Boston's Fastest-Growing Private Companies | 2016

Inc. has released it's 2016 list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in America.  Here are the 20 fastest-growing private companies in the Boston area:

1. Paint Nite | Somerville
2. Globalization Partners | Cambridge
3. HAYSTACKID | Boston
4. Downeast Cider House | Charlestown
5. Cambridge Select | Charlestown
6. HomeWorks Energy | Woburn
7. Project Repat | Boston
8. Chicken & Rice Guys | Boston
9. Pixability | Boston
10. Palo Media | Boston
11. Turbonomic | Boston
12. Wicked Good Cupcakes | Cohasset
13. CloudLock | Waltham
14. Augmenix | Waltham
15. Valore | Boston
16. WordStream | Boston
17. BioPoint | Wakefield
18. Northeast Suites | Stoneham
19. The Cambridge Institute | Waltham
20. The Westport Group | Braintree

Fast-growing companies are more likely to be hiring and contracting for services than slow-growing (or shrinking) companies.  The links above will provide you with access to your LinkedIn connections into that company.

For a complete list of nearly 150 of the fastest-growing private companies in the Boston metro area, access the Inc. 5000 filtered for Boston.  You can apply filters for any state or major metropolitan area in the United States.

[ NOTE: You can follow Beantown Web on Facebook and on Twitter. ]

Boston Web Tech Job Market | Q3, 2016

According to the 2016 Open Source Jobs Report, demand for open source talent is growing and companies struggle to find experienced professionals to fill open roles.

• 65 percent of hiring managers say open source hiring will increase more than any other part of their business over the next six months.
• 79 percent of hiring managers have increased incentives to hold on to their current open source professionals.

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 third 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 May ] listed by number of job postings at Indeed.com:

August, 2016

1. SQL | 5,558  2%
2. Java | 4,024  2%
3. agile *** | 3,567  2%
4. JavaScript | 3,032  5%
5. Python | 2,732  2%
6. social media | 2,274  2%
7. Oracle | 1854  28%
8. SaaS | 1,713  3%
9. C# | 1,709  4%
10. HTML + CSS | 1,698  7%
11. Web Services | 1,511  1%
12. PHP | 1,365  46%
13. UI | 1,352  5%
14. AWS | 1,339  13%
15. scrum *** | 1,316  6%
16. jQuery | 1,314  8%
17. iOS | 1,289  27%
18. SQL Server | 1,256  6%
19. Ruby | 1,205  7%
20. MySQL | 1,134  5%
21. Git | 1,088  0%
22. Angular | 989  24%
23. XML | 982  8%
24. Perl | 941  8%
25. MVC | 918  20%

*** 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:

A Quick Introduction to Agile Management (in-person meetup)
Agile Appetizer, Season 1 (virtual self-study group)

[ 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 on Beantown Web's Facebook page.

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

Boston's Rockstar Recruiters | Q3 2016

~ Rafael Nadal -- 10 consecutive years winning at least one grand slam title
~ Ichiro Suzuki -- 10 consecutive All-Star game appearances
~ Ivan Rodriguez -- 10 consecutive All-Star game appearances

These are indicators of high standards of performance on the tennis court and baseball diamond.

In the recruiting industry 10 becomes the new standard for 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 16th 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-Star game appearances to gauge excellence in their professions.  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 10 LinkedIn recommendations received.

Top 10 in Runs Scored

Boston's Top 10 Rockstar Recruiters perform to a higher standard.  The best in the recruiting business have received at least 54 LinkedIn recommendations each.

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

1. Chris Fountas [112 + 9] -- Hollister Staffing
2. Scott Dunlop [96 + 6] -- The Bivium Group
3. Doug Schade [84 + 11] -- WinterWyman
4. Brendan Andersen [83 + 20] -- CyberCoders
5. Jamie LeBlanc [79 + 2] -- The Bivium Group
6. John VanderSande [65 + 2] -- WinterWyman
7. Brian Abrams [59 + 18] -- PMO Partners, LLC
8. Danielle Lief [58 + 8] -- InnoTECH Staffing
9. Roy Evans [57 + 20] -- CyberCoders
10. Phil Hurd [54 + 18] -- Oculus Search Partners, LLC

Top 10 in Sacrifices

In baseball a "sacrifice fly" is credited to a batter who successfully advances one or more runners by hitting a long fly ball for an out.  A sacrifice fly does not count as a time at bat.  This second list ranks "sacrifice flies."  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 third quarter [number of LinkedIn recommendations [given + received] are as follows:

1. David Perlman [58 + 19] -- Grenadier Search Group
2. Maureen Lawson [57 + 52] -- Clear Point Consultants
3. Ed Nathanson [48 + 31] -- Red Pill Talent, LLC
4. Scott Ragusa [40 + 26] -- WinterWyman
5. Tim Halloran [35 + 10] -- JVT Advisors
6. Jordan Goldberg [31 + 11] -- The Bowdoin Group
7. Carol Taylor [30 + 18] -- Private Clients
8. Andrea Williams [29 + 32] -- Career Minded Recruiting, LLC
9. Sean Dowling [21 + 25] -- WinterWyman
10. Ben Gregg [21 + 23] -- Skillcloud Consulting, Inc.

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: WinterWyman [9]

Silver: CyberCoders [5]

Bronze: Strategic Employment Partners (SEP, Inc.) [3]

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 99 most recommended technical recruiters (out of nearly 500) in the Boston metro area is being counted down throughout the quarter on Twitter @webapprentices.

[ NOTE: You can also follow Beantown Web on Facebook. ]

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

1. SQL | 6,697  6%
2. Java | 4,118  5%
3. agile *** | 3,508  11%
4. JavaScript | 3,203  4%
5. Python | 2,688  6%
6. Oracle | 2,574  6%
7. social media | 2,312  4%
8. iOS | 1,754  0%
9. SaaS | 1,663  6%
10. C# | 1,638  1%
11. HTML + CSS | 1,582  1%
12. Web Services | 1,532  8%
13. SQL Server | 1,331  3%
14. UI | 1,292  1%
15. Android | 1,269  2%
16. scrum *** | 1,241  5%
17. jQuery | 1,216  2%
18. AWS | 1,186  7%
19. Ruby | 1,125  1%
20. Git | 1,087  11%
21. MySQL | 1,079  4%
22. XML | 1,069  15%
23. Perl | 1,022  5%
24. PHP | 936  4%
25. 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. ]