Hot Technical Skills for 2016

 “The only way to get ahead and stay ahead in this challenging job market is to constantly distinguish yourself from the competition by demonstrating great performance and maintaining highly marketable skills.”

Here are some hot technical skills for your career development plan. More to come...

Android, iOS, Java, Angular.JS, Hadoop, Mongo DB, Cassandra, MySQL, Linux, SharePoint and Office 365.

Milt Haynes, Founder

Blacks Gone Geek

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Writers Welcome!

 

Where are all the African American writers? I'm looking for volunteers who like to write. I'm a Knowledge Manager, so I spend a lot of time and energy doing technical writing. And you can see the technical writing on our web sites too (blacksgonegeek.com, blacksgonegeek.org). But I'm getting tired of the "ho hum" articles I see in social media today. You know what I'm talking about. The 10 best ways to do this. The 5 best ways to do that. Where are all the meaningful messages that used to light up the air waves? Are you ready for your 15 minutes of fame?

Everybody is going digital, even my CIO magazine. And what happened to Diversity/Careers in Engineering & Information Technology? Has anybody checked out Kate Colborn's new magazine, Diversity in Action? Rosie Perez is on the cover, but I hardly recognized her. Does anybody remember Tina in "Do the Right Thing". I digress!

Seriously, if you have the gift of gab and you want to help us write about technology, let me know. We're starting off with some "about us" pages and taking it from there.

Have a blessed day!

Milt Haynes, Founder and Chief Knowledge Officer

Blacks Gone Geek

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Be Happy - Happiness Course

To: BGG Community

Now that I'm an empty nester I get a chance to pursue some topics just for fun. It's not all about the geek stuff anymore! LOL.

I sent out a blog post a couple of months ago on a few books on happiness I recently read and liked. Now I tripped over a free course on happiness and positive psychology that take the happiness theme to a whole new level. This is exciting stuff!

Here's the link to my blog post.

http://blog.blacksgonegeek.org/2015/07/be-happy.html  

Here's a blurb on the online course info. We're starting up a study group too.

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Please check out this course. The first online class is on Tuesday. I’m looking for somebody to take it with. It’s free!

GG101x The Science of Happiness

https://www.edx.org/course/science-happiness-uc-berkeleyx-gg101x-1?gclid=Cj0KEQjwms-vBRDlsM7utpaJ47ABEiQAIpKjTIHoGeTN8W5-Es3W7M9sm7r0GD6PDgIkeyW8WyA9aHMaAoXs8P8HAQ

If I get enough interest (we need 10-15 people to start), we can form an online study group. See description below.

Happy Geeks are students interested in promoting their careers in technology. Looking for a job in technology is like riding an emotional roller coaster, it's full of ups and downs. One day you feel hopeful and the next day you receive a rejection letter and you hopes are dashed to the ground. We want to learn and practice positive psychology tools and techniques to live a happy and meaningful life. We meet virtually every Thursday evening at 8pm central time. Anyone with an interest in technology careers is welcome to join.

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Apple Music Hits Home

 
Thanks to Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre at Apple Music, my music collection just took a big nose dive in value. I'm 62 and starting in my teens, I was always the one building a music collection. I love listening to music and I used to take a battered portable turntable to school and play hit tunes on the back of the CTA bus. Me and my teen aged buddies used to have the whole bus rocking and rolling. This was before the boom box and Walkman era. That was old school.

Does anybody remember Iron Butterfly - In a Gadda Da Vida ? Now you can watch it on YouTube for free (9,708,577 views), but I digress.

I eventually lost my 45's and albums in a fire and after shedding a few tears, I had to eventually move with technology to tape. Yeah, I admit it, for a short time I even had an 8 track collection and then it morphed to cassette tape. That's when I thought I hit a gold mine. I would carry a bag of tapes around with me and pop them into my car or boom box and once again enjoy my music collection wherever I went.

But then CD's came out and my cassette tapes were history. Why wait for a tape to rewind or to memorize the tape location for your favorite song when you could bounce through the tracks of a CD. So here I am again thinking I hit a gold mine AGAIN. I could carry more CD's around than tape and pop them into my newly acquired collection of portable devices. 

And that's when my first iPod killed all of that. I couldn't fathom the possibilities of carrying around my music collection on a little device but as I went from a 2 gig to a 4 gig and eventually to an 80 gig, I hit pay dirt! As long as I had my iPod I could play any song I purchased. Nirvana struck. I was in seventh heaven! Silly me..

And as I aged and kept looking at the stacks of cassettes and CDs in my basement I started to think, who could use them when I'm gone. Who do you give your music collection to? I have CDs that I never bothered to load onto the computer. And I have music I purchased on the computer that no one will ever find. Who wants it? Who needs it? 

My 18 year old daughter hipped me to Apple Music last week. She asked, why would you buy music and download it when you can play any music at anytime for $15 a month? I stood with my mouth open as my chin dropped to the floor and quipped an IDK (LOL).

So now it's finally sinking in. When I want to hear any music from any artist, I don't have to listen to a 60 second sample and buy a track and download it on my iPod and carry it around. I can "rent it" and pull it up on my iPhone right away. And with Bluetooth I can connect into my cars, beats pill speakers, PCs and other devices. And with Apple AAC encoding, the music sounds great!

So I surrender, yet again to the advance of technology. I'm going full digital in the cloud. We bought a family plan so we can all share the same music library on any device. And eventually I'm going to shit can my music collection and any hopes it has some value I can pass on to the next generation. RIP Foxy Brown, Missy Elliott and G Unit. With Apple Music my daughters just got access to more music than I could ever dream of collecting and passing down.

Thanks Jimmy. Thanks Dr. Dre. I'm lovin' it!!

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Job Posting - Desktop Support Technician - Riverside California

Position Title: Desktop Support Technician

Company Name/Institution: University of California, Riverside

Location: Riverside, California, United States, 92521



Under the close supervision of the Operations Supervisor, the Desktop Support Technician will provide desktop support services to the Business and Administrative Services unit. The Desktop Support Technician is responsible for PC hardware repairs; PC operating system installation and configuration; desktop applications; connections to PC peripherals and networks; and performing various technical duties, maintenance and troubleshooting repairs to microcomputers and peripheral equipment.

Additional Information:
In the Heart of Inland Southern California, UC Riverside is located on nearly 1,200 acres near Box Springs Mountain in Southern California; the park-like campus provides convenient access to the vibrant and growing Inland region. The campus is a living laboratory for the exploration of issues critical to growing communities' air, water, energy, transportation, politics, the arts, history and culture. UCR gives every student the resources to explore, engage, imagine and excel

Click here for full job posting.

Apply Here: http://www.Click2Apply.net/w3cx8c4

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The Psychology of Time Effective People - Book Review

 

 

Do you ever feel like there just isn't enough time in a day? Do you ever see highly productive people and wonder what their secret is? If so, The Psychology of Highly Effective People is the book for you!

This book is a self-help paperback that is designed to aid people in their quest for effective time management skills. It touches on various factors that will assist individuals with the aforementioned task. The most prevalent of which are the inability to say 'NO', the importance of living a balanced and fulfilled life, the failure cycle, and the effects of caffeine on the human body. The author uses a very colorful and visual style of writing to express her opinion on the topic of time management.
more...

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Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career

 

Do you want to jump start your career? This book is a must read!

This book explores how career transitions are not a linear progression of steps taken to achieve the desired change. Instead it is a series of incremental beeline changes one brings into action by self intuition, risk taking and deep reflection.

The author explores the idea of Identities in transition – the idea is summed up as follows:

“We like to think that we can leap directly from desire for change to a single decision that will complete our reinvention. As a result, we remain naïve about the long, essential testing period when our actions transform or (fail to transform) fuzzy, undefined possibilities into concrete choices we can evaluate.”

Click here to see more.

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Why Yammer? Free knowledge sharing webinar 2015-02-11

 

The World Moves Fast.
Move Faster with Yammer.
Engage, collaborate and innovate with Yammer.

Change is the new constant. Yammer is a private social network that helps you and your company stay on top of it all. Yammer collaboration software and business applications allow you to get connected to the right people, share information across teams and organize around projects so you can go further – faster.

Yammer + Office 365 = Social Productivity

Organizations are transforming the way people work together with Yammer Enterprise and Office 365. It takes a network of people to serve a network of customers in today’s hyper-connected and rapidly changing world. With Yammer Enterprise, your company can listen, adapt, and grow at the speed of a networked world.

Connect your organization to boost engagement and surface important information and experts. Yammer users gain 76% more visibility into other departments or locations, and 
80% are more informed with what is happening inside their organization.

Want to know how you can become a Yammer power user?

Want to know how Yammer can help grow your business?

Got questions?

We've got answers. Join us for a free online webinar and learn how you can use Yammer to advance your professional career.

Join us live on February 11, 2015 at 8pm CST for a free Yammer knowledge sharing webinar.

Click here for more information on "Why Yammer?" FREE KNOWLEDGE SHARING WEBINAR. 

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What is Power BI: Free knowledge sharing webinar 2015-02-04

   
Microsoft Power BI for Office 365 is a collection of features and services that enable you to visualize data, share discoveries, and collaborate in intuitive new ways. Microsoft Power BI for Office 365 provides an organization-wide self-service business intelligence (BI) infrastructure, and brings Excel workbook sharing, online collaboration, and IT infrastructure together into a holistic offering.

Users can easily explore all their data using intuitive, natural language capabilities and receive answers in the form of charts and graphs. They can also explore data through detailed reports that target specific aspects of their business. Visuals from these reports can also be pinned to their dashboards for continuous monitoring.

Want to know how you can become a Power BI professional?

Want to know how Power BI can help grow your business?

Got questions?

We've got answers. Join us for a free online webinar and learn how you can use Power BI to advance your professional career.

Join us live on February 4, 2015 at 8pm CST for a free Power BI knowledge sharing webinar.

Click here for more information on "What is Power BI?" FREE KNOWLEDGE SHARING WEBINAR.

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Become a SharePoint Professional: Free knowledge sharing webinar 2015-01-28

Senior SharePoint Professional in Chicago, IL $111,000 annual salary (more than 250 sources)
http://www.indeed.com/q-Senior-Sharepoint-Professional-l-Chicago,-IL-jobs.html


So… You want to start out on a career as a SharePoint professional, do you?

Are you looking for a new career path? Have you ever thought about transitioning to a SharePoint Administrator but never really knew where to start?

Join us live on January 28, 2015 at 8pm CST for a free SharePoint knowledge sharing webinar.

Click here for more information on "how to become a SharePoint professional" FREE KNOWLEDGE SHARING WEBINAR. 

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Become a SharePoint Professional: Free ebook

Senior SharePoint Professional in Chicago, IL $111,000 High Confidence (more than 250 sources)
http://www.indeed.com/q-Senior-Sharepoint-Professional-l-Chicago,-IL-jobs.html


So… You want to start out on a career as a SharePoint professional, do you?

Are you fluent in Microsoft Technologies? Looking for a new career path that is a lifelong learning experience and is ever changing? Have you ever thought about transitioning from being a SharePoint Administrator to SharePoint Architect but never really knew where to start? "Becoming a SharePoint Professional" is the book for you!

Click here for more information on this FREE eBOOK.

Click here for more information on "how to become a SharePoint professional" FREE KNOWLEDGE SHARING WEBINAR. 

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What is Lync Online? free knowledge sharing webinar 2015-01-21

Join us live on January 21, 2015 at 8pm CST for a free Lync Online knowledge sharing webinar.


Lync Online connects people everywhere, on devices running Windows 8 and other operating systems, as part of their everyday productivity experience. Lync provides a consistent, single client experience for presence, instant messaging, voice, video and a great meeting experience.

How can you become a Lync power user?

Got questions? We've got answers. Join us for a free online webinar and learn how you can use Lync online to communicate, collaborate and promote your business on the internet.

Click here for more information.
http://www.blacksgonegeek.com/what-is-lync-online

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