Where the IT Jobs Are Now

Visual StudioMagazine.com highlights CyberCoders analysis of the top 10 IT programmer’s skills employers demand in 2013. Mobile, cloud and front end development are the most desirable skills to have right now and this trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

Mobile development skills for the platforms of iOS and Android are the most sought after as many businesses want to get their message out to all forms of internet users. As the businesses look for content-rich pages with relatively light code, front end folks that know CSS3, HTML5 and JavaScript are greatly needed too.

CyberCoders CTO Matt Miller says, “A few years ago you could have a great software engineer who could do the back end and work with the database and business logic in the middle tier, and also the front end,” Miller said. “But the front end has become so complex that it has become a specific skillset that people want.”

The current list of the 10 top skills can be found here:

http://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2013/05/03/top-10-development-skills.aspx

Great Plug-In for Google Chrome Browser

Anyone who has been using the Google Chrome OS has been able to open Microsoft Office documents in their web browser. Now Google has announced that they will offer a plug-in that allows anyone using a Windows or even Mac OS to have this feature work in their Chrome browser as well.

According to Webmonkey.com, this new feature is still in beta stage and can be used when you have installed Chrome 27 or higher. You would download and install the new Office Viewer (also a beta) right from the Chrome Store. Webmonkey warns us that there are still “rough edges” with the plug-in that need to be addressed before it’s ready for prime time.

The new Office Viewer will be able to open any documents with the extension of .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx. I’d imagine that once the kinks are worked out, this plug-in would eventually be part of most browser’s standard features like the ability to open PDF files already is.

 

For more info see: http://www.webmonkey.com/

 

Become a Certified Web Developer…on the Cheap!

Were you aware that you too could enter the high tech world of Web Developing for under $100.00? You can get a developer video course that will teach you what you need to know with only 12 hours of content.

According to http://www.cultofmac.com, if you hurry, you can have the entire course for only $69 that was designed by trainer Mark Lassoff. There are over 183 lectures and over 25 “engaging” lab exercises. The instructor is available by email or on specific forums should you ever have a question.

You will learn HTML, Javascript, PHP and MySQL. Upon completion you will be “professionally” certified! Mr. Lassoff will personally sign off on the certificate, and since he’s one of the leading trainers in the industry, you will be ready to start building websites as your new career. Call within the next 10 minutes. Sorry, no C.O.D.

http://www.cultofmac.com/223354/ending-soon-the-become-a-certified-web-developer-course-deals/

Web Hosting Hub in 1st Place for March 2013

According to Web Hosting Report, Web Hosting Hub came in 1st place for domain web hosting for March 2013. Web Hosting Report reviews most of the top web hosts and comes up with a rating every month. The editor of Web Hosting Reports claims that The Web Hosting plans displayed are rated by the best value for the price. Overall value is determined by price, uptime reliability, quality of customer service, and user feedback found on forums.

Unlike Consumer Reports, a company that rates everyday products Americans buy, Web Hosting Reports admits that they “are a professional review site that receives compensation from the companies whose products we review.”  Try to keep that in mind as you look at their scoreboard.

Their #1 Windows-based web host for March 2013 is Lunar Pages (http://www.lpwebhosting.com/). Lunar Pages customer service is ranked very high. Web Hosting Report makes it easy to view some basic categories to compare such as price, storage space, band width and reviews. With one mouse click, they offer specific categories that you may be interested in such as Best Cheap Hosting or Best PHP hosting. If you get a chance, check them out.

Web Hosting Report (www.webhostingreport.com)

 

Android Loses it’s Daddy

Many people saw Andy Rubin as Google’s Steve Jobs. He has been removed from the Android product completely. Google tries to spin it differently but since Mr. Rubin doesn’t have a new job yet, he’s been dismissed.

The International Data Corporation (IDC) currently shows Android’s OS with a large lead over Apple in the marketplace but that may change very soon. TechNewsWorld claims that the Android OS is very susceptible to viruses and major tablet and smart phone companies like Samsung are quite upset.

Google has been working with the Android platform for quite some time in addition to it’s very own Chrome OS. With Rubin out of the Android picture with Google, TechNewsWorld sees Google moving to Chrome OS as a mirror image of Microsoft leaving their Windows 98 OS in favor of a total rework to Windows XP. Expect some growing pains.

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/77545.html

Apps at Work Lead to Security Breaches

Many companies are finding out that employees that use web applications at work are often compromising corporate data. They are posting on popular sites such as Facebook, Dropbox, YouSendIt and others. The use of laptop, smart phones and tablets at work presents a growing problem that IT managers are not certain how to cope with.

According the New York Times article linked below, once data leaves the corporate network, protecting it becomes much harder. Searching for the name of almost any large company, plus the word “confidential,” yields supposedly secret documents that someone has taken from the company network and published.

“People are going to bring their own devices, their own data, their own software applications, even their own work groups,” drawing off friends and contractors at other companies, said Bill Burns, the director of information technology infrastructure at Netflix. “If you try and implant software that limits an employee’s capabilities, you’re adding a layer of complexity.”

In addition to Chinese hackers, corporate managers in charge of data security are finding that employees can “upload things with one device and then download them to another from someplace else.”

Full Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/04/technology/it-managers-struggle-to-contain-corporate-data-in-the-mobile-age.html?pagewanted=all

48% of UK Online Businesses Will Have Mobile Websites in 2013

Because of the fact that standard e-commerce websites when viewed on a smartphone or tablet can be difficult to navigate, UK businesses are committed to have mobile websites up and running this year. One UK company, Twistfix, will be using Mobile Website Design and Development Company Brickweb to help accomplish this task. Twistfix is an online supplier of masonry crack repair products to the construction, repair and renovation industries, as well as DIY-enthusiasts.

According to PRWeb, this is in direct response to the meteoric rise in popularity of smartphones and tablets, of which there were an estimated 7 billion worldwide at the end of last year.  Customers that cannot properly use a website with their mobile device will often turn to a competitor’s website that supports mobile devices thereby losing business.

This looks like a trend that will probably eventually force any online company to offer a website suited for mobile devices or face the real possibility of becoming extinct.
For more info: http://www.prweb.com/releases/mobile-websites/web-development/prweb9712843.htm