Deborah Rothberg

Do you have what it takes to move upward in your IT career? Or enough juice in the skills department to weather an outbreak of outsourcing? Several longtime watchers of the IT jobs market say they believe tech workers impressions of whats needed to succeed may be out of date, and offered eWEEK some tips […]

News spread quickly that the director of Microsofts internal security told a reporter at the AusCERT conference May 23 that Microsoft is considering limiting employees full admin rights to their desktop PCs. Microsoft has always given the majority of its employees full admin rights on their desktop PCs, though this is unusual; most companies IT […]

Microsoft has been taking action to improve its reportedly low employee morale, unveiling a series of new perks as part of a program dubbed “MyMicrosoft” at an all-employee meeting May 18. This comes on the heels of a Reuters report that 1,000 Microsoft contract workers were forced to take a week off without pay. MyMicrosoft […]

Today it seems that everyone is talking about work-life balance, throwing about catch phrases such as “work to live—dont live to work” and “escape the rat race.” Yet beyond the inspirational mantra comes the reality of IT infrastructure and services that demand 24/7 attention. The pressure of this service level is leading many workers to […]

A new study of Web surfing behaviors at work finds that on any given day, an employee might check out porn, fall for a phishing scam or drain bandwidth while streaming a music video on company time. Nevertheless, 50 percent of office workers would rather give up their morning coffee than their Web surfing, finds […]

One in three workers want flex schedules as part of their overall compensation, finds the Hudson Employment Indexs Transforming Pay Plans 2006 Compensation and Benefits report, released May 17. “[Workers] are placing much greater value on less tangible, lifestyle-oriented benefits,” Peg Buchenroth, managing director of compensation and benefits for Toronto-based Hudson Highland Group said in […]

Microsoft hinted the week of May 15 that it will be forced to move more jobs abroad if the U.S. government doesnt raise the cap on H-1B visas. The Senate resumed session May 15 to debate the Immigration Reform Bill, which makes a provision to nearly double the number of allotted H-1B visas available annually […]

While summer is almost upon us, theres never a worry over good or bad weather when it comes to clients heading out for some Web surfing. And what better place than the office to check out some sites? But for IT managers acting as life guards on the corporate beach, enforcing network health and safety […]

Seventy-five percent of the college participants in IBMs “Master the Mainframe” competition, which ended Dec. 31, 2005, had never logged onto a mainframe before the challenge, an ominous sign of the drain in relevant technicians to come. “The contest we put together was primarily to address the skills shortage and get this information out. We […]

A poster on Ask Slashdot on May 8 requested advice on how to reduce or turn down requests for technical support requests, especially from users who arent necessarily clients. /zimages/5/28571.gifClick here to read more about the conflicts and miscommunications that can arise between users and IT help providers. The resulting responses—421 and counting—responses ranged from […]

Certification: Worth the paper Its Printed On? A study released April 25 found that for the first time since 2000, bonuses paid for certifications have slacked off compared with those paid for skills. The Q1 2006 Hot Technical Skills and Certifications Pay Index from Foote Partners, a New Canaan, Conn., IT compensation and work force […]

The Government Accountability Office released a study May 3 which found that the proportion of postsecondary students obtaining degrees in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields has fallen significantly. While 32 percent of postsecondary students obtained degrees in STEM fields in 1994 and 1995, the percentage fell to 27 percent in 2003 and 2004. […]