Innovation: The Way Forward
Mar/100
A recent government report released earlier this month, Innovation Task force Report, has led to a major emphasis on innovation in the Irish economy. The Report is an important element of the Government’s Plan, Building Ireland’s Smart Economy, for dealing with the challenges facing the Irish economy in a changed world. The Report sets out some key recommendations and steps to allow Ireland to be transformed into a Global Innovation Hub. Can innovation provide a solution to our troubled economy? Can technology provide the best solution?
Innovation can come from anywhere, anyone and at any time. It’s a case of moulding an idea and enabling people to take that idea and give them a platform to drive and develop it. Technology may provide the best answer. There has been continued growth in video based platforms online. One such area that could develop within this growth is working remotely. The idea of working remotely is familiar concept, but the development of video conferencing, web cams and Webex can allow for new opportunities for both employers and employees. For employers it’s an adaptation of workforce practices, trust, and enablement in the employees you are hiring and modifying the way we think successful workers work. It offers numerous opportunities for the Irish work force to export their knowledge globally. Historically, Ireland has been known as a hotbed for educational excellence, this excellence could be exported via technology, via TelePresence, or Webex to countries that struggle to attract the right level of quality that Ireland possesses.
The government report also highlights the need for investment in national infrastructure. This is a key factor in the development of video based solutions. Investment in infrastructure and the support of the private sector and service providers will assist access to workforce throughout Ireland.
Innovation can provide the next step in the road to recovery for the Irish economy. The next bright idea could provide a pathway to a smart Irish economy.
http://evertb.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/report_of_the_innovation_taskforce.pdf
Most Sought-After Skills on the Web Market
Feb/100
Recently there has been a continued growth of online web agencies. This growth has stemmed from major companies outsourcing their web development and advertising campaigns to specialist firms. These companies are advancing at a rapid pace and are now sourcing the best and most highly skilled developers on the market. Currently there is a shortage of expertise to match this demand. What does this mean for developers and designers? Are there opportunities in the web market? The answer is Yes!! The best way to take advantage of these opportunities is through up-skilling!
Cakephp and flex are the hottest web skills on the market. Flex is an open source program for developers and maintains open source web applications while Cakephp is a framework that offers an extensible architecture for developing, maintaining, and deploying applications. It reduces development costs and helps developers write less code which is a valuable tool for online agencies.
The growth of online agencies will continue and this is a competitive market with high demand for specialised web developers and designers!
Positive outlook in the Support & Infrastructure Market
Dec/090
There has been a definite increase in job orders in recent times in the Dublin & Cork market, especially from October onwards. This upturn in registered jobs has been significantly noticed in the support and infrastructure market. This market collapsed at the end of 2008 as clients halved their infrastructure professionals on site and made a move towards outsourcing their IT support function. From a consultancy perspective, large contracts were cut and infrastructure projects were put on hold as clients budgets were squeezed forcing redundancies throughout the sector.
After a tough year of restructuring across all areas of businesses there has been a slight shift towards re-hiring in this market. Consultancies are slowly but surely bulking up their professional services team with high-end skills such as Virtualisation, Storage and Network Security. This will ensure that they are positioned correctly in the marketplace to secure any major upcoming contracts as IT budgets are slowly increased. From an internal prospective, IT support functions are growing again. Companies have begun to increase their operational staff, and as this happens it is being mirrored by the support functions.
Although it is a minimal growth, it is still a positive at the end of a very “taxing” year.
Clement Dupuis, Master CISSP, coming to Dublin.
Aug/090
Clement Dupuis will be coming to Dublin to conduct a Boot Camp on the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) course at Espion’s training centre in Stillorgan, Co. Dublin from Monday-Friday, 21-25 September. Depuis is a global leader in the CISSP circuit and has created a website which ranks number one as the best CISSP training sites on the internet, www.cccure.org. Fees for the five day course are €2,250 per delegate which will include student books and Dupuis latest study material.
Verkom Language Open Day
Jul/090
Language Open Day WEDNESDAY AUGUST 12TH 2009
Premier Group is hosting an Open day and Evening on Wednesday the 12TH of August from 12.00 – 7.00pm in our offices: Level 4, 6 Lapps Quay Cork City Centre
We currently have a variety of vacancies for bi-lingual and multi-lingual candidates. If you speak one or more of the following languages and have a minimum of 1 years experience in the below areas, we would love to meet you on Wednesday 12th. All you need to do is e-mail your updated cv to permjobs@verkom.ie and come to our offices between 12:00pm and 7:00pm.
Please note you need to have permission to work in the EU without a working visa.
Skills/Experience in any of the following areas:
Customer Services
Sales/Telesales
Administration
Technical Support
Accounts Payable/Receivable
General Ledger Accountant
Credit Control/Collections
Language Requirements:
French
Flemish
Dutch
German
Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
Norwegian
Danish
Swedish
Turkish
Greek
Danish
Working in Cork:
Cork is Ireland’s second city with a population in the city of 100,000. It is a university city with a multi-cultural population, popular with professionals relocating from across Europe and the Middle East.
Cork is home to a high volume of multi-national companies and is very attractive to job seekers looking to develop their career. This, along with a vibrant nightlife, its proximity to the coastline, flights to Europe and its cosmopolitan life-style makes Cork an ideal city for re-locaters.
Has the recession affected the IT market?
Jul/090
Recession, Recession, Recession… Has the IT market Boomed, Crashed or stayed Consistent throughout the last 12 months in Ireland?
Two of the most common questions we are asked at the moment is “How do you feel the recession has affected IT? Are there more IT candidates looking for work now compared with this time last year?”
We decided to publish our statistics based on the Verkom website and the volume of candidates who have sent in their CVs to us from July 2008 to July 2009. This may help answer some of the common questions being asked. 
Firstly, you will be interested to know that within the last 12 months there has been a consistent amount of applications coming through our Verkom website. Typically during the middle of December applications slow down and early in the New Year we tend to see more applications year on year which was the same for early 2009.
What does this mean?
This means that, unlike other industries, the level of IT professionals applying for work has not dramatically increased during this downturn
However, the amount of IT jobs available has decreased between 30 – 35% compared with this time last year. We have seen that this decrease has mostly been in senior-end IT jobs like Project Management, Program Management, IT Management and senior Business Analysis. As a result, senior-end candidates have reduced their salary expectations both in the permanent and contracting market.
Other areas of IT have remained stable. The area of IT Development has remained consistent and skilled developers can command similar salaries to this time last year.
Overall, the IT market has not been hit as hard as other industries like construction and electronic manufacturing so be glad you’re working in IT! The good news is that there are still opportunities out there and companies are still hiring.
Emerging Opportunities in Cloud Computing
Jun/090
Everywhere you turn these days there is talk of cloud computing. It’s surprising then that the results of a recent survey conducted by RackSpace indicated that 67% of small businesses and 47% of mid sized businesses were not even familiar with the term “Cloud Computing”.
Based on the survey results, adoption rates are understandably low (5% for small businesses, 11% for medium business). To me the survey results really strike a chord because having used cloud computing services for more than a year now, and being totally sold on the benefits I can see a gigantic opportunity coming down the tracks. I am not alone in this belief, Merrill Lynch have gone on record with a prediction that the cloud computing market will be worth an estimated US $94 Billion annually within 4 years, Amazon, Oracle, HP, Dell, Microsoft, EMC, IBM and others are also putting their money where their mouth is at a staggering pace. Cloud Computing is really one of the only significant double digit growth areas this year (+27%).
You may ask yourself, “So what’s this got to do with me?”
Well that really depends on who you are;
- If you are an IT Contractor or currently on the IT Jobs market, it should be worth your while ensuring that you are adequately up-skilled to sell the benefits of cloud computing and help your clients / potential employers get the maximum benefit from this fantastic service.
- If you are responsible for the IT operations of a business or you a business leader you probably need to start getting familiar with the concept of cloud computing and asking your IT staff / vendors for advice on how you can leverage the benefits on offer.
For everyone involved one of the significant challenges cloud computing faces is that there is no single, standard and comprehensive definition of what exactly cloud computing is, even the wikipedia description of cloud computing seems to change on a regular basis. To me cloud computing is easiest described as “Computing as a Utility” where you consume flexible computing resources that are provided by third parties, without necessarily having access to, or an understanding of the platforms on which it is based. Consider it similar to your electricity connection, you connect, consume, get metered and pay for the service used.
So what to do next?
- We have setup a LinkedIn group for anyone in Ireland who is interested in Cloud Computing from either a technical or a commercial perspective, come and join the Irish Cloud Computing Group.
- Talk to us here at Verkom, we talk regularly to clients, contractors and candidates who are interested in Cloud Computing, we would love to be of service to you.
- Go and check out some of the public cloud computing platforms, Amazon AWS in particular is very accessible and starting at 10 cents an hour it won’t break the bank to learn more in a real-time environment.
- I post regularly about cloud computing on my blog if you want to read more.
Shortage of IT Professionals with Languages!
Jun/090
Finally it looks like things are picking up in the IT sector after a very slow-moving first half of 2009. Long may it continue!
The types of IT roles coming in are now becoming more and more specific as companies want to ensure that they get the exact skills required to add value to their business and provide return on investment.
While the upturn has yet to filter through to the areas of Project Management, Program management and the more business-focused IT roles, we are seeing an increase in development, RDBMS and Technical Support. However, the technical support roles all require fluency in a second or even a second and third language.
It is currently proving difficult to get candidates with the right level of technical knowledge combined with fluency in Spanish, Danish, Italian, German, French and Portuguese. All companies, of course, require fluent English and some require 2 of the mentioned languages along with strong Technical skills.
If you have a strong technical support background and are fluent in any of the above languages with English, Cork is your oyster right now! We’d be delighted to hear from you if you are on the lookout or know of anyone who is thinking of making the move over to Cork.
Alternatively, if you have any ideas or suggestions on how to source these candidates most effectively, let us know!