Career Paths
SWOT Can Put You on the Right Career Path
After graduating from the University of San Diego, Hussein Yahfoufi knew he ultimately wanted to end up as a CIO or CTO. But he had a couple of hurdles to scale. First, his degree was in finance. Second, his first couple of jobs were in finance, not tech. On the other hand, he excelled at IT work, and received rave reviews for his project work. Still, he knew he had to carefully review his situation if he wanted to find… continue…
Why a Java Guy Was Hired for a Ruby on Rails Job
Earlier this week, I explored the frustrating process a startup, WidgetCo, went through as it searched for an engineer who could work on its Ruby on Rails platform. After tepid results, the company’s leaders switched gears to look for a skilled engineer who could be trained in the necessary technologies. Here’s what happened once they relaunched their search. Finding a ‘Trainable’ Engineer Once it removed the “Ruby on Rails” filter from its job requirements, WidgetCo quickly discovered that its network… continue…
How a Java Guy Became a Ruby Developer
Once upon a time — OK, in 2012 — there was a startup and an engineer. They were both in the market, seeking their match. The startup needed a solid engineer for its Ruby on Rails application, and the engineer was a Java guy looking for his next great platform to build. Clear-headed observers would never have guessed that this mismatched pair would find themselves together, but they defied the odds and everyone’s better for it. This is their tale.… continue…
Mobile Opportunities Continue to Grow in Education
Last year, the big news at the Florida Educational Technology Conference was mobile everything. This year, mobile was no longer the new, new thing — it’s been accepted and integrated. It’s just there. It just works. It’s another reason why opportunities are still growing for mobile developers who can turn their insights and novel ideas into products and services for education markets. Attendance at FETC increased by about 15 percent over 2012, to 9,500 people. At the sessions I attended, virtually everyone had a… continue…
Why You Should Know Both Business and IT
By Benjamin Weiss My firm has been in the IT staffing business for more than a decade now. And while I could spend all day talking about the folks we’ve seen grow out of dead-end careers to become titans of their respective industries, one that stands out in particular is an IT pro I’ll call “Drew,” who comes out of the finance world. One IT Guy’s Path to the Top When we first encountered Drew years ago, he was as… continue…
Use These Tools to Discover Your Strengths as a BA
In chapter 8.1.4 of the International Institute of Business Analysis Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (otherwise known as the BABOK Guide), you’ll find this: Business analysts must be effective at defining and solving problems in order to ensure that the real, underlying problem is understood and that solutions actually address that problem. So, how good are your problem-solving skills? I highlight some tools that can help you discover your strengths as a BA. For starters, take this… continue…
How to Get Started as a Game Writer
In the four years since Ed Kuehnel became a full-time freelance writer for video and computer games, he’s stayed busy. The Portland, Ore., resident has clients throughout the U.S. and as far away as the Netherlands, India and South Korea. “It’s been pretty rare that I have nothing to do,” he says. But while there are increasing opportunities for gaming writers, success stories like Kuehnel’s are still relatively rare. “Breaking into the industry just as a writer is very, very… continue…
Avoid These 3 Mistakes to Keep Your Career On Track
More and more, we see indications that the number of technology jobs is increasing. However, whether you’re looking for a new job or not, you should be thinking about career planning. It’s an essential component to your longevity and competitiveness in the IT marketplace. As someone who works with talented tech professionals every day, I see people who understand the challenges of career planning and advancement. But many others make some key mistakes that could hold them back. To help… continue…
Why Techs Are Cooler Than Other People Think
Are those of us who work in technology really creatives? While we’re still stereotyped as “math nerds,” the truth is our industry is filled with artists and possibly offers more creative outlets than most other fields. For the doubting Thomases out there, here are a few ways we all tap into our inner Picasso. We Open the Doors First Unlike people in most industries, we continuously reinvent, creating a domino effect across multiple platforms. In order to accomplish our fast-forward… continue…
Leveling Up: How to Go from Developer to CTO
When Meebo co-founder Elaine Wherry created her social, chat aggregator and personalized content company, she decided to keep a diary of all the mistakes she made along the way. To her surprise, she found she wasn’t alone in the types of gaffes she committed when moving from individual employee to manager to a high-level muckety-muck. During a session at the Silicon Valley Code Camp, Wherry, who left Meebo earlier this year prior to its acquisition by Google, laid out some of… continue…
Alice Hill
C.S. Magor
Cat Miller
David Brumbaugh
David Chie
Dawn Kawamoto
Don Willmott
Elisabeth Greenbaum Kasson
Gayle Laakmann McDowell
Lekan Oguntoyinbo
Leslie Stevens-Huffman
M Noivad
Mark Feffer
nick kolakowski
Stephen Lahanas
Susan Hall
Vincent Chow
