Kevinux

InfoWorld: Study: IT jobs will drop in 2009

2008-07-18T18:52:00.002-05:00

A study by Goldman Sachs shows the effects of the slowing economy will hit the IT sector next year in the form of spending cuts in professional services and hardware costs.

To Get That Job, Bring On The Charm: Survey

2006-08-25T21:38:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-25T21:33:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-25T21:29:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-20T07:56:00.000-05:00

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?

2006-08-20T07:47:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-20T07:38:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-20T07:24:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-16T19:26:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-14T18:12:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-14T18:04:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-07T12:35:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-02T19:55:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-01T17:41:00.000-05:00

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

2006-08-01T17:30:00.000-05:00

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.

Cisco Press :: Articles

2006-07-30T13:10:00.000-05:00

Throw Away the Resume!

Although most IT professionals rely on their resume as their primary marketing document, published articles and case studies can have a dramatic impact on career development. Used properly, they help you quickly build your credibility, separating you from other professionals in your field and leading to more numerous and higher-paying opportunities. Matthew Moran discusses techniques to help you get started in writing case studies and articles and also provides some ideas for getting them published.

Professional Networking Made Easy: Priming the Pump

The value of a strong network of professional contacts is well known. Unfortunately, many IT professionals wait until they are in a career crisis to start building and maintaining their contact list. Matthew Moran provides techniques and strategies to help you create a strong professional network, starting today.

Outsourced Call Centers Losing Feasibility?

2006-07-30T12:49:00.000-05:00

"BusinessWeek is running an article about how outsourcing call centers in India are no longer an 'inexpensive option' for American companies. These shops are now striving for better outsourced work from the U.S. and Europe multinational companies; many are fed up with U.S. clients trying to continually lower prices. New Delhi-based EXL Services, for example, terminated a contract with Dell Inc. because EXL was losing money in the deal."

I wouldn't write off outsourcing just yet. If the US increases the minimum wage as proposed, this may pretty firmly establish a class of jobs that are much inherently cheaper to fill offshore when possible.

Odd... Jobs leave the US for India, causing Americans to get hungry. Then Indian outsourcers start rejecting those jobs because they pay so low the Indians go hungry. Sounds like there's a worldwide hunger crisis in the works, so to speak.

So if India can demand better wages and reject outsource work, can America have those jobs back? We already know the language. Or will we have to wait until Business is done exploiting China and the third- and fourth-world countries? Some companies have come to their senses, but not all and not fast enough.

Which brings to mind a Dilbert strip about how the outsourced work had been so undercut while being bounced to foreign markets that eventually it went to the lowest bidder -- the original company.

Outsourcing usually involves getting rid of entry level positions in a company. Look at the job ads today and the current "Junior" or "Entry level positions" in IT require years of experience just to be considered. It used to be that if you graduated college, you had a shot at the first rung in the company.

Now that there is no low level pool of workers in the company to promote, businesses are having a hell of a time finding people to hire for higher level positions. I was just looking at [avaya.com], a local branch. Every single one of their job ads required 5 to 8 years of experience in the specific job field. Almost every time I talk to someone about how hard it is to find good IT help, I tell them to grab someone from their internship program. Usually their response is "Oh, right, we should implement one of those."

And if all human beings are equally deserving of those opportunities, then you should be against outsourcing. Because those opportunities are no longer available in the host country.

Can't find an IT job? Here are the reasons why.

2006-07-30T12:32:00.000-05:00

Some IT pros are having little luck finding new positions.

You've been having trouble finding a tech job, even though there are supposedly loads of positions out there? Well this writer says you are missing a few key strategies. You only use the Internet to look for postings, and you're too timid to call a hiring manager after submitting a resume. Sound familiar? There are other reasons too.

Submitting resumes through job sites can put 2 additional barriers between you and the hiring manager you're trying to impress:
- a automated scoring system that rewards you for having a pathetic keyword-filled excuse for a resume.
- a HR person that.. well, all bets are off on that one.

Fortunately, there are other ways to get someone's (positive) attention at a company where you want to work. See parent post for details. :D

On the hiring side of things, referred resumes get looked at a lot more closely than the batch of resumes that job sites spit at employers. So you might as well take etnu's up on his offer below. ;)

Don't rely on the internet, but use it to find available jobs and then use the traditional methods of getting that job. I have found jobs through job sites. It works, but the thing that puts you head and shoulders above the rest is using the traditional methods in addition to the internet: sending them a targeted electronic resume to hit those keywords, calling for more info on the job advertised helps, but generally you can glean what they want from the ad. I found that having a few targeted resumes that could be quickly tailored to the advertised job really made life easier.

Next, get in the door. Telephone and ask for an interview. Show up on time for the interview and be dressed professionally and be polite. This is where relying on the internet gets you into trouble. If your just emailing applications you're only doing half the job...you have to press the flesh as the saying goes.

Once you have interviewed, a hand written thankyou card is a damn good idea. This is where you can really take advantage of the internet -- in the old days everyone wrote thankyou cards, these days it's a lost art so here is where you use the laziness spawned by the internet to capture your competitors and allow yourself to jump ahead. A good letter not only thanks the interviewer for their time, but is a great way to reiterate your strong points and maybe improve on any mistakes you made in the interview. Also follow up calls are important. And even if you don't get the job, send a final thank you for being considered. They might have been on the fence regarding the decision to hire you or not, and if another spot opens they might be calling you back sooner than you think.

Finally, there's an old adage out there that when you are unemployed you should spend 40 hours a week looking for a job. This is a good idea, but I found that spending 10 -20 hours a week searching and applying and spending the remainder studying was a big boost. When I was job hunting, I'd usually spend all nighters preparing since job interviews are usually much harder than any final in school since you really have no idea what sort of questions you will be asked.

If you want further reading ( 7 Habits of highly successful people)

Quantity always wins out over quality. Blast your resume everywhere. Flood them. Include a search & replace cover letter if they ask for it, but don't worry they won't read it. They will barely read your resume. Remembere what you learned in AI about a stochastic model? Well, this is it.

Don't worry if you are good match or not. The hiring managers certainly won't. I always get more hits on random resumes than specially tailed ones for jobs I'm perfect for.

Use lots of buzzwords - all the buzzwords. If it asks for 10 years of Unix, don't put 10 years of Solaris - no match.

Never answer your phone. Always make them leave a message. That way, you can look them up, find out what the hell job you applied for, then call them back and act like it is your dream job.

There is not much you can do about foreigners/citizens/non-citizens. People like to hire people like them. Don't ignore jobs when/if they all you back. Just don't be heartbroken if you don't get an offer from people who have a different accent.

Research and memorize the latest trick questions. They still ask those.

If you are very experienced, get out your 10-year-old data structures books and practice tree traversals, linked lists, and complexities for common algorithms.

Forget any wizened insignt you've gained over the years. It is probably over their head. You know what answer they want to hear. Give them what they want. They probably don't like interviewing any more than you do.

Clearly recruiters are doing a poor job for us. If you don't know it yet, they are not working for us, but for the employers.

Secondly, employers no longer can afford, or have the luxury of employing I.T. people long term. Most I.T. employers don't know if they will have work three months from now, let alone next year. This includes some of the largest organizations - global companies.

We have to get two basic paradigms shifted:
- I.T. People need to market themselves; and
- I.T. People need to become more flexible in their employment expecations. The same goes for I.T. employers - they should be more flexible in engaging I.T. Professionals for temporary assignments.

Have a read at some more on this topic here.

High-tech jobs recovery? Don't believe the hype | Perspectives | CNET News.com

2006-07-23T12:28:00.000-05:00

High-tech jobs recovery? Don't believe the hype | Perspectives | CNET News.com
Recent assessments regarding the IT Job Market stand in stark contrast to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest national employment figures which showed far fewer jobs added in June than economists or business leaders had projected.

Only 76,300 new IT jobs were created nationwide during the last three years.

Large technology companies claim they have so much work to spread around that recruiters can't find enough skilled American workers to fill the cubicles in their high-tech campuses. Yet at the same time, large numbers of unemployed tech workers are being turned away outright or are forced to take temporary positions far below their skill level, with reduced pay levels adding insult to injury. Worse yet, tens of thousands of manufacturing and call-center support jobs are being shipped overseas to low-wage companies.

Interview tips from an experienced recruiter - Membox.com

2006-07-19T08:57:00.000-05:00

Interview tips from an experienced recruiter - Membox.com
Although your technical abilities are most important, interviewers don ’t only consider your qualifications and on job experience. See the "In the Interview" section near the bottom for some tips to help you stay sharp.

In my skimming of the article the one thing I didn't see which is the most important thing in an interview, is to really know the reasons why you would be good for this job and to sell those reasons throughout the interview. This doesn't mean that you necessarily want the job (because you can't really know that until you have finished interviewing) but it does mean you know why you would be good for the job.

A few things I think should be emphasized from my brief experience hiring a replacement for my own job:
- if I'm dressed better than you, you're not getting the job
- resist the urge to downplay an achievement, trash talk a former employer, or share in a nasty observation about a past job. If you do it to them, you'll do it to us.
- if you arrive late, you will not get this job. If, by circumstances unavoidable, you simple won't make it, phone and say you've been delayed and offer to reschedule the interview to any time that suits them. They may be willing to wait for you to be late, but don't just walk in 10 minutes late.
- have answers ready for the character questions. I've been nailed by the "what are your weaknesses" question and didn't have an acceptable answer handy. I still got the job, but I felt like an idiot when I had nothing to offer. Many job "experts" tell you to turn a weakness into a strength (eg. "I guess I try too hard to be perfect!"). Idiocy. Your lame attempts to manipulate the interviewers just show you don't think much of their intelligence. A safe answer is "I don't know of any weaknesses that affect my professional life, as any time one is pointed out to me I do my best to overcome it." You can still imply you have flaws without it being a problem on the job.

Job Interviews -- What Your Pre-Interview Research Should Cover

2006-07-18T17:04:00.000-05:00

Job Interviews -- What Your Pre-Interview Research Should Cover
When you go in for a job interview, you're not just a candidate seeking a job. You're a potential problem solver and contributor. To play that role effectively, you must be armed with the right kind of information. That's what pre-interview research is all about.

It's true. If you've got the skills, it's as much you interviewing them as anything. Act like it. The appearance of knowing what you want, and actively seeking to detirmine if this company is for you greatly increases you chances of getting the job, too. Make them squirm a little!

Do the same sort of research that you would were you a prospective investor in the company; information about profitability, marketplace challenges and goals, and so on should all be readily available without too much digging. There is also nominally a section of the interview where you ask questions of the interviewer; that's a good time to ask about your role, etc.

In my experience when interviewing people, the best candidates are the ones that show a heavy interest in what the company is doing, and who seem eager to learn more about their potential new job.

Automate Linux installation and recovery with SystemImager

2006-07-14T17:53:00.000-05:00

Automate Linux installation and recovery with SystemImager
Imaging software, commercial and open source, creates compressed images of a client's hard drive data and stores them on a central server. These images can then be used to restore systems or roll out new ones. One useful open source imaging applications is SystemImager.

As far as the article goes, if implemented properly, this software could be especially useful with something like Gentoo, when an installation can last for hours - not to mention configuring that installation and installing software after that.

Backing up your install locally is as easy as tar'ing your home dir and storing that backup either on an optical disc or on another hard disc partition.

This sounds like a nice alternative though, and can make farm installs easy.
backup: dd if=/dev/hda1 bs=4k | gzip > partition_image.gz
restore: cat partition_image.gz | gzip -dc | dd of=/dev/hda1

Of course '/dev/hda1' would be different for most, but you get the idea.

Copy/Pasted from here: http://forum.s-t-d.org/viewtopic.php?pid=10106
1) Mount a samba share
* mkdir /mnt/remote_share
* smbmount //Server/Folder /mnt/remote_share -o workgroup=Your.Domain,username=YourName,password=YourPassword
2) BACKUP with blocks of max 2gb
* dd if=/dev/sda | gzip -c | split -b 2000m - /mnt/remote_share/mypc_sda.img.gz.
3) Restore
* cat /mnt/remote_share/mypc_sda.img.gz.* | gzip -dc | dd of=/dev/sda
Not very useful for small incremental backups but great to restore the basis of your server fast.

g4u (Ghost for Unix) has been my favourite for a long time: http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/ . From the article it seems even easier to use than SystemImager. Set up a ftp server and your deployment server is good to go.

IT Salary Negotiation Tips

2006-07-14T17:37:00.000-05:00

Show Me the Money: IT Salary Negotiation Tips
eWeek has a good article on IT Salary Negotiation. Some highlights:
NEGOTIATING: GETTING THE RIGHT OFFER
When to broach the subject
It's not tacky to negotiate
Don't blow it
RENEGOTIATIONS: GETTING THE RAISE YOU DESERVE
Prove yourself
Don't lose your chance

Best Places to Work in IT

2006-07-12T07:36:00.000-05:00

For the 13th year in a row, Computerworld conducted a survey to identify the 100 Best Places to Work for IT professionals.

Study: Outsourcing Boom Is Over

2006-07-11T20:42:00.000-05:00

The outsourcing boom has passed and maturity is setting in.

The leveling off is due in part to experienced customers becoming more savvy and more picky about the work they hand to outsourcing providers.

The reticence on the part of some customers is due to disappointment with the performance of their outsourcing providers.

IT Operational Budgets at Highest Levels Since 1997

2006-07-11T19:58:00.000-05:00

IT Operational Budgets at Highest Levels Since 1997
IT operational budgets, as a percentage of company revenues, are at their highest levels since the late 1990s, but that increase comes as large enterprises continue to outsource IT work.

Chicago, Boston Flaunt Largest IT Job Growth

2006-07-11T19:57:00.000-05:00

Chicago, Boston Flaunt Largest IT Job Growth
The Chicago and Boston metro areas have shown the biggest gains in IT job postings since the beginning of 2006, according to the monthly report released July 11 from Dice.com

kt tunstall

2006-06-28T18:16:00.000-05:00

Kttunstall

Certification Helps with Path to Linux Jobs

2005-12-12T20:47:00.000-06:00

eWeek.com has a good article about the role of certification and when it might be important and when it might not. "the people hiring Linux-workers are more likely to be in human resources than in IT.
That, in turn, means you're more likely to be judged by your degrees and certifications than by your experience and skills. "

Also what the real skills a corporation should be looking for in people. "What really counts is the ability to take Linux and make it jump up and down and do the work that today's companies need done. The only way to really show that you have those skills is by doing the work."

In the end this is the important skills that people should be after showing off.

LPI Exam, Objective Changes Underway

2005-08-17T20:20:00.000-05:00

CertCities.com has an article which talks about how the LPI will be changing some of their exam objectives. I think I've heard about this before but for the moment I can't find where that article is.

In other LPI news it looks like Evan Leibovitch has left LPI. I know Evan worked very hard for LPI and even had a chance to talk with Evan about the LPI exams in the past.

I'm sure LPI will continue being the premier world wide leader in Linux vendor-neutral certification.

I.T. Staff Shortage Looming

2005-08-16T13:57:00.000-05:00

Top Tech News has a good analysis of a possible IT shortage that may be on the horizon. I do have a couple of questions fromthe article though. If this shortage is looking where will the shortage be most pronounced?? I believe two of the areas will be related to networking and open-software support. After that I'm not sure where demand will come from. This will be something that will be critical to properly prepare oneself for the next ten years.

The next question I have coming from this article is to question their idea that 60% of corporate IT professionals will assume business-facing roles. this is a key assumption for this whole scenario to take place. Their math goes along the line that in a 100 man operation during the course of the next 5 years there will be a 33% drawdown in demand for IT jobs. So the 100 man operation is going to be reduced to a 66 man operation. Of the 100 men located in the operation 60 people will take on more business-facing roles. Also, of the 100 men located an additional 10 -15 will drop out of the field. The article also spends considerable amount of space discussing the lack of young people moving into the IT field. So now our 100 man operation is turning into something closer to 25 - 30 men. This creates a deficit of 36 - 41 people.

Plenty has been written about how automation is going to cut jobs within the IT sector. One thing that has not been written is what effect does promotion have within the IT sector. In my mind that is the larger quesiton that is looming.

On a similar note Redmondmag.com has a good article titled "Taking Control of your Career." Which lists some other factors that go along way towards improving an IT career.

A final note is a good story from news.yahoo.com which covers the possibility of indian call center reps collecting user information and selling it on the black market (Australian police probing Indian call centre fraud claim). I don't think corporations were thinking of this type of security concern when they decided on outsourcing services overseas.

Novell launches Linux training programmes

2005-08-01T14:19:00.000-05:00

Computerworld Malaysia talks about Novell's new training program: Novell's Academia Training Partner (NATP) which follows along with the Novell Certified Linux Professional. Back towards the end of May, Novell announced their program to donate 1.5 million dollars towards Linux education.

From what the article was implying this part of the program is aimed at institutions in Malaysia, though I'm sure a similar program is in the works for here in the United States. From what I've seen here in the US, a big supplier of Collge based materials is Thompson Learning. These are the same people who bought SAIR Linux and then let it slide a slow death without ever updating any of their material.

Another place to look for Linux training materials is the Novell Learning Channel. They have some nice material listed here too.

Gartner: IT hiring on the rise again

2005-07-26T09:00:00.000-05:00

CNET News.com quotes a Gartner survey where Gartner says the IT sector should see a hiring rebound in the later part of this year. The sectors which are expecting the largest growth are financial services and the public sector. Getting past these numbers a full two-thirds of the organizations who responded to Gartner's survey say they are increasing their IT staff to some degree later this year.

The skills in most demand are PeopleSoft, Oracle and SAP systems, XML, J2EE, Microsoft .Net, Java and Visual C# programming. This list corresponds fairly well with the positions which are in highest demand. I know one of the companies I work for has hired a number of new people for a new contract that the company picked up. I know a lot of people having been waiting for something like this to happen. Hopefully this projected rebound in the job market will be here to stay for a time.

14 year old passing the RHCE?

2005-07-22T13:26:00.000-05:00

Sargun's site has a recap of him completing his RHCT. Keep in mind this guy has admined his father's system for the past five years, so he should have come into the exam with a good background in the industry. I like his list of things to do next: get CCNA, be a teenager, get a girlfriend. I know two of those three things were on my list of things to do when I was fourteen.

IT wages tick up on tight labor market

2005-07-22T13:15:00.000-05:00

Computerworld Is carrying a story about how the strengthening economy is fueling moderate pay gains for IT workers. Some of the factors fueling the increase are 1) decrese in teh supply of available IT workers, 2) maturation of offshore outsourcing - labor costs are rising there too 3) hiring requests are getting more specific. The article also references an article I commented on earlier.

Does Certification Really Matter?

2005-07-20T20:48:00.000-05:00

The SANS InfoSec Reading Room has a series of interviews that try to answer the question: Does Certification Really Matter? The series of articles are focused on answering this question in relation to becoming certified in information security. The answers to this question can be applied to almost any viable certification that is out there. The interview series spans from Jan 2002 to the present. It is interesting to see the range of topics that are covered in these interviews.

Tech skills pulling in more pay

2005-07-20T08:06:00.000-05:00

Foote Partners has a new report out which shows the pay for certain tech skills has improved in the past 12 months. From what I've seen in the report thepay for non-certified tech skills grew at a 3.8% rate while the pay for certified skills only grew at a 1.3% rate.

Some of the factors that the Foote Partners has looked at are:
1. a return to hiring as teh economy strengthens
2. Concerns about retention of qualified people
3. employers are demanding more industry-specific experience to go with tech skills
4. populartity of offshoring has had mixed results
5. government regulation
6. recent mergers and acquisition activities

Their list of "cooling" non-certified skills are interesting in that it includes Linux and Novell. One of their reasons for this is that they believe the supply of Linux skilled IT professionsal has caught up with teh demand for those skills.

The report as a whole is a good report to go through and get a snapshot of what the industry looks like at this moment.

How Google Maps Got Me Out Of A Traffic Ticket

2005-07-19T06:33:00.000-05:00

Edwin over at the Gear Live web site has a cool story of how he beat a traffic ticket using Google Maps. I don't know if the courts were offering up a free wi-fo conneciton in the area but this was a good way of using technology to beat a traffic ticket.

Tech job postings up in Atlanta

2005-07-18T19:28:00.000-05:00

CNET News.com covers changes in job postings on the Dice.com jobs site. As compared from the same time last year the number of postings on the site fell slightly, the largest drop came in the Chicago area where there was a 7.7% drop. As compared to the begining of the year job postings has actually increased about 26%.

An interesting study being put out by the US Dept of Labor shows actual jobs created in IT staying steady this year with a small exception during Apr and May. This study is called a Net Birth/Death model which looks at teh net gain or loss in jobs from an economist view point. This study confirms the perception that many have of this economic recovery not showing signs of a jobs recovery in the IT sector.

Study: Not all entry-level IT work headed offshore

2005-07-16T14:06:00.000-05:00

CNET News.com covers a study by a UCB professorKaren Chapple who is looking at how some entry-level work is staying within the United States and not being sent offshore. One of the trends in recent years is companies who've moved jobs overseas to find a cheaper labor pool. This trend has been seen in help desk jobs on up to programming jobs. I know I have been effected by this trend on two different contracts I've been involved with. One company sent the whole division I was with over to Ireland, and the otehr sent the division over to Costa Rica.

One of the trends this study is pointing out is that entry-level help desk work is still staying within the United States. I think one of the primary reasons for this is that the help desk role is usually a customer service role and is one of the visual images customers get when tehy call for help. Another reason this role is staying within the US is many people feel if they are paying for First-Rate help they can't get it from a Third-World location.

It will be interesting to see what career path this will provide for individuals in the future.

Intelliforge Solutions

2005-07-11T17:25:00.000-05:00

Intelliforge Solutions has an interesting site up that allows you to look at the past year on the Computerjobs.com site and get a visual representation of how well certain job categories and cities did.

Something to note is that when you compare multiple entries it will only look at this year only, but if you look at individual entries the graph starts on 8/15/2004.

Another interesting trend is that for most of this year there has been an increasing in the number of help wanted ads placed on the computerjobs.com web site. another trend I've noticed is that there is a flurry of hiring activity during Jan. I don't know if this is just a fluke or if there is any actual validity to it.

Tech jobs increase in June

2005-07-09T12:32:00.000-05:00

CNET News.com has several stories out regarding IT employment trends. The first story focuses on the continued increase in hiring trends within the technology sector. Anyone who has been watching this trend has noticed that it hasn't been a steady trend but it has been an upward trend from the begining of the year. Job postings on Dice.com have increase by 26%, with the strongest gains showing up on the east coast. As the year progresses the trend should stay steady and show increases throughout the year.

The second article, IT worker confidence rebounds, looks at the Hudson survey of IT worker's confidence. The 12% rebound has been attributed to more hiring within the IT sector overall and an improvement in personal finances of IT workers. Gong into the end of the year this gauge should steadily improve also from last year's levels.

The final story, California tech job lead grows, covers a study by from job search service NimbleCat. The point the survey is making is that California has been garnering about 26.1% of all job postings. This story seems to fly in the face of an earlier story, Profits, not jobs, on the rebound in Silicon Valley. On nice item from the report is that they list the % increase each major area has seen from the previous month.

Profits, not jobs, on the rebound in Silicon Valley

2005-07-05T12:54:00.000-05:00

CNET News.com is carrying a story focusing on the improved profits that the seven largest companies are seeing are not being transferred in an increase in job opportunities. A larger question is whether companies are keeping their main brain trust in Silicon Valley, but hiring the lower level positions elsewhere.

Compared to other economic cycles, Silicon Valley is losing jobs rather than increasing jobs. This brings up the question as to whether the jobs are moving elsewhere within the US or if they are being moved overseas. This is the first article I've seen that focuses on the IT job recovery taking place elsewhere than the US other than articles that focused solely on the outsourcing trend, which I've felt was on the down side.

This will be a trend that is worth watching closely.

Browster - Fastest Way to Browse

2005-07-05T12:26:00.000-05:00

Browster - Fastest Way to Browse This is a cool download to play around with. It will allow you to get a preview of a web page from a google search without having to open the site. The utility actually prefetches the site and will make opening a site a little bit faster.

Does Certification Matter Anymore?

2005-06-25T11:10:00.000-05:00

So What? has a good article on wether certification matters anymore. In it he covers on some good points inregards to wether certification matters or not. If you follow the article and also follow the links to the other articles on ComputerWorld.com (Certifiably Concerned and Study) you'll find some interesting trends.

According to the study, it seems that certified IT professionals are not getting the pay raises that are given to others in the same career path. Jeff brings out some good points in his blog regarding what really matters to companies after someone has been hired. His closing sentence says it all, "Certification has its place, but experience and drive trump certification every time." Granted it takes experience and drive to pass a certification exam, but the more important issue is what benefits does the company see after they've hired you.

The items to remember are that certification matters when you are interviewing for a position and you have the certification and the other person doesn't everything else being equal. If experience comes into play then experience will trump certification every time. Either way, after you've been hired you still have to produce.

These articles are still good to pay attention to and keep in the back of your mind when you are working and asking yourself if you'll get a bonus or a pay raise when they start handing these things out.

Wop Wop Wop I made it to the Internet

2005-06-24T18:36:00.000-05:00

Programming Jobs Losing Luster in US

2005-06-23T10:14:00.000-05:00

Linux News carries an article about how the image of a programmer is losing it's luster. The title is misleading in that programming jobs are not going away, just the image of someone sitting in their cubicle all day only writing code is going away. Companies will always be on the look out for someone who can write inovative solutions will always be in demand.

Having said that, the days of a programmer sitting in his cubicle writing only code are going away. Programmers need to get out and find other ways of helping an organization. I believe having experience with open source projects where people look for ways to integrate and develop projects that someone might need is important. The skill to take a program and adapt it to what soemone needs will be an important skill going forward.

This reminds me of one of the manufacturing differences that many people believe exist between America and Japan. During the 70's, 80's & early 90's people looked at America and saw a great potential to develop and do the raw research to develop innovations. After that there was very little support in moving that idea towards what consumers want, much like Henry Ford's belief that you can have your model T in any color as long as it was Black
Japan on the other hand built a reputation on adapting and modifying ideas to what consumers wanted. Taking the transistor and making watches, producing TV's etc. We've come along way since then in that America has picked up the ability to adapt ideas and products to what best suits the situation.

This ability to develop and adapt programs to what best suits a situation is one area I think will be in demand in the coming years.

IT workers can get the gravy

2005-06-16T09:56:00.000-05:00

CNET News.com carries a quick note pointing out that 41% of IT workers are eligible to earn bonuses. Interesting little piece of information. The only other group that has a higher percentage of people eligible to earn bonuses are accounting and finance workers.

Study: IT job market may be looking up

2005-06-13T08:11:00.000-05:00

CNET News.com reports on a survey by the Robert Half Technology group. Their last quote is the one I'm currently most interested in "Help desk/end-user support is the specialization experiencing the strongest growth among U.S. companies."

The location of the most activity seems to be in the New England States, but the overall tide of activity seems to be bringing everyone higher.

Another story that CNET News carried focused on IT salaries being generally flat. The actual survey was conducted by Janco Associates. It looks like salaries are lagging behind the job market which is normal. In any job recovery market companies increase salaries based on how difficult it is to hire new talent or to keep new talent. When there is an abundance of people looking for a few jobs salaries fall. This has been the general state within the IT sphere for the past several years. When there is a strong demand for people and few people filling those jobs salaries rise.

New LPIC forum

2005-06-10T18:31:00.000-05:00

Lincert.com has started a new forum focused on LPI certification. It looks like the moderator from the old LPI Forums was moved over here. Unfortunately it looks like the original site was hacked into and all of the content was destroyed. Another forum to watch would be the linuxquestions.org site.

It's a shame the original material was destroyed, there was some good posts on there. Either way the site is trying to rebuild from scratch, hopefully the site admins will learn how to do backups to save the material.

Linux Adoption Stalls, Study Says

2005-06-06T14:11:00.000-05:00

CRN is carrying an article concerning the slow down in the number of firms who are looking at adding Linux servers into their environment. From what the article states it appears that the majority of firms who are looking to switch from Unix to something else have already switched over to Linux and the only one left are the stragglers.

It also looks like Windows has used this transition period to try and push themselves into the corporate environment. During the course of the next year or two it becomes interesting if corporations will migrate from Windows to Linux or the other way around. It appears that Windows is the one who is more afraid of losing new users than the other way around.

Red Hat Summit Day 3: Fedora is free

2005-06-03T17:42:00.000-05:00

NewsForge covers the last day of the Red Hat Summit. Overall there seems to be a good responce coming from the people who covered the summit. The biggest news coming out today is Red Hat creating the Fedora Project to seperate Red Hat and Fedora. This news is also coverd on C|Net news.com, eWeek.com, InfoWorld.com, and InformationWeek. This will allow Red Hat to focus on the business side of the industry. The hobbiests who use Red Hat will be left to fend for themselves. It will be interesting how much support Red Hat ultimately gives to Fedora.

Red Hat Summit Day 2: Good collaboration and more

2005-06-03T10:10:00.000-05:00

NewsForge covers Day 2 of the Red Hat Summit.

Two Enterprises Share Linux Success Stories

2005-06-02T09:04:00.000-05:00

eWeek.com covers the Red Hat summit and two enterprises who have made the switch form Unix to Linux - KeyWest Bank and Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co.

One of the key stumbling blocks within the organization has been executives who've seen open source as a college project and not an enterprise solution. Instead of relying on their own IT department, executives seem comforted in the idea of relying on a vendor to support their applications and any problems that come up.

For KeyWest they have made a complete transistion from Unix to Linux in just two years time. One of the more important issues that helped in the transistion was in WebSphere & Oracle being made available on Linux. I know Oracle has worked hard to make itself portable on Linux and has worked with Red Hat engineers to ensure Oracle is adaptable with Linux. There are a number of articles on Oracle's site concerning Linux and specific configurations.

It will be interesting to see what comes out of the Red Hat Summit today.

Red Hat to train Linux Architects in Singapore

2005-06-01T20:08:00.000-05:00

Computerworld Singapore comes out with an article on how Red Hat is looking to help train IT professionals in Singapore. Red Hat will be running a number of certification courses in conjunction with each other.

As Peter Childers, vice president of Global Learning Services at Red Hat, states the company is focused primarily on firms transitioning from a Unix to Linux environment, Red Hat’s “sweet spot”. Childers added, “we’re also seeing more and more people coming in with a Windows-only background, the MCSE and Novell-certified professionals.”

I have wondered in the past what Red Hat was going to do to make an internation presence of itself and now it is show that in a major way.

Study: Tech worker confidence drops in May

2005-06-01T19:45:00.000-05:00

CNET News.com is covering the results from Hudson's monthly gauge of IT workers' confidence. There seems to be a small increase in what some IT workers will feel may be job cuts in their company along with a decrease in what some feel will be additional hiring in their company.

I know I will be hired on by one of the firms I'm working for next week. Actually I'll be making a bit more than what i had expected, but for me it is more important for me to keep the work schedule that I'm on then the actual pay. I'm giving up a little on the pay side in order to keep 2 jobs. I know it's a balancing act to keep both jobs but the money is worth it in the long run.

I still think in the long run there is an upswing in IT hiring, but like any trend hiring will never go in one direction. The overall trend is still for an increase in hiring and a decrease in cut backs.

Red Hat Summit Day 1: You are here

2005-06-01T19:06:00.000-05:00

NewsForge has a recap of the first day of the Red Hat Summit. Red Hat also provides a summary of one of their presentations on their web site.

It will be interesting to see what else happens in New Orleans.

Cats Video

2005-06-01T16:43:00.000-05:00

Thought this was funny. If you go up a couple of levels on the site you can also see a couple of polish guys fighting too.

Report Sees Windows Servers Gaining On Unix; Linux Still Off Analysts' Radars

2005-05-31T18:39:00.000-05:00

Linux Pipeline is carrying a report detailing the demand for different OS flavors. It appears that in the first quarter there was about $4.2 billion demand for Unix servers. Windows also had the same demand. Later in the article Linux is brought up into the discussion with $1.2 billion in demand. Both Windows and Linux are showing strong double digit demand, where as Unix only grew by 2.8%.

I'm sure Linux is pulling some of the strengthaway from Unix, but the fact that Winodws is making susch a stron showing is something to take note of too. It almost appears that Windows is trying to take advantage of any questions organizations might have in a switch over from Unix to Linux.

heise online has another part of this story expanding on the Linux demand side.

##################### UPDATE
Techworld has another takes on this story.

This comment summarizes the whole story, "the world's favourite open source OS is destined to remain a niche product serving Web pages for the time being, while Microsoft makes hay with its core product. It has been a long time since this reporter was able to ask Microsoft representatives if they still believe that Microsoft will ever succeed in the enterprise. It looks like it now has."

In the Trenches Podcasts concerning Certification Training

2005-05-28T09:10:00.000-05:00

Kevindevin has run a 2 1/2 part podcast looking at certification. The 1/2 part comes from the first part. The last half of the first podcast covers certification. The last 2 podcasts cover Cisco certification. The podcasts help give a good overview of what goes on at some of these training centers.

There are several ways of going through training for IT certifications and everyone needs to find what works best for them.

The second podcast and third podcast are here.

If you haven't heard of In the Trenches this is a site which you should check on a regular basis. Here is where system admins come to share ideas with each other.

Red Hat Summit 2005: New Orleans

2005-05-28T08:41:00.000-05:00

redhat.com is having their Big Easy summit next week in New Orleans.

Am I Certifiable?

2005-05-28T08:37:00.000-05:00

LINUXWORLD has an article concerning one person's experiences in taking the LPI 101 exam at Linux World Boston. Still not even close to the midwest.

Some of the conclusions he makes are intersting in where he thinks the role of certifications should play. "If I were an employer, I might use it as a first-level filter to see if the person is serious about the technology. It certainly doesn't replace an in-depth interview and perhaps some practical test of one's abilities."

His last comment really is the telling story on where the certification/experience mix plays a role in the hiring process. "Until you see how someone deals with a real-life situation, you're not really going to know how in-depth his skill set is and you're not going to know how well he approaches problems."

Novell Linux announcements point to possible future of Novell education

2005-05-28T08:31:00.000-05:00

NetworkWorld has an article concerning some recent anouncement coming out of Novell. It seems that Novell has been working with CompTIA to develop Linux training materials for academic environments to promote open source training. Novell will also donate $1.5 million in SuSE Linux software for the universities too.

I wonder what this does to Novell's deal with LPI??

I know universities are interested in training materials for Linux and open source. I personally know of one university that was using the SAIR material when the SAIR exams were essentially a dead certification. The material was good training material but it prepared people for the wrong exams.
############################## UPDATE

Linux Log has picked up on this story and has supplied several links on it's site to 6 other sites with the same information. There is also an article on Novell's web site that details Novell's program more indepth. This story is turnign out to be very important. Novell is trying to reestablish itself as a leading IT firm and it is doing it through products & training.

LPI Exams To Be Offered on Education Day at LinuxWorld Italy

2005-05-28T08:18:00.000-05:00

LXer has an article regarding LPI's involvement with Linux World over in Milan, Italy. I used to wish that Linux World would come to Chicago, but now I just wish they would come to the midwest.

LPI - April 2005 Newsletter

2005-05-26T12:28:00.000-05:00

LPI has been in talks with Novell to include LPI in the certification path for Novell's Linux certification path. From what their brochure looks like the LPI exams will be listed but the brochure doesn't exactly list what role they will take within the Novell sphere of certifications. It will be interesting to see where this goes.

LPIC 1 Exam Cram 2

2005-05-18T18:01:00.000-05:00

Slashdot has a book review of the Exam Cram book by Ross Brunson. I think somewhere within this blog I've talked a little about this book. The review will give you an additional overview of the book along with some commentaries of the book.

In the Trenches - 05-07-2005 - Chat with George Starcher

2005-05-17T09:29:00.000-05:00

In the Trenches - 05-07-2005 Kevin Devin has a chat with George Starcher covering a number of different items. The actual podcast can be found here.

I thought a very relative part of what they covered is what to expect from some of these 4 & 5 day certification cram camps. The most important part of which is not to expect to take these camps and expect to learn the subject matter but to use these camps as a way to cram for an exam. If you are trying to learn the subject matter there are better ways to learn the subject matter than something that is to prepare someone for particular IT subject matter.

Career Opportunities Columns

2005-05-16T20:44:00.000-05:00

Career Opportunities Columns: The High-Tech Career Handbook is a good blog that is focused on High-Tech Careers. This is another blog that'll be added to my list for a daily read. Have fun with this one.

I like his post on May 10th, "certifications. They matter. If you are not certified, then you’re a hack....Find that offensive? Then put it to the test - when your car breaks down, take it to an uncertified, intelligent, talented, and experienced person you know and have them fix it."

Enjoy the site.

LPI test prep and stuff

2005-05-16T16:17:00.000-05:00

A popster over on the LPI Forums .com site has made a nice rundown of several sites which are good to help prepare for the LPI exam. It's nice to see the different sites which are out there. Hopefully I can run through these sites and add any new ones or atleast comment on the new sites which are out there.

Special Offer for LPI Alumni: PHP Certification discount

2005-05-12T15:33:00.000-05:00

LPI is offering a special discount for LPI candidates who are looking to get PHP certified. This looks like a limited time offer but it is nice to see LPI starting to team up with other organizations which are involved with a LAMP set up. It will be interesting to see if this will be a continuing trend within open source to support more integration.

LPI Announces Improvements to Certification Program

2005-05-12T15:14:00.000-05:00

Linux Professional Institute Announces Improvements to Certification Program. LPI has been busy keeping their exams current. Some of the changes have already been put in place while others are nice changes to see.

The exam question rotation has been in place for several months now and I'm sure it has frustrated any one who has been trying to create brain dumps for the exams. This has been an excellent proactive step that LPI has taken to maintain the integrity of their exams. Over the past year I've seen a refocus by certifying organizations to maintain their quality and integrity also I've seen a move from employers looking for someone who is using certifications to stay current in the job market.

The objective review has always been open processes with LPI, a significant part of what goes into LPI’s objectives are what is included in the Linux Standards Base. LPI is also willing to include input from the larger community and stakeholders into what is important for the LPI exams to test for. Firms that are actively involved with the LPI can ensure the parts of Linux which are important for them are included in the exams.

The final change is the merging of the two exams for the first LPI exam. Instead of having a separate exam for RPM and DPKG, LPI will merge the two exams into one. I know when I went for my exam I basically printed out the man page for RPM's and memorized the whole page. This made it easy to pass those questions. With more Linux distributions coming out more people will need to be familiar with a variety of options that are available for package managers.

All in all these changes are good news for the Linux community. I know it's been quite recently in regards to certification news but I'm sure things will get interesting. I know the job market is staying active and there will be a continuing need for people with proven experience with Linux.

Billion-dollar babies in the tech sector

2005-05-10T13:09:00.000-05:00

CNET News.com has a good article focusing on where the technology industry is

Some important comments, which should be remembered, are focused on where technology companies are growing towards and where their focus remains. " The industrial logic behind many technology deals is now very similar to heavy industry. These kinds of deals are focused on achieving better economies of scale, better use of research and development and better use of general and administrative costs...They are profit plays more than growth plays. This is new in technology." It's almost as if the late 90's was a time of new technology and the current time is more for how people will use the new technology. The need to update to the newest technology isn't as prevalent as what it was in the late 90's when everyone was afraid of Y2K bugs and were more interested in protecting their past investments in technology.

One of the areas where growth still remains is in providing internet content. "The interesting thing about Internet content is that it's not that hard to start an Internet company and build a brand. Although a lot has been done already, there are very low barriers to entry if you have a good idea...Internet distribution is increasingly being proven to be effective." The article also goes on to mention the differences in magazines available. At one time there were only a hand full of magazines and now there are racks and racks full of magazines. The important thing that each magazine brings to the table is a focus on a specific group of people who want to enjoy what is available from each publisher.

When I worked in the Futures Trading industry a number of brokerage houses realized that by providing updated information was a way to draw people to their web site and then hopefully turn those clicks into customers. What firms eventually did was turn their best research into an area that only members could use and would need to log on to the site to access. Thus turning clicks into dollars. Several online magazines follow the same idea of providing a brief description of the article and making the whole article available only for subscribers.

All of this points to several ideas available for anyone wanting to go into business for himself or herself. Provide new, original content that people will enjoy and that is easy for them to use.

U.S. economy adds tech jobs

2005-05-06T17:34:00.000-05:00

CNET News.com is carrying a story which further adds to the belief that the IT industry has turned the corner in regards to hiring trends. Earlier this year there was some concern with the telecommunications field cutting jobs with all of the mergers going on. It looks like during the month of April the telecommunications field added 6,700 jobs.

According to the report and from what other analysts added on the hiring trends should continue for the next several months. Venture capitalists have also been funneling money into a variety of fields which include wireless communications and the internet.

Over all I can attest to the fact that I am still holding onto 2 jobs. From what I've seen alot of people who have been involved in the IT field have become settled into their knowledge base and focus more on learning what they need to learn to do their immediate jobs. This is leaving a gap in where they can grow from their current status. I don't know if this has as much to do with people just happy to be employed or complacency in where they are currently at. I know at both of the companies that I'm currently at the promotion prospects are currently not good but that has as much to do with being in a flat corporate structure than anything else.

It will be interesting to see what happens when opportunities do open up and who they will be offered to or if the companies will go outside to hire new talent. I still think there will be tremendous opportunities for those who keep improving their skill sets and look to apply the different skills to help the companies they work for.

The Certified Novell Engineer conundrum

2005-04-30T11:07:00.000-05:00

NetworkWorldFusion has an interesting question/answer in regards to wether someone should get certified in Open enterprise Server or if they should take the Certified Novell Engineer track. In escence Novell isn't sure themselves which tracks someone should focus on other than the fact they are offering up different options for someone to follow.

The author asks Novell's director of Press Relations for his opinion and he says "We haven't determined yet what we'll do regarding creation of an OES certification. We want to see how customers are deploying it before making our decision." Yep, Novell doesn't know yet.

Interesting.

Loads of Linux Links: Certification / Training

2005-04-27T18:51:00.000-05:00

Loads of Linux Links: Certification / Training I was going through some stories when I stumbled upon this link fest from sourceforge. The main link page can be found here. From there enjoy yourslef and have fun learning what it out there that is focused on Linux

Has tech employment turned a corner?

2005-04-26T19:13:00.000-05:00

CNET News.com is carrying a story focused on employment trends in the tech industry. As I've posted in the past, for certain sectors within IT there has been mimi hiring booms going on and for others they are still in slumps. The good news is that overall, it seems that the IT industry has been turning the corner. The first paragraph says it all: "the country's high-tech industry shed 25,300 jobs in 2004, to 5.6 million. By comparison, 333,000 tech industry jobs were lost in 2003 and 612,000 in 2002, according to the trade group."

For anyone involved with Linux the next several years should see growing demand for their skill sets as teh various flavors of Linux start replacing Unix in the server market. There have also been a couple reports coming out of Camp Redmond of their concern over Linux making a run at dominating the server market. Redmond does have serious concerns over competition from Linux for the all important business marketplace for servers. I think it'll still be a while before Linux will compete with Microsoft for the desktop and some important things to watch will be how do businesses react to upgrading to a new version of Windows.

Microsoft is trying to time a forced upgrade to a new version of Windows to lock in customers for the next several years before businesses start to look at alternatives. Keep in mind that Windows 2000 will see their end of support come later this summer time and many bussinesses will hold onto their older copies of Windows as long as possible.

The next several years we will see several products die off and several other products brought to life. A couple good examples are the Firefox browser which has brought back the browser wars. Lotus Notes also has a distinct possibility of being cut adrift by IBM as IBM starts to focus more on their Linux products and seem to be umwilling to turn Lotus Notes into an Open Source product. These are jsut a couple of example of changes which are taking place in the IT industry. Fun things to look forward to.

Rise of tech job posts could bode well

2005-04-18T12:46:00.001-05:00

CNet is carrying a story looking at the job postings on teh Dice.com web site. Basically they are saying the postings have increased 22% in teh first three months of this year. If I remember right there was a similar rise, maybe not to the same extent during the first three months of last year only to see things settle back down due to the uncertainty tied to the presidential elections.

It will be interesting to see if this hiring binge will be able to maintain itself throughout the rest of the year.

Rise of tech job posts could bode well

2005-04-18T12:46:00.000-05:00

Blogthings - What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

2005-04-15T20:28:00.000-05:00

Blogthings - What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Your Linguistic Profile:

80% General American English

10% Upper Midwestern

5% Dixie

5% Midwestern

0% Yankee

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Tech industry slashing jobs again ??

2005-04-14T08:53:00.000-05:00

CNET News.com has a story looking at the tech industry employment for the past couple of months. Reading through the story it appears that most of the cuts are as a result of industry consolidation rather than people taking a breather in their tech buying. With the economy picking up steam the pace at which people buy tech products should continue for the next year or two depending on how the economy improves.

I think that the consolidation that various tech industries have gone through should better prepare them for the next several years. If this is the case then companies should go back onto the hiring trend relatively soon. LinuxPipeline carries another story about IT hiring trends. Several points they bring out are longer-term concerns over outsourcing and automation are things to pay attention to. One thing they point out is that companies are focusing on hiring people who can prove they have the experience either through a degree or through certifications. The people who have been jack of all trades seems to be the ones getting squeezed out.

Another point the article makes is this is the first stretch of a couple months that IT hiring has been able to sustain. It seems that "companies are 'spending more on IT talent to tackle IT projects' that had been shelved or delayed for several years." This is a good sign that with an improving economy and competition to provide better services there will be greater demand for IT workers on a longer term basis.

Techies feeling more bullish

2005-03-31T15:07:00.000-06:00

CNET News.com is carrying a good story about IT workers feeling more upbeat about the job environment.

Also the average number of unemployed workers "fell from 210,000 in 2003 to 146,000 in 2004, according to U.S. Department of Labor data."

This is good news. For the second year in a row I can personally attest to the pick up in job activity due to the fact that I'm essentially holding down two full time jobs again. Hopefully my situation can hold on for a bit longer so I can get current with a number of things around the house. I know for the past three years I've had to job hop because of the outsourcing problem going through Corporate Americe. I was never out of work for long but I don't think it looks good when I have 4 different jobs in the past 3 years.

It'll be interesting to see where the overall industry will be at by the end of the year

LPI Certification Exams at PHP Quebec Conference

2005-03-31T14:33:00.000-06:00

LPI Certification Exams at PHP Quebec Conference It amazes me that LPI has been so active in getting themselves involved with the different communities that are out there. I really wished they would make a trip through the Chicago land area.

LPI Course Docs

2005-03-23T10:19:00.000-06:00

Michel Bisson and Alan McKinnon have posted their course material for those who have an interest in Linux. I think I might have posted this site before but this is the first time I've realized who Alan McKinnon is. He is the gentleman who has been instrumental in bringing Linux to S. Africa. His web site has some good information on what is happening in the Linux world in regards to training.

There is some good information here for anyone looking to learn about Linux.

Tectonic -- How Much will it cost you?

2005-03-23T09:07:00.000-06:00

Tectonic's Alan McKinnon has a new article out about the cost of Linux training and what you should expect. One of the important topics, which most people fail to check for, is the quality of the Instructor and the institution they are going through.

I've been through alot of different IT courses and some of them have been pure rip offs. One of the factors that determines the quality of the instruction has been the quality of the instructor and their method of instruction.

The best courses I have been through (either in college or at third party firms) have been with those who combined theory and application. There are some instructor's who know their material inside and out and can talk about it all day long with only a minimal amount of hands on training. There are also those who leave the hands on for someone's spare time.

The best instructor's I've had have covered the theory in a fairly fast method and then spent the rest of the time having students apply what they just learned. It is one thing to be able to run throught he motions immediately after an instructor covers the material and it is something completely different to be able to apply those ideas in a work environment where theory doesn't always apply and being able to adjust theory has been more important. Knowing where to look for information when you really need it is important.

Red Hat Offers New Foundational Course

2005-03-23T08:50:00.000-06:00

CertMag.com has an article regarding Red Hat's new courses they are offering for those looking to get an initial Linux Certification. These courses are designed for those who are looking to get an initial Linux certification. Some have mentioned that the only thing holding back Linux from the small and medium sized markets have been the lack of inexpensive, skilled Linux technicians.

Red Hat is opening up more avenues for those who are looking to get started in the Linux world with introductory certifications. It will be interesting to see how the vendor-neutral certification firms respond to Red Hat moving into their territory and also how Novell responds to Red Hat trying to keep people on a career track with the red Hat brand of certifications.

Things are starting to heat up in the Linx Certification markets.

CompTIA Linux+ exam went live on March 21st

2005-03-23T08:38:00.000-06:00

CompTIA has released their Linux+ exam. CompTIA is looking for this exam to push their movement within the Linux environment in the coming years. This follows on their beta they were offering last year.

The biggests deffeences between the old exam and the new exam "are the additional domains on security and documentation, the expansion of domains on installation and configuration, and a decrease in the emphasis on hardware."

The older version of the exam will still be available unitl July 2005.

Red Hat in the news

2005-03-10T13:05:00.000-06:00

CertMag.com
Red Hat has been busy so far this month in offereing up two new products for people to use.

The first is Red Hat's Linux Essentials for Windows Professional RH035. Which is designed as an introductory course for Windows professionals with no Linux experience. CertMag.com has an overview of the new course. CertMag also points out that more and more IT professionals are looking to diversify their skill sets and make them more usable in an integrated environment.

The second bit of news Red Hat has come out with concerns their RHCA exams where they have chosen a multi-exam format to earn the RHCA certification.

InfoWorld: Novell unwraps new version of Linux

2005-03-10T10:35:00.000-06:00

InfoWorld: Novell unwraps new version of Linux Novell has used Cebit to unveil their new version of Linux, version 9.3. The new version will come with the 2.611 kernel, OpenOffice 2.0, KDE 3.4, Gnome 2.10, the Firefox browser, improved wifi support and a number of development tools.

This new version should be available in stores and on-line by mid-April.

InfoWorld: Novell unwraps new version of Linux

2005-03-10T10:34:00.000-06:00

IT Paychecks Rise In 2004 After Three-Year Slide

2005-03-03T17:10:00.000-06:00

Linux Pipeline has an article from Foote Partners about IT paychecks. It appears that pay actually rose last year in the IT industry. For certified skills pay rose on average by 4% while noncertified skills pay rose by 1%.

Some of the reasons for the rise in pay were increased competition for IT talent and concerns about staff retention.

I've seen it talked about in other articles and it seems the demand for netowrking skills will increase for some time to come. Remember Linux is a networking OS. Having a mix of networking, Cisco and Linux will help you prepare for some good opportunities in the future.

S. Africa Smashes the Linux Certifications record

2005-03-03T10:47:00.000-06:00

Tectonic has a story about how they recently certified 325 individuals in Linux Administration. LI level 1 mostly and a few for the LPI level 2. Alan McKinnon played a significant role in recruiting and training many of the inidividuals who were certified. This was the largest group of individuals certified at one time. the previous record was held in Hong Kong in 2003.

LPI also picks up on the article and adds a few more details.

Congratulations to Alan for all the work he did to prepare the individuals and help bring the event to S. Africa.

LPI and Mandrakesoft Partner to Promote Linux Training Standards

2005-03-02T19:44:00.000-06:00

LPI has news of their partnership with Mandrake to promote the adoption of standard, vendor-neutral, Linux certification and training materials. Mandrake has been using LPI's material for their own material and programs.

LPI has been working hard to promote a specific training plan that people and businesses can use to set a path for Linux training.

It has been interesting in how LPI has been garnering support from other organizations outside of Red Hat and Novell. LPI is almost working to have everyone else identify that they are the standard bearers for the Linux community. This shows up in both their stance as a vendor-neutral organization and the fact they are standing by the Linux Standards Base as the core of their material.

I think LPI's stance on the above will take them a long way in the industry in the coming years.

Microsoft hiring Linux developers????

2005-03-02T10:14:00.000-06:00

Want to be part of MapPoint product group? [Hint: We're hiring!] Scobleizer has a post about how Microsoft is hiring Linux developers for one of their projects and he refers to Chandu Thota's weblog as evidence of a Linux developer who has been working for microsoft for the past year. He even gives his Top 10 Mappoint Moments of the Year 2004.

All of this follows ontop of Sun's decision to move away from Linux and cut a significant part of their Linux developers. I wonder how much of Sun's decision is based on their agreement last year with Microsoft. Something to think about for a moment or two today.

RHCE Certification: Am I Current?

2005-02-26T14:54:00.000-06:00

With Red Hat releasing thier next server upgrade, one question that RHCE are asking themselves is "Am I current?" Red Hat does offer a site where one can find out.

A point to remember is that all RHCE's earned on Red Hat Linux 7.3 or prior are in teh process of needed to be upgraded due to the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 this month.

Red Hat is offering a special offer for those who need to upgrade themselves. Red Hat phases out the lifespan of those certified to ensure they are current on the most recent release of their products. If I remember right Red Hat has been keeping to a 15 month time frame for their server upgrades.

Linux is in business

2005-02-24T17:43:00.000-06:00

Network World Fusion has an article which covers some of the reasons why corporations are moving toward including Linux in their operations. I think the first reason (the need for shops using smaller servers to find an alternative operating system to what is offered by Microsoft) will start picking up more steam as Windows tries to move people from older systems to something newer. Obviously Microsoft is looking for someone to move towards their product, but what corporations are looking at are the uncertainties they've had in the past with Microsoft products and comparing those to their experiences or rumors of experiences with Linux. Linux has been able to maintain a quality name for itself for several years and that is one area where corporations respect.

I still think there will be a huge push to include Linux on the network layer for corporations and possibly onto the desktop. The one stumbling area for Linux's move to the desktop is the individual user who might be reluctant to migrate themselves and anyone else they work with away from Microsoft. As a general rule people don't like to learn new things, like to work with what they've got.

It will be interesting to see where these different drivers push Linux in the future.

Why you should train your staff

2005-02-21T12:54:00.000-06:00

Alan McKinnon has another good article on why companies should be looking to train their staff for technologies and skills which will be needed. One thing I do believe is that if most people are left to their own choices they will rely on seniority and time in a job for future career progression, rather than rely on improving their skill sets and positioning themselves for a proper job promotion.

I like his closing comment "Trained, knowledgeable people can control their jobs and deliver value. Untrained people cannot do this."

Linux desktops have internal role at Cisco

2005-02-19T11:47:00.000-06:00

LinuxWorld has an article which discusses why Cisco is moving towards Linux on the desktop. The mainfactor which is pushing towards using Linux on the desktop is the ease of administration. Linux comes with the built-in tools to help in remote administration. These tools allow a Linux administrator to support between 200 and 400 desktops, whereas a Windows administrator is limited to about 40 desktops.

A very interesting article which hints towards a corporate move towards Linux for the larger corporations when they have to chose between Windows and something else for an upgrade. Something to make people go hmmmm!!!

redhat.com | Training Specials

2005-02-18T20:37:00.000-06:00

redhat.com | Training SpecialsHey Look at what Red Hat is offering for anyone who is purchasing Red Hat training material.

Sometimes it helps when I click on my own Ads by Google ;)

LPI Certification Exams Top 75,000 Worldwide

2005-02-17T18:57:00.000-06:00

LPI - LPI News talks about the increasing popularity of the LPI exam. I have talkd about this before where LPI will be battling it out with CompTIA in offering Linux certification. Included in their story is a second story where LPI will team up IDG World Expo to offer Linux certification exams at all LinuxWorld expos.

I've said it before this is a great time to be involved with Linux and things will only get better as the economy improves, companies upgrade their system from older Windows systems and the right people are available to help operate those systems.

Fewer pink slips for techies

2005-02-17T16:56:00.000-06:00

CNET News.comhas an article about how there are fewer pink slips being handed out in the IT industry.

I can personally attest to this due to the fact that since about a week ago I am currently working what is essentially two jobs. I was offered more money from one company and the second company didn't want to lose me. So I worked out a schedule where I can work both jobs. Fortunately for me they are about 12 min apart. & that makes the drive to and from easy with an early morning commute and a late evening commute.

To add to this I found out earlier today that my new company will be looking to expand later this year. They have more contracts which are opening up and they will need more IT technicians.