Tech Careers

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.

If you love the energy and excitement of working for a cool startup, 6Wunderkinder has announced it has several positions available. They are hiring software developers and quality assurance managers.

6Wunderkinder makes award-winning task management dashboards called Wunderkit and Wunderlist that allows you to share tasks and projects with friends, colleagues and co-workers online.

They are hiring software developers experienced in Windows, Mac OS X, Android, JavaScript, and Ruby on Rails. Besides having some talent and expertise in any of these platforms, you should also have at least two years experience working at a startup company.

The website doesn't specify exactly how many people they are looking for, but over Twitter, a company representative said: "we are pretty flexible, it depends on the # of rockstars out there :) but there are definitely multiple positions for most!"

Sprechen Sie Startup?

There is only one catch: You will have to relocate to Berlin, Germany. Considering that Berlin was rated the second-best city for quality of life, 6Wunderkinder believes this is one of the best reasons to join them. "Ever dreamed of a female head of government? Or a gay mayor in one city?" they write, "Welcome to Berlin."

Other perks include ergonomic chairs, free breakfast, fruit, and a hangout lounge equipped with video games.

Speaking German is not a pre-requisite for these startup jobs, but understanding English is.

Image Copyright: 6Wunderkinder

If you're a manager, you not only need to be concerned with your own career growth -- which includes keeping your tech skills up to par and current -- but also those of your direct reports.

Happy employees are those that feel challenged in their current positions and who are given opportunities to develop their skills even further. It's part of your job then to assist employees along in this growth, working with them to set obtainable goals and coaching along the way.

Read up on these career development tips, which can help you empower employees to make sure they're heading down their desired career path.

As the holidays draw near, video games are climbing the ranks in high-selling items. One of the most popular gifts for tweens and teens, video games have carved an industry that is constantly growing and expanding. But if you want to jump on that money train, you'll have to make sure you have the education in video game programming that will you land you the job.

Even if video games aren't your focus, getting a first or even secondary degree in the technical field might make you more competitive in this tough economy. There are even several certifications that don't require the commitment of a full degree that can make you more marketable.

Copyright: Getty Images / Thinkstock Images

While the economy seems to be slowly recovering, many companies are still fighting layoffs and have been forced to cut holiday bonus spending.

With so many belts tightening, a lot of IT professionals who would have retired at the end of this year have decided to stay in the workforce and rebuild lost savings. But mature tech pros need to make sure they stay relevant in the ever changing IT environment. Don't get left behind if you choose to delay your IT retirement.

Image Copyright: Getty Images / Ryouchin

IBM and professors from Columbia University in New York City have joined forces to get more people trained for some of the higher-level green tech jobs that have started opening up.

Columbia is already a very environmentally-focused school, offering 23 environmental studies-related degrees. But according to an article posted on SolveClimate.com, by partnering with IBM through the Smarter Students for a Smarter Planet initiative, the university will gain access to things like:

"...software that relates to energy management, as well as courseware, cloud computing capabilities, smart systems, analytics, technology roadmaps, and the like."

All of these things are going to be integrated into Columbia's first-year design course, which is mandatory for all engineering students. The tools will also be used to help train students in other areas, such as project management, systems integration and data analysis, with the goal of turning out more well-rounded engineering graduates.

For more information, here is the video of IBM's and Columbia's green jobs announcement.

_{Image Copyright: Ervin Bacik}

In 2010, new college graduates will still face a competitive job market – but there's a light at the end of the tunnel, as far as starting salaries go.

A recent CareerBuilder survey of 2,778 U.S. hiring managers and HR professionals found that 44 percent of employers plan to hire recent college grads in 2010, which is not much better than the 43 percent who said the same in 2009, and actually much lower than 79 percent in 2007.

However, 21 percent of employers who confirmed they would hire recent grads this year also said they will hire more than they did last year, and 16 percent also said they will offer those new grads higher starting salaries than they did in 2009 – which is great news, compared to the 11 percent of employers who said the same thing last year.

Note that although experience (whether through internships, part-time jobs or volunteer work) is an important factor for employers trying to decide which new grads to hire, survey respondents also said they want someone who will fit in with the company culture, has good ideas and asks excellent questions, has a solid educational background, and prepares well for the interview.

So... remember these tips for getting your foot if you're just starting out in your tech career, or making a career switch:

• Thoroughly research the company that's posting the job so you have an idea of what it's like to work there (our Tech Company Profiles page is an excellent place to start if you're applying for a job with a major technology firm).
• Arm yourself with questions to ask during the interview, and practice answering some of the interview questions you could be asked.
• Be prepared to share some ideas about how you could contribute to the company.
• Stay positive during all steps in the hiring process, including your resume and cover letter submission, your follow-up after sending in your resume, the writing of your post-interview thank-you letter, and your salary negotiation.

Also, be sure to check out our Entry Level and New Grad Resources Center for lists of career services, resume and cover letter samples, interview tips and other things that can help you land your first job in your chosen tech field.

_{Image Copyright: Mary Gober}

Not too long ago, Elance, an online job board for contractors and service providers, released a report that noted its online talent pool earned more than $20 million in the first quarter of 2010, with information technology as one of the top-performing categories.

According to the report, here are some of today's most sought-after IT skills that you should be seriously thinking about acquiring:

• Mobile Development: This category saw a 98 percent increase in the number of job posted by employers, and Elance attributed the increase to the emergence of devices such as Apple's iPad and the next generation of iPhone, as well as the popularity of Google's Android mobile operating system.
  
  
• Open Source: Open source technologies make up 20 percent of Elance's IT Top 50 Skills list. Popular skills include working with content management systems such as WordPress, Joomla! and Drupal, as well as open source database systems such as MySQL, and mobile, e-commerce and web server technologies.
  
  
• Cloud Computing: Job prospects for cloud computing are on the increase, with popular cloud computing languages such as PHP, ASP.NET, Ruby on Rails and Python making it onto the top 50 IT skills list.
  
  
• Social Media: These include application development skills for popular social networking sites such as Facebook.

_{Image Courtesy of Apple}