IT Career Juice Blog

We just came across this funny infographic depicting how Android, iPhone & Blackberry users see each other. Infographic created by C-Section Comics. Enjoy!

(Click Image to Enlarge)

In the competitive world of Information Technology, especially with today’s digital job search & application methods, technology employers are bombarded with hundreds of IT resumes daily. If you have a resume, you’re off to a good start. But what sets you, a qualified IT professional, apart from the other candidates? They have an effective resume that’s optimized for the job they’re applying to. A properly formed resume will increase your chances of landing the IT job you want.

Here are five tips to help you write an effective IT resume:

In Part 1 of this post - Personal Branding Part 1: How to Define Yours - we told you why it’s important to have a personal brand, and how you can define your own. This week, we are going to talk about marketing your brand. There are a lot of ways to promote your personal brand, all of which fall into two categories: Online and Off.

Establishing a personal brand is now a crucial part of a successful job search. Since we think it’s such an important tool for job seekers to understand, and because the experts we spoke to had such good advice, we decided to divide our personal branding post into two parts. Read this then check out part 2 here - Personal Branding Part 2: Marketing Yourself.

Used strategically, LinkedIn is a powerful tool for online job search. It is however very common for job seekers to ignore the value of LinkedIn, and focus their efforts on the massive job search engines like CareerBuilder and Monster. The big boards should still be part of your online job search strategy, but at times like these you need to use every weapon at your disposal; LinkedIn is the strongest job search tool you never used - or at least never used to its full extent.

So you've spent the money, time and effort to become an expert on anything IT. Now where do you go? Using Redmond Report's 2010 Salary Survey for reference, factoring in lists from publications such as Forbes, Marketwatch and Kiplinger and then sticking all applicable data into some of the most sophisticated algorithms created specifically for this list, we've narrowed down the top U.S. cities to relocate to, for those both just starting their careers as well as those looking for a change. And we've also taken into account that, once your 9 to 5 is over, you'll still have to live there.

A new report from Dice.com indicates the best IT certifications to help you get a job.

In its 2012 Salary Survey, IT job board Dice.com asked "Which IT certification has helped you earn a new position?" Over 18,000 employed IT professionals and technology executives responded - below are the top eight IT certifications that helped them stand out from the crowd and get hired. Also included are average salaries, experience level and noteworthy hiring trends for each credential.

Here are the IT certifications most likely to land you a new job in 2012:

Do you like money? Do you thrive on intellectual challenge? Are you fascinated by technology? A computer science degree can lead you to a fulfilling IT career on all three counts. Read on for the top benefits of earning a computer science degree...

Kaplan University believes you have the right to make an informed decision about your education. To back up this belief, Kaplan introduced The Kaplan Commitment. The Kaplan Commitment program lets prospective online or campus students attend the first 5 weeks of a degree program at no cost while they decide whether or not to stay and pursue their studies. After five weeks, students can either continue in class, or withdraw without any financial obligation beyond the $45 application fee.

Read on for Kaplan Commitment rules, degree programs, videos and more:

The news broke today that Android devices now account for 50% of the global smart phone market, making it far-and-away the most popular mobile OS. When Android was introduced in 2007 it was a distant 5th in mobile platforms - trailing Apple iOS, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Symbian. With millions of Android mobile devices in use, and an incredible 500,000+ new Android devices activated every day, the popularity of Android applications has increased exponentially - and with it the demand for Android application developers is soaring. Thousands of companies are looking for Android developers, and recruiters are realizing unprecedented demand for programmers with Android development training.

Education vs. Experience: Many people find that their career reaches a plateau and that employers place greater value on workers with a higher level of education or a degree more relevant to the modern workplace. Anyone that has ever been passed over for promotion only to find a college graduate in the post will know how frustrating this can be. An online degree offers the perfect solution.

The iOS mobile platform exploded onto the scene in 2007 with the first iPhone launch and has been increasing in popularity ever since. With the recent successful releases of its fifth operating system (iOS5) and the iPhone 4S, the beast that is Apple's mobile device segment shows no signs of slowing. The success found by many iPhone Application Developers plus the increasing popularity and versatility of Apple devices have inspired many new and established programmers to become iPad and iPhone Application Developers.

Trying to determine your ideal  IT career path? Want to know which computer jobs will be in the greatest demand, offer the highest salaries and best chances for upward mobility once you finish school? ITCareerFinder assembled this comparison of the decade’s hottest technology careers to serve as a guide. These computer jobs will experience the most growth through 2020, pay salaries well above the national average and offer a wide range of career advancement opportunities.

Compare the top ten IT jobs by growth rate, salary and future jobs creation, then click on your favorite career path(s) for a deep dive job description, featuring skills & responsibilities, desirable certifications, education requirements, training & degree programs, salary analyses, local job openings and tips from active practitioners.

Here are the 10 Best Computer Jobs of the Future:

Are you a new or established IT pro looking for work? Like us, do you wonder about the corporate culture and employee perks at Silicon Valley tech giants like Google, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn? What about hot social media startups like Eventbrite, Gaia and Tagged?

Silicon Valley's best and brightest believe that enhanced convenience and a better quality of life for employees has a significant positive impact on productivity, time spent at work, and the mighty bottom-line. Perks include in-house spas & fitness centers, catered gourmet meals & happy hours, world-class 401k's & paid vacation packages, guest lectures from renowned figures and much more.

View Infographic: Employee Perks at Silicon Valley Giants & Startups

Click the link above for a stunning visual representation of employee perks at the biggest & baddest tech organizations as well as up-and-coming social media startups in the Valley.

Infographic courtesy of ResumeBear.

In a tough job market, it pays to be strategic, and to look for positions in industries with the best opportunities for career growth and advancement. ITCareerFinder examined tech job growth rates from the leading unbiased employment sources, including the U.S. Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics, to identify the fastest growing IT careers for 2012 and beyond.

Here are the top five fastest growing IT career paths:

A new survey from Computerworld indicates the most in-demand IT skills for 2012.

Computerworld polled 353 IT executives about their technology and hiring plans for 2012 in its annual IT forecast survey. The results provide valuable insight into which IT skills and expertise are likely to be the most sought-after in 2012. Companies will make significant investments in their IT workforces to bolster business in the year ahead; nearly 29% of respondents plan to take on new IT staffers through Summer 2012 – a whopping 45% increase in IT hiring expectations over last year's poll. The survey also reveals that companies will seek to gain a competitive advantage through technological innovation, not just “keeping the lights on,” as they plan next year’s IT hiring.

Here are the top IT skills in demand for 2012:

Cloud computing is often talked about as a technology that will make IT departments obsolete as companies seek to outsource computing needs. This analysis misses the complexity of what's actually happening in IT departments.

The actuality is that cloud technologies are running in conjunction with on-site systems, and many companies are choosing to operate and maintain their own servers - even if they have a few Cloud applications up and running. This adds a layer of complexity to effectively managing the IT needs of an organization. Rather than eliminating the role of in-house IT professionals, the cloud is merely changing the skill set and job functions of the IT department.

In my experience, here are the top 5 skills IT professionals will need to learn to work in cloud computing:

As with all software version upgrades, going from XenApp 5 to XenApp 6.5 could induce mild "console-itis" - that bothersome feeling that comes from trying to find out where all the stuff in the old version has been moved to (and thereby effectively hidden) in the new version. If you are seeing a XenApp 6 or 6.5 farm for the first time, follow the rule "everything is a policy now," and you'll discover that most of the farm property settings are in the new "AppCenter."