It's hard to imagine anyone in a technical position who could not benefit from knowing some basic programming code. Even if you're not in software or web development, if you have a blog or a website, or use a computer, knowing the basics of programming can come in handy - and can add an important line item to your resume.

Codecademy is free website that can take anyone from the first steps of learning programming to advanced concepts and tutorials where you can build your own game or web app.

If you create a free account, you can get a weekly lesson emailed to you - a good reminder to put in some practice on a regular basis - and for a few hours a week you can start from a basic "echo" beginning your path to more advanced lessons. I created an account several weeks ago and have been going through the lessons with my children. Each lesson gives you a sample of code and an explanation of what it does, then asks you to complete several basic tasks based on the sample.

The lessons are in small chunks, and follow a logical transition from one week to the next. I found it a lot more enjoyable than cracking open a text book.

If you run into troubles, the website gives you hints. If you can't get the hints, there are plenty of helpful people in the forums to help get you through the lesson.

So if you ever thought it would be fun to learn a new language, instead of French or German, maybe give JavaScript a try.

Logo courtesy of Codecademy.

Quixey, the Palo Alto software company that creates search engines for apps, is looking for engineers.

Instead of putting out the call for resumes however, Quixey has come up with an original and entertaining way of finding the best talent out there. Engineers are invited to take a challenge solving the kinds of problems that will demonstrate their skills.

To take the challenge, you must first complete a three practice puzzles. These puzzles include finding the shortest path connecting ordered pairs of nodes in a graph, or finding the greatest common divisor in a pair of numbers. Correctly solving the puzzles may get you invited for a Skype call where you can take the Quixey challenge where you might win $100 for fixing a software bug in less than a minute.

Non-technical people can win $50 if they refer someone to the Quixey Challenge website who successfully completes the challenge.

Screenshot courtesy of Quixey

Whether you nod your head in silent understanding or shake your head in anger, there should probably be no surprise which tech jobs were ranked at the bottom of CareerCam's list of the best and worst jobs of 2012.

While the position of Software Engineer was ranked as their overall number one pick of 200 jobs, due to salary, hiring outlook and working conditions, not all of the high tech positions CareerCam listed came in the top half. In fact, two positions were just barely escaped being listed in the bottom quarter.

Both involve long hours, some heavy lifting, mixed appreciation and of course a screwdriver.

The worst tech job, coming in at #148 out of 200 is the Electrical Equipment Repairer.

The second worst tech job, ranked #142 is the Computer Service Technician.

Of course, like all surveys these rankings are generalizations and don't take into account individual workplaces, pay rates, customer appreciation or job satisfaction.

For a complete listing of the best and worst jobs in the IT industry today, including salary comparisons, check out the article at about.com.

Photo © David Weedmark

If you're looking for work in the tech industry and you're not on Twitter yet, do yourself a favor. Close Facebook, minimize Monster.com for a few minutes, and go to Twitter.

Set yourself up with a free account and then, before you even set up your profile page, type "hiring" in the search field at the top of the page. Then get yourself a coffee because your screen is about to be inundated with job leads.

Yes, many of the tweets with the word "hiring" will be spam messages for work-at-home scams. Many of them will be from people looking for work. Many will be irrelevant to what you do, or based in a country you have no desire to live in. Between these, however, you will find a few gems.

Many recruiters, companies and job boards use Twitter to get the word out. Many others pass on links to their friends and followers on Twitter about jobs they have spotted on other websites.

Of course doing a basic search like this is just the beginning. Stay tuned and sign up for the newsletter for a full examination of how to add Twitter to your job search efforts.