That was Then... This is Now

The skills required for technology jobs vary widely from one position to another, but are some technical skills worth acquiring, no matter what your area of expertise? Absolutely. That’s clear from a review of Monster job ads for various technical positions. Listings for network engineers sometimes call for HTML skills. Help-desk jobs may require documentation skills. Programmers often need to know how networks operate. And just about any tech job may require proficiency in Microsoft Office. Employers want techies who demonstrate versatility, says Matt Colarusso, branch manager of national recruiting and strategic accounts at IT staffing service Sapphire Technologies. “They're looking for a more well-rounded individual," he explains. With that in mind, here are six must-have tech skills: Quality Assurance The quality assurance (QA) process is central to developing software and systems. While QA can be a job in and of itself, many organizations rely on developers, support profe...

October 9, 2008 (VistaNews) In last week's editorial, I rambled on a bit about how the economy can affect our technology. This week, I want to turn the tables and talk about how the technology can affect the economy and other aspects of our lives. We saw an example of that last Friday (October 3), when a CNN "citizen journalism" web site published an item reporting that Apple CEO Steve Jobs had been rushed to the hospital following a heart attack. Apple's stock, which had already dropped along with many others, immediately took another plunge, going to under $100 per share for the first time since early 2007. Sure, the stock came back after Apple spokespersons denied the story, but it shows how information - or misinformation - posted on the Internet can have an impact. At this point, no one seems to know whether the post was an honest mistake, a practical joke, or an attempt to manipulate the markets, but the SEC is investigating. It's obvious, though, how a pers...

Science Debate 2008 worked with Scientists and Engineers for America, the AAAS, the National Academies, the Council on Competitiveness, and the other organizations listed to craft the top 14 questions the candidates should answer. These questions are broad enough to allow for wide variations in response, but they are specific enough to help guide the discussion toward many of the largest and most important unresolved challenges currently facing the United States.

September 20, 2008 (PC World) If you needed any more reminders about why it isn't a good idea to use external mail services to conduct critical business, the recent break-in to US Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's gov.palin@yahoo.com Yahoo inbox should be it. Of note is that following the disclosure of the inboxes the compromised address and another address, gov.sarah@yahoo.com, have been suspended. US politics has been stung by a range of inappropriate email usage incidents, including the use of non-government email accounts to conduct official business. From the images presented as proof of email compromise, it seems that Sarah Palin was also doing this. Various Information Security mailing lists have from time to time been filled with claims of inbox compromise, usually for free webmail services and it is always two parts voyeurism, two parts fear that it could be you next whenever someone has had their email exposed so publicly. Some companies have decide...

Everyone is trying to figure out what went wrong over the last few days. Many experts have weighed in and offered their opinions. Perhaps the best analysis from the technical side that I've seen comes from the New York Times .

"Dilbert" needs no introduction to anyone who is likely to read this blog. While we aren't fortunate enough to have Dilbert himself running for president, his creator Scott Adams, has hired a polling firm to survey economists on which candidate is best for the economy. You can view the results at CNN .

By Ed Cone Wall Street spends heavily on IT, and Wall Street firms have been seen as innovative users of technology, so what does the financial services meltdown say about the efficacy of computer systems in areas like risk management? Clearly, IT wasn't enough to save these companies from themselves. And just as clearly, the technology was deployed in an environment where many other factors were in play. Regulatory failure and human nature seem like bigger culprits than faulty software in the current unpleasantness. The smartest risk-manager I ever interviewed relied on some basic technology, along with news, anecdotes, common sense, and his gut. But this report from the Counterparty Risk Management Policy Group says financial services technology is not up to speed. The CRMPG is an industry group that includes representatives of the largest banks; the report came out in August, back when that designation still included Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers -- both members of the team....