InsideTech

Employers often screen candidates based on their technical skills, so job seekers naturally want to make sure they present their skills properly. As a result, creating a resume's skills section can be a challenge. Typical resume issues techies wrestle with include: - Whether to list skills alphabetically or in order of importance. - Whether to include every skill -- but how ...

You've got your diploma and a brain stuffed with C++, but you don't have a job. What do you do? Take an internship, possibly unpaid, and hope it turns into a full-time gig or helps you build up your contacts and references. Welcome to the new reality of technology internships. Recent graduates who entered college while the economy boomed expecting multiple ...

A conversation with the authors of 'The Virtual Handshake' From finding jobs to sealing deals, The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Online explains blogs, social networking sites and other online tools for building relationships. Authors Scott Allen, a strategic marketing consultant and former information technology executive, and David Teten, a serial entrepreneur and currently CEO of Nitron Advisors, offer ...

Less than 10 years ago, certification was a surefire way to enter the growing IT sector. But certification no longer guarantees that you will be able to find a high quality job in IT. It still has its place, but the IT certification industry has faced some systemic problems that no one has addressed since its emergence. Warren Wyrostek calls on ...

A supposedly hot certification or a few months of technology training isn't always enough to propel you into the market for tech jobs. Employers almost always prefer to hire people with real-world experience. To aspiring techies, it's a catch-22: You can't get a job without experience, and you can't get experience without a job. One solution: Volunteer work. Grassroots environmental groups, ...

Technology professionals often work contract jobs, essentially spending several months on a project with one organization and then moving on to a new assignment elsewhere. Sometimes this work arrangement is by choice; other times it's a way for techies to earn a living between full-time jobs. Even if techies learn the ins and outs of contract employment over the course of ...

Technology professionals, once stereotyped as antisocial nerds unsuited for the boardroom, now routinely are taking management positions alongside colleagues with MBAs and years of experience in areas such as marketing, finance and human resources. "The business world - smart business, anyway - is definitely more open to people with technical expertise moving into management these days," says Gene De Libero, CEO ...

On-the-job arguments can get intense in the IT world, but knowing how to handle them properly can be the key to efficiency and career advancement. Here are a few constructive strategies... Don't insult someone's intelligence (or assume that people are insulting yours). Geeks grow up being protective of intelligence -- often it's the main thing that we have when we're growing ...

In the post-boom era, college graduates have found out just how tough a job search can be. They've also learned something else: An internship is a virtual necessity when seeking a position as a technology professional. I've seen an increase in the emphasis on internships," says Tom Tarantelli, director of the Career Development Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "Employers now want ...

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama signed into law Tuesday the largest government economic rescue plan in the nation's history, a $787 billion package of spending, tax cuts and tax credits that's designed to help pull the nation out of what's becoming the worst downturn since the Great Depression. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes everything from money to refurbish public ...

In an effort to maintain the transparency and accountability promised during the Presidential campaign, the Obama Administration launched Recovery.gov. The site is a searchable database of how and where tax dollars are spent as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. InsideTech found the most useful part of the site is the Estimated Job Effect Flash Map of the ...

You’ve decided you want to work in the tech field. You have an inkling of what you like to do, whether it’s troubleshooting network glitches, manning the help desk, or designing the company’s latest intranet. But you're really not sure what the jobs involve, the skill sets necessary and what the workday is actually like. To help you get that real ...

Once you’ve figured out the IT role you want to head into, the next step is determining the education required for the job and finding the right school and course work. While there are many working in IT who don’t have a formal educational background, most employers today expect a tech education and are looking for tech experts who’ve also taken ...

After you’ve successfully completed a job search, shouldn’t networking be the last thing on your mind? Not so, say networking experts. In fact, internal networking, right from the beginning, is key to maintaining the upward trajectory of your career. Here’s how to successfully launch your networking campaign at a new job. Why Network from the Start? “When you start in a ...

When you start a new job, human nature is to focus on the surface of things: the photocopied vision statement included in your orientation package, how your peers dress and the date HR designates for your first performance appraisal. But if you’re going to use this job to further your career goals - or even if you just want to last ...

All job hunters are waiting for that call - the one that says they've landed the job. But as eager as you may be to escape either your current job or the unemployment ranks, don't abdicate your power position once the offer comes in. Now it's your turn to sit in the interviewer's seat and ask the company and yourself some ...

If you’re considering a tech specialty that requires certification in skill sets, you need to know it requires an ongoing commitment in terms of job education. While the career path isn’t quick and easy, the payoffs in a role requiring certification are plentiful. But before you jump into any program you need to consider your options and your expectations. Are you ...

The Carly Fiorinas of the world are few and far between. Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard, was one of only a handful of female top executives at Fortune 500 companies. Although women make up nearly half of the total US workforce, they represent only about a quarter of all information technology workers, according to Boulder, Colorado-based National Center for ...

Probably the hardest challenge for new IT workers, whether just out of college or transitioning from another field, is proving you have the skills and aptitude to do the job even though you have no actual work experience. It’s the familiar catch-22: You can't get a job without experience, and you can't get experience without a job. But there are more ...

IT departments aren't usually known for their communication skills. More often, they're famous for a lack thereof. That's nobody's fault -- the intersection between tech skills and communication skills is a rare thing. But it can be an opportunity for you. Work just a little bit on becoming a better communicator, and you'll have gained a skill that can make you ...