Deb Perelman

The software industry continues to do well and drive much of the tech economy, but needs legislative support, said a report released Jan. 24 by the Washington-based Software Information and Industry Association. Though the industry employs more than 2.7 million U.S. workers, up 17 percent between 1996 and 2006 in high-wage jobs, with an average […]

Every time a new job board springs up, the release inevitably begins with the line “the problem with all other job sites is ___” and fills in the blank with anything from a lack of feedback, that they don’t reach people who aren’t actively looking or don’t meet the candidates where they are. Add another […]

If there has been one theme in outsourcing commentary from the last year, it is this: offshoring is not a panacea. Between 1995 and 2005, however, it seemed as if it was. The dollar was strong enough that it was nearly impossible for IT professionals to be price-completive with foreign workers and almost equally impossible […]

A new patent filed by Microsoft describing plans to develop a system that would allow managers to monitor workers’ physiological states through their computers with the ostensible goal of helping them if they become frustrated has left observers feeling anything but reassured. The patent hopes to address what Microsoft sees as “relatively inefficient” communications between […]

The majority of employees in large organizations are required to sit through at least one diversity training initiative a year. The conventional wisdom holds that education, sensitivity and awareness are key to reducing discrimination and creating a more inclusive workplace. However, it is rare that the workers themselves agree; most find sitting through them to […]

Ever have the help ticket that will not go away? Can you imagine it coming back to haunt you 10 years later? Microsoft can probably tell you all about it because in a story that will probably be coming back to haunt them for at least another 10 years, a blogger reported Jan. 13 that […]

Venture capitalists raised $34.7 billion in funds in 2007, an increase of 9.4 percent and the most the industry has raised since 2001, when it raised $38.8 billion. These numbers were compiled in a report released Jan. 14 by Thomson Financial and the NVCA (National Venture Capital Association), which also noted that the number of […]

There are few more active job-hunting months of the year than January, when new years resolutes, brimming with hope that the new year will bring fresh career challenges, set off to find new employment. Should their search be met with success, what this also means is that the first few months of the year yield […]

Reflecting record oil prices, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported Jan. 11 that the trade deficit soared in November 2007, reaching its highest point in 14 months. Measuring the gap between U.S. exports and imports, the trade deficit jumped by 9.3 percent in November to $63.1 billion, exceeding the $60 billion predicted by economists. Surging […]

The value of the U.S. dollar has been sliding for more than 36 months, monitored dolefully by observers who recall the years when the dollar was the rock-solid underpinning of the global economy and are not used to the U.S currency’s chronic weakness. Yet not all view the effects of the falling dollar as negative, […]

One of the most common pieces of advice doled to IT folks from career professionals is to improve communication skills. The logic follows that the better they are able to explain what IT can do in business terms, and interpret business demands through technology, the further they’ll get in any company. Yet the ability to […]

As wireless technologies have enabled more workers to telecommute and companies to employ a distributed work force, the support of wireless devices has increasingly burdened IT departments. BlackBerrys were cited by two-thirds of respondents to a recent study as the device that usurps the most IT resources, according to CompTIA (Computing Technology Industry Association), an […]