[Jobinfo] Fwd: ACM CareerNews Alert for Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Wed Feb 8 09:45:41 CET 2012
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: ACM CareerNews Alert for Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Date: Tue, 7 Feb 2012 11:53:43 -0500
From: ACM CareerNews <careernews@HQ.ACM.ORG>
To: CAREERNEWS@LISTSERV.ACM.ORG
<http://www.acm.org/membership/careernews/current>
February 7, 2012
ACM CareerNews <http://careernews.acm.org>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to the February 7, 2012 edition of /ACM CareerNews/, providing
twice monthly summaries of articles on career-related topics of interest
to students and professionals in the computing field. For instructions
on how to unsubscribe from this service, please see below. <#unsubscribe>
/ACM CareerNews/ is intended as an objective career news digest for busy
IT professionals. Views expressed are not necessarily those of ACM. To
send comments, please write to careernews@hq.acm.org
<mailto:careernews@hq.acm.org>.
*HEADLINES AT A GLANCE:*
* U.S. Tech Firms Add Jobs Despite Automation <#1>
* Average Silicon Valley Tech Salary Passes $100,000 <#2>
* How to Avoid Hiring the Wrong Person For Your Startup <#3>
* Congressman Proposes STEM Education Office <#4>
* Simple Changes That Can Propel Your Career <#5>
* No More Resumes, Say Some Firms <#6>
* Happiness Is The New Success: Why Millennials Are Reprioritizing <#7>
* Old Techies Never Die: They Just Can't Get Hired <#8>
* Peer Instruction: A Teaching Method to Foster Deep Understanding <#9>
* A Curator's Tools: Building a Culture of Open Conversation <#10>
*U.S. Tech Firms Add Jobs Despite Automation
Computerworld, January 23
*
While U.S. technology companies are automating faster than ever before,
tech hiring is nonetheless rising, according to a new report by
Forrester and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Thanks in part to
automation and overseas production, high-tech manufacturing employment
has declined by 28% since 2000, or about 687,000 jobs, according to the
NSF. Telecommunications is also shedding jobs as the industry moves to
wireless. However, software and IT services are on the rise as more of
the economy moves online. The article takes a closer look at the trends
driving the structural change in tech employment, with a focus on new
opportunities for IT workers.
According to Forrester, the U.S. tech industry employed 3.2 million
people at the end of 2011. That represented a net gain of 42,000 workers
compared to 2010, even despite job losses in the telecommunications
sector. The U.S. tech sector added 131,000 jobs last year in services
and software development, according to Forrester. Although the tech
sector provides only 2% of U.S. jobs, these IT jobs represent 6% of the
total new private sector jobs created since the first quarter of 2010.
Holding back job growth are businesses that are investing in machines
instead of people. For example, there was a 7% increase in business IT
investment last year, but only a 1% increase in jobs compared with 2010.
IT outsourcing also declined last year by 5,000 jobs, and is down 31,000
jobs from the recession.
Forrester's overall count of 3.2 million jobs in tech is lower than the
estimates used by others because it excludes semiconductor manufacturing
and value-added resellers from its tech employment estimates. Forrester
expects a continuing rise in software and services employment through
this year, and sees IT purchases growing 6%. Foote Partners, which
researches employment data, said that U.S. data showed that 127,000 jobs
were added last year in the government categories of management
technical consulting services and computer systems design and related
services. Foote notes that the government is having trouble tracking IT
growth because of the creation of hybrid IT-business professionals who
don't match government labor categories.
Click Here to View Full Article
<http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9223608/U.S._tech_firms_add_jobs_despite_automation>
to the top <#top_of_page>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Average Silicon Valley Tech Salary Passes $100,000
Wall Street Journal, January 24 *
Average annual salaries for Silicon Valley technology workers surpassed
the $100,000 mark last year for the first time ever, pushed higher by
the strength of the region's latest boom. According to IT jobs site
Dice.com, salaries for software and other engineering professionals in
Silicon Valley rose 5.2% to an average $104,195 last year, outstripping
the average 2% increase, to $81,327, in tech-workers' salaries
nationwide. It was the first time since Dice began the salary survey in
2001 that the region's average salary mark broke the $100,000 barrier.
The steady march upward in Silicon Valley tech salaries comes amid a Web
boom that has fueled companies such as Facebook, Zynga and Twitter. Last
year, several of the best-known Internet went public, with a Facebook
IPO on deck for 2012. This success has sparked the creation of numerous
new startups, which in turn has spurred a hiring war for software
engineers and others. In contrast, job growth elsewhere in the nation
has remained relatively slow. U.S. employers added 200,000 jobs in
December, and the unemployment rate ticked down to 8.5%, its lowest
level since early 2009.
There is now a bidding war for talent in Silicon Valley. Overall,
tech-related job postings in Silicon Valley on Dice rose to 5,026
earlier this month, up 26% from 3,974 a year ago, even as tech-jobs
postings nationwide only rose 11% over the same period. With many job
candidates receiving multiple offers, the limiting factor is the ability
to find the right people. Silicon Valley's job market strength has also
had a halo effect on bonuses. Silicon Valley tech-worker bonuses jumped
13% last year to an average $12,450, versus an 8% increase to $8,769
nationwide, according to Dice. Meanwhile, hourly contractor rates in
Silicon Valley rose 11% last year to an average $74 an hour, compared
with $63 an hour nationally.
Click Here to View Full Article
<http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052970204624204577179193752435590-lMyQjAxMTAyMDIwMzEyNDMyWj.html>
to the top <#top_of_page>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*How to Avoid Hiring the Wrong Person For Your Startup
Mashable, January 29 *
Recognizing that hiring a new employee can have a significant impact on
the future success of a startup, the article outlines five steps that a
startup can take to avoid hiring the wrong person. The smaller the
organization, the more impact each employee has on its ultimate success.
Startup owners rarely have dedicated HR staff, software tools or a
hiring process that will take some of the risk out of hiring. In
contrast, larger organizations have the ability to orient and train new
employees to an extent that startups can't offer. Unlike a startup, if a
new employee fails, the work can be redistributed and absorbed by other
employees.
For startups, writing lengthy job descriptions loaded with job
requirements may keep unqualified candidates from wasting your time, but
you've also just given every candidate a cheat sheet. Job seekers are
taught to break down your job description and weave it into their
resume, which will make everyone look equally qualified. Startups move
fast, and every position is a skilled position. Job candidates can often
blur the line between a previous experience and a skill, which is a trap
you need to avoid. Don't assume that candidates have certain skills just
because it's a keyword on a resume, a previous job title or experience
at a similar business.
Just like good timing can lead to the successful exit in a startup, good
timing can also apply to job candidates. Focus on where the candidate is
in his or her career, especially if he or she is capable of taking a big
risk at this point in life. A top candidate should have experience
facing adversity in previous jobs and not appear too anxious to hit a
home run. To find out, skip the initial telephone interview and instead
find a new way to communicate with candidates, because that's when you
learn the most about them. Finally, when you're hiring for a key
position, make sure to ask yourself if you need someone who "can do the
job" or someone who "can get the job done." The "can do" is the
candidate with the hands-on skills who can accomplish the task without
any help.
Click Here to View Full Article
<http://mashable.com/2012/01/29/avoid-hiring-the-wrong-person/>
to the top <#top_of_page>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Congressman Proposes STEM Education Office
USNews.com, January 20 *
U.S. Congressman Michael Honda and Peter Cleveland, vice president of
Global Public Policy at Intel, are pushing for the creation of a STEM
Education Office that will help to address a future crisis in the size
and quality of the nation's science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) workforce. Currently, American students rank 17th out
of 34 in science literacy, and 25th out of 34 in math literacy, among
students from developed countries. The STEM Education Innovation Act of
2011 will create an Office of STEM Education in the Department of
Education headed by an assistant secretary of STEM education, who will
coordinate the department's K-12 and higher education STEM efforts. The
bill will also support a state consortia on STEM education to shape STEM
best practices, in addition to developing strategies to increase
participation of underrepresented communities in STEM disciplines.
Currently, STEM workers are among the highest-paid and fastest-growing
segment in the nation. According to a new report from the Georgetown
University Center on Education and the Workforce, 5% of all jobs in
America will be STEM jobs by the year 2018. The demand for STEM talent
is growing even faster outside traditional STEM jobs. High-tech
companies understand this need for a well-educated workforce. If we do
not produce an adequate number of Americans with significant STEM
skills, the long-term competitiveness of the American economy is at
risk. Now is the time for an innovative, collaborative approach to
protect and expand our nation's economic future that involves both
industry and government.
The final component of the bill is the Education Innovation Project,
which will provide grant funding to outside entities - including
for-profit companies, foundations, nonprofits, and institutions of
higher learning - to develop educational technology innovations that
will unleash the power of STEM education. Such partnerships have already
proven to be successful. By coordinating efforts and placing STEM
education at the top of the priority list, educational institutions have
seen staggering growth in students' science scores and participation in
STEM internships and opportunities.
Click Here to View Full Article
<http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/stem-education/2012/01/20/congressman-proposes-stem-education-office>
to the top <#top_of_page>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Simple Changes That Can Propel Your Career
Forbes, January 31 *
Rick Smith, co-author of the national bestseller The Five Patterns of
Extraordinary Careers, weighs in on how senior executives can make
simple but effective changes to accelerate their career trajectory.
Smith explains how employees can sustain value, suggests ways to make a
career leap, and offers tip on how to become indispensable within any
organization. As Smith notes, tough times make it easier to stand out:
show that you can solve problems that are top of mind for senior
executives and go after these with the mindset of a problem solver.
In order to propel your career forward, determine your greatest
strengths and passions, and focus on a role where these challenges
persist. Second, frame your solutions in order to reveal the
intersection of your greatest strengths and passions. There are many
benefits from focusing on your strengths, as it is the easiest place to
differentiate your performance. But you also need to be passionate about
the challenges you are tackling.
Click Here to View Full Article
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2012/01/31/simple-changes-that-can-propel-your-career/>
to the top <#top_of_page>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*No More Resumes, Say Some Firms
Wall Street Journal, January 24 *
Companies are increasingly relying on social networks such as LinkedIn,
video profiles, social media content and online surveys to gauge
candidates' suitability for a job. While most still request a resume as
part of the application package, some are bypassing the time-tested
requirement altogether. They claim that this process nets better-quality
candidates, especially for positions based heavily in the Internet and
social media. A resume, which doesn't provide much depth about a
candidate, may not indicate what people are like to work with and how
they think. Most importantly, recruiters note that a resume isn't the
best way to determine whether a potential employee will be a good social
fit for the company.
In times of high unemployment, bypassing resumes can help companies
winnow out candidates from a broader labor pool. Specific questions are
tailored to the position, aiding in the filtering process. Applicants
have the option to attach a resume, but it isn't required. Postings for
Internet-related positions might have applicants rate their marketing
and social-media skills on a scale of one to 10 and select from a list
of words how friends or co-workers would describe them.
Click Here to View Full Article
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203750404577173031991814896.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet>
to the top <#top_of_page>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Happiness Is The New Success: Why Millennials Are Reprioritizing
Forbes, January 23 *
As the notion of the traditional career ladder disappears, millenials
are reconsidering their work and life priorities. In fact, the
millennial generation is growing up largely without any ladder at all.
For example, the first rung on the ladder, college, is no longer a
guarantee of future employment success. Graduates no longer expect to
spend their entire career with the same organization, and no longer
expect steady annual increases in salary and responsibility. The article
takes a big picture look at the new priorities of the millennial
generation, focusing on changes that have occurred over the past decade.
While the economy will certainly improve, experts estimate that current
IT workers could end up earning 10% less on average than somebody who
left school a few years before or after the recession due to the loss of
critical entry-level work experience. A crisis that started in the
housing market could wind up having the most lasting negative impact on
the one generation that didn't own any homes before the bust. As a
result, marriage is in decline with many young people choosing to wait
or simply throwing marriage out as an outdated concept. People are also
changing their plans around major life goals, such as owning a home. As
for retirement benefits, people are coming to the realization that
social security could run out sooner than they retire.
What does "success" mean in the 21st century and how do we achieve it?
Recently, economists and national leaders have begun pushing for a
something radically simple: measure success by happiness. According to a
recent article in the Harvard Business Review, not only is measuring
happiness possible, valuing it can greatly increase company profits.
Success for the current generation will be a shift away from business as
usual, marking a transition from climbing the ladder of unfulfilling
societal expectations and consumerism to leading a life guided by a
holistic focus on well-being, community and sustainability.
Click Here to View Full Article
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/85broads/2012/01/23/happiness-is-the-new-success-why-millennials-are-reprioritizing/?feed=rss_home>
to the top <#top_of_page>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Old Techies Never Die: They Just Can't Get Hired
New York Times, January 28 *
Silicon Valley may be booming again, but times are still tough for older
out-of-work professionals within the tech sector. Most of these older
workers hold advanced degrees in engineering and sometimes have more
than a decade of experience in the technology sector. While Internet
companies are scouring the world for new talent to hire, older
technology workers often find that their skills are no longer valued.
Part of the problem is that many of the companies shedding jobs are
technology manufacturers, while most of the companies that are hiring
are Internet-based. The issue has become an increasingly contentious
one, given the perception that some Silicon Valley companies are willing
to replace experienced older workers with lower-paid younger workers.
In some tech hubs, the unemployment rate remains higher than the
national average when tech jobs have been lost to a new breed of job
that is not just filing and coding. There are opportunities, but they
are different. Hiring managers at the Bay Area's fastest-growing
technology companies say they are looking for candidates who are
"passionate" and "truly have a desire to change the world." Other
companies emphasize that they want every new hire to be entrepreneurial.
Other companies are looking for the "college student who built a company
on the side, or an iPhone app over the weekend." They tend to hire
more-experienced workers, but only if they are results-focused and can
deliver again.
The concern is that this new-found emphasis on passion and
entrepreneurialism is just a pretext for age discrimination. According
to researchers, workers over 35 regularly face discrimination by
technology companies. According to a recent survey, candidates began to
be screened out once they reached 40. Especially in social media, cloud
computing and mobile apps, if you're over 40 you're perceived to be over
the hill. Getting hired is especially difficult for unemployed workers
who have been laid off after many years at a single company, because
highly sought-after engineers often change firms regularly in an effort
to stay on the cutting edge. The issue of discrimination against
laid-off workers has even caught the eye of lawmakers, who would like to
make it illegal for an employer to "intentionally refuse to offer
employment to an individual because of the individual's status as
unemployed." To counteract potential bias, older workers should
emphasize their achievements rather than their experience, not only in
interviews but also on their resumes and LinkedIn profiles.
Click Here to View Full Article
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/us/bay-area-technology-professionals-cant-get-hired-as-industry-moves-on.html?pagewanted=all>
to the top <#top_of_page>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Peer Instruction: A Teaching Method to Foster Deep Understanding
Communications of the ACM, Vol. 55 No. 2, February 2012 *
The peer instruction method, which emphasizes problem solving, has
application for educators within computer science. The most engaged part
of many computing courses is when students develop programs embodying
the concepts of the course. Many instructors strongly value code writing
including out-of-class programming, laboratory assignments, and program
writing on exams as an assessment of deep understanding of computing
concepts. The article suggests that the need exists for computing
instructors to design assessments more directly targeting understanding,
not just doing, computing.
The goal of Peer Instruction is to foster deep understanding in a
standard educational environment. The method, used in numerous science
and mathematics courses, involves students attempting to explain to each
other how they understand core physics concepts via a series of
deceptively simple-looking problems. The emphasis is not on getting to a
right answer via a mechanical process; instead, the right answer is
apparent once the students use the appropriate core concepts in their
attempts to articulate their understanding of the problem and their
solution to it. In a variety of studies, this approach has been shown to
improve learning twofold over the standard lecture format.
Peer Instruction has been used successfully across CS subjects, from
lower level classes through to advanced level computer architecture and
theory of computation. Computing students say they find Peer Instruction
valuable for their learning. Peer Instruction is an active-learning
teaching method that can be employed to increase student learning. It is
an especially important method for the computing education community to
embrace because of its emphasis on development of deep understanding of
the subject, because of its relative ease of adoption within the
standard educational framework, and because of its applicability across
a wide spectrum of courses.
Click Here to View Full Article
<http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2012/2/145404-peer-instruction/fulltext>
to the top <#top_of_page>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*A Curator's Tools: Building a Culture of Open Conversation
eLearn Magazine, January 2012 *
As the amount of data and information explodes, there is a greater role
for the curator who can find the content that matters and assemble
objects, ideas, and media into an experience that is meaningful. In the
enterprise context, large, complex organizations need curators to
capture institutional knowledge and experience that resides within
individual employees. The content organizer creates architectures and
tools that everyone in the organization can use to share, record,
discover and discuss information, ideas, and skills. The article takes a
closer look at the technology tools and approaches used by today's top
information curators.
The first step to bringing order to the information in your organization
is to create a culture of sharing and recording information in sharable
places. This means individuals taking information out of their own
post-it notes and clipboards and putting it in a place where others can
find it. Sharing information also means creating digital content that
captures the traditional water-cooler conversations. The second step is
building a network of information streams to consume from extended
networks of colleagues, peers, and experts. Start by developing your own
networks since you need to become comfortable as a curator yourself
before you can model this behavior for others. Reach through social
networks, professional organizations, and simple searches to start
finding the content that is the anchor of knowledge sharing networks.
Start small, with targeted examples, and build from there.
Now that you have ways to create, collect, and consume information, you
need a process for editing, selecting, and distributing information back
into your networks. After all, information needs context to become
broadly useful, and context means a collaborative conversation.
Connections are made when conversations occur in a public forum and are
available for anyone to contribute. Instead of a one-way infrastructure,
where only one voice collects and directs information in outbound
manner, a collaborative network infrastructure makes it possible for
everyone to contribute and weave information and ideas together.
Ultimately, the content that you create, collect, and share is only as
useful as the network and conversation that grows up around it. Inviting
targeted voices into specific conversations, tidying content
architectures, and ensuring folks know how to use tools and feel
welcomed to participate are all essential roles that someone must fill
within complex and large organizations.
Click Here to View Full Article
<http://elearnmag.acm.org/archive.cfm?aid=2110336>
to the top <#top_of_page>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the /ACM CareerNews/ Early Alert Service, please log
in with your ACM Web Account username and password at:
http://www.myacm.org and follow the "Listservs" link. You can change the
email where you receive our /CareerNews/ postings, leave, or rejoin the
list at any time through myACM. *
*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Past Issues <http://careernews.acm.org>]
Copyright © 2012, ACM, Inc.
<http://www.acm.org/publications/copyright-statement>
All rights reserved
ACM Digital Library <http://www.acm.org/careercenter>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Log in at myACM.org <https://www.myacm.org> with your ACM Web Account
and follow the "Listservs" link to
* *change* your subscribed email address,
* *unsubscribe,* or,
* *resubscribe.*
You are subscribed with
wp@CG.TUWIEN.AC.AT
Or you may unsubscribe by entering your email
<https://optout.acm.org/listserv_index.cfm?ln=careernews>.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Find us on Facebook
<http://www.facebook.com/pages/ACM-Association-for-Computing-Machinery/17927643151?ref=ts>
ACM at LinkedIn
<http://www.linkedin.com/groupInvitation?groupID=36836&sharedKey=0892EF71552B>
TheOfficialACM Twitter <http://twitter.com/TheOfficialACM>
*Association for Computing Machinery <http://www.acm.org>*
Advancing Computing as a Science & Profession
Copyright © 2012, ACM, Inc.
<http://www.acm.org/publications/copyright-statement>
All rights reserved
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.cg.tuwien.ac.at/pipermail/jobinfo/attachments/20120208/f9cb7fe8/attachment-0001.html>