Web Innovators Group | WebInno28

Ten companies. Ten hundred networking opportunities. All in one room. All FREE.

If you are interested in previewing the latest innovations on the Internet and mobile devices, and networking with industry leaders, then check out the next gathering of the Web Innovators Group.

This fifth anniversary event -- and 28th installment overall -- will feature the following presentations:

Main Dishes

• FanSwarm | A game that allows you to back real life celebrities and watch their buzz rise and fall.


• HowAboutWe | putting the date back in dating: magical dates, simple dates, wild dates, lovely dates.


• Moontoast | create connections with real impact -- on your audience and your bottom line.

Side Dishes

• Ginger Software |the leading contextual spell and grammar checker on the market today


• My-Take | the ultimate community to declare, discuss and share your opinions and earn rewards


• Penmia | an application that allows you to record any moment in life


• SocialSci | connects researchers with a global online community


• Smashion | a social fashion site connection people with a passion for fashion


• Promoboxx | create world-class social promotions and contests that drive leads


• Woopid | watch free technology training videos

Event Details

Monday, November 29, 2010, 6:30 pm

Royal Sonesta Cambridge

Registration is FREE and the networking could prove invaluable! Check out the Attendee List of more than 1,000 pre-registrants to determine if this networking event is right for you.

Registrants are encouraged to join the Boston Web Innovators Group on LinkedIn and connect with more than 1,300 members.

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.net Magazine Awards | 2010

The .net Awards celebrate the best in web design and development. Awards are determined via a combination of public opinion and the insights of a leading panel of judges.

The results of the 2010 awards will be published in an upcoming issue (#210) of .net magazine, a U.K. magazine for web designers and developers sold in the U.S. as Practical Web Design.

Best of The Web

Here are the 16 award winners for 2010:

+ Web application of the year » Typekit

+ Community site of the year » Ravelry

+ Best API use » Flipboard

+ Interactive site of the year » Chrome FastBall

+ Blog of the year » Smashing Magazine

+ Podcast of the year » Sitepoint

+ Video podcast of the year » The Big Web Show

+ Design agency of the year » Happy Cog

+ Innovation of the year » Node.js

+ Web personality of the year » Jason Santa Maria

+ Viral campaign of the year » Old Spice

+ Standards champion » Jeffrey Zeldman

+ Open source application of the year » Modernizr

+ Redesign of the year » BBC News

+ Mobile site of the year » Flickr

+ Mobile app of the year » Dropbox

Details are available at the .net Magazine Awards website which lists two additional nominees in each category.

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Top 50 Requested Skills | Q3 2010

Freelance developers and designers can compare their current skill set with marketplace demand by accessing State of the Work-From-Home and Freelancing Economy. This third quarter report is presented by DoNanza, the largest search engine for work-from-home and freelance jobs.

Content Management Systems

The report begins with a comparison of the Big Three Content Management Systems (CMS):

• WordPress | #7
  
• Joomla! | #17
  
• Drupal | #43
  

CMS Conclusion

While the highest demand in the CMS freelance market is for WordPress developers, project budgets are highest for Drupal developers, perhaps because these projects tend to be more complicated and time consuming.

What is most striking is the average budget per project:

• WordPress | $455
• Joomla! | $473
• Drupal | $915

Does this mean that in order to generate $50,000 per year in revenue, WordPress and Joomla! developers need to complete approximately two projects per week?

Bigger Picture

Buried at the bottom of this report is the Top 50 Requested Skills. A comparison of this list for freelancers with the Top 20 Twenty Web Technologies in Boston (right-hand column) for job seekers yields some interesting results.

Caveat: With all ranking systems someone will likely be unhappy. Just take a look at the NCAA College Football Polls. Apples and oranges comparisons should never be taken as gospel. The two lists in this comparison measure different things. None-the-less, general patterns emerge.

Twenty technologies appear on the Top 50 versions of both lists. Only six technologies are common to both Top 20 lists.

Top Six Skills

Web developers and designers who are open to BOTH job opportunities and freelance gigs can maximize their universe of possibilities by focusing on the following six technology skills (freelance ranking vs. job list ranking):

~ PHP | #1 vs. #14
~ HTML | #3 vs. #9
~ Photoshop | #9 vs. #20
~ CSS | #10 vs. #9
~ JavaScript | #12 vs. #6
~ Ajax | #19 vs. #12

Web professionals who want to be in position to play for a national championship should develop these six fundamental "blocking and tackling" skills and take on projects that demonstrate proficiency with these technologies.

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Boston Market | November 2010

Here are two reasons why Bostonians should be optimistic about employment prospects:

• Boston ranks #2 in overall job creation over the past 12 months
• Boston ranks #5 (tie) in job opportunities per unemployed worker

NOTE: Factoring in population size, Boston drops from #2 to #13 in overall job creation as many smaller markets outperformed Boston on a percentage basis. The only larger metropolitan area to outperform Boston was Washington, DC.

If you live outside the Boston metro area, check out the rankings for your home town:

• Job Rankings for 100 Biggest Markets
• Job Market Competition for the 50 Most Populous Metropolitan Areas

Top 20 Web Technologies

Drilling deeper, what does the job market look like for workers with Web technology skills?

The monthly listing of Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston has been updated and appears in the right-hand column. The list is ordered by how many times that technology was mentioned in job descriptions at Boston.com (managed by Monster.com). As expected, programming and database skills dominate the list.

To add a new twist this month, let's explore emerging programming skills.

The Magnificent Seven

InfoWorld published an article entitled 7 Programming Languages on the Rise. Dice provides a compact summary listing the languages as follows (links to Wikipedia):

• Python
• Ruby
• MATLAB
• JavaScript
• R
• Erlang
• COBOL

An analysis of the market demand for these programming skills reveals the following opportunities in the Boston marketplace:

• Python | 116 job opportunities
• Ruby | 52 job opportunities
• MATLAB | 79 job opportunities
• JavaScript | 286 job opportunities
  
• R | ?? job opportunities **
• Erlang | 3 job opportunities
  
• COBOL | 7 job opportunities

** NOTE: Searching on "R" offers up too many false positives, such as nursing jobs (RN).

So, the major players in this shootout are as follows:

• JavaScript (286)
• Python (116)
• MATLAB (79)
• Ruby (52)

MATLAB is not used in Web applications, R is a mystery in the marketplace, and Erlang and COBOL offer few job opportunities.

Therefore, Web professionals should consider beefing up their filmography by adding one or more of the following character roles to help boost box office clout:

• JavaScript | Yul Brynner
• Python | Steve McQueen
• Ruby | Charles Bronson

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Strategic Technologies for 2011

Which strategic technologies will have a significant impact on your organization (and your career) over the next three years? Gaining experience with these technologies can position you for future opportunities.

Gartner, the world's leading information technology research and advisory company, has identified 10 technologies that should be on your radar screen today. Here are the top three:

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is Internet-based computing which frequently takes the form of web-based tools or applications that users can access and use through a web browser, as if it were a program installed locally on their own computer.

Cloud computing service providers include companies such as Salesforce, Amazon and Google.

Mobile Applications & Media Tablets

Mobile application development is the process by which applications are developed for handheld devices such as mobile phones and, increasingly, media tablets, such as the iPad.

Gartner estimates that by the end of 2010, 1.2 billion people will carry commerce-enabled mobile devices.

Social Communications & Collaboration

A social network service is an online service, platform or site that focuses on building social relations among people who share interests and/or activities.

Most of us are familiar with services such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. However, Gartner identified four sub-categories as follows:

• social networking
• social collaboration
• social publishing
• social feedback

CMS Networking Opportunities

You can best remember these three strategic technologies with the acronym CMS:

• Cloud
• Mobile
• Social

Access a Gartner press release to reveal the complete list of Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2011.

Cloud

If you live in the Boston area you can attend the inaugural gathering of the Cloud Innovation Showcase on Wednesday, November 10. You can also join the CloudInno Group on LinkedIn.

Mobile

If you live in the Boston area you can join Mayor Tom Menino as he introduces Citizens Connect 2.0 on Monday, November 8. This Mobile Monday Boston Event is open to anyone interested in developing mobile apps which connect the people of Boston with city government.

Social

If you live in the Boston area you can join Social Media Club Boston for their next event, Social Nation Tweetup on Thursday, November 4. You can also join the Social Media Club Group on LinkedIn.

All three Boston CMS (Cloud, Mobile, Social) Networking events are FREE!

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Startup Watch | October 2010

The fall appears to be a good time to unleash your inner entrepreneur.

Startup Weekend

Startup Weekend events are being hosted in more than 50 cities across the United States and Canada, and an equal number of international cities.

For details about an event near you access the Startup Weekend website for a list of participating cities. Boston Startup Weekend will be held November 12 through 14 and will focus on mobile technologies.

Cloud Innovation Showcase

In addition, a new event arrives in Boston on Wednesday, November 10 called the Cloud Innovation Showcase.

Modeled after the popular Web Innovators Group, the event focuses on cloud-related startups, as well as, organizations adopting cloud computing. Access a press release for additional details.

The conference will be held at The Charles Hotel, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Registration is required for this FREE event which features keynote speaker Raymie Strata, Chief Technology Officer at Yahoo!

Startup Watch for October

Mass High Tech highlights startup companies each week in a series called "Five You Should Follow."

Here are 18 startup companies in the greater Boston area that Mass High Tech suggests you keep your eye on:

[NOTE: Hover over company name to view a tooltip summary of that company's value proposition.]

» AdelaVoice Corp. | Boston

» BirthData Pro, LLC | Scituate

» Close-Haul Communications, Inc. | Boston

» CoupMe Worldwide, LLC | Needham

» FYItag, Inc. | Andover

» Goozzy | Newton

» Graphene Laboratories, Inc. | Reading

» ImageRights International, Inc. | Cambridge

» JoyTunes Ltd. | Boston

» Jumper Networks, Inc. | White Horse Beach

» Ligon Discovery, Inc. | Cambridge

» My Digital Afterlife, LLC | Quincy

» SmashFly Technologies, LLC | Stow

» Sonian, Inc. | Needham

» Symmetric Computing, Inc. | Boston

» VideoAResume, LLC | Sharon

» Viridity Software, Inc. | Burlington

» Wikibon | Marlborough

Five new startups are listed every Tuesday at Mass High Tech -- The Journal of New England Technology. Access Startup News for details. If your company was founded within the last three years, and would like to be considered for the Watch List, contact the Startup Watch editor.

Access previous Startup Watch lists:

• Startup Watch | September 2010
• Startup Watch | August 2010
• Startup Watch | July 2010
• Startup Watch | June 2010
• Startup Watch | May 2010

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Boston Market | October 2010

One in five employers expect to hire full-time staff during the next three months. One in four plan to hire contract or temporary workers. If you live in the Northeast the percentages are likely higher.

Professions in Demand

Information Technology (IT) professionals are three times more likely to be in demand than creative/design professionals.

Here are the positions for which employers are most likely to hire contract or temporary staff for the remainder of 2010:

• IT | 27 percent
• Administrative | 25 percent
• Engineering | 12 percent
• Finance and Accounting | 12 percent
• Sales and Marketing | 10 percent
• Creative/Design | 9 percent

Size of Companies Hiring

Large companies are more likely than small companies to hang a Help Wanted sign during the fourth quarter:

~ employers with more than 250 employees | 26 percent are hiring
~ employers with 51 to 250 employees | 24 percent are hiring
~ employers with 50 or less employees | 13 percent are hiring

These findings were obtained from a survey that included more than 2,400 hiring managers and human resource professionals and more than 3,100 workers. A press release is available from CareerBuilder. A Flash player version of the survey results is also available.

Boston Market October

The list of Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston has been updated for October and is presented in the right-hand column.

The biggest monthly movers on the upside include Microsoft technologies:

~ ASP.NET | up 32%
~ C# up | 26%
~ SQL Server | up 12%

Other technologies also saw double digit monthly gains:

~ Python | up 23%
~ PHP | up 17%
~ Web Services | up 13%
~ Ajax | up 11%

Year-End Rally

Clearly, programming skills are in demand. If you are looking for work, here is a two-part strategy for participating in a successful year-end jobs rally:

• develop and highlight your information technology (IT) skills
• target companies with 50 or more employees
  

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Startup Watch | September 2010‏

Entrepreneurship is crucial to job creation. In a Newsweek article entitled The Real Jobs Machine, Robert J. Samuelson discusses the experience of Morris Panner, founder of Boston-based OpenAir and current CEO of TownFlier.

According to StartUpHire.com there are currently more than 800 job openings at startup companies in the Boston metro area.

Mass High Tech highlights startup companies each week in a series called "Five You Should Follow."

Startup Watch for September

Here are 14 startup companies in the greater Boston area that Mass High Tech suggests you keep your eye on:

[NOTE: Hover over company name to view a tooltip summary of that company's value proposition.]

» Anagraph Medical Solutions, Inc. | Cambridge

» Athleague, Inc. | Boston

» Catabasis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | Cambridge

» ConnectScholar, Inc. | Swampscott

» Eleven Learning | Cambridge

» Episend, Inc. | Watertown

» FashionStake | Boston

» HanGenix | Chelmsford

» Metamark Genetics, Inc. | Cambridge

» My Life List, LLC | Swampscott

» netBlazr, Inc. | Newton

» Qwobl, Inc. | Cambridge

» ResearchGATE Corp. | Cambridge

» TDC, LLC | Brookline

Five new startups are listed every Tuesday at Mass High Tech -- The Journal of New England Technology. Access Startup News for details. If your company was founded within the last three years, and would like to be considered for the Watch List, contact the Startup Watch editor.

Access previous Startup Watch lists:

• Startup Watch | August 2010
• Startup Watch | July 2010
• Startup Watch | June 2010
• Startup Watch | May 2010

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5,000 Fastest Growing Companies | 2010

Fast growing companies emerge, even during the Great Recession. The median growth rate over the past three years for the 5,000 fastest growing companies in the United States is 96 percent.

The 5,000 fastest growing private companies are featured in the September issue of Inc. magazine. The metro areas with the most fast growing companies are as follows:

1. New York City | 401 companies
2. Washington, DC | 365 companies
3. Los Angeles | 260 companies
4. Chicago | 199 companies
5. Boston | 184 companies
6. Atlanta | 178 companies
7. Dallas / Fort Worth | 158 companies
8. San Francisco | 156 companies
9. Philadelphia | 132 companies
10. Houston | 116 companies

Fast growing companies are more likely than slow growing companies to be hiring as the economy begins to improve.

Fast growing companies are more likely than slow growing companies to be receptive to the business-to-business services you and your company might offer.

Access the Inc 5000 list and see which companies are growing the fastest. Use the advanced search feature to identify the fastest growing companies in your state. Or simply click the following link and change the two character state abbreviation (MA) to your state:

http://www.inc.com/inc5000/search/2010/x/x/x/x/x/MA/

Fastest Growing Companies in Massachusetts

Inc. magazine has identified 194 fast growing companies in Massachusetts. Facebook Fans of Beantown Web gain instant access to a database of these 194 companies, searchable by city. Become a Facebook Fan today.

Listed below are the 50 fastest growing private companies in Massachusetts:

1. Carbonite | Boston
2. Gazelle | Boston
3. Food Should Taste Good | Needham Heights
4. Reveal Imaging Technologies | Bedford
5. Crowe Paradis Services | North Reading
6. PlumChoice | Billerica
7. Cube 3 Studio | Lawrence
8. LoyaltyExpress | Woburn
9. Rapid7 | Boston
10. Bridge Energy Group | Marlborough
11. aPriori | Concord
12. BackOffice Associates | South Harwich
13. Guidance Technology | Sharon
14. InBoxer | Burlington
15. Kurgo | Salisbury
16. Pro Teck Services | Waltham
17. Zipcar | Cambridge
18. Genuine Interactive | Boston
19. Bioengineering Group | Salem
20. IneoQuest Technologies | Mansfield
21. Staticworx | Watertown
22. Culbert Healthcare Solutions | Woburn
23. Blue Cod Technologies | Marlborough
24. Sullivan and Cogliano Training Centers | Brockton
25. Quantech Services | Lexington
26. Senior Whole Health | Cambridge
27. Neighborhood Diabetes | Woburn
28. eClinicalWorks | Westborough
29. SEI Boston | Boston
30. NWN Corporation | Waltham
31. Winslow Technology Group | Boston
32. Litle & Co. | Lowell
33. Watermark Environmental, Inc. | Lowell
34. Long Term Solutions | Natick
35. Universal Mind | Westfield
36. CNE Direct | Beverly
37. Cambridge NanoTech | Cambridge
38. Radius Financial Group | Norwell
39. Planet Shoes | Waltham
40. Trinity Building & Construction Management Corp. | Woburn
41. Massachusetts Technology Corporation | Allston
42. Boston Interactive | Charlestown
43. Johnny Cupcakes | Hull
44. WorldAPP | Braintree
45. VoIP Logic | Williamstown
46. LifeSpan Technology Recycling | Newton
47. AVEO Pharmaceuticals | Cambridge
48. EMBER Corporation | Boston
49. TPR Media | Jamaica Plain
50. Plenus Group | Lowell

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The Great Recession | RIP 2007 - 2009

The Great Recession lasted 18 months. It ended 15 months ago.

OK. That's out of the way. Now, how do we get people back to work?

Source: The New York Times

According to The Times, each of the three most recent post-recession recoveries have been "jobless recoveries."

Learn More to Earn More

In each recession some jobs go away and don't return. New opportunities are created. Training might be required to take advantage of these new opportunities. This might be especially true in the fast moving world of Web technologies.

Training Opportunity #1

Flash | Flex | AIR | ColdFusion

According to Adobe's Brian Rinaldi, "the Wall Street Journal recently reported that demand for Flash developers has been growing."

Brian coordinates "RIA Unleashed : Boston 2010, a two-day event (November 11 - 12) covering general web application development and the Adobe Flash Platform including Flex, AIR, ColdFusion and related technologies and disciplines.

Training Opportunity #2

Ruby on Rails

Business Insider offers the following thought: Looking for work? Learn Ruby on Rails. Mass High Tech reports a similar demand for Rails developers in Startups Competing with Big Firms for Boston Tech Talent.

Boston Rubyists offers an informal Rails Coding Mashup on Saturday, September 25. If you are looking for something more formal, check out Thoughtbot's Test Driven Rails, a two-day training opportunity in Boston, October 12 - 13.

Training Opportunity #3

SharePoint

Talbott Crowell is one of the co-founders of the Boston Area SharePoint Users Group. He is one of the co-organizers of SharePoint Saturday. This event will be held for the third time on Saturday, September 25.

SharePoint Saturday is FREE and open to the public. Three session tracks are available: End User, Developer and Administrator. Register now and begin learning this in-demand Microsoft technology and start networking with Boston area technology professionals.

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Web Innovators Group | WebInno27

Eleven companies. Eleven hundred networking opportunities. All FREE.

If you are interested in previewing the latest innovations on the Internet and mobile devices, and networking with industry leaders, then check out the next gathering of the Web Innovators Group.

This 27th installment (WebInno27) will feature the following presentations:

Main Dishes

• Play 140 | we make social games with words


• TurningArt | rotate artwork in your home


• AisleBuyer | the world's first virtual shopping assistant and mobile self-checkout

Side Dishes

• Discovir | follow your interests; follow anything


• HuddleHub | manage all of your fantasy sports teams in one application


• Webiva | performance inbound marketing platform


• Custommade | your source for all things custom made


• Brass Monkey | an SDK which connects multiple devices over a WIFI network


• Athleague | intramural sports made easy


• Zazu | tells you what you need to know to start your day off right


• Episend | send anything to anyone

Special Breakout Session

A panel discussion entitled Self-Funded Success Stories will be conducted with the following entrepreneurs:

[NOTE: Simply click the "in" icon to view the individual's LinkedIn profile.]

• Steve Conine | Co-Founder of CSN Stores


• David Hauser | Co-Founder of Grasshopper


• Todd Garland | Founder of BuySellAds

Event Details

Monday, September 13, 2010, 6:30 pm

Royal Sonesta Cambridge

Registration is FREE and the networking could prove invaluable! Check out the Attendee List of more than 1,100 pre-registrants to determine if this networking event is right for you.

Registrants are encouraged to join the Boston Web Innovators Group on LinkedIn and connect with more than 1,300 members.

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Boston Market | September 2010

More than 4,000 business executives were surveyed about their hiring plans for the fourth quarter. Here are two highlights:

• nearly half of executives (47 percent) said it is challenging to find skilled professionals today
• executives in the business services sector anticipate the most professional-level hiring in the fourth quarter, a net 16 percent increase

These findings bode well for workers who have a proven track record of delivering high quality professional services. Additional details are available in a press release available from Robert Half International, a recognized leader in professional staffing services.

Boston Market | September

The job market for technology professionals in the Boston marketplace continues to demonstrate resilience. Fifteen of the Top 20 Web technologies posted an increase in demand during the month of August, a period of traditionally sluggish hiring.

Here are the Top 5 most in-demand technologies according to a keyword search at Boston.com:

1. SQL | 798 09%
2. Oracle | 727 18%
3. Java | 443 02%
4. XML | 310 08%
5. SQL Server | 307 08%

Here are the technologies that round out the Top 10:

6. JavaScript | 272 03%
7. C# | 227 03%
8. HTML + CSS | 176 09%
9. "Web Services" | 175 08%
10. Perl | 170 02%

The remaining technologies that comprise the Top 20 are listed in the right-hand column.

The Boston Two Step

To succeed in this economy, it's helpful to develop dance moves like John Travolta. Here is a two-step plan to expand your business prospects for the remainder of 2010:

Step #1: Workers who provide professional services, including Web designers and developers, should consider targeting companies in the business services sector for the remainder of 2010. These companies are most likely to be expanding their staff to meet demand.

Step #2: Develop a plan to become a skilled professional that nearly 50% of executives say are difficult to find. For Web designers and developers this means demonstrating proficiency in several Top 10 Web technologies. Add country coding moves to your disco design skills.

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Startup Watch | August 2010

Two services provide insights into the Boston startup community.

The Boston Startup Tracker identifies the Top 100 startups in the Boston area based on website traffic and engagement. Clicking on a name provides a profile of that company including current job openings. The tracker is updated monthly.

Mass High Tech highlights startup companies each week in a series called "Five You Should Follow." These companies may not be as established as the ones that make the Boston Startup Tracker list.

Startup Watch for August

Here are 20 startup companies to keep your eye on:

[NOTE: Hover over company name to view a tooltip summary of that company's value proposition.]

» Aisle Buyer | Boston

» Audax Medical, Inc. | Littleton

» Eldersync.com | Boston

» Erelyx, Inc. | Boston

» Fivi | Boston

» g2gConnect, LLC | Framingham

» Glassbooth | Cambridge

» Greenbean Recycle | Somerville

» GroundedPower, Inc. | Newton Lower Falls

» MindChild Medical, Inc. | Andover

» NowRelevant.com | Woburn

» Open Near Me, LLC | Lexington

» OsmoPure | Boston

» Pozit | Boston

» Shareable Ink | Newton

» SkinnyTrip, Inc. | Somerville

» Solar Engineering Solutions, Inc. | Cambridge

» Trenergi Corp. | Hopkinton

» Zero Carbon, Inc. | Rockport

Five new startups are listed every Tuesday at Mass High Tech -- The Journal of New England Technology. Access Startup News for details. If your company was founded within the last three years, and would like to be considered for the Watch List, contact the Startup Watch editor.

Access previous Startup Watch lists:

• Startup Watch | July 2010
  
• Startup Watch | June 2010
• Startup Watch | May 2010

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Fastest Growing Companies | Fortune 100‏

Vacation over -- back to work!

“From July to September, 15% of the companies interviewed (in Massachusetts) plan to hire more employees."

Of the 18,000 U.S. employers surveyed, 18% expect to increase their staff levels during the third quarter according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey. The fourth quarter survey is due in early September.

Fastest Growing Companies

So, where should one start looking for employment opportunities? One avenue is to target large companies that have been growing during the downturn. Fortune magazine has released its annual list of the 100 fastest growing Fortune 500 companies.

While 20 of these companies are international, many states landed at least one company on the list. Here are the states with the most fast-growing large companies:

• California | 15
• Texas | 8
• New York | 6
• Massachusetts | 5
• Michigan | 5
• Illinois | 5

You can access the list for your state at the Fortune section of CNNMoney.com.

Fastest Growing Companies in Massachusetts

Here are the six fastest growing large companies in Massachusetts:

[ NOTE: Simply log into your LinkedIn account on a separate tab, then click the "in" icon next to the company name below to identify your LinkedIn connections at that organization. ]

1. Pegasystems | Cambridge
2. NetScout Systems | Westford
3. Cubist Pharmaceuticals | Lexington
4. Sapient | Boston
5. Vistaprint | Lexington *
6. Biogen Idec | Weston

NOTE: Vistaprint is listed as an international company. Its US Operations are headquartered in Lexington, MA.

Additional Resources

Additional fast-growing lists include the following:

• Fastest Growing Startups | 2010‏
• Top Private Companies in Massachusetts | 2010
• Deloitte Technology Fast 500 | 2009‏

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Chowda Chat | Brian Rinaldi

Chowda Chat is a periodic Beantown Web installment that features a conversation with an influential member of the 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.

Today's Chowda Chat presents the insights of Brian Rinaldi, applications developer, software engineer and fellow blogger at Remote Synthesis.

You have a Bachelors Degree in History and English from The University of Miami. How did you make the transition to applications development and land that first programming position?

"Well, to be honest, I just needed a job and history wasn't cutting it. I started working for a marketing firm in Miami and messing around with web site development in Dreamweaver. A friend of mine told me he had taken this Fast Track to ColdFusion course, gotten a job at a startup and was making good money. So, on his recommendation, I took the course and he got me hired at his company and the rest is history. Such was the 90's, you didn't need much experience to get hired as a developer. Times have certainly changed."

Is it true that you just joined the Adobe team here in Boston? What is your new role?

"I joined Adobe on August 16th. My title is Web Community Manager for Flash Platform. I work with the Learning Resources team within Adobe that produces things like the API documentation, community help and many other valuable content resources. The goal of my job is to help our team to have a direct channel to the community for contributions and feedback. I'm extremely excited about it as it gives me the opportunity to continue to work closely with the products I love as a developer while staying closely connected to the community that I have been so involved with over the years."

You are passionate about rich internet applications (RIA). How can our readers obtain training in this emerging field?

"First of all, as a developer, RIA's are just too much fun to build and offer so many exciting possibilities. I've been focused on Adobe-related technologies that can extend the user experience beyond the browser to the desktop and mobile devices. Several years ago I got so excited about the potential for these technologies that I created RIA Unleashed : Boston, an annual conference that I coordinate for the developer community."

"RIA Unleashed : Boston 2010 is a two-day event covering general web application development and the Adobe Flash Platform including Flex, AIR, ColdFusion and related technologies and disciplines. We have a full slate of topics and workshops. Best of all, I work really hard to keep the pricing on this event incredibly low so that anyone interested can afford to attend."

"While these technologies may not show up on the Top 20 lists often posted here they are filled with vibrant communities doing amazing things. Not just that but the job demand is there and growing. For instance, the Wall Street Journal recently had an article reporting how demand for Flash developers has been growing."

Final Thought

"Just because a language or technology doesn't show up on the top 20 list doesn't mean there isn't a solid job market in that technology. I personally see the skill set of the future (with the future being measured in months not years) landing more along the lines of someone who can translate applications across the multiple "screens" that companies want a presence in, whether it be web, desktop, mobile, devices, television and in the cloud. However, this will be a skill that is tough to boil down to keyword or two on a job posting. Join us at RIA Unleashed : Boston to learn more."

Follow Brian Rinaldi on Twitter.

Previous Chowda Chats

• Chowda Chat | Leah Busque
  
• Chowda Chat | Margaret Meloni
• Chowda Chat | Dan Keldsen
• Chowda Chat | Dean Fossella

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Fastest Growing Startups | 2010

StartUpHire is a job search engine whose mission is to connect talented individuals to exciting career opportunities at venture backed companies.

They have compiled a list of the fastest growing start-ups backed by venture capital (VC). They focused on major metropolitan markets and formulated the list based on job postings during the second quarter.

The metropolitan areas include the following:

• San Francisco
• Boston
• New York
• Washington, DC
• Seattle
• Philadelphia
• Austin
• Atlanta

Access a list of the fastest-growing, VC-backed companies in these metropolitan areas at StartUpHire which provides direct access to job postings in these and other cities.

Boston's Fastest Growing Startups

The seven fastest growing VC-backed companies in and around Boston are as follows:

[ NOTE: Simply log into your LinkedIn account on a separate tab, then click the "in" icon next to the company name below to identify the LinkedIn connections you might have within that organization. ]

• Acceleron Pharma | Cambridge
• PatientKeeper | Newton
• Communispace | Watertown
• Stratus Technologies | Maynard
• Crossbeam Systems | Boxborough
• Acquia | Woburn
• Zipcar | Cambridge

According to StartUpHire.com there are currently more than 900 job openings at startup companies in the Boston metro area. Fast growing companies need bright, energetic workers. Start making connections today!

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Boston Market | August 2010

Are you stuck in the middle?

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, being a middle-skilled worker seeking middle-skilled wages may not be an attractive place to hang your shingle.

Longer-term trends are at play. For one, the U.S. education system hasn't been producing enough people with the highly specialized skills that many companies, particularly in manufacturing, require to keep driving productivity gains. "There are a lot of people who are unemployed, but those aren't necessarily the people employers are looking for," says David Autor, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

For details access "Some Firms Struggle to Hire Despite High Unemployment"

While the article focuses on technology skills in manufacturing, a similar case might be argued for "middle-skilled" Web technology workers.

Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston

The list of Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston has been updated for August and appears in the right-hand column. "Middle-skilled" Web technologies might be defined as those Web skills that fall short of the Top 20 list.

It's not that these skills are not in demand, it's simply that other skills are mentioned more frequently in job descriptions, and thus appear to be in greater demand by employers.

The current threshold to make the Top 20 hovers around 100 job postings that mention a particular skill. Here are a few technologies that fall just short of this Top-20 threshold:

• 22. Flash | 96 job postings
• 26. jQuery | 71 job postings
• 27. SEO | 69 job postings
• 29. Illustrator | 56 job postings

High Skill + High Demand

Whatever collection of Web technology skills you currently possess it is in your best interest to develop a high degree of competence and confidence in your skill-set. If you feel you are "stuck in the middle" then perhaps an upgrade is in order.

The top seven technologies are mentioned at least 200 times in job descriptions. Perhaps an upgrade to a skill that is in greater demand might be in order:

• 1. SQL | 735 job postings
• 2. Oracle | 615 job postings
• 3. Java | 450 job postings
• 4. XML | 286 job postings
• 5. SQL Server | 285 job postings
• 6. JavaScript | 263 job postings
• 7. C# | 235 job postings

Needless-to-say, programming skills and database expertise never seem to go out of style. Demonstrating a "high-skill" level in a high-demand technology might be the road not taken to avoid becoming "stuck in the middle."

For additional information, check out a previous blog article:

• Web Technology Skills | Mid-Year Review 2010

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