Essential Project Management skills

Some people may wonder what skills a Project Manager would need to successfully run a project. What a person considers “successful” may vary, of course. Perhaps being able to simply stay within the agreed upon budget is considered a successful project. Maybe delivering all of the requested deliverables on time is considered successful. Maybe being able to complete most of the deliverables in a timely manner is considered successful. Or perhaps all planned or requested deliverables were not completed, but the business and product owners on the project are pleased with the work done and have confirmed that what was completed has added business value. Whatever the means to measuring a successful project may be, one thing is for certain: there are many skills a Project Manager must have in order to achieve some the level of success.

There are many skills a Project Manager may consider essential, but four key skills are:

1. Communicating
2. Problem Solving
3. Prioritizing
4. Recording Project Metrics

Communication

Project Managers (PMs) are often the primary point of contact for the client, which makes effective communication very important. It is the Project Manager’s job to listen to the client’s needs, gather important information, communicate those needs to the team so they are clear about what tasks need to be worked on, and plan accordingly. For the client, the PM will want to use effective communication skills, which include following up with the client when issues are noted, providing updates on progress, and periodically ensuring that the team’s work is in line with the client’s vision by discussing the client’s wants and needs with the client directly.

In addition to client communication, the Project Manager must also communicate well with his or her team. Clear communication between the PM and his or her team is the most effective way to ensure that the team is moving in the right direction.

Some communication tips on a team level would include:

• Being clear about the expected end result or goal: if the team has a clear picture of what the main goal is and what the end result should be, it will help them prioritize their tasks.
• Communicating deadlines frequently: it may be easy to forget deadlines when a team member has multiple deadlines to remember. Reminding the team of important deadlines that may be either fast approaching or far in the future is a helpful way to maintain a strong idea of what is important at the moment.
• Communicating any changes that may affect the team’s progress: by keeping the team in the loop of any changes or possible changes that could affect the team’s work load and scope, the Project Manager can avoid “blind side” situations, which keeps the team at ease and running smoothly.

Problem Solving

For every Project Manager, problem solving is one of the many skills required to be successful. Problems will be filtered through the Project Manager from both the client and the team. It is also the Project Manager’s job to identify problems that may not necessarily be brought to their attention. Once a problem arises, the Project Manager must be able to ask all the right questions and gather the right information before analyzing the best way to resolve an issue. Once the PM has gathered all the necessary information, they will need to come up with the best possible solution for that problem. For many Project Managers, problem solving may be their least favorite part of the job, but it remains one of the most important skills to have. Knowing how to identify problems, resolve them in a timely manner, and minimize any damage the problem may cause is a skill that will be used throughout a PM’s career.

Some problem-solving tips would include:

• Defining the problem
• Determining the root causes of the problem
• Brainstorming ideas to solve the problem
• Selecting the best solution to the problem
• Taking action on that solution to solve the problem

Prioritizing

After receiving the goals from the client, sorting through the deadlines and possible changes, and listening to the problems and concerns from the client and team members, the project manager will need to prioritize, prioritize, and prioritize again! This will be an ongoing task and test of their skills throughout the project’s life cycle. The PM will need to know how to prioritize the work that needs to be done.

Some prioritization questions to ask would include:

• What is the end goal and what is the quickest way to get there?
• Which tasks need to be worked on first?
• What task is most important to the client as well as easiest to accomplish?
• Which task is the hardest to accomplish – and will require giving the team more time to work out any issues that may arise while working on it?

Work cannot be managed without prioritization. The tasks that the other teams depend on or have deadlines need to be moved to the top of the list to avoid slowing down the progress of the entire project, program, or another project.

Problems identified in the project also need to be prioritized. Effectively prioritizing and reprioritizing the tasks, goals, and problems will help the team get the job done with fewer hiccups and ultimately result in a happy client.

Recording Project Metrics

Another essential skill that a PM benefits from is recording project metrics.

There are many measures that a PM may be interested in tracking, but time, cost, quality, progress related to the project, and accomplishment of program goals are generally the most helpful to project success and client happiness. Before measuring project successes, it’s necessary to identify what measurements are important to the project first. Looking back at reports from other projects or past efforts that team members or clients found successful is a good place to start.

Creating reports that track how well the team is completing assigned work will help the team plan tasks and give the client immediate insight into what the contract team is doing and how well they are accomplishing their goals. An example of this project tracking and its benefits can be seen in the Agile story point tracking. Under Agile, a team can keep track of the number of story points completed in each sprint (2-3 week development cycles); this is known as the team’s “velocity.” Tracking the team’s velocity helps the team determine the average number of story points they can achieve per sprint, allowing them to plan sprints more accurately and effectively. The velocity provides good base measurements of the team’s performance and productivity.   

Jack of all Trades

There are many skills that can help a Project Manager run a successful project. Some will be standard and seen often; others will be relative to a project or even the PM’s style of managing. The skills listed above are broad skills that will help in managing any project. It is good for a project manager to assess their strengths and weaknesses and plan their project accordingly. A variety of skills and dedication to honing those to a project will only improve the client’s experience with the project.

Getting a Job in Cloud Computing: Interview with David Linthicum

May 3, 2016 by Paul Carlstroem

Who is David Linthicum and why should I read this interview?

David has spent the last 20 years leading, showing and teaching businesses how to use resources more productively and innovate constantly. He has authored 13 books on computing, 3,000+ articles, 500+ conference presentations. You might have heard or seen him on any number of his appearances on radio and TV. I believe David expanded the vision of both startups and established enterprises as to what is possible and achievable.

David, you are currently a Senior Vice President for Cloud Technology Partners. Could you talk a bit about Cloud Technology Partners and your role within the company, and the Cloud Community?

Cloud Technology Partners (CTP) is the premier cloud services and software company for enterprises moving to AWS, Google, Microsoft and other leading cloud platforms. Additionally, we help build clouds for ISVs and other technology company looking to cloud-enable their offerings.

I’m an SVP on the executive team executing a variety of roles, including client acquisition, engagement management, marketing, and I provide vision for the overall company strategy.

I attempt to be a visionary in the cloud marketplace, writing and speaking about what’s coming next. I focus on the details behind the technology, providing step-wise processes that define how you actually take advantage of the emerging technology, such as cloud computing.

As a former professional Blogger for InfoWorld you’ve watched distributed computing mature. It seems impossible to overstate the growth of Cloud Computing right now. Do you agree, and if so what do you attribute this to?

Cloud computing is a fundamental shift in how we consume computing resources, but it’s also a fundamental shift in how we deal with application development, data storage, security, and governance. What’s driving the shift to cloud computing is a need to get IT spending under control, but most of all a need to create IT platforms that are quicker to program and provision.

What’s driving the shift to cloud computing is a need to get IT spending under control, but most of all a need to create IT platforms that are quicker to program and provision.

Cloud computing is a platform that provides speed and agility. As enterprises migrate to the cloud they do so motivated by cost savings, but stay once they discover the value of agility. The use of cloud, as well as the rise of DevOps, means that we can think differently as to how we deliver IT services.

Perhaps, it also means that we can now move IT to the delivery business solutions at the “speed of need.” That’s why Cloud Computing is experiencing exploding growth.

From recent Gartner analysis, many of the best tech jobs are in and around Cloud Computing. Where do you see entry points for people transitioning into the industry?

Most of the good cloud computing jobs are skill specific, such as AWS S3 and EC2 developers, or perhaps Google and Azure security specialists. Best I can figure, there are 3 open positions chasing 1 qualified candidate for the specific skills positions.

My advice to IT folks looking for a transition into the cloud industry is that they should learn a very specific skill through training. Certification is a good objective because it proves to companies that you possess, at minimal, the basic level of skills that they need.

Once you get that first job, you can pretty much write your own plan as to working on other aspects of the cloud that interest you more. If you want to explore new hyped applications such as IoT and Big Data, you are in the door and making the shift will be trivial compared to breaking into the cloud side of computing. Getting that first cloud job is really just the first step, but it’s necessary.

What skills and traits are valued most by Cloud employers and companies?

Most enterprises and technology companies looking to hire cloud skills are searching for those individual who have specific skills, again,  such as AWS, Google, and Microsoft. In my wide experience, the days of being a generalist are behind us, and most enterprises know the cloud platforms they want to harness, and are looking for skills that fit into those detailed business and development plans.

You have written some 13 books on computing. Clearly you understand the value of continuous learning. How do you view the role of Cloud training?

Cloud training is extremely important considering that there is a huge cloud-skills shortage now.

Cloud platforms are quickly evolving, and the training must evolve just as rapidly as well. If we don’t have the trained staff to build and support cloud-based applications and infrastructure, none of this cloud stuff will work very well. This is the number one reason that enterprises fail at the cloud. They simply lack skilled people who can effectively execute in a timely and secure manner. The skills aren’t optional for a person or a company, they are required for success.

Ask two people what they think of Cloud Certifications and your likely to get three opinions. What are your thoughts on Certifications in general and Cloud Certifications in specific?

Cloud certifications means that a person has reached a certain level of knowledge and skills around the use of a cloud service. It’s not magical, but employers are more likely to hire someone who is certified, versus someone who is not. No matter if it’s cloud or non-cloud gigs.

Certifications are important in general, and very important for cloud specifically.

You work across platforms and see the pros and cons of each. Do you see enterprise using multiple Cloud providers?

Yes, that seems to be the path. However, the proportions are important as well. While AWS is by far the most popular IaaS cloud platform, many enterprises have Azure and Google in there as well. Typically for special purposes, such as cheaper storage, big data, or in support of existing and migrating .Net applications.

The trick to deal with “multi-cloud” deployments is to provide automated provisioning and management to sits above all clouds leveraged. It’s this layer of abstraction the allows you to managed all cloud through a common interface that hides most of the complexity of dealing with heterogeneous cloud platform from you.

Are there features that truly distinguish the three big providers? Could you note them?

AWS is known for having the richest set of capabilities, or services. Thus, they also have the largest market share. Enterprises may be seeking 50 key services that their public cloud provider, should offer. AWS has 70 of them. AWS is one stop shopping, and this can be appealing for 100 different reasons.

Azure is really an extension of the Microsoft platforms, and if you’re a Microsoft shop, it’s typically going to be the best path. While they are still behind AWS is some features, they are steadily progressing the platform, and are more and more a sound alternative to AWS.

Google is the late entry. However, even though they are lacking some features, the ones that they have are well engineered. Storage, for example, is cheap and fast on the Google cloud, as is data analytics. Considering how much Google will be spending over the next several years, they are likely to catch up to both AWS and Microsoft.

Considering how much Google will be spending over the next several years, they are likely to catch up to both AWS and Microsoft.

Editor’s note: Cloud Academy offers learning resources for the major cloud providers. 

Do you have predictions for the future of the Cloud Computing ecosystem?

It’s perhaps the most important aspect of cloud computing. We need strong third-party tools that manage security, governance, and monitoring, etc. across clouds. Those can’t come from cloud providers. I personally believe that third-party tools will provide the largest growth in the marketplace after this year, and will be bigger than the public cloud players.

If you could go back in time and offer some advice to a younger you about learning and careers, what would that be?

Never stop thinking about what’s next, and never be happy with the status quo.

The name of the game is innovation, and constantly asking questions as to ways to do things better. You keep that always as a motivator and you’ll drive positive change.

I am the editor and I want to point readers to Cloud Academy’s free 7-day trial subscription. We offer the opportunity of learning paths that build effective strategies for career advancement. Our video courses, quizzes, and labs prepare students for certification and real-world computing.

Cloud Adoption Framework for Small Business - The Future of the IT Department free download

• The next diagram is an excerpt from the IBM white paper The Future of the IT Department, and it contains:

1. Dark gray cells represent functions no longer needed in the new model 
2. Light gray cells represent functions that have reduced scope 
3. Cells highlighted by a red outline represent components whose importance grows following the adoption of public cloud-delivered services

The paper is based on the premise that outside cloud providers will supply all IT services, and that assumption determines the makeup of the IT organization’s roles and responsibilities.

Download the IBM report at:
http://www-935.ibm.com/services/be/en/attachments/pdf/Cloud_-_The_Future_of_the_IT_Department.pdf

Learn more with the Cloud Adoption Framework for Small Business on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LI78TCY.

Bridging the cloud skills gap

 

Written byMaxwell Cooter

Cloud wranglers and devops specialists are still a rare species, despite demand

When Gartner asked IT professionals how prepared their organisations were for transforming themselves into digital businesses, there was widespread agreement that there was some way to go.
According to the Gartner survey, 59% of IT professionals thought their organisations were not prepared for the necessary changes to bring about a digital business approach.
One of the pressing problems faced by many companies was the shortage of technical skills, which Gartner's report set this issue out clearly.
"Emerging technologies in fields such as cloud computing, mobility, and data and analytics, in addition to security and risk management, are permeating nearly every aspect of the IT landscape," wrote analyst John Hagerty in the Gartner report.
In particular, the CIOs and IT managers say that cloud skills are the most necessary to bring about this transformation - 22% say it's the technology that will have the biggest impact on their career.
Demand for these type of skills shows no sign of receding either. According to survey of the British jobs marker carried out by Rackspace, there's still great demand for specialist skills. Vacancies for Amazon Web Service jobs have increased by 53% in the last year, a rise mirrored by demand for Azure and devops, which rose by 75% and 53% respectively.
But those are nothing compared some skillsets: there was a 341% increase in Docker vacancies, a clear sign how businesses are becoming more interested in container technology.
Is it only these skills or are there others? And what can be done to improve the situation?
Richard Sykes, chairman of the Cloud Industry Forum, agrees that devops is the area where opportunities are increasing. "We're seeing interest that's very much in the devops area. The emphasis has been very much on producing software that the clients want."

According to Nigel Redwood, CEO of services company Nasstar, attitudes to work are almost as important as technical skills. "You can teach skills," he says. "What you can't teach is work ethic, common sense and customer service ahead of the skills. Sure, if you have a project where you need a particular skill, then you need to recruit for that, but I find logic and a good work ethic are more important."
While there are still certain skills in demand, the different nature of cloud does mean a change of emphasis, so there's more of a demand for people and negotiating skills. Part of the appeal of cloud is moving away from the idea that IT staff within an enterprise run everything, keeping the lights on - when someone does that, different attitudes are required.
Perhaps what is most interesting about the demands for cloud skills is that it's vendor-dependent. The Rackspace survey found there's a growing demand for expertise in Amazon cloud, but that highlights that cloud providers have their own proprietary technologies to support. Redwood says that as far as Nasstar is concerned, Microsoft Azure skills are very much in demand - a reflection of the way that Microsoft-dominated companies are sticking to the vendor for their cloud needs.
Against this background, OpenStack is very much the dog that didn't bark in the night. The technology didn't figure in the Rackspace survey - deeply ironic in itself when you consider that Rackspace was one of the originators of OpenStack - but neither Sykes nor Redwood saw it as a major demand. There have certainly been concerns that there's a shortage of skilled OpenStack people out there, though, which is why the OpenStack Foundation announced a certification process last year.
One of the factors that might affect the talent pool is the arrival in the next few months of the likes of Amazon, Microsoft and Salesforce as they open datacentres in the UK. This may well have an effect on available staff.
And this will have a knock-on effect in the general market, as Sykes explains: "There needs to be a more general understanding of the cloud market." He says that this is something we will see from other cloud providers and from larger enterprises too. As the market changes and more businesses turn to cloud, people who know the market inside out will be in greater demand. "A larger company buying a lot of stuff will want to bring in someone who has worked [with] Amazon so [they] can procure from the basis of understanding how the system works," he adds.
In the long run, however, the future is rosy. It may be true that there's a shortage of skilled people at the moment, but there seems to be a common endeavour to improve matters, whether that be providers like Amazon or Microsoft running their training courses, companies like Nasstar sending personnel to be trained, or organisations like the Cloud Industry Forum offers a new set of courses for individual members.
The talent pool is also increasing: there were complaints about 10 or 15 years ago that university computer science courses were a bit behind the times: that's no longer the case. "The quality we get from universities is very good these days," says Redwood. "But even the best still need further training. We have to offer a clear career path."
And, ultimately, questions about particular skills are going to be answered by companies having that commitment to training. At the moment, devops skills are at a premium but a concerted industry effort should restore the situation to some sort of equilibrium.
As John Hagerty says in the Gartner report: "Acquiring cloud skills quickly is essential for IT professionals to be able to reimagine and remake their firm's IT infrastructure to better enable digital business strategies." In the long term, the cloud industry and, indeed, the business world itself relies on this drive to better education. Happily, most companies seem to recognise this but there's certainly no reason to slow down - cloud is not going away any time soon.

Are you on the right quality assurance career path?

When you're a QA tester, there are several career paths open to you. Expert and tester Amy Reichert offers her advice on making the smartest choices.

The quality assurance career path is varied. As with most careers, it's essential to continue to build skills. Of course, skills tend to build over time. During the first five years as a QA tester, you'll learn manual testing, some sort of automation or the steps leading up to it, exploratory testing and how to squeeze testing into iterations and associated deadlines. You'll learn to work with development, support and implementations or services.

 

Is there an opportunity for growth along the quality assurance career path? Yes, but it can be limited. There are typically only about 4-5 levels depending on whether you choose to take the management or the technical path:

• Jr. QA Test Analyst (or QA Analyst 1)
• QA Test Analyst (or QA Analyst 2)
• QA Test Analyst 3 (Close to senior level, but missing leadership experience)
• Sr. QA Test Analyst (QA Analyst 4)
• QA Lead
• QA Technical Expert (QA Analyst 5)
• QA Manager

The management level is QA Lead and QA Manager. The Technical Expert is generally someone at the senior level or a QA Technical Expert that's at the same level as the QA Lead, but does not hold a people management position. Rather, the QA Technical Expert may create test environments, troubleshoot release or configuration problems with development or create automated test frameworks.
The first decision to make is if you want to pursue a technical or management quality assurance career path. You'll want to focus on one or the other because people management skills differ from technical skills; most people do not do well at both. Remember, you can always change your mind and re-focus your education efforts.

The best way I've found to increase QA skills is by being as effective in my position as I can. Bring up QA process suggestions even when they seem to go nowhere. Talk to developers and get their input and insight. I don't demand they show me everything; I ask. Some will show me, some won't, but most will if it keeps me out of their workspace. Some developers like teaching while others do not. You have to learn how to work with each developer on your team.

Additionally, learning and teaching other QA team members is critical regardless of their professional level. Whether someone is a mid-level or a Senior QA is immaterial as far as education goes. Some QAs simply don't get promoted when they should; don't restrict from whom you can learn. QAs have learned different skills at each employer -- make use of that knowledge. Books, articles, videos and seminars are all helpful and may expand your QA toolbox. Certification programs are useful when job hunting and provide a solid understanding of QA practices.
QA testers have the skills, after five years generally, to move into development, product management, DevOps or customer implementation roles if a change of group is desired. Everything you learn along the quality assurance career path adds value to your skills; QAs can move across the software development team job board, if desired.

5 Proven Techniques for Better Brainstorming

Many meetings bring a group together to quickly discover answers and ideas that no one person can find by themselves. Whether we’re working to negotiate the details of a new project, finding a way to tackle a challenging problem, or seeking to define our strategic vision, the pattern is the same; someone poses a question, and the group starts brainstorming answers. Effective brainstorming is essential to nearly every type of business meeting.

Not everyone enjoys traditional brainstorming

Unfortunately, not all questions are created equally. Sometimes the questions asked in a meeting don’t invite meaningful answers. Asking “Everyone good with that?” after dictating a decision isn’t an effective way to surface real concerns or get real commitments. Some questions are too vague, making it unclear what kind of answer to give. Questions like “Do you have any feedback?” result in either polite non-replies (e.g., “Nope, I’m good.”) or long-winded side discussions that don’t necessarily get to the answers the group needs.
Getting great ideas from a group during a meeting can be hard, and for many participants, traditional brainstorming can feel like a painful waste of time.
First, despite the popularity of brainstorming sessions, we have some evidence that meetings aren’t always the best place to birth new ideas. Ideal or not, however, sometimes a meeting is the only real opportunity we have to explore ideas as a group, so we’d better make it work.
Second, our brains all work differently. Not everyone does their best thinking on-demand. Not every group welcomes new ideas, creating a social imperative to keep any answers within a comfortable range of safe topics. Some people don’t seem to understand the difference between a group meeting and a personal consultation, taking it upon themselves to dominate the meeting by answering all the questions first, loudly, and in great detail.

Can you teach yourself to code and get a job?

A quarter of UK developers are self-taught

 

More than a quarter of developers in the UK are self-taught and have no university education, research has found.

A study by jobs website Hired has found 26% of developers in the UK have no listed university education, and have taught themselves coding skills.

Hired’s CEO Mehul Patel said some firms put a lot of stake in a potential candidates CV, and they could be missing out on talented people who are more likely to fit into the organisation’s culture.

“People tend to look for certain major indicators of success, but you need to have a hiring process that’s flexible enough to recognise talent even if they don’t have the right school or the right degree. The folk who self-teach and self-learn are passionate and dedicated,” he said.

There is currently a skills gap in the UK, with firms unable to find candidates with the tech skills they need to fill roles and empty digital jobs costing the economy approximately £2bn a year.
Hired’s research found a growing gap between demand for security and data experts and the number of people with these particular skills.

In the past 12 months, there has been a 222% increase in the number of interview requests made by employers for security engineering roles, and a 234% increase for data engineers.
Patel claimed although there has been an increase in the number of employers looking for people to fill these roles, the domestic supply has not risen to match it.

“The areas most in demand in the digital economy are, unsurprisingly, security and data. There is a widening gap between demand for these services and the lack of supply to match that,” he said.
According to the research, part of the problem is a lack of supply coming from the UK, with a third of tech talent coming to the UK from the European Union (EU).

UK talent shortage

“If there’s a growing skills gap, there is also a supply issue – particularly a domestic supply issue,” said Patel.

Research shows there has been a year-on-year increase in the number of UK computer science undergraduates, but whether they are leaving university with the skills they need to enter the tech workplace is a different story.

“Over the past decade computer science graduate numbers have declined, so there are less people with computer science degrees,” said Patel.

Children in the UK between the ages of five and 16 are required to learn about coding and computational thinking as part of the curriculum.

“There has been good progress in terms of building tech into the national curriculum, but it has not gone far enough – even coding is very recent,” said Patel.

Read more about the skills gap

• The Science and Technology Committee says the UK is facing a digital skills crisis and calls on government to publish its Digital Strategy “without further delay”.
• A technology security skills shortage is leaving firms at increasing risk of cyber security attacks.

More than 80% of the people taking computer science degrees in the UK in 2015 were men, and Patel warns companies of shutting out “half of the population who could add value”.

Patel claimed some of this lack of uptake in computer science over the past few years could be down to negative perceptions and stereotypes of the industry.

“There’s a perception issue in the UK where software engineering isn’t seen as a very desirable career choice,” he said. “As a young student in the UK you will be taught information technology, but it’s not enough to really equip you and get you excited.”

original post:  http://www.computerweekly.com/news/450301291/A-quarter-of-UK-developers-are-self-taught?utm_medium=EM&asrc=EM_EDA_62041389&utm_campaign=20160804_AWS%20vs%20Google%20vs%20Microsoft:%20How%20the%20enterprise%20cloud%20war%20is%20hotting%20up_&utm_source=EDA

Free IBM report on The Future of the IT Department

IBM has developed a report titled - The Future of the IT Department - which talks about how cloud is transforming the way in which IT shops operate.  This is an important read for any small business leader since it reinforces that cloud computing is more than just technology and there are changes that must be anticipated and planned for your workforce.

Below is an excerpt of the free report from IBM and a link to download the full report.


Introduction

It doesn't take much of a trawl through the volume of media articles written about cloud computing before you come across an article suggesting that cloud computing spells the end for the internal IT department of the enterprise. After all, you just use a service provided from somewhere else by someone else don’t you? What possible need would there be for an IT department?

Cloud computing engagements with clients however tell a very different story. It is plain to see that most organisations will still very much need an IT organisation. It may well be smaller in size; the standardisation and automation that clouds provide saves cost by removing or reducing the number of IT organisation employees; and what that department will be called upon to do will change considerably from today.

The need however still remains. This then raises the question: what will the IT department of the future look like?

Read more and download the free IBM Report - The Future of the IT Department at:

https://app.box.com/s/hp45jspyoxea1145qirbdn69rim763k2

How Salesforce is encouraging people into coding

How Salesforce is encouraging people into coding

Clare McDonald

Business Editor

19 Jul 2016 14:00

 

Trailhead initiative is targeting people of diverse ages and backgrounds to take up coding

 

Over the last five years, efforts have been stepped up to get young, and sometimes older, people to learn coding skills.

It is now compulsory in UK schools for children between the ages of five and 16 to learn computational thinking and coding concepts.

But employers still say this does not teach people the combination of skills required to fill technology vacancies for skilled workers.

The UK is suffering from a skills gap, with firms unable to find candidates with the technical skills to fill roles. Salesforce says there has been growing demand for applications developers as companies seek to create apps for particular business needs.

Will Coleman, who heads part of Salesforce’s developer relations team in EMEA, says: “We can see there is a massive demand for apps within business and there is a massive backlog of app requests in the enterprise.”

 

To help businesses develop apps, Salesforce offers Trailhead, an online learning platform with free resources that provides a number of “trails” to learning how to develop apps.

Coleman says the idea is to “open up the spectrum of people who can create applications” by offering free resources and encouraging people of different skill levels to create and develop apps.
“It is open to everybody,” he says. “We are very much in the enterprise, so we want to make sure our customers can create apps.”
People who use the online tools to complete training modules earn Trailhead badges to show they have completed the course.
Coleman adds: “We are seeing partners in our ecosystem look at a candidate’s Trailhead badge collection to see if they are up to speed on the latest tech.”

Developer diversity

Salesforce is using its world tours to give people of different backgrounds an opportunity to try out Trailhead, while providing content about driving diversity in organisations.
Coleman says Trailhead modules can be completed at any time using online tools, which attracts people who may not otherwise learn coding skills, such as those who need a flexible working environment.
“The flexibility really helps and we even have content around driving diversity within your organisation, as well as inclusion,” he says.

Sharing the right skills?

Firms are currently looking for people with soft skills as well as technical skills to fill technical roles that involve collaboration.
But Coleman stresses that companies need app developers, and by drawing people in from as many walks of life as possible, employers are more likely to find people with communication skills as well as technical skills.

“Our ecosystem is definitely asking for more app builders and developers, and the recent parliamentary report on the digital divide said over 12.6 million adults lack basic digital skills,” he says.

Many resources are available on the web to help learn apps development, says Coleman, which opens up a “great opportunity”.

Salesforce hopes that providing free educational resources to as many people as possible will persuade more candidates from different backgrounds to enter the industry.

“Getting as many people into app development as possible from all walks of life will end up creating a more healthy and diverse ecosystem,” says Coleman.

“There is definitely a need for digital skills in the UK and in Europe at large.”

source:  http://www.computerweekly.com/news/450300479/How-Salesforce-is-encouraging-people-into-coding