Is the tide turning? Women filled 60% of tech jobs created this year

womenwhocode

November 20, 2013 4:02 PM

Rebecca Grant   Venturebeat


Dec. 4 - 5, 2013
Redwood City, CA Tickets on Sale Now

Could America finally be making progress toward getting more women into the tech industry?

New data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests we might be.

Of the 39,000 jobs created in tech this year, women filled 60 percent of them. Tech career Hub Dice found that this is the first time women have represented a majority of new hires in the past decade.

The tech industry undoubtedly has a gender problem, and the topic of women-in-tech topic has been debated for years. Women make up less than one-third of all employees in the tech sector. Only 3 percent of tech startups have women founders, and tech companies employ an average of 12.33 percent female engineers. Women contribute to just 1.2 percent of open source software and 5 percent of patents.

These numbers are dismal, but at last it seems that women are making gains.

Part of the improvement could stem from Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who have been vocal about the need for a more women in tech and a corporate environment where they can succeed.

Research has shown the benefits of a diversified workforce, and American women are highly active on the Internet. They make up 70 percent of both Snapchat’s and Pinterest’s user bases, and women are more likely to use Facebook and Twitter than men. Nielsen estimates that women’s spending power in America ranges from $5 trillion to $15 trillion and that they will control two-thirds of consumer wealth over the next decade.

The notion that women don’t like technology or aren’t interested in technology is absurd, and building a tech community with a more equal gender distribution is long overdue.

Yes, getting girls interested in STEM education is critical to achieving this goal, and yes, creating flexible work policies for employees with children is important for keeping women in tech as well. Sexism and sexual harassment need to stop, and women need to support each other.

But all of these efforts are moot if companies aren’t interested in hiring women in the first place.

The BLS numbers don’t differentiate between full- and part-time jobs and “computer system design, and related services” doesn’t mean that these hires are for technical positions. Furthermore, the number of women getting hired didn’t increase this year, but rather the number of men getting hired decreased, so all that really shifted was the ratio.

These numbers don’t mean that the tech industry is emerging from its period of gender stagnation, but I prefer to be an optimist.

Also watch this video for ‘lets get girls in tech’ awesomeness.

Read More

Talent Shortage May Impede New Hiring by Technology Companies, Second Annual TECNA Survey Reveals

Nov 12, 2013  CompTIA

Survey of 1,700-plus executives offers national, regional views on business conditions, investment plans, policy concerns

Downers Grove, Ill., November 12, 2013 – Technology companies plan to hire new staff over the next 12 months, but are concerned about a persistent shortage of tech talent, according to the second annual National Survey of Technology, Policy and Strategic Issues released today by the Technology Councils of North America (TECNA).

The survey by TECNA, a non-profit trade association of regional technology organizations which serves as a leading voice in growing the North American technology economy, reveals that nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of the 1,700-plus C-level executives surveyed say they intend to hire new staff over the next 12 months. Small companies (74 percent) and medium firms (72 percent) are the most optimistic on hiring.

At the same time, 69 percent of executives perceive a shortage in the quantity and quality of tech talent available to them. One-quarter say the shortage is “significant.”

“Companies are feeling better about business conditions, but the talent shortage issue has the potential to sidetrack growth,” said Steven G. Zylstra, TECNA chairman and president and chief executive officer of the Arizona Technology Council.

The talent shortage perception is present across all regions of the country. In the Midwest and West, 72 percent of respondents say there’s a shortage. The Northeast (67 percent) and South (65 percent) were slightly lower.

“The survey substantiates our efforts to champion policies such as STEM education, tax and regulatory reform and access to capital for innovators and start-ups,” Zylstra said. “From Capitol Hill to state capitals, and from legislative committee rooms to city halls, TECNA members continue to serve as the voice calling for a technology-based, pro-growth, business-focused agenda.”

The second annual TECNA survey provides current and future technology trends locally, regionally and nationally. The survey was conducted in partnership with CompTIA, the non-profit association for the IT industry.

Other Key National Findings

• Government should act on dollars-and-cents issues and STEM education: Access to capital is the top area where government policy action should focus, according to 46 percent of executives. Two other monetary issues appear in the top five: taxation and/regulatory reform (40 percent) and access to state and local funding for innovation and startups (37 percent). Support for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education at the K-12 and higher education levels is cited as a policy priority by 41 percent of respondents.

• Lukewarm assessment of federal government representation: Asked how well the federal government is representing the interests of the tech sector, 45 percent of executives said poorly or very poorly. Another 41 percent said “just okay.” The comparable numbers for state government are 38 percent, just okay; and 25 percent, poor or very poorly.

• Business sentiment is on the upswing: The survey reveals improving sentiment about overall business conditions, with the biggest jump occurring in feelings about the overall economy. It’s at 56.4 on a 100-point scale, compared to 46.3 a year ago; and with expectations of more improvement – albeit modest – over the next six months

• Many businesses plan to increase investments: In addition to hiring plans, 59 percent of executives say they’ll invest in new products or business lines over the next six months, with small (65 percent) and medium companies (62 percent) leading the way. About half of all companies expect to boost expenditures on marketing and advertising and on technology.

• Concerns about the economy are the biggest threat: A general lack of confidence or economic paralysis is the biggest threat to business activity, according to 44 percent of executives. Government regulation is next at 42 percent. Concerns about lower margins or downward pressure on pricing took a big jump – from 22 percent in the 2012 survey to 38 percent this year, placing it third on the list of concerns. Medium (51 percent) and large companies (50 percent) are most concerned about margin and price issues.

“Efforts to increase tech sector representation with the federal government, in particular for small and medium sized businesses, are central to TechVoice, our advocacy partnership between TECNA and CompTIA,” said Bob Moore, CAE, TECNA executive director. “Tax and regulatory barriers to tech entrepreneurs, advancing a skilled and career-ready 21st century workforce, and Internet governance are the major policy topics currently being addressed throughout TechVoice advocacy efforts.”

Read more

Read More

Time for the United States to Re-Skill ?

Time for the United States to Reskill? The Survey of Adult Skills, shows that our highest-skilled adults remain on par with those in other leading nations, but that, on average, American students are behind other nations in every other measure. The international rankings show that in literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in a technology-rich environment, the U.S. average performance is significantly lower than the international average. The data also show that the skill levels of U.S. adults have remained stable over two decades, and that our youngest learners are not improving their skill levels. In some other countries, young adults score well above older ones and also outpace their American peers. This shows that the disadvantages children face often persist into adulthood and learning gaps, fueled by opportunity gaps, exist among American adults.  

Importantly, the report findings shine a spotlight on a portion of our population that has historically been overlooked and underserved: the large numbers of adults with very low basic skills. Adults who have trouble reading, doing math, solving problems, and using technology will find the doors of the 21st-century workforce closed to them. The OECD report offers general recommendations as to how the U.S. can be more strategic in our reforms for the low-skilled adult learner population.  

The report offers seven broad policy recommendations for the U.S. to consider. The first is to “take concerted action to improve basic skills and tackle inequities affecting sub-populations with weak skills.” This recommendation addresses the fact that there are significant weaknesses in the skills of the U.S. population, particularly among identified subgroups, where the long-term consequences of the achievement gap can be seen in the adult population. For example, Hispanics and blacks are three-to-four times more likely to have low literacy skills than whites. While the achievement gap in K–12 schooling has been closing steadily, it is not erased and the adult population’s skill profiles still bear the signs of early inequities. The OECD calls on the United States to coordinate and align federal, state, private and philanthropic efforts to improve workforce development efforts and maximize the effectiveness with which efforts reach the scale and efficacy required to make real and lasting changes to the current skills profile.  

The second recommendation, to “strengthen initial schooling for all....” also derives from the long-term effects of poor K–12 schooling, which remain a drag on adults’ skill proficiencies. Current education reforms, such as attention to early learning, dropout prevention, and adoption of more rigorous standards, should be strengthened, accelerated, and evaluated for their continued effectiveness in preparing students with strong skills. The OECD points to the experiences of other countries, such as Korea and Finland, that leveraged early PISA findings (an international skills survey conducted among 15-year-olds) as a wake up call to marshal education reforms that have yielded lasting improvements. The reforms undertaken and the measures of their success are described in a previous OECD report: Strong Performers and Successful Reformers in Education: Lessons from PISA for the United States. 

“Ensure effective and accessible education opportunities for young adults” is the third recommendation. It echoes President Obama’s call for more Americans to complete at least one year of postsecondary education and training in order to succeed in the 21st century global economy. It also reflects the efforts that are underway to reform high schools by making career and technical pathways available to more students. The OECD recognizes that although the pipeline to education exists, many low-skilled and low-income youth and adults are not able to complete their degrees or training programs. Reforms to college access, cost, and developmental education are urgently needed.  

“Link efforts to improve basic skills to employability.” This fourth recommendation draws on previous OECD work in career and technical education, recognizing that the integration of basic skills and work-based learning can be a powerful accelerator for disengaged or low-skilled youth and adults. It opens what OECD calls a “virtuous cycle” of synergistic learning and motivation. This recommendation requires cooperation with employers and industry groups to embed work experiences of all kinds into education pathways and to keep job-specific skills updated in the curriculum.  

“Adapt to diversity,” the fifth recommendation, notes that within the U.S. adult profile is a range of distinct sub-populations with a variety of needs, including young immigrants with language barriers, disconnected youths, adults with learning disabilities, and dislocated workers facing digital literacy challenges. Accordingly, the adult low-skilled population is not homogenous. The OECD recommends developing a range of interventions specifically targeted to the needs and strengths of the various learners and their capacities to engage in education and training.  

The sixth recommendation, to “build awareness of the implications of weak basic skills among adults, their links with other social factors…” refers to those social factors linked to skills as revealed in this survey. These include positive civic behaviors such as voting and volunteering, as well as improving health status and prevention behaviors. In the U.S., the correlation between poor health status and low literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving skills is twice as strong as the international average. In fact, U.S. adults with low skills are four times more likely to report only “fair” or “poor” health. This combination presents great challenges to both the individual and the health providers to communicate and address the prevention, management, and treatment of disease and unhealthy behaviors.  

The final recommendation, to “support action with evidence,” recognizes that the U.S. capacity for research and evaluation is unsurpassed and calls on the research community to pay more attention to the education and training of low-skilled youths and adults to identify a repertoire of effective, replicable, and scalable practices. To jumpstart this focus, the OECD and the Educational Testing Service are co-sponsoring a researcher training on the dataset and analysis tools this week (registration is full). The Department has also committed to further training opportunities for researchers. Future issues of OVAE Connection will give information on how to participate in these opportunities.  

Stay up to date with all the PIAAC-related publications, briefings, and events at www.piaacgateway.com.

The overview and main findings of the Survey of Adult Skills were released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This direct assessment, part of the Program of International Assessment of Adult Competencies, (PIAAC), was conducted with nationally representative samples in 23 countries, among adults aged 16 through 65. Based on the survey, OVAE requested OECD to prepare the report, Time for the United States to Reskill? What the Survey of Adult Skills Says. This report analyzes data from the survey and details the status of American adult competencies within our economic, demographic, and social structures and makes policy recommendations to boost adult skill levels. 

Read More

CompTIA: Why Are We Still Talking About Security?

by Seth Robinson on Thursday, November 14, 2013  CompTIA

Security may not be as hyped as other tech trends like cloud computing, mobility or Big Data, but several CompTIA research studies have shown that it remains a top priority for businesses among a wide range of IT initiatives. However, that may not necessarily translate into businesses having a robust security posture or knowing which steps to take as they explore new technology models. CompTIA’s Eleventh Annual Information Security Trends study examines the areas that may need closer attention in order to avoid exposure.



According to the study, more than 8 in 10 companies view their current level of security as satisfactory or very satisfactory. Some percentage of these companies likely do have robust security policies and up-to-date tools, especially among the 13 percent of companies that say they have experienced a drastic amount of change in their security over the past two years. Many other companies, though, show low level of concern for emerging security threats and low levels of adoption for modern security defenses.

As companies utilize new technology trends, they must begin taking a new security approach. Formal risk analysis is only performed by 41 percent of companies, and this discipline can help inform security decisions as data is stored with public cloud providers or made available to mobile devices. Fifty-five percent of the root cause for security incidents is human error, but only 1 in 5 companies view human error as a serious concern. New technology investments will have marginal return in this area; the more effective strategy is to properly educate the workforce.

In addition to these overarching changes, new technical skills and tools are needed as well. Use of cloud systems, adoption of mobile devices and reliance on digital data all require new security processes and products. Many companies may have started using these technologies without fully thinking through the security implications, so security changes may be taking place even as new systems are used in production.

The landscape is certainly becoming complicated, opening opportunity for channel firms. While 85 percent of channel firms claim some involvement in security, only 36 percent of firms offer security as a standalone product or service. In an environment where 75 percent of end-users rely on more than one firm for technology needs, there may be an opening for more firms to specialize in security and ensure that every facet of an end-user’s technology plan is secured.

It seems that the main reason we’re still talking about security is that the message is taking time to sink in. Slowly, companies are realizing that the defenses of the past are not up to the challenges presented by today’s attackers, who are able to monetize any type of data and who show little favoritism between large and small companies. There are many new technologies that enable greater productivity and allow new possibilities, but they also open the door to new threats in security and privacy. Businesses will need to rethink their overall security strategy if they want to remain safe in this new era.

Read More

HP: 90% of Apple iOS mobile apps show security vulnerabilities

Testing of more than 2,000 mobile apps developed by corporations reveals serious flaws

By Ellen Messmer, Network World
November 18, 2013 12:12 PM ET

Network World - HP today said security testing it conducted on more than 2,000 Apple iOS mobile apps developed for commercial use by some 600 large companies in 50 countries showed that nine out of 10 had serious vulnerabilities.

Mike Armistead, HP vice president and general manager, said testing was done on apps from 22 iTunes App Store categories that are used for business-to-consumer or business-to-business purposes, such as banking or retailing. HP said 97% of these apps inappropriately accessed private information sources within a device, and 86% proved to be vulnerable to attacks such as SQL injection.


The Apple guidelines for developing iOS apps help developers but this doesn’t go far enough in terms of security, says Armistead. Mobile apps are being used to extend the corporate website to mobile devices, but companies in the process “are opening up their attack surfaces,” he says.

In its summary of the testing, HP said 86% of the apps tested lacked the means to protect themselves from common exploits, such as misuse of encrypted data, cross-site scripting and insecure transmission of data.

Businesses offer best practices for escaping CryptoLocker hell

The same number did not have optimized security built in the early part of the development process, according to HP. Three quarters “did not use proper encryption techniques when storing data on mobile devices, which leaves unencrypted data accessible to an attacker.” A large number of the apps didn’t implement SSL/HTTPS correctly.
To discover weaknesses in apps, developers need to involve practices such as app scanning for security, penetration testing and a secure coding development life-cycle approach, HP advises.

The need to develop mobile apps quickly for business purposes is one of the main contributing factors leading to weaknesses in these apps made available for public download, according to HP. And the weakness on the mobile side is impacting the server side as well.

“It is our earnest belief that the pace and cost of development in the mobile space has hampered security efforts,” HP says in its report, adding that “mobile application security is still in its infancy.”

Ellen Messmer is senior editor at Network World, an IDG publication and website, where she covers news and technology trends related to information security. Twitter: MessmerE.

Read More

Netflix, YouTube Account for 50% of North American Data Traffic

 

by Karl Bode 10:43AM Monday Nov 11 2013  DSLReports

According to Sandvine’s latest Global Internet Phenomena Report, Netflix and YouTube alone account for more than 50% of all Internet traffic across North America. The study, which compiles data from more than 250 ISPs, also noted that P2P's share of overall network data continues to plummet, with peer-to-peer filesharing falling below 10% of total North American traffic (down from 60% 11 years ago). Some additional bullet-pointed statistics from the latest report:

•iOS updates accounted for 20% of North America Internet traffic on release day.

•In North America, the top 1% of subscribers who make the heaviest use of the network’s upstream resources account for 39.8 percent of total upstream traffic.

•Average monthly mobile usage in Asia-Pacific now exceeds 1 gigabyte, driven by video, which accounts for 50% of peak downstream traffic. This is more than double the 443 megabyte monthly average in North America.

•In Europe, Netflix, less than two years since launch, now accounts for over 20% of downstream traffic on certain fixed networks in the British Isles. It took almost four years for Netflix to achieve 20% of data traffic in the United States.

•Instagram and Dropbox are now top-ranked applications in mobile networks in many regions across the globe. Instagram, due to the recent addition of video, is now in Latin America the 7th top ranked downstream application on the mobile network, making it a prime candidate for inclusion in tiered data plans which are popular in the region.

•Netflix (31.6%) holds its ground as the leading downstream application in North America and together with YouTube (18.6%) accounts for over 50% of downstream traffic on fixed networks.

•P2P Filesharing now accounts for less than 10% of total daily traffic in North America. Five years ago it accounted for over 31%.

Read More

Bay Area Computer User & Network Support Marketplace, Sept13, 2013

December 13, 2013, please join the Computer User & Network Support Marketplace - a convening of Bay Region employers with Bay Region community colleges - to better prepare the future workforce!  Please also share this invitation with your faculty contacts, advisory group members, business and industry contacts and social media! 
 

 

 

The Computer User & Network Support Marketplace is an event for Bay Region employers and community college representatives to meet and develop clear, common understanding of computer user, help desk and network technical support workforce needs, so students have efficient and effective pathways to those jobs, and employers have access to the quality workforce they need to support strategic ICT users and infrastructure. 


It will be a valuable use of your time and energy!  Please join us:

Friday, December 13, 2013
9AM-2PM (Breakfast served at 9:00 a.m. Meeting starts at 9:30 a.m.)
Ohlone College (www.ohlone.edu/core/mapsdirs/)
Fremont Campus, 43600 Mission Blvd, Fremont, CA 94539
Building 7, Admissions and Records - ROOM 7101
Link to Campus Map
Agenda and Parking permit forthcoming (will also be posted at baccc.net)

Breakfast and Lunch provided

Please RSVP by populating this link:  RSVP 12/13/13

This event is being co-convened by:

• the Bay Area Community College Consortium, a strategic collaboration of 28 Bay Area community colleges
• Bay Area Region ICT Deputy Sector Navigators
• The Mid-Pacific ICT Center (MPICT)

California Community Colleges (CCCs) and Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) have identified Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as an important strategic sector for California and Bay Area economies.  As part of the CCC Doing What Matters for Jobs and the Economycampaign, Bay Area community colleges are coming together to proactively, strategically, efficiently and effectively meet ICT economic and workforce development needs in the greater Bay Area.  This marketplace meeting is part of that effort.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is an umbrella term, widely used outside the U.S. and in the United Nations, to encompass all rapidly emerging, evolving and converging computer, software, networking, telecommunications, Internet, programming, information systems and digital media technologies.

Thank you for all you do to improve ICT education and workforce!

Read More

How Much Media? 2013

Report on American Consumers  USC Marshall School of Business

James E. Short
Executive Summary

By 2015, it is estimated that Americans will consume both traditional and digital media for over 1.7 trillion hours, an average of approximately 15 and a half hours per person per day. The amount of media delivered will exceed 8.75 zettabytes annually, or 74 gigabytes - 9 DVDs worth - of data sent to the average consumer on an average day. A zettabyte is 10 raised to the 21st power bytes, a million million gigabytes. These estimates are from an analysis of more than 30 different sources of media data, ranging from traditional media (TV, Radio, Voice telephony) to new digital sources (tablet computers, mobile gaming devices, smartphones, mobile video). Media consumed while at work is not included.

We define media consumed as flows of data delivered to households and to people, and we measured the time of consumption and the byte throughput of the data delivered. Video sources dominate bytes, with 3.8 zettabytes coming from television and 2.46 zettabytes from computer gaming. If hours are used as the measurement, media delivered is much more widely distributed, with substantial amounts from radio, Internet applications such as social media, browsing and search, and others including messaging and email communications. All of our results are estimates, based on publicly released data from data providers including Neilsen and ComScore, media company disclosures, and analysts.

Hours of consumption grew at just over 5% a year from 2008-2013, due to a combination of increasing viewer hours per capita, from 11 hours per day to an average of over 14 hours per day, and population growth. Averaged across all media sources, media delivered in bytes is growing at a rate of 18% per year. This is less than the capacity to process data, driven by Moore’s Law, rising at least 30 percent a year, but is still impressive.

Traditional media continues to dominate our daily media consumption, with TV and Radio contributing 60% of the hours. New digital sources, however, are having major effects on most forms of media consumption. Over half of all media bytes are now received by computers, with mobile computers the most rapidly growing segment. In 2008, mobile computers accounted for approximately 3% of all bytes, by 2013 it is almost 10%, representing a year over year growth rate of 27 percent.

While in the past media consumption was overwhelmingly passive - we sat and watched TV or listened to radio - new media consumption is increasingly interactive, with time-delayed, multi-tasking and interrupted viewership fast becoming the typical consumptive behavior.

Read More

China achieves wireless Internet access via lightbulbs

By Ryan Huang | October 18, 2013 -- 06:01 GMT (23:01 PDT) ZDNet

Chinese scientists have made headway with successful experiments using Li-Fi technology, where wireless signals are sent by lightbulbs, according to Xinhua News.Professor Chi Nan, Fudan University. (credit: Fudan University)

Four computers under a one-watt LED lightbulb may connect to the Internet under the principle that light can be used as a carrier instead of traditional radio frequencies, said Chi Nan, an IT professor at Shanghai's Fudan University.

She explained a lightbulb with embedded microchips can produce data rates as fast as 150 Mbps, much higher than the average broadband connection in China.

Current wireless signal transmission equipment is expensive and low in efficiency, noted Chi in the article. "As for cell phones, millions of base stations have been established around the world to strengthen the signal but most of the energy is consumed on their cooling systems," she explained, but noted the energy utilization rate was only 5 percent."

Using LED signals underwater


Voice delivered by LED signals to enable underwater conversation
Read more

However, Chi noted there was still a long way to go in making Li-Fi commercially successful. "If the light is blocked, then the signal will be cut off," she explained. The professor added the development of key related technologies were still in the experimental phase, such as light communication controls, microchip design and manufacturing.

The term Li-Fi was coined as early as 2011 by Harald Haas, a professor of engineering at Edinburgh University, with the name standing for "light-fidelity". The technology made use of LED bulbs that glow and darken faster than the human eye can see, and LED lights being semiconductors could be programmable.

Haas had suggested that the applications and capacity for data would be limitless, ranging from using car headlights to transmit data, or employing line of sight light sources as data transmitters.
 

About Ryan Huang

Loves caption contests and leisurely strolls along supermarket aisles. Ryan has covered finance, politics, tech and sports for TV, radio and print. He is also co-author of best seller "Profit from the Panic".

Read More

The Anatomy of the IT Industry Workforce

The IT industry workforce is a complex ecosystem. Contrary to popular belief, IT employees are not limited to the large technology firms or 24/7 in-front-of-a-computer-screen workdays. This growing field of diversely talented professionals operates in every industry of the economy. Check out this informative infographic to learn more.

 

Thanks, CompTIA

Read More

San Francisco tech job growth leads nation

Sep 30, 2013, 11:03am PDT  San Francisco Business Times


Bloomberg
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.



Patrick Hoge Reporter- San Francisco Business Times

The city of San Francisco led the nation in tech job growth for the last five years, according to a new report released today by the Bloomberg Technology Summit, which San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee is co-sponsoring this year with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

San Francisco’s tech employment rose 51.8 percent over the 2007 to 2012 period, according to the study by South Mountain Economics, which focused particularly on New York, which has also seen significant employment growth in the tech/information sector, including traditional tech companies as well as media and information companies.

“San Francisco comes out number one in terms of growth of the tech/information sector,” said study author Michael Mandel. Brooklyn (Kings County) and Wake County, Fla., came out number two and three, with 21 percent growth and 18.2 percent, respectively, while Santa Clara posted gains of 15.5 percent.

Mayor Lee recently said there are 1,892 tech companies in San Francisco, up 3.6 percent from the prior year, representing 45,493 jobs.

Mandel speculated that one reason why San Francisco and New York City saw such strong gains is because both are centers of media and information companies.

“The way that i think about technology, the current growth wave, is that it’s not pure tech anymore. It’s really pure tech converging with information,” Mandel said. “That may explain why San Francisco has done so well in this round.”

Growth in the tech/information sector enabled New York to increase private sector employment by 4 percent between 2007 and 2012, even as national private sector payrolls fell by 3 percent, Mandel found. In fact, he said because of the growth of the tech/information sector, New York City’s share of the nation’s private sector employment now stands at its highest level since 1992.

California's unemployment rate increased slightly during August to 8.9 percent, up from 8.7 percent in July. Unemployment nationwide, by comparison, was 7.3 percent.

Unemployment in San Francisco, by contrast, fell to 5.6 percent in August from 6 percent in July. Statewide, San Francisco, Marin, and San Mateo continue to hold the lowest unemployment rates.

New York City’s tech/information sector grew by 11 percent from 2007 to 2012, adding 26,000 jobs and $5.8 billion in wages to the local economy, which in turn fueled private sector job growth that was four times that of the New York suburbs over the period, the study showed. The Big Apple’s tech/information sector supports 262,000 jobs and contributes nearly $30 billion to payrolls, making it the second largest driver of the New York economy.

Also Monday, the Bloomberg Technology Summit released a companion study by the Boston Consulting Group, which interviewed more than 50 tech executives from New York and San Francisco that showed both cities have fostered tech sector growth by developing five key conditions: growing a strong talent pipeline, supporting a vibrant tech community, leveraging local early stage capital, expanding tech infrastructure and office space, and engaging with existing industries.

In San Francisco, for example, Mayor Lee holds weekly events at local tech companies, and he led the successful effort to eliminate payroll taxes for companies in the central city.

The second annual Bloomberg Technology Summit, which aims to help other cities learn from New York and San Francisco’s successes, is being co-sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the San Francisco Citizens Initiative for Technology & Innovation (sf.citi), a trade group of San Francisco tech companies.

The first session of the summit is taking place in New York on Monday, while the second will be held in San Francisco next March. A newly announced third session will be held in London next year as well.
Patrick Hoge covers technology for the San Francisco Business Times.

Read More

Digital Media Content & Technology Spend to Reach $1 Trillion in 2013

by Jack Loechner,   MediaPost

According to a new report by PQ Media, digital media spending, including unit purchases, subscription access, hardware, software and related services, accounted for 58.7% of worldwide expenditures on overall digital and traditional media content & technology in 2012  

With expanded broadband and wireless capabilities, increased demand for digital content and devices, and the emerging generation of digital natives, global consumer spending on digital media content & technology grew 11.9% in 2012 to $860.39 billion.

Consumer spending on digital media increased at a 14.5% CAGR in the 2007-12 period, while traditional media expenditures rose only 1.4% compounded annually. Average spending per consumer worldwide nearly doubled in the 2007-12 period, reaching $161.83 per capita in 2012, according to the report. Concurrently, end-user spending on traditional media inched up only $3 over the five-year period.

According to the report, consumer spending on digital media content & technology is expected to grow 11.9% again in 2013, and is forecast to climb at a 10.8% CAGR over the next five years to $1.44 trillion in 2017. Digital media growth is being boosted by the rapid increase in penetration rates of smartphones and broadband internet access worldwide, as well as growing middle classes in the emerging BRIC markets, and heavy rich media consumption by GenX and Millennial consumers, says the report.

Patrick Quinn, President & Publisher, PQ Media, says “… the most tech-savvy markets are those with… the world’s heaviest users of digital media… and the highest per-capita annual spending on digital media and technology… consumer digital media spending is… driving the shift in advertising and marketing budgets to digital media channels… ”

Total spending on broadband and wireless data subscriptions surpassed $100 billion in 2012, while four other digital media segments topped $50 billion, including digital games, apps & microtransactions; multiplayer online games; computer tablets; and computer laptops & notebooks.
Other key findings from the study include:

• Per-capita spending on digital media will jump to $259.48 in 2017, an increase of almost $100 over 2012
• US consumer spending on digital media content& technology increased 7.1% to $158.79 billion in 2012, as America remained the world’s largest digital media market, though China will surpass the US as the world’s largest market in 2017
• BRIC countries grew the fastest in the 2007-12 period, generating gains of more than 16% in 2012, led by Russia, up 18.2%. Brazil, India and China followed
• The average consumer in the most tech-savvy markets spent more than $800 per capita on digital media in 2012
• Digital media spending exceeded 50% of total media content & technology expenditures in 10 of the top 15 countries worldwide in 2012, with South Korea ranked first with an 84.2% share

To access the report, please visit PQ Meida here.

Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/210199/digital-media-content-technology-spend-to-reach.html#ixzz2gPfmEsxO

Read More

Computer science major ranks No. 8 for salary potential

Engineering, math, science and technology alumni rank among highest paid graduates
By Ann Bednarz, Network World
September 17, 2013 01:06 PM ET

In the working world, a degree in computer science is linked to enviable paychecks.

PayScale, which analyzes salary data, ranked 129 college majors based on earning potential. Engineering, math, science and technology fields dominated the highest rankings in the College Salary Report, which provides the median starting pay and median mid-career pay for the alumni of more than 1,000 schools.

[[HIRING: 10 reasons for IT job-hunters to be optimistic]]

Engineers, in particular, nabbed seven of the top 10 spots. Petroleum engineering ranked first with a median starting salary of $103,000 and a mid-career median salary of $160,000.

Tech personnel made a strong showing, too, with eight computer-related majors appearing among the top 30 majors by salary potential. They are:

Computer Engineering (CE)
Rank: 6
Starting salary: $65,300
Mid-career salary: $106,000

Computer Science (CS)
Rank: 8
Starting salary: $59,800
Mid-career salary: $102,000

Software Engineering
Rank: 12
Starting salary: $60,500
Mid-career salary: $99,300

Management Information Systems (MIS)
Rank: 18
Starting salary: $53,800
Mid-career salary: $92,200

Electrical Engineering Technology (EET)
Rank: 24
Starting salary: $57,900
Mid-career salary: $87,600

Computer Information Systems (CIS)
Rank: 25
Starting salary: $50,800
Mid-career salary: $87,400

Information Systems (IS)
Rank: 26
Starting salary: $51,900
Mid-career salary: $87,200

Information Technology (IT)
Rank: 30
Starting salary: $49,900
Mid-career salary: $84,100

To come up with its rankings, PayScale surveyed 1.4 million civilian employees working full-time in the U.S. Only employees who possess a bachelor’s degree and no higher degrees are included its College Salary Report.

The rankings are based on the median mid-career earnings of graduates. PayScale defines mid-career employees as those with at least 10 years of experience in their career or field. In the College Salary Report, the typical (median) mid-career employee is 42 years old and has 15 years of experience.

In addition to ranking the most lucrative majors, PayScale also analyzed which schools produce the highest-paid graduates in each major. In the computer science arena, California schools snared the first five spots in the ranking. (See related story, Top 20 colleges for computer science grads, based on earning potential)

Ann Bednarz covers IT careers, outsourcing and Internet culture for Network World. Follow Ann on Twitter at @annbednarz and reach her via email at abednarz@nww.com.

Read more about infrastructure management in Network World's Infrastructure Management section.

Read More

Cybersecurity Field Not Ready to Be Professionalized, Study Finds

khz/Shutterstock.com
By Brittany Ballenstedt September 18, 2013, Nextgov

The time is not yet ripe to begin introducing professionalization standards into the rapidly changing and diverse field of cybersecurity, particularly given the staffing shortages that already exist in the field, according to a new report by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences.

The report, “Professionalizing the Nation’s Cybersecurity Workforce? Criteria for Decision-Making,” released Wednesday, concluded that while the field of cybersecurity requires specialized knowledge and intensive advanced training, it is still too young and diverse a discipline to introduce professionalization standards.

“One of the things that gave us pause was that when an occupation professionalizes, it erects barriers to entry,” said Dr. Ronald Sanders, a vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton and one of eight members of the committee producing the report. “On one hand, it improves the quality of people who enter the profession, but it also discourages some people from entering the field. At a time when the field is evolving and supply has not kept pace with demand, to professionalize the entire field would likely be counterproductive.”

Specifically, the report, which was sponsored by the Homeland Security Department, noted that the diversity of jobs in the cybersecurity field requires a careful analysis of whether and how professionalization should be implemented, taking into account the responsibilities and context of a particular job.

In addition, the certifications and other requirements that come with professionalization status may provide useful tools for vetting job candidates, but overreliance on these standards may screen out some of the most skilled experts, particularly the “self-taught hackers,” the report states.

Sanders emphasized that one of the defining characteristics of a profession is a code of ethics that ensures the information cyber workers are entrusted with is privileged and protected. While this is a benefit of professionalizing the field, he said, more work needs to be done to determine what the ethics of cyber work should look like. “Given what almost every cybersecurity worker has access to, the ethics and ethos would say the quid pro quo is that you’re going to respect and maintain the confidentiality of it because it is so sensitive,” Sanders said.

The report emphasizes that while broad professionalization of the cyber field is not yet recommended, efforts to improve and certify cybersecurity skills by the federal government – like the National Initiative on Cybersecurity Education – and those in the private sector and academia should be encouraged and applauded.

At the same time, activities to professionalize a cybersecurity occupation should only be undertaken when two high-level criteria have been met: the occupation has stable knowledge and skill requirements, and there is credible evidence of skills deficiencies in the workforce, the report noted.

One example of a cybersecurity sub-profession that may be mature enough for professionalization is digital forensics, which is relatively stable in the level of skills required, Sanders said.

“We took pains in the report to say that this doesn’t mean the federal government or employers should stop or curtail their efforts to continue to educate and train cybersecurity workers, or that universities should stop trying to improve their courses of study or curriculum, or that the certifying bodies should stop certifying,” Sanders said. “All of those things are good for improving the quality of the cybersecurity workforce.”

[I am shocked by these conclusions.  We don’t need to define cybersecurity roles, because there are too many cybersecurity roles unfilled and not enough qualified people to fill them, even though cybersecurity roles are uncontroversially critically important and growing rapidly in importance?  Hunh?  James]

Read More

ITIF: How Much Will PRISM Cost U.S. Cloud Computing Providers?

Policy Memo

The U.S. leads in cloud computing not just domestically, but abroad where it dominates every market segment. Recent revelations about the extent to which NSA obtains data from third-parties will likely have an immediate and lasting impact on the competitiveness of the U.S. cloud computing industry if foreign customers decide the risks of storing data with a U.S. company outweigh the benefits. Unless the White House or Congress acts soon, the U.S. cloud computing industry stands to lose $22 to $35 billion in revenue.  Read the memo.

Read More

Alliance for California Computing Education for Students and Schools News

ACCESS colleagues:

There's lots of positive things going on with respect to Computer Science Education recently.  Many of you may know much of this, but just to make sure everyone is aware ... here's a quick summary, with links for more information.

First, our national counterpart, Computing in the Core, has merged with code.org.  This merger includes the interim assignment of Cameron Wilson as COO of code.org.  You can read all about this partnership along with other expansions at code.org.  As you know, code.org's goal is the same as ACCESS' goal for California - that is, to ensure that every K-12 student in the US has the opportunity to study computer science.  We are partnering with code.org on actions specific to California.  More on this forthcoming.

Related to this, code.org will assume responsibility for organizing the annual national Computer Science Education Week going forward.  CSEdWeek was first launched by ACM in 2009 and has been held each year since.  This year, CSEdWeek will be December 8-14, with the focus to bring an "Hour of Code" to every student; please consider participating and spread the word so that every student in California has this experience.

Did you see the Today Show yesterday?  Hadi Partovi, CEO of code.org, appeared and discussed the importance of teaching computer science in our schools in the segment, which is well worth watching ... You can catch it here: nonprofit teaches kids to code.  Highlighted was LAUSD's partnership with UCLA in Exploring Computer Science; UCLA Community School teacher, Kim Merino, and her class were part of the segment.  Hadi also taught Ryan Seacrest how to code!

More national news ... last month, the US House of Representatives passed HR 5, the Student Success Act, which restores local control, supports effective teachers, reduces the federal footprint, and empowers parents.  But more importantly, HR 5 includes provisions helpful to computer science education and educators, thanks to the approval of an amendment from Representatives Brooks (R-IN) and Polis (D-CO).  You can see more about this bill here in the Computing in the Core Newsroom. The computer science education amendment modifies the definition of "core academic subjects" in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) to include computer science, and clarifies that computer science educators should be supported by the bill’s professional development initiatives.   Education Week wrote a piece on it in their Curriculum Matters blog.

And just yesterday, Senators Casey (D-PA) and Rubio (R-FL) introduced a bi-partisan bill to advance K-12 Computer Science education - the Computer Science Education and Jobs Act (S 1407).  You can also read more about this bill here in the Computing in the Core Newsroom.  In addition to amending the definition of "core academic subjects" in ESEA to add computer science, the Senate bill also amends provisions so that states must consider workforce needs when developing their Title I state improvement plans and amends Title II professional development funds so states could build programs for fields that are important to the state’s workforce—clearly relevant to computer science.  In addition, it expands the AP incentive program to include AP CS and explicitly includes computer science in ESEA's math science partnerships.

In addition, a House freshman from California—Representative Tony Cárdenas (D-CA 29th, San Fernando Valley)—will be introducing the "Computer Science in STEM Act" probably tomorrow.  We'll have to watch where this goes.

As these and other national initiatives unfold, you can get background advocacy information at the Computing in the Core CSEA Advocacy Site.  There's useful information there if you have the inclination to contact your congress members.

It's thrilling to see such positive movement for computer science education, and we'll be trying to keep you posted on such happenings.  Moreover, Julie Flapan, ACCESS Executive Director, and I are planning a website for ACCESS, and hope to provide useful information related to California computer science education.

Debra

Alliance for California Computing Education for Students and Schools

_____________

Debra Richardson

Professor of Informatics
Founding Dean, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences
University of California, Irvine

Irvine, CA 92697-3440

Read More

Educause: Top-Ten IT Issues, 2013: Welcome to the Connected Age

Educause has released its 2013 Top-Ten IT Issues article and Top-Ten Issues Website. They are excellent reads, documenting many of the challenges to education related to the disruption and enablement of technology.

 

From the article:

 

"The EDUCAUSE IT Issues Panel has identified its annual top-ten IT issues for higher education. This year's issues reflect the increasing interconnections among external forces, institutional strategic priorities, and information technology in higher education.

External Forces

 

"Technological innovations occurring in the consumer space, e-learning, and middleware, software, and infrastructure are bringing to higher education institutions new personal devices, applications, and environments; new options for developing, sourcing, managing, and delivering enterprise applications and services; and new opportunities and source materials for designing, delivering, and taking courses. Advances in data- and text-analysis software, data visualization, processing, and storage are making it possible to easily ask and answer increasingly more complex questions with data.

 

"The enduring global recession and fitful recovery have made arguably permanent changes to the economics of higher education. Moody's 2013 outlook for all of higher education is negative. All revenue sources—from tuition, state appropriations, research, and endowments—are "strained." Moody warns that "the US higher education sector has hit a critical juncture in the evolution of its business model" and that most colleges and universities "will have to lower their cost structures to achieve long-term financial sustainability and fund future initiatives."1 Along with changes in the economy, student demographics have also altered: more students are part-time, older, and non-residential. American Council on Education (ACE) President Molly Broad's conclusion for higher education is that "business as usual is not in the future cards and we must innovate."2

 

"Business practices have been evolving as well, and those practices are increasingly viewed as both foundational to any well-run enterprise and highly relevant to higher education. Advances in and ongoing experience with process reengineering and management, continuous improvement, project and portfolio management, shared services, and service management have made these practices both more rigorous and more flexible at a time when higher education is looking for ways to reduce administrative costs without impeding the core missions of teaching and research.

 

New Strategic Priorities

 

"The boundaries between academia and the rest of the world have never been more porous. These external forces are shaping the strategic priorities of higher education institutions. Four priorities in particular are widespread and highly pertinent to information technology:

 

1. "Contain and reduce costs. The bleak economic outlook and reduced funding sources are making it imperative to reduce or at the very least contain the growth of costs. Efficiencies are sought, and business best practices are often viewed as the best path to achieving efficiencies.
2. "Achieve demonstrable improvements in student outcomes. The practice of measuring, improving, and reporting student outcomes is moving from highly desirable to imperative. The window of opportunity for colleges and universities to shape how they define, measure, and improve student outcomes—rather than react to external requirements—is shrinking.
3. "Keep pace with innovations in e-learning, and use e-learning as a competitive advantage.3 Whether driven by the explosive interest in open educational resources (OERs), most notably Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), or by explorations in using technology to develop and implement new academic credentialing models like badging and competencies, presidents, chancellors, and provosts are eager to use technology to help inform and transform postsecondary education.
4. "Meet students' and faculty members' expectations of contemporary consumer technologies and communications. Students and faculty not only expect that they will be able to use their smartphones, tablets, and consumer-based apps in their academic work but also expect that their institutions' services will work as elegantly and effectively as commercial services.

 

"These strategic priorities are achievable, thanks to intensifying connections among data, systems, processes, and services. For years, higher education institutions have been building systems that gather, process, and report institutional data on siloed functions such as finance, human resources, facilities, research activities, and student performance. Institutions have created siloes of themselves as well, rarely seeking to connect their data, systems, processes, or services with those of other institutions. It is only by connecting these siloes—within and across institutions—that we will be able to achieve our institutions' common strategic priorities.

 

Internal Transformations and Disruptions

 

"All these roads lead to information technology. As the thinking goes, costs can be lowered by automating reengineered business processes and moving applications to outsourced, open source, or cloud solutions. Information technology can enable state-of-the-art analytics with mature data warehouses and advanced business intelligence systems that provide real-time and accessible reporting, dashboards, and data visualizations as well as systems that provide just-in-time advice and alerts to enable students and their advisors and instructors to take action to improve performance or enable administrators to optimize services and processes. Information technology can help shape and implement new e-learning strategies.

 

"Whether we use the term disruption, transformation, opportunity, or simply change, the impact on IT departments and staff is enormous. IT organizations are scrambling to devise new strategies for security and support in response to explosive uses of data and the consumerization of information technology (and, with changing demographics and e-learning strategies, the consumerization of higher education). CIOs are struggling to fund, resource, and organize the numerous and simultaneous new initiatives. And IT managers and staff are trying to adapt their roles and skills to an entirely new environment.

 

Welcome to the Connected Age

 

"Higher education, meet the business world. Information technology, meet the consumer. Faculty, meet OERs. Siloed institutions, meet cost-cutting legislatures and financially strapped students. From every vantage point, independence is giving way to interdependence. Underlying all of this is the influence of information technology in multiplying connections among people, data, processes, and systems.

 

"EDUCAUSE President and CEO Diana Oblinger has identified higher education as entering a new connected age. In the March/April 2013 issue of EDUCAUSE Review, she noted: "Higher education has always been about more than information, no matter how quickly that information can be disseminated or how much of that information can be stored. Our institutions have always been communities driven by connections—connections among faculty, students, research, education, disciplines, communities, and the institutions themselves. In the connected age, it doesn't matter where the information is, where the student is, or where the faculty member is. What matters is the value that comes from the connection. . . . In the connected age, data, collaboration tools, and communities can come together in ways never before possible. . . . Technology makes the connected age possible."4

 

"The top-ten IT issues of 2013 illustrate these growing connections and our current responses to them. Some issues most clearly reflect external forces and how those forces are shaping institutional strategy. Some issues focus on the ensuing internal transformations and disruptions. Taken as a whole, however, this is a story of higher education's first steps into the connected age.

 

Top-Ten IT Issues, 2013

 

1. Leveraging the wireless and device explosion on campus
2. Improving student outcomes through an approach that leverages technology
3. Developing an institution-wide cloud strategy to help the institution select the right sourcing and solution strategies*
4. Developing a staffing and organizational model to accommodate the changing IT environment and facilitate openness and agility
5. Facilitating a better understanding of information security and finding appropriate balance between infrastructure openness and security
6. Funding information technology strategically*
7. Determining the role of online learning and developing a sustainable strategy for that role
8. Supporting the trends toward IT consumerization and bring-your-own device*
9. Transforming the institution's business with information technology*
10. Using analytics to support critical institutional outcomes*

*Also one of the 2012 Top-Ten IT Issues"

 More detailed discussion on each of these issues is available in the article and report.

Read More

Counting the Internet of things in real time

For extreme numbers people who might want to track things as they connect to the Internet, Cisco created the Internet of Everything Connections Counter.

CNET

by Dan Farber

 July 30, 2013 10:51 AM PDT

(Credit: Cisco)

Cisco loves the Internet of things. After all, the company is in the business of selling software and hardware to help enable what it says will be 50 billion things connected to the Internet by 2020. Things include billions of sensor-packed mobile devices, coffeemakers, cardiac monitors,cars, tires, roads, parking meters, supermarket shelves, cattle, thermostats, and skin, just to name a few. By Cisco's count, 50 billion things is just 2.7 percent of all the things that will be on the planet in 2020.

According to Cisco's latest revelations, 80 things per second are connecting to the Internet, and by 2020, 250 things will connect each second. For people who want to keep track of the number in "real time," the company created the Cisco Internet of Everything (IoE) Connections Counter.

Cisco has also calculated that the Internet of Everything -- people, process, data and things taking advantage of network connections -- will create $14.4 trillion of "value at stake," defined as the potential bottom-line value derived from harnessing the Internet of Everything, over the next 10 years. That figure includes $613 billion in potential global corporate profits this year. For companies taking even greater advantage of the Internet of Everything, an additional $544 billion in profits could be gained in 2013.

There's not just money in those things, however. From Cisco's view, the Internet of things and everything leads to "transformational value."

"Even more exciting is when all of these things are combined with people, process, and data via the network to deliver transformational value to the world by improving the way we make decisions, saving us time and money, and so much more. That's the Internet of Everything, and its value increases every time we connect the unconnected," the company said.

In other words, the more connections the better. But even with 50 billion things, billions more people, and zetabytes of data trying to tell us what to do, we'll still be able to make poor decisions.

Topics:

Computing

Tags:

Cisco,

Internet of things

Dan Farber

Dan has more than 20 years of journalism experience. He has served as editor in chief of CBSNews.com, CNET News, ZDNet, PC Week, and MacWeek.

Read More