Going Back to College - Because There are IT Jobs on Campus

When I was in college a generation ago, campus IT consisted of a DEC mainframe in the basement of the history building, a human-operated telephone switchboard, and phone extensions in dormitory hallways. Of course I wish I could go back and do it all over with the technology and tools that kids have today. When I think of all the papers I had to retype...

Recently I looked at my alma mater's IT page on its website (a shock in and of itself). I found that incoming students are expected to have smartphones, laptops, Apple AirPorts and iPads. They don't need printers since they can use shared printers through the campus-wide WiFi network. They can store documents in a centralized network storage space. Satellite TV hookups are provided and professors are learning about the newest version of Blackboard, the course management software that's become standard equipment at colleges everywhere.

Someone has to set up and maintain all that infrastructure. Job hunters sometimes overlook IT in education, in part because we can forget to explore the huge non-profit sector. So here's a reminder that on-campus IT jobs are out there. You just have to look for them, even though finding them isn't particularly easy.

Where are the College IT Jobs?

In a quick survey of some big-name public and private universities, I found that college IT jobs are identified differently from institution to institution. Sometimes, they're lumped in with other "staff" postings. I found interesting positions at the University of California Berkeley, the University of Texas and Princeton, but it took a while. At Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, regarded as one of the most wired campuses in the world, I stumbled across dozens of security-related jobs. It took me a few minutes to realize they were related to the university's Software Engineering Institute and its famous Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT). These were jobs worth seeking out.

As I continued to browse CMU's Web site, I read about "Wireless Andrew 2," the campus WiFi network, which delivers 100 Mbps access to more than 8,000 people throughout the 4 million square feet of interior space on the 105-acre campus. (Here's a short video.) Interestingly, Wireless Andrew began in 1994 as a project funded by the National Science Foundation to test wireless network technology. Soon after the project was running, the demand for network access was enormous. It was WiFi before WiFi existed. Wouldn't it be cool to go to work every day and be surrounded by the kinds of people who think up these ideas?

On Dice, a quick way to discover the kinds of educational IT jobs available is to perform a search with the word "university," then sort by "company." There are dozens of jobs throughout the nation, covering all aspects of IT - hardware, software, development, security, etc.

At my alma mater, it looks like the IT department is fully staffed for the fall semester, but who knows? If its attempt to match CMU's 100 Mbps WiFi network, it'll certainly need a few more talented people. 

 -- Don Willmott

Post originale: http://career-resources.dice.com/articles/content/entry/back_to_wired_school

What innovations will there be in mobile media buying in 2011?

In Mobile Advertising: Answer added in topic Mobile Location Applications.

Jimi Smoot, Executive at AdoTube (Video Advertising)

I would say that the next biggest thing in the mobile advertising will be hyper geotargeting. Since so many devices have been released with gps, it seems like the next logical step.



See question on Quora


Post originale: http://www.quora.com/Mobile-Advertising/What-innovations-will-there-be-in-mobile-media-buying-in-2011

Why Are There So few Telecommuting Jobs?

Although relatively new, the infrastructure is in place to deliver your desktop anywhere in the world. I did it just this weekend. I woke up at 5 a.m. in my New Jersey home to support a user in London who wanted to enable pass-through USB on his XEN client. His aim: Tp sync files that he dictated into a recorder with the software on his work PC. I didn't need to go into work to do it.

I woke up at 4:50 and had no time to install Citrix GoToAssist on my PC, but it didn't matter. I XENed to my work PC - where it was installed - and ran it from there to the user's home PC. From there, I XENed to his PC at work. He was having problems connecting, so I proxied from my work PC to his London PC to restart the service, then went back to his London screen and connected.

I had four screens open: for New Jersey, New York, London Office and a London suburb. They all ran as if I was standing in front of them. (Well almost). And I did it from my ASUS netbook, which is good for surfing but not powerful enough to run, say, Photoshop. No matter, all the processing was done on the other end. I only needed broadband.


Telecommuting is ready, a search on Dice just produced just about 450 jobs that allowed it. If any industry were to adopt telecommuting, you'd think it would be IT, but the number speaks for itself. The question is why?

Do We Really Want to Tele-Commute?

The average American commutes 46 minutes a day. Chair to chair - that is, from your breakfast table to your cube - often takes much longer. So you'd think that commuters would jump at the chance to perform the same functions at home. There is, however, something to be said for the butt in the chair, and being in a meeting and laughing at someone's joke. By being there, you're not virtual, you're literal, if you will. Think of the main office supporting the branch office. The main office tends to forget about branch offices for upgrades, deployments, etc. The same will probably be more so for the coder who delivers product on time but isn't there to scream, "Happy Birthday," to the boss. Could it also be easier to lay off someone you never see?


-- Dino Londis

Post originale: http://career-resources.dice.com/articles/content/entry/why_are_there_so_few

Review: From Here to There

From Here to There: A Curious Collection from the Hand Drawn Map Association