer satisfaction scores. In particular, how many people were willing to provide a public recommendation for each recruiter?

Actors have Emmys and Oscars and Golden Globes. For those of us who perform on different stages, we have LinkedIn recommendations to recognize our performance. Less than 100 out of 450 technology recruiters in the Boston metro area has earned Boston Rockstar Recruiter status with at least nine LinkedIn recommendations received.

Boston's Top 10 Technology Recruiters

Boston's Top 10 Rockstar Recruiters perform to a higher standard. The best in the recruiting business have received at least 48 LinkedIn recommendations each.

Here are the Top 10 Boston Rockstar Recruiters for the first quarter of 2016 [number of LinkedIn recommendations received + given]:

Chris Fountas [107 + 9] -- Hollister Staffing
Scott Dunlop [96 + 6] -- The Bivium Group
Brendan Andersen [79 + 20] -- CyberCoders
Doug Schade [79 + 11] -- WinterWyman
Jamie LeBlanc [76 + 2] -- The Bivium Group
John VanderSande [65 + 2] -- WinterWyman
Roy Evans [53 + 20] -- CyberCoders
Danielle Lief [50 + 8] -- InnoTECH Staffing
Maureen Lawson [48 + 57] -- Clear Point Consultants
Phil Hurd [48 + 18] -- Oculus Search Partners LLC

Top 10 in Assists

Some actors are valuable because they receive the most applause. Other actors are less heralded; they are particularly good at setting the stage for others. This second list ranks "assists." It answers the following question:

"Of the recruiters listed in the Top 100, who are the most generous in offering recommendations to others?"

The Top 10 most generous Boston Rockstar Recruiters for the first quarter [number of LinkedIn recommendations given + received] are as follows:

David Perlman [59 + 19] -- Grenadier Search Group
Maureen Lawson [57 + 48] -- Clear Point Consultants
Scott Ragusa [38 + 25] -- WinterWyman
Tim Halloran [33 + 10] -- JVT Advisors
Marsh Sutherland [31 + 12] -- Walden Recruiting
Carol Taylor [30 + 18] -- Private Clients
Andrea Williams [25 + 28] -- Career Minded Recruiting, LLC
Brendan Anderson [20 + 79] -- CyberCoders
Roy Evans [20 + 53] -- CyberCoders
Sean Dowling [19 + 24] -- WinterWyman

Congratulations to Maureen Lawson, Brendan Anderson and Roy Evans for attaining Top 10 status on both the receiving and giving lists! If you had only three recruiters to contact, why not start with these three? [Full disclosure: I had the pleasure to have worked with Maureen Lawson at CDIA. You can review my recommendation on her LinkedIn page.]

Team Scores

Now, for the team scores. The following teams placed the most recruiters (at least three) in the Top 100 [number of recruiters in the Top 100]:

Gold Category:

WinterWyman [7]

Silver Category:

CyberCoders [5]

Bronze Category:

PeopleSERVE Inc. [3]

Suggested Strategy

There are no live broadcasts on network television that document technical recruiting excellence. In fact, there is no single measure we can all agree on to decide which recruiter or recruiting firm might work best for you as a candidate or as a hiring manager.

However, there is one place to start your search. It is the same place many of us start when buying a car, or looking for a plumber or finding a dentist. That place is personal recommendations. LinkedIn provides personal recommendations.

If you have technical skills and believe you offer above average value in the marketplace, then consider working with recruiters who have consistently demonstrated above average customer service in the form of personal recommendations -- both receiving them and giving them.

The List of Boston's Rockstar Recruiters is made available exclusively to the 400+ Web Design and Web Development alumni of CDIA, some of the most talented designers and developers I have had the pleasure to teach, mentor and collaborate with. You will hear more about the CDIA Alumni in the very near future. Until then, rock on!

The list of the most recommended technical recruiters in the Boston metro area is being counted down throughout the quarter on the Beantown Web page on Facebook.

[ NOTE: You can follow Beantown Web on Twitter @webapprentices and become a Fan of Beantown Web on Facebook. ]