Boston Web Tech Job Market | January 2017

It has been two months since the presidential elections in the United States on November 9.  After three months of uncertainty in the job market leading up to the election, the job market improved considerably during the first month after the election and declined during the second month.

These latest one-month figures (December 9 through January 9) may not reflect a downturn in job prospects, but rather a typical year-end pause.  Here are three reasons to believe in the year-end pause hypothesis:

Forty percent of employers plan to hire full-time, permanent employees in 2017

Sixty-seven percent of small business owners plan to hire employees in 2017

Sixty-eight percent of tech hiring managers anticipate more hiring in the first half of 2017

None-the-less, the one-month slowdown in job postings is quite dramatic with each of the Top 25 web technologies in Boston posting declines.

Boston Web Tech Job Market

The list of Top 25 Web Technologies in Boston has been updated for January and appears 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 December ] listed by number of job postings at Indeed.com:

January, 2017

1. SQL | 4,516  9%
2. Java | 3,337  12%
3. agile *** | 3,277  9%
4. JavaScript | 2,420  9%
5. Python | 2,386  9%
6. social media | 2,069  6%
7. SaaS | 1,585  5%
8. Oracle | 1,434  7%
9. C# | 1,327  17%
10. AWS | 1,292  10%
11. Web Services | 1,215  12%
12. scrum *** | 1,122  8%
13. HTML + CSS | 1,117  13%
14. UI | 1,085  11%
15. PHP | 971  10%
16. SQL Server | 963  12%
17. Ruby | 910  12%
18. API | 898  13%
19. jQuery | 956  13%
20. MySQL | 839  17%
21. Hadoop | 806  8%
22. Git | 790  12%
23. UX | 783  5%
24. Perl | 768  12%
25. Angular | 757  16%

*** 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.

Job Prospects

Job seekers should feel confident that plentiful job opportunities will continue into the New Year.  Starting next month I will return to updating this report on quarterly basis.

The Top 25 Web Technologies in Boston are being counted down for the next month @webapprentices.

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

Boston Web Tech Job Market | December 2016

It has been one month since the presidential elections in the United States.  After three months of uncertainty in the job market leading up to the election, the job market has stabilized and green arrows (increase in job postings) have returned.

Market Recovery

The one-month "rally" has been led by the following technologies:

• Ruby  9%
• Hadoop  9%
• C#  8%
• Angular  7%
• AWS  6%
• API  6%
• JavaScript  5%

Boston Web Tech Job Market

The list of Top 25 Web Technologies in Boston has been updated for December and appears 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 November ] listed by number of job postings at Indeed.com:

December, 2016

1. SQL | 4,968  0%
2. Java | 3,783  1%
3. agile *** | 3,608  0%
4. JavaScript | 2,673  5%
5. Python | 2,635  4%
6. social media | 2,194  2%
7. SaaS | 1,674  2%
8. C# | 1,593  8%
9. Oracle | 1,546  4%
10. AWS | 1,438  6%
11. Web Services | 1,388  2%
12. HTML + CSS | 1,278  1%
13. scrum *** | 1,218  1%
14. UI | 1,213  0%
15. SQL Server | 1,096  3%
16. PHP | 1,075  1%
17. Ruby | 1,031  9%
18. API | 1,027  6%
19. MySQL | 1,007  2%
20. iOS | 1,002  1%
21. Angular | 898  7%
22. Git | 896  4%
23. jQuery | 985  2%
24. Hadoop | 878  9%
25. Perl | 875  2%

*** 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.

Job Prospects

Employers in the Boston area have expressed optimism that the economy is on stable footing.  Job seekers should feel confident that plentiful job opportunities will continue into the New Year.

I will continue to provide an update to this report on a monthly (instead of quarterly) basis according to the following schedule:

~ January 9, 2017
~ February 9, 2017

The Top 25 Web Technologies in Boston are being counted down for the next month @webapprentices.

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

Boston's Rockstar Recruiters | Q4 2016

 

~ Oklahoma State -- 10 consecutive post-season Bowl appearances [2006 - 2015]
~ Alabama -- 10 consecutive post-season Bowl appearances [1985 - 1994]
~ Georgia -- 10 consecutive post-season Bowl appearances [1980 - 1989]

These are indicators of high standards of consistent performance on the college football field.

In the recruiting industry 10 continues to be the standard for consistent performance.  Technical recruiters need 10 to make The List.  They need 10 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 17th 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?

Football players and coaches have championship trophies to gauge excellence on the gridiron.  For those of us who perform on different playing fields, 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 10 LinkedIn recommendations received.

Top 10 on Offense

Boston's Top 10 Rockstar Recruiters perform to a higher standard.  The best in the recruiting business have received at least 58 LinkedIn recommendations each.  These recruiters have demonstrated an ability to score points.

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

1. Chris Fountas [114 + 9] -- Hollister Staffing
2. Scott Dunlop [96 + 6] -- The Bivium Group
3. Brendan Andersen [87 + 21] -- CyberCoders
4. Doug Schade [85 + 11] -- WinterWyman
5. Jamie LeBlanc [80 + 2] -- The Bivium Group
6. John VanderSande [65 + 2] -- WinterWyman
7. Phil Hurd [60 + 18] -- Oculus Search Partners, LLC
8. Brian Abrams [59 + 18] -- PMO Partners, LLC
9. Danielle Lief [59 + 8] -- InnoTECH Staffing
10. Roy Evans [58 + 20] -- CyberCoders

Top 10 on Special Teams

In football special teams act in transition from offense to defense.  This less glamorous statistic reveals how many times a recruiter will sacrifice himself for the benefit of the team.  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 fourth quarter [number of LinkedIn recommendations [given + received] are as follows:

1. David Perlman [59 + 19] -- Grenadier Search Group
2. Ed Nathanson [48 + 31] -- Red Pill Talent, LLC
3. Scott Ragusa [40 + 26] -- WinterWyman
4. Tim Halloran [35 + 10] -- JVT Advisors
5. Jordan Goldberg [31 + 11] -- The Bowdoin Group
6. Andrea Williams [29 + 32] -- Career Minded Recruiting, LLC
7. Carol Taylor [29 + 18] -- Private Clients
8. Brendan Andersen [21 + 87] -- CyberCoders
9. Sean Dowling [21 + 25] -- WinterWyman
10. Ben Gregg [21 + 23] -- Skillcloud Consulting, Inc.

Congrats to Brendan Andersen for his top 10 appearance on both Offense and Special Teams.

Team Scores

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

Gold Category:

• WinterWyman [9]

Silver Category:

• CyberCoders [5]

Bronze Category:

• Strategic Employment Partners (SEP, Inc.) [4]

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 score as a proxy 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 50 most recommended technical recruiters (out of nearly 500) in the Boston metro area is being counted down throughout the quarter on Beantown Web on Facebook.

[ NOTE: You can also follow Beantown Web on Twitter @webapprentices]