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The economy has improved for graduates hitting the field with computer science degrees.  According to Dice.com, companies are planning to hire almost 20% more graduates this year.

Last year was tough for many people trying to get in, graduates and experienced workers alike.  Employers were averaging roughly 40 applicants for every open position.  That average has dropped significantly to about 21 applicants this year.  With job creation running at a generally consistent clip for some time, graduates are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Demand for skills reaches across the IT field.  Networking and storage skills are being sought by those gearing up to be a Cloud vendor.  Security skills are in demand in both corporate and government.   Application developers for web, mobile and software are finding homes in small as well as enterprise-level employers.

Computer science graduates can supplement their degrees with focused skill training in the hottest IT topics of today.  GogoTraining is a leading provider of high-quality training taught by industry experts, available online and affordable (even for graduates!).  Example areas of interest include:

• Android developer training
• Linux administration and programming training
• Microsoft server training
• Oracle database administration training
• Java programming training
• C programming training
• Business Intelligence training
• I/O and Storage training
• ITIL Foundations and Intermediate training
• IT Security training

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.

Microsoft confirmed with Dice.com they are looking to fill a wide range of technical positions across key groups.  Their focus on cloud computing and mobile development (both smartphones and tablets) is generating a significant, ongoing demand for fresh talent.

Software engineers, program management engineers and software testing engineers are being sought in the United States.  Their gaming division is looking to add software engineers as they pursue development of a new version of the popular Halo title.

Microsoft confirmed with Dice.com that around 2,400 positions are to be filled in software engineering and research along with another 400 in general IT positions.  Whether you have experience or not, we strongly suggest obtaining GogoTraining online technical training in order to beef up your resume and make you more hirable for employers like Microsoft.