Don E. Sears

IT workers, listen up: Management is budgeting for raises next year. These raises, however, come with an expectation for technology to be a strategic cost-cutting and simultaneous revenue-producing investment. Business intelligence-despite its expense and effort-continues to be the No. 1 technology investment of 2010. In exact terms, 61 percent of executives are planning to give […]

Online job vacancies rose by nearly 60,000 open positions in September, according to data measured monthly by The Conference Board, a nonprofit business research organization. Since June 2009, online job vacancies have expanded by 1 million positions-an increase of 30 percent. In September, technology saw the most job-vacancy gain of any industry, with 15,200 newly […]

A global CIO study from 2010 reveals that 90 percent of CIOs will be maintaining or increasing offshore outsourcing projects in 2010 and 2011. According to the UK-based IT staffing and managed services firm Harvey Nash, outsourcing has been greatly used during the recession and CIOs are inclined to continue using outsourced services. In its […]

How Your Salary Stacks Up Against Other IT Pros by Don E. Sears Data Analyst 1-3 Years: $51,6484-6 Years: $55,8387-9 Years: $58,86410 or More Years: $69,358??íJobs in this category encompass business analysts, business intelligence experts, data mining extractors, and anyone bridging the gap between data as a resource for business use and IT. Companies that […]

The tight cost fist is still clenched when it comes to technology hiring. Despite 84 percent of CIOs being at least somewhat confident of growth in the fourth quarter of 2010, only 9 percent expect to increase hiring, according to Robert Half Technology’s quarterly index report on hiring published Sept. 8. Six percent expect to […]

The attorney general of Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, is about to be embroiled with the sole provider of service for the iPhone, AT&T. The battle will be over the planned layoffs of more than 150 workers in the state by the telecommunications giant who is now primarily a mobile service provider. As AT&T’s long-distance wireline business […]

With an unemployment rate over 12 percent, the Golden State’s economy is more rust than shine in 2010. Overall, California lost 1.3 million jobs during the recession, with layoffs in many industries still expected. Jobs in technology over the last two years have been hit hard across the board, but especially in manufacturing and the […]

For two straight months, the state of North Carolina has seen double-digit growth in jobs for technology professionals. Home to many technology-rich university research facilities, technology startups and a plethora of technology-centric enterprises, North Carolina saw 14.9 percent more technology job openings in August, according to data compiled by the North Carolina Technology Association in […]

In the first six months of the year, 30,200 technology jobs were added to the economy, according to a report by industry trade group TechAmerica. The trade organization looked at data provided by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The main areas adding jobs include software services (14,200), technology services (29,700) and […]

In an executive order put forth by Gov. Tim Strickland of Ohio in August, his state is no longer allowed to outsource work offshore, despite some federal stimulus monies being paid to a Texas company Parago in March for services on a federally funded appliance rebate program. “Ohio’s policy has been-and must continue to be-that […]

If you have in-demand skills, your asking price is probably above market rate-even with the slow growth of technology jobs, say hiring managers and recruiters polled in an August survey by online job board Dice.com. Fifty-one percent of 1,350 IT decision makers polled said they are having to sweeten salaries for highly sought-after tech talent, […]

The desire to boost employee productivity during a long-term recession coupled with the preventive management of real and dangerous threats have forced some companies to restrict, monitor and block specific Websites. Beyond incendiary tactics like drive-by downloads, SQL-injection attacks and other malware strategies employed by hackers and criminal organizations, the latest viral YouTube video, a […]