Revenge of the nerds?!

A report ranking the best jobs in 2013 is chock full of IT roles, with database administrator, systems analyst, software developer and Web developer achieving rare air.

According to the recent U.S. News and World Report findings, reported on recently in InfoWorld, those positions took up nearly half the “top ten” spots on the list. Computer programmer, IT manager and systems administrator roles cracked the top 25.

The ranking of 100 jobs was based on the hiring demand using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics findings and scored out through salary, job prospects, growth potential and other factors.

Though these factors don’t universally grade out at the high end for each and every IT job on the list (for example, IT manager roles rank high for stress level, but also top out on potential with a projected 18 percent employment growth rate in the next decade), the “in-your-face” presence of so many IT roles among the upper echelon of this list signals that, indeed, techies are in high demand these days.

Are you behind in newer technologies, or need a fresh career in IT? Look at GogoTraining’s curriculum offerings. Training can move your career in new directions.

Source: CompTIA IT Career Blog

Are you old enough to remember when the IT department was made up of mainframe computers, and users had to file requests for reports they wanted? The IT department had “kingdom” control over information. The penetration of PCs into that arena caused a huge paradigm shift, as control shifted from the IT department to the user. With that came a new set of business rules, and the first signs of computer security as we know it today. Mind you, the mainframe never left the scene; its functionality shifted to tasks that were best suited for that environment instead of the overly dynamic environment of the user request. But the PC forever changed the way information is commmunicated within organizations. And here we are again looking down the long barrel of another shift – this one caused by multiple technologies, the Cloud and smart mobile devices.

The Cloud is the source of the shift up, but not because it’s new exciting technology; this technology has been around for a long time. We just haven’t needed it till now. As companies handle increasingly large amounts of data and face the hard economics of enlarging data centers and adding servers, the Cloud is starting to look “mighty fine” as an alternative. Company IT departments are grappling with security and privacy issues. Security plays an important role but is in the best interest of the supplier to have the latest security measures since this is the number one concern of clients. Privacy is currently being handled through authentication involving limited to full access based on usernames and passwords, and job roles defined around that. There are many ramifications including impact or shift to jobs, and will become evident as the trend continues.

Smart phones and tablets are causing a shift out for IT, as more and more employees are conducting business from these devices, and the devices are achieving networking and computing abilities similar to the PC. Security and privacy as in the Cloud, have bubbled up to the surface as the key concerns. As organizations adopt their use for their employees, concerns with security have increased with such things as information-stealing applications.  The variety of phones and operating systems also poses a challenge for organizational support, along with the additional training needed. Business rules are popping up to deal with such issues as what information should and shouldn’t be stored on the device; who owns the information that is stored, how frequently the syncing of that data occurs and many others.

Here we go again….

Source: Intel.com, Intel’s Vision of the Ongoing Shift to Cloud Computing white paper.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com, Cloud Computing Concerns, Jonathan Strickland

http://www.spsm-workshop.org, 2nd Annual ACM CCS Workshop on Security and Privacy in Smartphones and Mobile Devices (SPSM)

That is what the marketplace is saying. Sales of smart phones are expected to increase 20% (yes, 20%, that is not a typographical error) in 2013, accounting for over 50% of IT industry growth. Without it, anticipated growth is a mere 2.9%.

And within the smart phone market, who is the winner? Android phones ! With over 64% of market sales this last summer, the Android phones, specifically from Samsung leaped forward. So is anyone reading their email and accessing the internet on their PC anymore? Apparently, this is also a shrinking market as more and more people use their smart phones for these functions. People accessing the Internet through PCs will shrink by 15 million over the next four years, while the number of smart phone users will increase by 91 million. Trends are predicting that we’ll all walking around with smart phone and tablets, and PCs will become a thing of the past.

Imagine this brave new world as Aldous Huxley coined the phrase.  (Who’s he, you ask? He wrote a classic book – you remember those? Paper, binding, page numbers at the bottom, roughly 5 X 7 inches). Business conducted in coffee shops, parks, restaurants, subways, street corners. Corporate headquarters serving to bring groups together rather than house offices. Streets with standing desks position every several yards.

What about developing countries? Will they be left behind? No! They are one of the fastest growing markets for inexpensive smart phones. With the advent of several manufacturers producing $100 smartphones coupled with moves to 3G networks, these countries are joining this new world in spite of average earnings of a few dollars a day.

Lots to think about as we move into 2013!

Sources: Techcrunch.com, Gartner: Global Mobile Sales Down 2%, Smartphones Surge 43%, Apple Stalls as Fans Hold Out for New iPhone

Network World, IDC’s 2013 Tech Predictions: Mobile Devices, Emerging Markets Drive Growth

Beta.Fool.com, Smartphone Usage Expands in Emerging Markets

GogoTraining has released eleven new self-paced, online training programs designed to allow students with no previous programming knowledge to train for careers in major programming languages.

The training programs are a breakthrough for people with nothing more than general computer skills and familiarity to pursue a career in software.  Similar training programs are either much high in cost or require initial experience and knowledge that exclude most people.

“Our new training programs are geared to open up the market and make programming and software development a viable career option for literally anyone who is interested and has an Internet-capable computer,” said Marianne Cherney, CEO of GogoTraining.  The programs are taught by leading experts with years of experience.  The courses are easy to use and students have access to them for one year following purchase, including the ability to ask the instructor questions.

The programs are also offered at a fraction of the cost compared to other IT training providers with less- than-comparable training programs.  Competing programs are almost never designed for non-programmers and cost upwards of $5,000 to $10,000 or more per student.  Almost all of the GogoTraining Developer Training Programs are very affordably priced between $500 and $800 per person.  Volume discounts are available upon request.

“Recruiting in IT has risen sharply and demand for selections in our 140+ course catalog have skyrocketed, however those without IT skills interested in programming have always has been an underserved market,” said Tim Salam, Director of Marketing for GogoTraining.  “People with business skill sets are looking for a way to enter the lucrative world of software development and this is it.  We have worked hard to meet that market in an affordable and accessible way.”  The programs are also suitable for those seeking to learn additional software languages as the core courses are available to be purchases separately.

Learn more about the GogoTraining Developer Training Program or see one of the specific training programs below:

1. Become a C Developer
2. Become a C# Developer
3. Become a Java Developer
4. Become an Objective-C Developer
5. Become a COBOL Developer
6. Become a SQL Developer
7. Become an Android Developer
8. Become an iPhone Developer
9. Become a Perl Developer
10. Become a Python Developer
11. Become a Ruby Developer

Still wondering if mobile development is a good career space to invest in? New data is out to support the buzz about enterprise adoption of tablets and other mobile devices, this time from Gartner.

David Willis, Research VP with Gartner, conducted a live webcast this week and offered several key points of interest on the subject.  Five key highlights include:

• 80% of businesses will support a tablet-enabled workforce by 2013.  Bold prediction but evidently backed by numbers such as orders and other investments.  Willis says the key is their utility being distinct from laptops and smartphones.
• Top uses for tablets in the enterprise are and will be “instant on” access, document and video delivery, sales, field service and analytics.  Group collaboration and personal productivity tools will be heavily represented on the available apps list.
• In a small study Gartner did, they found an average usage duration of around 7 minutes per use and up to 12 uses per day.
• Willis indicated that while the iPad is dominant and expected to remain so through 2014, the total base of activations for Android is larger for enterprise apps.
• Willis recommends using HTML5 as the web standard to go with when preparing apps.  He cautions that it is not what he refers to as a true cross-platform “panacea” but says it should help in bridging divides.

Looking to get into one of the largest emerging IT fields in several years?  Check out GogoTraining’s Android Development Training Program.

Multiple surveys continue to support a rise in IT spending for 2011.  Another recent report is the Capgemini 2010-2011 World Quality Report.  We’re already seeing the effects with large and medium employers filling up job seeker sites with thousands of new open positions.  The following three skill sets emerged as clear targets of IT spending priority in the future.

Mobile developers.  It seems like the drumbeat of a new era.  If people aren’t buying new smartphones and tablets they are developing apps for them.  The only people left seem to be those figuring out how to get in on the action.  Face it, the emergence of the mobile device as an integrated part of our work and home lifestyle is an industry with lasting staying power.  Investing in skills for this environment has tons of long-term potential in terms of career and employability.  Of particular note are training opportunities like GogoTraining’s Android Development Training Program.  iOS was the first fashionable one to show up, with emerging players being HP’s new version of webOS due in the summer of 2011 and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 already at market.

Cloud computing.  What does that mean anyway, in terms of skills?  So far we’ve determined two important areas.  First is hardware and network management.  Hosting providers are finding they have to ramp up on this sort of thing since things like virtualization, serving power, redundancy and storage are going to continue a robust growth curve with the emergence of the cloud.  Next is IT service management, specifically those best practices one can acquire through ITIL certification training.  In-house IT staff at corporations of all sizes are going to have to beef up their IT service management abilities in order to understand how to better serve the greater business and also because they will increasingly be working with vendors providing cloud services.

QA and Test.  Of particular note, 72% of IT professionals indicated in the HP/Capgemini survey that QA/test people with a development background perform better than those without.  This only makes sense; nobody know better how to break something than someone who knows how to build it in the first place.  For software developers looking for a transition point, QA/test is the name of the game.  If you are a developer, getting training in Software QA and Test would be a good direction.

For training on these and other business-critical technologies, check out the GogoTraining IT training course catalog.

In the recently announced partnership between Microsoft and Nokia, the mobile device manufacturer will be adopting Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform as the foundation for new smartphones and mobile devices.  The result of the partnership will be to put Windows Phone 7 on a solid footing to take share from the mobile device platform market, with Android and iOS currently commanding leads and HP having recently announced their upcoming entry riding on webOS.

The main news for developers is to look for Windows Phone 7 being a fourth and new important market.  Both Windows Phone 7 and the re-entry of webOS (after its days with Palm) constitute fresh development territory where it comes to applications.  Windows Phone 7 was only released late Fall of 2010 and according to NPD Group the platform obtained 2% of the smartphone market in the U.S. two months after release.

The Windows Phone Marketplace (Microsoft’s app store) offers 10 million songs sold in several ways, but only boasts around 11,000 apps so far (compared to hundreds of thousands for Android and iOS).  This is similar to the early-stage number of apps available for webOS.

Windows Phone 7 applications are based on XNA or a particular WP7 version of Microsoft’s Silverlight platform.  Microsoft makes Visual Studio 2010 Express and Expression Blend for Windows Phone for  phone app development.

Android and iOS will both have to work harder now with HP announcing their enterprise-wide effort to lean into the mobile platform market with webOS.  Microsoft’s Windows 7 was a moderate threat due to their history with Zune, first assuring the community they were very much behind it and then subsequently dropping the project altogether.  The partnership with Nokia puts Microsoft firmly in the arena with a highly-motivated partner and a lot of added global sales and marketing teeth. 

Microsoft mentioned in their press release regarding the partnership announcement that the mobile market is now a “three-horse race,” however that was before HP made their intentions publicly clear with webOS. Make that four horses, Microsoft.  We already predict the winners will be mobile developers and mobile device consumers.

For developers, a great way to enter mobile device app development is through IT training courses with GogoTraining.  In particular, the Android Developer Training Program is cost-effective and highly effective.

The mobile device operating system space has continued a long, drawn-out explosion of innovation due to the battle of Apple’s iOS and upstart Android from Google.  Especially after Android recently unseated Symbian as the top smartphone OS, that space has seemed entirely taken up by the two combatants who have been pushing the envelope of development and seemingly leaving no breathing space for a newcomer to get a word in edgewise.  Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 has seen delays getting to market and industry pundits are taking a “wait and see” position regarding the ability of the fine people in Redmond to develop meaningful market share.

Move over, says HP and Oracle.

HP recently announced several things they have set their sights on, specifically their intention to become a major cloud computing source and also to enter the mobile device field with their HP webOS which they acquired with their purchase of Palm in 2010.  HP has already introduced two smartphones to release this spring, the HP Veer and HP pre which are to release with HP webOS 2.2.

The bigger deal is the entrance into the tablet arena with the 9.7-inch HP TouchPad which will run on webOS 3.0 and is rumored to release in June for around $499 with a complement of features meant to compete with the iPad 2.  A 7-inch tablet nicknamed the Opal is also rumored for a September release date, in time to hit the holiday season.

Perhaps even more significantly, HP also announced they intend to ship all HP computers with the HP webOS on board starting in 2012.  HP CEO Leo Apotheker has indicated this is a bid to inspire developers to develop apps that will enhance and differentiate HP computers.  Developers have created well over 300,000 applications for Apple devices and over 250,000 for Android. According to HP, their webOS only has a field of 6,000 apps. If you’re an app developers, this is good news.

Oracle’s recent ownership of Java has meant a number of questions coming from the long-lived development community, a few more of which were answered recently.  Java ME is the version built for running devices that languished due to lower priority while under Sun’s wing.  Oracle is interested in turning that around.

Two key overtures occurred recently.  First, Oracle’s now much-publicized lawsuits and threats against Android with claims that the breakaway OS contains illegally copied sets of Oracle code.  In general, software giants only get into legal tussles for two reasons: to protect their IP (very legitimate) and to protect a market position they are working on entering or maintaining.

Second would be comments at the Server Side Symposium in Las Vegas this month.  Adam Messinger, Oracle VP of Development for Fusion Middleware reminds us that Java ME is already installed on many devices which he says ship at a “tremendous rate.”  He says Oracle has recently had discussions about Java showing up on tablet devices and also plans are underway to empower developers more by improving Java ME with capabilities such as library changes, metadata, annotations and more.

Whether Oracle intends to establish Java ME as a branded entrant and competitor in the mobile device space or keep consuming market share from the shadows remains to be seen.  In similar fashion, whether HP is able to replicate the success in computers they’ve had into the software and OS space also remains to be seen.  One thing is certain about both players: they have the resources and vision required to be contenders and they intend to enter the space, and that space is about to get a little more crowded.

…

Check out GogoTraining’s online IT training course catalog for mobile computing training courses in Android and iOS.

Google is looking to take a bigger bite out of the downloadable app market, according to the Wall Street Journal.  The market generated by the popularity of their Android platform is significant enough to warrant their decision to hire more developers to create in-house apps that can be sold.  In-house apps created by Google gather 100% of the revenue for the search giant, rather than the 30% share they receive for third-party apps.

Google’s mobile aspiration is just another example of a rapidly opening job market for mobile developers in both Android and iOS platforms.

Interested in Android programming? Coming in February:

– Introduction to Android Programming

– Advanced Android Programming

According to Deloitte, more than 25% of all tablets sold in 2011 will be purchased by enterprises and that figure is expected to rise in the following several years.  Four factors are cited as being responsible for enterprise adoption.

1. Consumer cross-over: As consumers continue to purchase and use tablet devices they inevitably discover their usefulness in the context of work such as email, network access and so on.

2. Tablet-Friendly Industry Adoption: Industries that lend themselves to tablet use in the context of their day-to-day operations will mean a strong uptake of the device into their workforce.  This includes verticals such as retail, manufacturing and healthcare.

3. Ideal Form Welcome at C-Level: Where laptops and smartphones create an actual physical block between the user and someone else, tablets lie flat on a table and can be used without interfering in that critical personal space – something noticed by executives.

4. Enterprise Software Providers Already Responding: The big names in ECM, CRM, ERP and other enterprise applications are already addressing requests by Fortune 500 customers asking for software and interface upgrades that enable tablets in the workplace.

What does all of this (particularly number four) mean for mobile application development?  More jobs! With such a mass scale adoption already started, development of apps for tablets – including integration with existing enterprise applications – is set to see a strong growth curve through 2011 and 2012, and likely longer.

Interested in Android programming? Coming in February:

– Introduction to Android Programming

– Advanced Android Programming