TechCareers: Welding Technology offers employment overviews, skill requirements, education and training information and everything else needed for a career in the welding and metal-working business. The ebook is available on the Nook, the Kindle, iPad (through the Kindle App), and other ereaders. The book, written by Joseph Abbott and Karen Mitchell Smith, provides an in-depth guide to the job-market potential of welding, as well as the requirements necessary to become a welder.

The U.S. Department of Labor predicts there will be about 400,000 vacant welding positions by 2014 with not enough welders to fill them. The majority of today’s welders are from the retiring Baby Boomer generation, leaving the job market wide open for welders.

As of May 2008, the average hourly wage for a welder was $16.13 an hour, or $33,550 a year. The top 10 percent of welders made upwards of $25 an hour, or $52,000 a year. Welding engineers, the highest paid type of welders, on average make $39.34 an hour, or $81,827 a year. The salary, of course, depends on location, experience and education.

The book offers a list of job titles and corresponding duties welders can find in their industry:

• Boilermaker – building and maintaining metal vessels and structures
• Pipefitter – installing and maintaining pipe systems and supports
• Reinforcing and structural iron worker – installing girders, columns and other construction materials
• Sheet metal worker – making, installing and maintaining items made from sheet metal
• Underwater welder – working on underwater projects like offshore platforms
• Welding machine operator – setting up and taking care of welding machines
• Welding educator – teaching others how to weld
• Welding sales – selling welding equipment and supplies

Today, industries rely on the expertise of highly skilled welders because lives depend on the quality of welders’ work. Welding is not just crafting two pieces of metal together. It requires technological savvy, too, with welders using newer technologies like lasers, electron beams and ultrasounds from behind a computer console operating a remote device.

“We are seeing more and more technology coming into play, so it doesn’t have the stigma of welders being high school dropouts that it once had,” says Dave Cotner, head of the welding program at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

From employment outlook to job duties to the necessary skill sets a welder is expected to possess, TechCareers: Welding Technology provides vital information any prospective welding student needs to know.

The TechCareers Series is a joint effort of TSTC Publishing, the publishing arm of the Texas State Technical College System, and TSTC Forecasting. The series includes: Biomedical Equipment, Automotive Technicians, Avionics Technician, Wind Energy, Computer Gaming Programmers & Artists and Welding Technology. Forthcoming books include Aviation Pilots, Aviation Maintenance, Graphic Design and Radiation Protection.

Established in 2004 as the publishing arm of the Texas State Technical College System, TSTC Publishing offers faculty throughout the country the opportunity to initiate and participate in a variety of book development projects. TSTC Publishing projects now include such ancillary products as instructor guides, student workbooks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, ebooks and companion websites. In addition to offering editorial help and guidance to faculty, assistance also is available in the areas of materials production, distribution and sales.

Visit TSTC Publishing on the Web at http://publishing.tstc.edu

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The market for mobile software applications is exploding due to the rapid rise of smartphones and tablets. The popularity of these new products creates an acute demand for development talent but there are few college programs that provide opportunities for learners to develop these new competencies. Based on our findings, we offer the following seven recommendations for colleges:

1. Integrate new mobile app development competencies into existing software development courses.
2. Offer specialized courses for mobile app development.
3. Consider offering fast track training for more experience programmers.
4. Be cautious about developing overly specialized awards in mobile application development.
5. Host mobile app development competitions.
6. Update mobile app curriculum at least once a semester.
7. Independent contractor competencies are particularly relevant to mobile app development.

What is a Mobile App?

Mobile applications, herein referenced to as mobile apps, are software applications that run on mobile devices, principally smartphones and tablet computers. Mobile apps allow users to achieve the utility they get from the web (e.g. email, web search, social media participation) while on the move as well as additional functions not available via the web alone. What distinguishes mobile devices and apps device and app from the desktop computers is their enabling the user to interact with the environment in new ways. An athlete on a training run is given feedback on pace, distance, altitude, and heart rate. A casual stargazer looks at the sky, aims a smartphone upwards and is instantly given the names, coordinates and other astronomical information for exactly that portion of the sky. A pub-goer enjoys a drink with friends and instead of waiting for the bill, merely issues a payment from his phone and leaves. A confounded traveler says “can you direct me to the train station?” into the mobile device and it plays the question back in the local language. Through geo-location and scanner apps, a business can track personnel and goods in real time. Think of it: you should never have to reserve a four or six hour segment of your day waiting for the cable guy again. All of these apps are currently on the market.

As mobile computing power expands, energy consumption becomes much more efficient, and sensor technology becomes smaller and cheaper, mobile apps will become much more prevalent, useful, and complex. Healthcare is particularly ripe for mobile app development. Soon diabetics may be able to monitor their blood sugar in real time, perhaps continuously, without pricks. Diagnostic surveillance in hospitals that currently require a roomful of equipment and hospital admission may soon be available on a phone on an outpatient basis. Home health care aides will use GPS-enabled electronic visit verification on their mobile devices for legal compliance and reimbursement. Mobile apps will change the way we bank, shop, interact with government, and communicate with our families and colleagues.

Mobile App Market

The mobile app market is in its infancy and it is exploding. Apple hit $1.7B in app sales in 2010 and is on track to hit $4B in 2011. Chetan Sharma estimates that mobile apps will reach $17.5 billion by 2012. According to mobile market research firm research2guidance, the market for mobile application development services—including app development, management, distribution and extension services—will grow from $10B in 2010 to $100 billion by 2015. Although these studies use different definitions for mobile development and different timeframes, the message is clear: mobile apps development is expected to become a huge business extraordinarily quickly. Mobile App Developers Job Market As fast as the market for mobile apps is growing, the market for mobile app developers is growing even faster. A snapshot of Google Trends shows us that practically no one searched for “mobile application development” prior to the end of 2008. Interest has been up and to the right ever since.

Google trends data on “mobile application development.”

Demand Side–Employers

Our own observations of job posting services and a handful of industry studies reveal that the market for mobile app developers is dramatically underserved. In June 2011 Infoworld identified six IT jobs “worth chasing”. Two of them related to mobile: mobile technology manager and enterprise mobile developer. Dice, a web site for technical job postings, conducted a study, “America’s Tech Talent Crunch,” focusing on the talent needs of the IT sector in general. The organization identified mobile as one of the lead shortages and illustrated the point by comparing job postings on their site for the first quarters of 2010 and 2011. Demand was up 150-260% year over year.

The study also noted that elance.com, a website for freelancers, reports comparable increases in demand. They had 4,500 mobile app developer jobs posted in Q1 2011, more than a 100 percent increase over the prior year. Although Dice noted an ample supply of Web and Java talent, there are too few experienced developers skilled in building apps for iPhone, iPad, Android or other platforms due to their newness. The study also identified states with the most acute talent shortages. Texas ranked third in having the greatest IT talent shortage overall, behind only California and New Jersey.

Supply Side-Learners

A survey of Texas colleges revealed that only a handful of Texas colleges have begun offering new courses focusing on mobile app development and only one college appears to be offering full degree and certificate programs in mobile development. Several other colleges indicate an interest in offering similar courses.

Signs of Demand for Mobile App Competencies

Developers are eager and willing to pay for the opportunity to expand their mobile development skills sets. Case in point: World Wide Developer Conference is an Apple-related development-focused event. It is not for sales, deal-making, or networking, etc. When the event became exclusively mobile-focused in 2008, they had their first sell-out in 60 days. Every year since then registration has filled more quickly. In 2011 the 5,000 person ,$1,500 event sold out in less than a day. The pattern has been very similar for Google’s mobile developer event. The demand for mobile app training is clear, pressing, but is less pervasive in current college offerings. One of the ironies is that while there are few formal opportunities for learning to develop mobile apps, colleges themselves are advertising for developers to create mobile education apps.

Mobile App Developer Compensation

In their survey, Dice asked over 250 tech recruiters what they thought was the market rate for compensation for mobile engineers and designers. According to this survey, nearly a third of employers had to raise compensation for mobile developers “higher than normal” due to the increase in demand relative to supply. A sample of Texas companies on Dice’s site are offering pay of $85K to $90K for 1-5 years of mobile development experience.

Mobile Application Development was one of eight “dream jobs” identified by CBS Money Watch. Statistics were gathered from the Bureau of Labor, salary sites, professional trade groups, and recruiters to identify eight jobs requiring no more than two years of additional training to secure a position, a reasonably large and growing number of overall jobs, and six-figure salaries to top earners in the field (generally, the top 10 percent of those employed). The study estimates mobile app development salaries of $115,000 for top earners with projected job growth of 131 percent through 2011.

Freelance vs. Full-time Employment

Compensation data must be viewed in light of the fact that many mobile development employment opportunities are not full time. Even companies prepared to make large investments in mobile are reluctant to bring on full-time staff; instead, they are contracting with freelancers and third party development companies. Consultants typically earn more than their company-employed counterparts. In our review of two tech-related job sites, we found 40% of Texas-based posting were for full-time employment while the remainder were for full- and part-time freelance positions.

The prevalence of freelance work raises two important issues:

• Mobile developers, in addition to technical skills, will have to know how to market their abilities, execute contracts, maintain client relations, and manage their own workflow.
• Many of the freelance positions are not location-specific, which presents opportunities and challenges. Clearly, developers with advanced skill sets are highly sought after and companies are willing to be flexible on geography when acquiring talent. However, the irrelevance of location for many assignments means mobile developers are competing in a global marketplace where talent from abroad may undercut earnings potential.

Competencies

“The need for strong Java, HTML and general technical skills goes without saying. Developers who are steeped in the tenets of modern object-oriented programming and understand user interfaces and design patterns will have a leg up. A potentially more difficult transition is coming to terms with the new design paradigm that mobile platforms represent: In addition to recognizing that you’ll be designing apps for the smaller real estate of smartphone screens, you have to understand how users interact with their devices and grasp the need to deliver highly targeted functionality.” http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-06-2011/110627-jobs-in-mobile-development.html

Diverse competencies required

Because the mobile app marketplace is emergent, industry leaders differ widely in their opinions about what the key markets and foundational skill sets will be. C (+, ++, #) vs. Java vs. Ruby, Apple vs. Android, mobile web vs. native app, consumer app vs. enterprise apps. Luckily for today’s learners, they don’t have to guess what is going to be the winner. There are clear demands for jobs with specific skills now and these skills, if adapted overtime, will position them best to take advantage opportunities in the mobile app market as they emerge. In all likelihood the market will not evolve in a VHS vs. Betamax way; businesses and consumers have become accustomed to having diverse technology options. Where there is demand, some developer will fill it. If anything, the mobile app market is likely to become more diverse, which means a mobile app developer most certainly must have the ability to upgrade skills continuously.

Developers are already demonstrating they understand the need for diverse competencies:

“The very reasons which are driving developers to spread their bets across all and any new platforms should indicate the potential for new platforms and the sustainability of small platforms. The thesis that one dominant platform wins the mobile “war” is naive. The post-PC era will be a multi-platform era. Developers already understand this.” Horace Dediu, The Post-PC era will be a multi-platform era

Digiu provides a helpful graphic of the lifespan of mobile platforms and speculates about the near-term use and popularity of each over the next two years.

Source: Horace Dediu. Mobile Ecosystem Life Spans.

Digiu’s argument for technological pluralism is well-taken and should be an important consideration for the creation of mobile app development curricula; however, the current job market requires certain skills. For a comprehensive list of corresponding tools, languages, and competencies by platform see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_app#Platform_development_environment.

What skills are needed by employers?

Despite the emergence of new platforms, our analysis of job postings reveals there is as yet little demand for mobile apps using the newest platforms. This circumstance may change in the very near term and bears watching. We looked at 327 postings on mobiledevjobs.com. Current demand for specific platform and program development skills is displayed below. Seventy-five percent of the openings are for platform-specific native app developers. There were no postings seeking MeeGo, QNX, Bada, LiMo experience or skills.

Each of the platforms for mobile applications also has an integrated development environment which provides tools to allow a developer to write, test, and deploy applications into the target platform environment. While the demand for mobile app development talent appears to be acute now, things may change in the future, not because demand for mobile applications will decrease but the SDKs (software development kits) offered by platform companies (Apple, Google, Android etc.) are getting simpler to use. However, experienced, cross-platform talent will likely be in demand for some time.

Sample Texas Mobile Development Companies

Texas mobile development companies can be found at www.mobilemondayaustin.com and www.mobiledeveloper.com.

• Bones in Motion:  Develops mobile software for athletes
• Endeavour Software:  A software engineering services company providing technology solutions in the mobility, banking and enterprise domains
• Digby:  Mobile commerce — web and on-device storefronts
• Gendai Games:  Social media and games on the web
• Lexcycle:  Electronic book reader
• MixZing:  Music discovery solution
• Mock Science:  Independent game developer
• Moximity:  Mobile Social Software – Friends, Places, Events
• Pangea Software:  Software for the Apple/Mac/iPhone platforms
• Ringful:  Web platform for mobility mashups
• Salt Lick Labs:  Developer of software for iPhones
• Snakehead Software:  Applications for the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and Google Android
• Survivor Soft:  Game development studio
• Whagaa:  Training apps for iPhone and iPod Touch
• Unwired Nation:  Multimodal Mobile Applications
• Motive (Alcatel-Lucent):  Device and Digital Life Management
• Anubavam: iPhone app development
• TFWorld Software: iPhone app and game development
• Avacata: Mobile and Web platforms — C, Java, C#, Silverlight, XNA, HTML5, Web Services
• Agile Poet: iPhone app for oil and gas, games
• JiniBot Mobile Development: Custom mobile apps for android, iphone, ipad, blackberry and symbian
• xcubeLABS: 150 apps, many of them hitting the top charts in the App Store
• Rocksauce Studios: App developer with emphasis on design/art
• Appiction: Mobile app development
• AppRanch: Contract mobile app development
• Blockdot: Games, mobile web, txt campaigns for iPhone and Android
• Idea Apps: App development and marketing, iPhone, iPad, Android
• RedSAFI: Multi platform mobile app dev
• Mobisoft Infotech: Multi platform mobile app dev

 Detailed Work Activity Analysis

To determine the currency of DWAs and KSAs to perform in jobs involving mobile applications, the DWA Research Institute conducted an analysis of related job postings found in Texas in Help Wanted Online (HWOL). HWOL scrapes and aggregates data from electronic job banks on the Internet and forwards them repackaged to various stakeholders’ needs (e.g., by labor market, workforce investment board area, industry, etc.). Five representative jobs were found in HWOL: Lead Android/Lead Blackberry Developer; GUI Software Engineer/Mobile & Tablet Development; iPhone Developer; and Senior Mobile Developer. SkillsPass extracted a list of detailed work activities, enabling skills & abilities and essential knowledge bases from those current postings. SkillsPass also was used to then map those job components to core course requirements in the state’s postsecondary education and training guidelines, the Workforce Education Course Manual (WECM). Workbooks detailing the specific job elements for each of the job postings are linked below:

• Composite
• 1 Lead Android, 1 Lead-1 Jr. Blackberry Developer
• GUI Software Engineer – UI Development – Mobile or Tablet Device
• iPhone Developer
• Sr. Mobile Developer
• Mobile Developer
• DWA Summary Analysis

Training Opportunities for Competency Development

Mobile is a different case from many other tech workforce challenges in that there are few barriers to developing a program for mobile applications development. In fact, several companies with software and hardware in the mobile space have devised their own curricula and development tools, often providing them for free. A number of for-profit companies also have developed their own programs — particularly those focused on a specific device (e.g. Android or iPhone). The quality and content of these programs is difficult to discern. As such, technical schools have a number of resources to draw on as well as a number of competitors of varying quality. In addition to formal programs, there are countless informal, self-organized work groups and workshops that attract people to the field and give them the skills and market intelligence to guide their professional development. One of the most well-known of these events is MobileMonday, a national organized but locally executed group that brings new technologies to prospective developers. Meetup.com, a web service that helps people with shared interests find each other, currently lists 390 groups related to mobile applications.

We offer a few examples of mobile app development that have very different audiences, objectives and outcomes.

Texas Training Opportunities

Collin College will offer mobile development degree and certificate programs in the Fall of 2011. Students can pursue Android Mobile Development, iOS Mobile Development, and J2ME Mobile Development tracks. The Collin College degree programs share a common core of technology and academic courses with specialized courses in each subject area corresponding to the degree program.

Common Core Mobile Technology Courses at Collin College:

• COSC 1315 Fundamentals of Programming
• ITSE 1311 Beginning Web Programming
• ITSW 1307 Introduction to Database – Access
• IMED 1341 Interface Design
• ITSE 2302 Intermediate Web Programming
• ITSE 2309 Database Programming – SQL
• IMED 2309 Internet Commerce
• INEW 2330 Comprehensive Software Program: Planning and Design (Capstone)

For a full breakdown of each degree and certificate visit Collin College’s E-Business Development Program at :/academics/programs/ebusinessdev.html. In addition to providing mobile app development offerings to students, in July 2011 Collin College sponsored a five-day NSF-funded workshop on mobile app development for high school, college and university faculty and staff.

Midland College has offered a continuing educating class in basic application development and mobile development courses are currently under consideration at Tarrant County Community College and El Paso Community College according to survey responses. It is likely that some additional offerings exist at other Texas colleges who did not respond to the TACTE email survey inquiry.

The High Technology Institute at Austin Community College currently offers a two-part technical certification series developed and taught by adjunct faculty for iOS developers. Faculty have developed a number of mobile app specific courses:

• ITSE 2071 iPhone Programming (42 hours) This course teaches the basics of iPhone add developing in Objective-C utilizing the user interface framework Cocoa Touch, integrated development environment Xcode, and unique capabilities such as the iPhone GPS, compass, Wi-Fi, OpenGLES, and accelerometer. Students who complete this course will be able to use Xcode compilers and tools, write simple object oriented programs in Objective-C, use mobile user interfaces, create a mobile user interface, use general purpose debugging tools, and use general purpose performance analysis tool.
• ITSE 2072 iOS Game Programming (42 hours) This course covers programming 2D games for casual players using the Cocos2D library. At the end of this class, the student should have a simple game worthy of publishing on the Apple App Store and be able to use the Cocos2D framework to write simple games, use Xcode compilers and tools, describe sprite animation, develop user interface and game interaction, integrate art work into your game, and interface with Apple’s Game Center leader board/achievements system.

Although formal certificate and degree programs are being offered by colleges, many of the training opportunities were and will continue to be filled by unaccredited institutions and through informal channels. Examples of these offerings include:

For-profit certification program

The International Institute of Mobile Technologies, which appears to be a for-profit education and consulting firm, offers certification for established programmers in a variety of mobile applications platforms. Students may enroll in the entire program or in individual courses. The course offerings include:

• Foundations of Mobile Application Development
• Mobile Web Programming
• iPhone Programming I, II, III
• Android Programming I, II, III
• Blackberry Programming I, II, III
• iPad Programming I, II, III
• Windows Mobile Programming I, II, III

Free online mobile app training

One of the most comprehensive mobile app development offerings we found is offered by Stanford University for iOS (iPhone and iPad apps). Stanford offers approximately 60 hours of free instructional podcast via iTunes. The most recent class includes the following topics:

Developing Apps for iOS

1. Introduction to Cocoa Touch, Objective-C, Tools and MVC
2. Building a Simple Calculator
3. Objective-C and Foundation Frameworks
4. Foundation and Memory Management
5. Protocols and Views
6. Application and View Controller Lifecycle, Navigation Controller
7. More Controllers of Controllers, iPad, Universal Applications
8. Gesture Recognizers
9. Image View, Web View and Scroll
10. Table View
11. Persistence
12. Core Data and Table Views
13. Debugging
14. Core Location and Map Kit
15. Blocks and Multithreading
16. Editable Text, Modal View Controllers, and View Animation
17. Core Motion, Segmented Control and Alerts
18. Media
19. Building Flipboard (and newstand app)
20. Accessibility on iOS
21. Kleiner Perkins iFund (Venture capital for mobile apps)

There are Android development courses in iTunes but, understandably, fewer in number and far less comprehensive. There does not appear to be analogous instructional podcasts in the Android marketplace.

Trends

The mobile device market is volatile, diverse, and in a state of flux. Despite current demand for skills to develop apps for Nokia, Palm, and Blackberry these companies are losing tens of millions of users. A half million Blackberries go out of service in the US each month. According to Gartner Inc., Android operating system will become the most popular by the end of the year accounting for a quarter of all smartphone sales in 2011. Apple will remain a powerful platform and the second most powerful operating system in the future.

Perhaps the newest technology to be added to mobile devices is near field communication. Near field communication allows devices in close proximity to exchange data such as making a mobile payment. NFC has had its ups and downs since emerging nearly a decade ago but is likely to finally become an integral part of the mobile device landscape. Although none of the job postings mentioned near field communication, NFC development will likely soon become and an essential part of mobile app development. A recent Juniper Research study predicts rapid growth in NFC services for smartphones over the next three years. There will be 300M NFC-enabled smartphones on the market by 2014, supporting in particular retail, coupons and mobile payments in North America, Europe and other developed countries.

Spectrum constraints could potentially upend the mobile app industry. One big countervailing piece of information that could turn mobile on its head is spectrum constraint. Smartphone usage is growing so quickly that wireless carriers will have enormous difficultly keeping up with spectrum use demand. One approach they are already using is to charge more for mobile data. The consensus estimate for spectrum use in 2015 will be 35 times 2009 use.

Recommendations for Colleges

1. Integrate new mobile application development competencies into existing software development courses. New programmers will need foundational programming skill development as well as mobile interface and platform specific skills. For example, faculty offering HTML courses should include some amount of instruction on HTML5 so students can take into consideration mobile uses of the web sites they create. Similarly, computer science programming courses should include mobile versions of the various programming languages and development environments.
2. Offer specialized courses for mobile app development. Specialized mobile app courses, such as those developed at Austin Community College, will augment existing software-related certificates and degree programs and enhance the employability of students by providing unique mobile app development competencies.
3. Consider offering fast track training for more experience programmers. Such training will allow current software development professionals to gain new mobile competencies quickly and take advantage of the current talent crunch with a la carte courses offered at a premium. These offerings are particularly well-suited to online learning environments.
4. Be cautious about developing overly specialized awards in mobile application development. As the lines between mobile and desktop computing continue to blur, it is anticipated that mobile app development competencies will become standard expectations for programming and web development curriculum; therefore, specialized certificate and degree offerings are likely to result in unnecessary duplication and expense.
5. Host mobile app development competitions. Competitions are a great way to encourage independent learning, identify young talent, and recruit students with complementary offerings at partner colleges. Students would compete for developing the best app along a variety of criteria. Resulting entries also will provide students student with a tangible work-product to demonstrate their abilities to prospective employers and clients.
6. Update mobile app curriculum at least once a semester. Due to the dynamism of the mobile app space, curricula warrant frequent review and modification. Constant changes in platform share, operating systems, technological capabilities, languages, and design standards require colleges to monitor and update curriculum constantly. Look for student competitions to also provide insights into evolving competencies.
7. Independent contractor competencies are particularly relevant to mobile app development. A fair amount of mobile development is performed by independent contractors. As a result, students would likely benefit from competencies related to running their own businesses, particularly for those who have no experience being self-employed. Example curriculum exists in this area and includes basic business and project management skills such as billing, contracts, bookkeeping, legal considerations, time management, etc. This topic of entrepreneurism in the trades will be the subject of a future TechBrief from TSTC Forecasting.

Learn how new technologies and innovations require more knowledge and manpower each year to create new games that push gaming to higher standards. This book provides information on how to break into the industry and what is required to succeed.

• Detailed descriptions of gaming careers & educational requirements
• Profiles of gaming programmers
• Online gaming resources
• List of Higher Education Gaming Programs in the United States

Publication Date: January 2011
ISBN: 778-1-934302-56-9
Format: Softback
Price: $14.95

Order Online

Last week, no fewer than 17 Senators signed a letter calling ethanol “fiscally indefensible” and “environmentally unwise.” Led by Democrat Dianne Feinstein and Republican Jon Kyl, the group said Congress shouldn’t extend certain subsidies that expire at the end of the year, including the 45-cent-per-gallon tax credit for blending ethanol into gasoline and tariffs on cheaper imports. Conservatives like Tom Coburn dislike this costly industrial policy, while liberals like Barbara Boxer and Sheldon Whitehouse are turning against the hefty carbon emissions that come with corn fuels.

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The exact definition of cloud computing varies. Some industry stalwarts even criticize the use of the term as unnecessary marketing hype. Traditionally, computer services like email, file services, and web hosting each run on a dedicated server. This is expensive and inefficient because it requires maintaining separate hardware installations and does not allow computer resources to be shared between applications. By distributing applications across a number of servers, computer hardware resources can be shared dynamically as required by each service. Put simply, cloud computing enables more flexible and cost effective access to IT resources.

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A recent InfoWorld article summarizes that cloud computing is “a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software” and that “cloud computing encompasses any subscription-based or pay-per-use service that, in real time over the Internet, extends IT’s existing capabilities.”¹ This notion of IT resources as a service or utility rather than a capital expenditure sets cloud computing apart from more established terms like clusters or distributed computing.

Cloud computing has it roots in technologies and practices developed for datacenters like those that power familiar services such as Google, Yahoo, YouTube, and Amazon. These all run in large distributed datacenters that enable fast and easy access through Internet browsers or, increasingly, mobile devices. Behind the scene are racks of servers running various operating systems, middleware, and applications connected through networks of switches and load balancers. These are, in turn, protected by firewalls and VPNs. All require significant amounts of air conditioning to keep cool and electricity that must be carefully managed to ensure systems are up and running smoothly.

This scene is repeated throughout the world in massive interconnected datacenters over redundant fiber backbones. Cloud computing enables customers to tap into these resources and only pay for what they use, rather than shouldering the expense of a dedicated datacenter. Private clouds are hosted within an enterprise and offer greater control with associated infrastructure costs. Public clouds are owned and operated by third parties and provide increased scalability and flexibility without upfront capital expenditures. More recently, hybrid cloud computing services integrate both customer-owned and third party infrastructures.

The growing importance of cloud computing is evidenced in the recent bidding war between Dell and HP for control over utility storage company 3Par. This company’s expansion from predominately data storage into cloud computing, utility computing, and virtualization made it an attractive acquisition for quick entry into the cloud computing market. Gartner estimates the 2009 market for cloud services at $46.4 billion and forecasts a 224% increase to $150.1 billion by 2013.² There is some debate about the exact size of the market due to varying definitions. Regardless, it is clear that cloud computing is growing rapidly as a subsector of information technology. More importantly for our readership, this growth is generating new job demand and marketable competencies worthy of attention by college administrators and faculty.

Employability

“The bottom line is that IT use of the cloud is growing very quickly, and demand for skills to enable that growth is climbing as a result. If you have skills related to IT operations, application administration and operations, or software development, now may be the time to dive into the cloud.” –James Urquart of Cisco Systems³

A search of Monster.com produced over 200 job openings in Texas that include cloud-based skills in the required responsibilities. San Antonio-based data hosting and cloud computing provider RackSpace lists 148 Texas job postings alone at the time of this analysis. Like many other emerging technologies we have studied in the past, this innovation drives new competencies within existing occupational categories.

Target occupations include traditional IT titles such as network administrators, systems administrators, database administrators, and customer support technicians as well as information architects, solutions architects, and business analysts. There are also a number of new sales and marketing and management positions posted for cloud-related services. The resulting productivity gains realized by cloud computing also reduce IT staffing needs in some instances.

Employability requires both deep technical expertise as well as strong analytical and communication skills. As we have seen in previous tech brief topics, the convergence of various technologies is driving demand for technical expertise across multiple fields and with a big picture view of how systems work together in order to troubleshoot and anticipate issues. Cloud computing jobs require employees with strong teamwork and communication skills who can collaborate with peers and work directly with customers. Myopic technicians and, conversely, managers lacking technical expertise need not apply. College programs should address these competency requirements through project-based learning and interdisciplinary teams that mimic the realities of today’s 21st century workplace.

Earnings

An analysis of current job postings by Simply Hired places the average salary for cloud computing jobs in Texas at $98,000.⁴

Salaries will vary by company and based on location, industry, certifications, and years of previous experience. Traditional labor market data does not include a job classification specifically for cloud computing; however, the table above provides LMI data for cloud-related IT occupations.

Competencies

The exact competency mix for cloud computing varies by company and the specific target occupation. Employer interviews and job postings indicate a strong need for system administrators with a preference for the Linux operating system as well as Microsoft, Unix, and Solaris. Technical competencies include: deep knowledge of associated file systems and partitioning; kernel settings and working at the command line; web services like Apache; email fundamentals (SMTP, POP, IMAP) and related services; databases like MySQL; security and encryption technologies including SSL and public/private key management; authentication and directory services such as LDAP/Active Directory; as well as scripting (php, perl, python) and basic HTML for developing and debugging web applications. System administrators must also have fundamental knowledge of networking.

Network administrators require advanced knowledge, including: configuration of switches, routers, concentrators, and the use of associated management tools; DNS and zoning; IPSEC and IPv6; routing tables, traffic management, and load balancing (Zeus, F5,A10, Cisco); VPN and firewall configuration; monitoring tools like SolarWinds; knowledge of TCP/IP ports and services; and other more specialized knowledge based on the employer’s infrastructure. Network administrators must also have basic understanding of the same competencies as system administrators.

Virtualization is the core enabling technology of cloud-based services. Put simply, virtualization enables applications, platforms, operating systems, and hardware to run independently of one another. VMware is the current market leader in virtualization. Microsoft’s competing platform is Hyper-V. Xen is a popular open source option. Citrix is a leader in desktop virtualization. Given the increasingly pervasive nature of virtualization, it is clear that some aspect of virtualization should now be a de facto component of any information technology curriculum. A useful summary of over 100 virtualization vendors can be found at www.virtualization. info. In some cases, cloud providers provide web frontends that enable clients to scale up and down various services as needed and at various price levels, effectively automating the backend virtualization process.

Because Texas is home to a large number of datacenters, there is also a unique demand for hardware specialists. Texas State Technical College’s high performance computing (HPC) program was developed to specifically target staffing needs for large datacenter environments. According to department chair Walton Yantis, hardware specialists must have competencies in electrical wiring, electrical maintenance and repair, power management, refrigeration and other specialized training required to operate large computer installations—the functional backend of cloud computing.

In addition to these technical competencies, job postings and employers clearly underscore the need for 21st century skills, including: the ability to resolving complex customer issues; conduct creative problem-solving to identify the source of problems; listen to the needs of customers and clearly anticipate and communicate possible issues; work closely with others as part of a team; advise on potential pitfalls that a customer may experience; and suggest alternatives that may better serve the stability and security of the customer’s solution.

Employer Perspective

Jay Bathershell, managing principal of ClearView, a Dallas based company with a network of data centers, says their organization requires employees with multiple specializations, including network technicians, systems administration at various levels, all the way up to information architects or infrastructure architects.⁵ ClearView looks for employees who can do more than support servers and other hardware; they look for project managers capable of big picture thinking, people who can understand and communicate the impact of implementing various technology strategies. He recommends an understanding of business analysis as well as technical mastery. In other words, these are not your average “rack and stack” technicians.
Bathershell is not alone in seeing a need for interdisciplinary knowledge in the growing virtual marketplace. According to Educause, future growth in cloud computing will have extended implications for professionals across multiple disciplines.

“IT professionals, business professions, lawyers, auditors, and others will need new skills to manage an infrastructure and service portfolio that is hosted elsewhere or is merely invoked as needed as an Internet service. Skills such as contract management, the creation of service level agreements, and security management change as the portfolio changes.”⁶

The IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) certification addresses many of these competencies and was mentioned in a handful of job postings reviewed for this brief.

Tech blogger and Blue Mountain Labs founder David Linthicum suggests that cloud computing is actively transforming systems administration as a career. Says Linthicum: “We’ll morph into system managers, not system operators. Thus, we can focus on the business, not replacing failed storage servers, or swapping out power supplies. Moreover, we’ll be much better at leveraging existing services, thus we’ll again be more focused on the business functionality, and not as much the technology.”⁷ Systems architect Frédéric Faure writes, “The systems administrator’s craft is therefore evolving between a physical infrastructure and an Amazon Web Services-type Cloud infrastructure: he is becoming more and more of a developer.” Faure goes on to caution that cloud services will not replace systems administrators for most organizations, but will likely change the roles they play.⁸

Looney and Bathershell see a major logistical change on the horizon, driven by technologies like cloud computing. Says Bathershell, “As I look in to the future, more and more I see the concept of the virtual worker, being able to work anywhere at any time. Being able to work with different countries, and to work remotely.” Looney offers an example from their own field in the area of server management; until now one administrator could manage a maximum 20 to 25 servers in most cases. He says, “With the advent of virtualization, that is going north of 75 maybe one to 100. You are reducing your headcount. That person may be paid more, but it will be less people than before.” Both recommend that educational institutions add exercises in remote computing services, as well as collaboration in virtual teams.

Growing Pains

As with any new innovation, there are some challenges facing cloud computing worthy of consideration. For Frank Dzubeck, an industry commentator for NetworkWorld.com, these boil down to five key questions that must be answered.⁹ Security—data theft has become a lucrative criminal activity, and cloud servers often store sensitive information that must be carefully protected. Performance—service level agreements must account for availability, legal, budget and insurance requirements depending on clients’ unique requirements. Management—interoperability among various internally and externally hosted cloud services introduces new complexity that must be considered to minimize inefficiencies. Vendor lock-in is also an issue in some cases. Governance and Regulatory Compliance—a large portion of the information traveling through the cloud is subject to regional and national governance and differences in standards and oversight can make data storage and transfer a complicated prospect, especially when multiple nations are involved. And finally, Financial—Dzubeck points out that organizations may need to consider how to classify cloud computing costs as variable or fixed IT cost.

Despite these growing pains, as a recent Infoworld article states, “among big metatrends, cloud computing is the hardest one to argue with in the long term.”¹⁰

Recommendations for Colleges

Update existing IT programs. Colleges can best respond to the emergence of cloud computing with modifications to existing IT programs in systems administration, network administration, network security, software development, and information architecture with particular emphasis on virtualization fundamentals and certification.

Offer fast track options. Colleges should consider offering compressed workshops, boot camps, and other “fast track” style training leading to technical skills mastery and industry certifications when applicable. Current IT professionals, including workers displaced by recent economic trends, will find these training options an invaluable means of keeping skills up to date. A number of companies have created cloud computing training seminars; for example, platform management company RightScale hosts regular webinars and archive previous sessions on their websites, and Stratos Learning both introductory courses and specialized training.¹¹ Prof. Brad Armosky, of UT-Austin’s Texas Advanced Computing Center, recommends free, online systems such as HPC University, CI Tutor, and MIT Open Courseware.

Sources

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Publication Date: July 2009
ISBN: 978-1-934302-43-9
Format: Trade Paperback
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