To Get That Job, Bring On The Charm: Survey

A survey of 223 senior executives and managers found that 63% rely on "likeability" and personality of a candidate when making hiring and promotion decisions. So what does this mean to the stereotypical techie who is often labeled as lacking sparkle when it comes to people-skills?

As a manager over our programming department, I look for the same thing when hiring.

Well, I don't exactly look for charm. I look at it from the opposite point of view...they just can't have a toxic personality. If they'll cause issues and fights, it ruins the entire group. We like easy-going people the most. My favorite question to ask applicants is to ask with a smile "Name three things that really bug you". That question really weeds out the bitter, angry types from the easy going ones.

The other top qualities for us at our programming place are:
1) Being detail oriented. If they can't keep track of details in a complex project, then they won't be a good programmer for us. Period.
2) Ability and desire to think. For example, most applicants come in while still going through school. I ask them their math, science, and computer grades. Many say they get C's and D's, but still insist they can program. We know then not to hire them. But if they have a history of doing *something* that makes you think, we like them. Whether its programming, or math, or physics, or electronics, or teaching complex material, or whatever. We've hired people who were great thinkers but had no programming experience. Within a couple of months, they were plugging away as valuable employees, far better than people who have gone to school for 4 years.
3) Loyalty. Too many people jump on a job only to leave a few months later for perhaps a better one. If we see a resume sheet with people jumping from one job to the next every year, we really wonder. If we see people that stick around through tough times, we love them.

Other helpful traits for us:
* Simpsons and/or futurama knowledge.
* Past history of gaming.
* Hard worker, doesn't get distracted.

The HR trend nowdays is to look for social skills above the other skills, regardless of the area in question. I think this is a bit wrong, since quite a few brilliant and very productive people lack sociability and are anxious when dealing with other people.

Of course you can invoke the importance of teamwork and all that here, and of course you'd want a charming, easy going person to work in your company, but there is way more in people then charm and friendliness, and some people spend their lives dedicating more in other forms of skills than social ones. I believe this trend is bad for these people, and given their skill levels, it's quite a waste of good human resources.

I've done a minor amount of interviewing and hiring, and you know what? I hire people that I will *enjoy* working with and who seem to *care*. I don't hire the guy who has certifications out the ass (at least on his resume, which could very well be a lot of BS) but you have to pull teeth to get to say anything.

Career Path: Graduate-Degreed Compliance Execs

As the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 passed its fourth anniversary in July, the need for security, risk management and compliance specialists has put executive-level information security officers in even greater demand.


eWeek talks about a career path as an executive-level information security officer.

IT to Become Career Gateway, Not Finish Line

eWeek presents an article which states, "The future enterprise technology career path will meander in and out of the IT department."

The previous enterprise IT path followed one of four routes.

• sourcing path
• management path
• innovation path
• IT path

Forrester found that one of the most significant changes to the IT job path is in focus. Whereas previously, IT pros were expected to focus internally, they are expected now to feel comfortable applying IT solutions within and without the company.

Lack of Linux System Admins hurting adoption

Tom Adelstein over on http://www.oreillynet.com has some good advice for the Linux Community.

One of his points is that the slobs and the arrogance of the community have made it difficult for Solution Providers to adopt a Linux Solution. Lack of Standards, Lack of Documentation, etc all make it difficult for anyone else coming in behind us to do a decent job.

Linux Education Gap?

http://www.crn.com/ carries a story looking at the education gap between Linux and Windows for Solution Providers.

The rules of good panel etiquette get kind of twisted at places like LinuxWorld, where audience members don't so much raise questions as share, ahem, points of view. But actually, that's a good thing.

One outspoken attendee kept coming back to the issue of raising the level of basic Linux skills and focus as a precursor to true success in the SMB community

A recent survey by CRN's sister group pointed to a definitive correlation between the investment a VAR or systems integrator makes in Linux skills and the revenue it drives from Linux-inclusive solutions.

LPI adds open-source job placement service

http://www.desktoplinux.com talks about some things which have happened out at LinuxWorld this past week.

On August 16 at LinuxWorld in San Francisco, the organization launched a new employment and contract matching service for open-source workers who are registered on LPI's internal exam candidate database.

I was searching the LPI web site and could not find anything which refers to this announcement.

Linux jobs abound, tech job service says

Both http://www.desktoplinux.com and http://www.linuxdevices.com are refering to a story regarding the demand for Linux Skills in the marketplace/

Strong demand for Linux professionals outpaced overall job growth during the past year, according to IT job clearinghouse Dice.com. As of August 1, there were 7,000 jobs opportunities on Dice.com for technology professionals with Linux experience. This is up 35.6 percent from the beginning of the year and 55 percent higher than 12 months ago, the service reports.

Here is an interesting OS-related result from a recent (May 2006) Dice.com poll:

Question: As of right now, which operating system has the brightest future?

• Windows. When Vista comes out at the end of the year, it'll dominate -- 38 percent
• Linux. Adoption is growing, and people are sick of Windows -- 31 percent
• Mac OS. Apple is going to make a big comeback in the next 12 months -- 15 percent
• None of the above. Nobody cares about operating systems anymore -- 18 percent

CIOs Put Out Help-Wanted Sign for Business-Savvy IT Professionals

Cioinsight.com just posted their latest research, in which they asked more than 400 top IT executives about the hiring outlook for 18 different IT positions, and finds that the demand for new systems and infrastructure is leading to more hiring for IT professionals who can build them.

Technical skills keep you employed. Business skills get you promoted.

IT: The Next Chapter

eWeek has another good article on the future of IT. Some important points form the article are:

• Outsourcing has a diminishing luster
• IT workers will enjoy global demand for their services
• New architectures need multiple skills
• Technology will spur organizational evolution

"People who stick it out in IT in the lean years will be well-positioned when the world wakes up and realizes that they need them"

Building the Perfect IT Person

While that model is still being sorted out, Novak, along with other CIOs interviewed by eWEEK, is on the lookout for the holy grail - a designer IT person who can adapt and thrive in changing environments and still remain valuable. To be sure, the ultimate IT worker doesn't exist; he or she is a figment of CIOs' collective imagination.

The perfect IT person must have patience when on the other end of the line is a user who doesn't know the difference between the computer "desktop" and the "desktop" on which the computer sits. that actually happened to me. very frustrating for me since i assumed everyone knew, who users a computer, what one's "desktop" was. i kept my cool though...:)

CIOs are discovering the age-old three-way conundrum: Adaptable, Valuable, Low salary. Pick two.

You can have it good and cheap.
You can have it fast and cheap.
If you want it good and fast, it's not going to be cheap.
- Contractor's Mantra.

From the article:

"The truth is that IT is just not valued that highly by the people in charge—rather, it's still being viewed as a cost center by many companies that focus more on business."

I can't agree more with this statement. It's sad, too, because IT is (in most industries) one of those absolutely critical business elements. There are a few organizations that recognize this. Fortunately, the company I work for is one of those few. We are a marketing logistics company, dealing with very physical assets, but by staying ahead of the IT curve, we are able to provide services to our clients that no other company can. As a result, the owners recognize IT as one of the main reasons for our tremendous growth and great competitive advantage... and it shows on the bottom line.

Want the perfect IT Guy:

#include
#include

int main()
{
bool condescending, arrogant, needHelp;
attitude(&condescending,&arrogant);
needHelp = true;
while(!condescending && !arrogant && needHelp)
{
cout

Basically the perfect IT person is as follows:

1. Always at their desk regardless of what problems they're currently handling.
2. Picks up the phone on the first ring and has an instant, 5 second solution to anything.
3. Works after hours and on weekends without complaints or expectations of bonuses, rewards, or salary increases. Vacation not in person's vocabulary.
4. Is clever enough to keep old crap running (servers, desktops) without spending a penny of their budget.
5. Has at least one degree yet happily works for a $30k/year salary regardless of the cost of living in any state/city/country.
6. Can do anything; anything said person cannot do will be resolved within the hour via some googling and experimentation.
7. Works in such a way that every process undertaken is thoroughly documented, so much so that the individual is instantly replacable and the new person coming in just 'follows the yellow brick road'.
8. Is very friendly, approachable, and a master at dumbing it down for the average COO, CEO, user, manager, you name it.

That's a perfect IT person from management's point of view. Now, here's the perfect IT person from an IT point of view.

1. Is adaptable and learns fairly fast, doesn't have to be instructed frequently on how to complete everyday tasks.
2. Works reasonably hard but always saves the last hour of the day for a quick fragging in UT2004 with the rest of the IT staff.
3. Never, ever starts nasty, undocumented projects on Friday. Ever.
4. Is a jedi master at extracting 'needs' from users. No users ever truly know what software or hardware they need at any given time, particularly new users. It takes a sixth sense to roll a machine out to most of them, especially specialized users like CAD designers.
5. Willing to lift heavy stuff without breaking a sweat from time to time. New servers have to be racked up and that takes a little muscle.
6. Degreed or not, make sure you're competent. Nobody likes a paper MCSE or a pedigreed CCNA that doesn't even know when or how to reboot a production server or router.

Tech Worker Surveys Show Happy Days Are Here Again

Salaries are rising, jobs are secure, personal finances are solid, and skills in Web services, ERP, .Net, and Java are as hot as the weather outside.

Compared to a base score of 100, job optimism among techies climbed 4.3 points to 112.5 in July. Tech pros were also more upbeat in July than the same month a year ago, which saw a confidence rating of 109.9.

Better Base Pay But Fewer Bonuses for IT Pros

eWeek carries an article titled, "Better Base Pay But Fewer Bonuses for IT Pros." In a change from prior pay structures, more than half of IT professionals are now earning better pay for additional tech skills, but not via cash bonuses, according to a new study.

Foote Partners says that skills pay has now been tucked into base salaries.

The dominant practice today is to incorporate additional pay for IT certifications and noncertified skills into workers' base salaries.

The study found that employers have a preference for salary-based skills pay because it solves the problem of workers disgruntled because their pay is not where other salary studies say it should be.

Combating Skills Shortage, IBM Hosts University Workshops

IBM is bringing its application development technologies right through the front doors of academia.

The company is hosting its first statewide university workshop to boost student application development skills Aug. 1-3 at North Carolina State University and including schools from all over the state.

Where The Best-Paying High-Tech Jobs Are

Surprise, surprise--the top places for tech workers aren't all in Silicon Valley.

If you want to find the top-paying jobs in the U.S. tech industry, you may want to look in the obvious places--Montgomery, Ala., Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Fort Worth, Ark., for instance.