The Armada Group-The Most Attractive Incentives for Short-Term IT Workers

Many employers associate benefits with full-time employees, and don’t think about them in the context of short-term IT workers. But good temporary help is worth the effort of offering incentives — and if you supply benefits for your temporary IT staff, you’ll enjoy advantages like attracting better talent, increased productivity, and a higher ROI on your short-term staff investment.

The ‘more money’ incentive

Just about everyone likes money, and that includes temporary IT workers. A short-term bonus plan for IT temps can be a great motivation to perform well. You can offer bonuses for meeting deadlines, upon project completion, or even for above-and-beyond productivity.

Creating a strategic bonus or series of bonuses for short-term IT employees will increase morale and fuel the natural human drive for competition, ensuring an overall higher performance.

The ‘cool free stuff’ incentive

Gift cards are a great and inexpensive bonus to offer temporary IT employees. You can usually purchase gift cards from just about any local businesses — opt for retail, restaurant, and entertainment cards to give the best bang for your gift bucks.

If you have short-term IT staff that you’ve hired for a big project, and they’ll be around for several months, you may consider giving reloadable gift cards and placing a small amount on them each week. This will keep temporary workers motivated to continue, and give them the opportunity to spend quality time with family when they aren’t working.

The ‘work-life balance’ incentive

Paid holidays, sick days, and personal days are a popular benefit for permanent employees, but what about temporary staff? Offering paid days off to short-term IT workers isn’t usually feasible for a business, but you can create a smaller scale program that still offers much-needed advantages.

For example, you might give temp workers a half-hour of paid time off for every full day worked, and allow them to take advantage of their accrued paid leave for things like important appointments or the occasional personal day. You could also consider offering time off with half-pay when it’s reasonable and needed.

The ‘good job’ incentive

Simple thanks for a job well done are a strong motivator for full-time staff, that’s also free for your business to offer. With short-term IT workers, you can take your recognition for their work a step further and offer official employee awards. The possibilities range from printing out certificates to holding a fun event for your temp IT team upon project completion — and all are equally appreciated.

At The Armada Group, we can help you devise incentive programs to maximize your fulfillment of temporary IT workers, and to keep your full-time staff happy and productive. Contact us today for more information, or to find outstanding qualified candidates.

The Armada Group-The Most Important Career Question You've Never Even Considered

       CIO posed what they consider to be “The most important career question you’ve never even considered.” While Glen–do you want to make yourself a “hot commodity,” someone who has a unique skill but is a Transactional relationship, or a “treasured stalwart,” who is intended to be a long-term employee but rarely works in the “hot new skill” industry.

   The general idea of a commodity worker is one who works contract or part time, and who specializes in a unique skill; one that the company, for whatever reason, doesn’t want a standard full-time employee for. It could be implementing a new network or part-time SQL DBA – there’s no specific field, but it tends to fill the short-term needs, rather than long-term trends.

Commodity pros:

• Generally higher pay (in the short run)
• Provide necessary and sometimes difficult skills
• Can contractually work for flexible periods of time and flexible projects

Commodity Cons:

• Not always a steady, consistent flow of work (e.g. occasional periods of unemployment between projects)
• Not usually “developed” as a tenured employee would be in understanding the overall picture
• Culture doesn’t always fit with company

On the other hand, the stalwarts will have different characteristics. They tend to retain long-term employment, and operate in fields that the business will need either indefinitely or for extended periods.

Stalwart Pros:

• Consistent, stable employment
• Developed as an asset to the team (which can increase flexibility)
• Understand business culture better

Stalwart Cons:

• Doesn’t cash in on “hot skills”
• Generally lower pay (in the short run)
• Less flexible hours

The Armada Group 2014 Job Data

On the upside, there is a definite talent shortage in the IT market — but in potentially less encouraging news, it’s a shortage of the right skills.

Application development. Number one on the list for the third year in a row is this skill, which 49 percent of managers expecting to hire this year are looking for.

Help desk and IT support. Considering the rate of introduction for new technologies, this one shouldn’t be surprising as the second most in-demand skill, with 44 percent of managers looking to fill positions here in 2014. In fact, demand for IT support is rising faster than any other area — it’s up from 37 percent last year.

Business intelligence and database analysis / development. These two separate skills tied for third place on the top 10 list. In both cases, 29 percent of hiring managers have plans to increase their staffing for BI and data-related positions — including database administrators, database developers, and database architects.

The remaining IT skills on the top 10 list include:

• Security
• Network administration
• Networking
• Cloud computing
• Web design and development
• Data management

Beyond hard skills: A shortage of sought-after qualities

One of the difficulties hiring managers face in finding the right IT talent is their own desire to employ the perfectly well-rounded candidate — a skilled IT pro who also has great people skills and problem-solving abilities.

The role of IT workers is changing, and it’s no longer sufficient to deliver a flawless technical performance. Tech pros who are most in-demand are those who can demonstrate flexibility in their approaches, and who are able to break down and explain complex technical concepts in language that executives, co-workers, and end users can understand.

The outlook for IT salaries

In addition to hot job skills, the Computerworld survey looks at salary data in both current and historical senses. This year, average IT salary changes include:

• Average pay increases of 2.1%
• Average bonus increases of 0.7%
• 60% of IT pros reported receiving raises (up from 57% last year)
• 8% reported pay cuts (down from 9% last year)
• 61% of IT professionals feel secure in their jobs

Java Developer Jobs in Santa Cruz-The Armada Group

A Java developer is responsible for designing, developing, and implementingWeb-based Java applications according to the requirements of a business. However, organizations are increasingly seeking Java developers with both hard and soft skills — those who can create great Java apps, and explain them in non-technical language to investors, executives, and end users.

Salaries for Java developers vary depending on a number of factors, from the complexity of the job duties to the location of the business. In general, the range of Java developer salaries in Santa Cruz is higher than the national average range.

Factors that affect Java developer salaries in Santa Cruz

• Education and training: Most Java developer positions require a minimum education of a bachelor’s degree in your area of specialty. Obtaining certifications in Java, such as Oracle Certified Associate (OCA), Oracle Certified Professional (OCP) or Sun Certified Java Developer (SCJD) may allow you to command a higher salary than a degree alone.
• Experience: As with nearly any industry, the more experience you have as a Java developer, the higher the salary you can expect. Experience with developing high-profile projects may be worth more, salary-wise.
• Job scope: Different companies and organizations will have different requirements for Java developer positions. In general, more complex job descriptions will offer higher salaries. Here, the size of the company is also typically a factor — larger companies can often pay more for Java developers.
• Geographic location: Organizations within large cities such as Santa Cruz will often pay higher salaries than those in suburban or rural locations. In addition, geographic locations within the country affect salary — for example, East Coast and West Coast locations often have higher average salaries than the middle regions of the country.

3 COMPELLING REASONS TO HIRE FOR CULTURAL FIT : THE ARMADA GROUP

When it comes to hiring the right person, the hard skills and certifications are primary qualifiers. Certifications are the key identifiers on a resume, but it’s the business culture and soft skills that ensure long term employer/employee relationships yield long-term results. Having the ideal match, rather than someone who simply has the hard skills, will greatly produce long-term benefits. Here are three reasons to hire for cultural fit:

1. Increased productivity.

A candidate with a similar mindset of the business will have a more synergistic approach, and hence, a similar mindset on projects small and large. This will allow a worker to yield results that both require fewer edits and are more closely in line with business expectations.

2. Decreased friction.

Having a cultural fit decreases the amount of friction between employer and employee, and enables the business relationship to function more smoothly. A smoother relationship increases long-term job satisfaction, reducing turnover and lowering training costs. Furthermore, the strategic and long-term goals will coincide more directly with employers who share cultural similarities, eliminating potential hostilities.

3. Versatility and mobility.

Having an outstanding software developer who doesn’t share the company’s cultural fit can still develop software – but moving up or over is simply not an option. In order to maintain a company’s culture, leaders must hire and train within that culture. Any other mindset will diminish the cultural values, which can cause enormous amounts of tension and personality clashes among leadership – a sure way to inadvertently nullify a business’s strategic plan.

6 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES THAT WILL BOOST EMPLOYABILITY FOR DEVELOPERS

Learning a new programming language is a great strategy for any career-minded developer.

Opa: A unified, secure web app developer

Traditional web app creation involves three database components — browser-side, server-side, and backend — that are usually written in three different languages, and then connected together. Opa streamlines this process by allowing you to write the entire application within the Opa framework. A compiler automates client and server code creation, and also builds the communication structure to bridge them.

With Opa, you can customize the code if the automated compiler doesn’t produce the enforcements you need. It’s scalable, fully compatible with JavaScript, and uses automatic verification to reduce debugging time.

Scala: High flexibility for existing environments

While it’s not especially “new,” since it was introduced in 2003, business interest in Scala is currently on the rise. Scala is short for “scalable language,” and the platform is designed for easy use with any size project, from tiny programs to large-scale enterprise applications.

Developers enjoy using Scala because of its flexibility, ease of use, and high concurrency, while organizations are keen on its inter-operational capacities. Scala is compatible with Java and JVMs, as well as the Android platform. It also works with popular integrated development environments (IDEs) like NetBeans, Eclipse, and IntelliJ, as well as frameworks like Hibernate and Spring.

Erlang: Streamlining concurrency

Similar to Scala in that it’s not particularly new (the language was released in 1986 and open sourced in 1998), but it’s experiencing a rise in interest, Erlang is primarily designed to build large-scale applications with high availability. Some of the desirable features of this language include concurrency with popular platforms and environments, language-level features that help simplify concurrent programming, and hot swapping that enables code modification or updating without shutdown.

Go: The language of the cloud

This language, also known as Golang, has a fairly influential backer: Google. An open source, traditional language that’s similar to C, Go was written expressly for use in the cloud and includes built-in features like concurrency and garbage collection. It’s also a fast language, able to compile large applications on a single computer in just a few seconds.

As a programming language, Go has a steep learning curve. But it’s already been used to write well-known projects like Docker and Force.com, and interest in developers who can use Go is fairly high and increasing.

Dart: A better version of JavaScript

This open source language, also developed by Google, is intended to replace JavaScript. It’s fairly easy for developers who already know JavaScript to learn, and it has additional capacities that JS doesn’t — such as easy building for large-scale, multi-developer Web apps.

Currently, Dart applications can run in most popular browsers by cross-compiling to JavaScript, and they run automatically in Google’s Chrome browser through a built-in Dart VM.

Ceylon: The modular Java

While Ceylon is based on Java, it was designed to kill the popular programming language. Ceylon was developed specifically to enable teams to write large programs, so one of its key features is modularity. The language organizes code into modules and packages, and then compiles it to module archives, which are published in a central repository.

HIRING MANAGERS CARE MORE ABOUT PASSION THAN CREDENTIALS

Motivating factors play a primary role in any worker’s performance. When choosing a career in IT, some do it for the money, some for the enjoyment and satisfaction. Others like solving complex problems. Regardless of why, there’s one constant that every successful IT person has: Passion. Here are the top three reasons hiring managers care more about passion than credentials:

1. Technical expertise enables a worker, but it’s passion that drives someone. A professional who has a passionate drive about their occupation will do whatever it takes to be successful, to perform at their peak, and to learn the most about their job. Generally, someone with a CCNP has a higher degree of knowledge than another with a CCNA – but the person who has the CCNA will learn the CCNP position, and their drive will help them learn more comprehensively.

2. Passion finds a way around objects and challenges that frustrate expertise. This same drive motivates a worker to excel personally, not just professionally. This brings an automatic increase in perseverance, training, and discipline. People who enjoy their job are also more likely to acquire new information that, while it may not relate directly to the job, nonetheless increases performance.

3. Passion brings something to the table that technical expertise and credentials simply don’t. Having a “burned out” employee with any amount of expertise is still a disgruntled employee. Having a fire glowing inside of a candidate for what they do isn’t a “soft skill,” it’s a necessity. Passion is what will make a candidate acquire skills and knowledge when it’s not required, and what keeps a candidate up late working when the rest of the office is gone. Passion is what distinguishes an ordinary candidate for a growth driver.

Armada-5 Mobile Certifications to Advance Your Career

Smartphones have become the majority, rather than the minority, so everything from mobile security to app development is a hot skill on a resume. In light of that, here are the top five mobile certifications to advance your career.

1. Mobile App Sec+. -CompTIA holds the first two on this list. The Mobile App Sec+ certifies an owner’s/developer’s security ability. This can be attained in iOS or Android, and focuses on secure network communications and back-end development.

2. Mobility+.-CompTIA’s Mobility+ tests a more generalized variety of skills than the Mobile App Sec+. The Mobility+ certification is designed to ascertain MDM (mobile device management), troubleshooting, network infrastructure, and to do so securely.

3. Mobile Development Fundamentals.-While WinMo doesn’t carry the clout of Android and iOS, it still has thousands of apps. The MDF is a Microsoft Technology Associate certification that validates several computing languages needed to develop a Microsoft app.

4.  Java ME 1 Mobile Application Developer.-Java is one of the most widely used languages presently, and this long-winded certification is developed to ensure a candidate has a level of proficiency for Java mobile app development. It does require a prior certification of Java development (SE 5, 6, or 7).

5. Citrix Certified Professional – Mobility. -Citrix’s large market share validates this certification for mobile developers. The focus here is on design and implementation of enterprise solutions, especially those with BYOD and MDM solutions.

Mobility has earned its place in the spotlight as it sweeps through businesses. Device management, apps, security – there’s a broad field of needs that businesses must fulfill for optimal efficiency.

Job openings for Linux System Engineers in Silicon Valley by The Armada Group

Job openings of Linux System Engineers in Silicon Valley by The Armada Group

Are you looking for IT jobs in Mountain View ? The Armada Group has Job opening for you !

The last few years, there has been a particular shortage of Linux engineers in Silicon Valley. This has caused a major skill vacuum as hundreds of jobs go unfilled. Considering the vast majority of enterprise and business applications run off Linux, as well as most servers, this creates a problem for employers.

Regardless of which Linux skill or experience you have, Linux engineers are high in demand in Silicon Valley. The Armada Group can help you find the next step in your career. Regardless of which Linux skills you have, we can help you find a very competitive career opportunity. The Armada Group is best it staffing firms and top consulting firms in Santa Cruz and worked with best it companies in bay area.

To address the occupational shortages – which are accompanied by lucrative salaries – many IT professionals and software engineers have switched from other areas to Linux, and many students have graduated with a focus on learning and entering Linux. If you’re considering moving to Linux, here are 3 skills (among many – the choice was difficult) you’ll need to know.

1. Java is one of the foremost programming languages in the world, and arguably the first true object oriented language. The demand for programmers/developers in Java is astronomical, and the pay rewards accordingly. Whether you’re planning on being a Java developer, or another Linux area entirely, it will benefit you to learn at least the basics (and probably a little more) of Java.

2. OpenStack is an open source cloud computing project which runs off Apache source code. Cloud computing, along with Big Data, have been incredibly influential and have revolutionized the last few years in computer science and IT structures. Understanding Open Stack will prove very marketable, and work on open source projects make you stand out from the crowd.

3. MySQL query language has proven to be incredibly helpful, especially in the exploding days of big data. Because of the vast amounts of data available, having a solid database is becoming more and more crucial for businesses to operate and effectively compete. Therefore, having skill in MySQL is greatly beneficial for job availability.

Our Honorable Mention goes to Apache as the most widely used HTTP server, making it incredibly important to know. Apache is also open-source, and often runs on Linux.

If you are looking for Linux based job opportunities in Mountain View, contactThe Armada Group today.

Jobs by The Armada Group for Java Developers in Mountain View, California | Salary Data

Java has been around since the 90’s, but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the world’s foremost object oriented programming languages, even in Silicon Valley it still booms. With the tech boom the last decade in Silicon Valley areas (Santa Cruz and San Jose)or so, IT has positively exploded once the average person realized how revolutionary his careers would be. Along with this explosion was the abundance of new jobs. Now, twenty years later (has it been that long?) Java has evolved into a lucrative and defined (no pun intended) field.

As there is much debate as to the differences between programmers and developers, we will report numbers for both. Here are some of Palo Alto’s salaries for Java Developers positions by The Armada Group.

If you’re new to Java, and have very little or no experience, it is a great place to begin – and with an average salary of $66,600 for a Java Programmer I, there are certainly worse entry-level career paths. But most of the candidates are hired by top consulting firms and best it staffing firms in silicon valley like The Armada Group. The lower 25% still brings in $59,500, whereas the upper 25% yields $75,500. Not too shabby, Palo Alto, not too shabby.

After 3-5 years, it’s time to move up in the world to Java Programmer II. The mean income rises to $83,400, and the lower quartile rakes in $73,500. Finally, the highest quartile brings home $94,300.

As a Java Programmer III, or Senior Programmer (generally 5-10 years in) the average jumps to $103,600. The upper and lower quartiles are $14,700 and $93,000 respectively. There are certainly worse ways to earn a living.

On the Development side, the average is $99,000, with $83,100 and $110,600 as the outliers. (One can debate about what “Developer” means, but the general consensus is that developers attend more meetings. While it may or may not be true, it does pay more, to be sure.) Most people in this position have 3-5 years’ experience and a strong background in Java programming.

As a Senior, there is (naturally) a sizable pay increase. As a senior Java Developer, one can reasonably expect to be offered $114,800, although between $101,700 and $132,800 are all possible, depending on experience and company. The top 10% net $149,148, though it’s doubtful their experience level is 5-*10 years like the rest of the senior positions.

Regardless of where you are in your career, Java is an incredibly important computing language that pays well, especially around Silicon Valley. And we want to help you get there.

At The Armada Group, we specialize in elite, we are best talent solution provider in Silicon Valley. We work with some of the most innovative ad fastest growing companies in the world, and we recruit for a variety of roles and positions. If you are looking for java developer jobs in Mountain View, The Armada Group today.

Front End Developer Salaries in San Jose ca by The Armada Group

Front-End Developer Job Salaries in Silicon Valley by The Armada Group

According to The Armada Group from last few years, it’s really not necessary to discuss how the explosion of the Internet has created a massive amount oftech jobs in Silicon Valley California. What they’re paying, however, is certainly worth discussing.

The Armada Group have collected a few statistics from different sources (namely, Salary.com ) and put together some numbers for web development jobs in Silicon Valley CA, so you can see where they stand.

When examining a salary, finding a base of reference is necessary. In this case, $89,300 is the average of a Front End Developer in Silicon Valley according toSalary.com. This generally encompasses between 1-5 years of experience. The National Average is $73,900 – a substantial drop in comparison.

In contrast, some best IT companies in Bay Area have front end developers brings in around $101,100, with the same amount of experience. Compared to the national average ‘s top 25% of $83,600, this is a 20% increase for working in Silicon Valley. Even in the bottom quartile, the national average is $64,100, compared to Silicon Valley’s lucrative $77,600. While the change isn’t as noticeable here in raw numbers, it still maintains a 20% competitive edge.

After a few years of experience (generally 5-10), an IT professional qualifies as a senior role. This brings a considerable pay raise: $105,000/year on average is the new Silicon Valley based employee salary which are recruited by best IT Staffing firms in Silicon Valley. Compare this to the national average – $86,900. (We can’t help but point out that the average Silicon Valley Front End Developer makes as much as a Senior Front End Developer elsewhere).

Even at the higher Sr. quadrant, where the national average is $97,200, Silicon Valley trumps their gross at $117,500.

At the end of the day, numbers cannot lie (as those frustrating errors demonstrate so frequently). Front End Development pays and it pays well & most of them are recruited by top consulting firms in Santa Cruz like The Armada Group.

At The Armada Group, we recruit the most talented developers for the fastest growing and most innovative companies in the world. If you are interested in front end developer jobs in San Jose, contact The Armada Group today. The Armada Group is Best Talent Solution Provider In Silicon Valley.

Top Tech Candidates in Silicon Valley

Product Manager

 

• Highly organized and results oriented business leader.
• Over 10 years of Technical Product Management experience. 
• Extensive experience with Product Life Cycle Management, Saas, REST, API’s, Ruby on Rails, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.  
• Worked for Razorfish, RockYou, eBay, and TEK Systems.  
• MBA in Global Marketing from University of Kansas. 

 

System Engineer

 

• Joined one of the hottest start-ups in the Bay Area during their explosive growth period.  
• Was responsible for installation, implementation, and maintenance of their COLO housed at Equinix. 
• Savvy with Juniper, Cisco, and F5 network equipment. 
• Holds a CCNA and JNCIA. 
• Built out their Layer 2 switch environment to a Layer 3 environment with minimal downtime.  
• Implemented a variety of network monitoring tools (Nagios, Splunk, and Cacti)  

 

Graphic Designer

 

• Graphic Designer with over four years of in-house corporate marketing background for luxury brands, nine years of operations management, and a passion for technology. 
• Knowledgeable in the significance of branding, designing cleanly with attention to fine details, and execution around a user experience.
• He has experience designing and coding promotional landing pages, micro sites, and email campaigns. 
• Developed branding for new company initiatives and ventures. 
• Worked with Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Dreamweaver CC, Adobe Illustrator CC, Adobe InDesign CC, Adobe Photoshop CC, ExactTarget Email, Final Cut Pro X and HTML/CSS. 
• He is driven by raw passion for the arts of digital communication and design. Has a certification from Art Institute of California, Sunnyvale, CA.

 

Sr. UI Engineer 

 

• 10+ years of front-end analysis, design, development, testing and deployment experience working with companies like McAfee, BlackArrow, AT&T, and Intuit. 
• Proficient in hand coding semantic markup using HTML5, JavaScript, CSS.
• Expertise in handling cross browser compatibility and image optimization.
• Excellent in analyzing, problem solving and good communication and leadership skills.
• Used Photoshop, Fireworks for slicing the images.
• Experienced in Visual source safe, Perforce, CVS, Morant, and Subclipse for version control.
• Developed user centric Internet, Intranet applications with B2B and B2C focus using HTML, JavaScript, CSS.
• Assisted with functional designs, design review, coding, testing and product documentation.
• Effective communication with client, cross-functional teams to achieve project priorities/timelines.
• Team oriented and self starter.
• Familiarity with SEO operation and techniques.
• Knowledge of DOM scripting, progressive enhancement and graceful degradation.
• Knowledge of Twitter bootstrap, Backbone.js and Mustache.js.
• Responsive Web Design Using CSS3 Media Queries.
• Certificate course in Graphics from Big Byte Computer Institute - Mumbai.
• Certificate course in Java from SSI Computer Institute – Mumbai.
• Brainbench certified in CSS 2.0. 

                                        The Armada Group Reviews

How to Partner With a Staffing Agency in Silicon Valley

If we’re being honest about ourselves, we try to fit a 12-hour day into eight or nine hours. It’s not just you; it’s the IT field in general. It stands to reason that IT professionals gain the most when they maximize time in their areas of expertise, and minimize time in the areas that other experts can perform on a higher level.

There’s always a SQL database to maintain, or a network to patch – and there’s always an empty occupation to be filled, but there are better things you could be doing to lighten your load without stressing out over a vacancy.

So, like anyone performing at maximum efficiency, you partner with a staffing firm. What’s next?

1. Consultation. This allows the firm to analyze current staffing situation compared to optimal productivity. The agency develops an understanding of your operations as well as the peculiar and unique methods that set you apart from other businesses. This is arguably the most crucial step, as the efficacy of the partnership relies on a complete understanding.
2. Collaboration. After the agency comprehensively understands your needs, the firm and your business collectively create and implement a plan of the next steps. The agency understands both the IT portion AND the recruiting facets; hence, it is important to trust your agency here – they know what works!
3. Implementation. This is the handoff period. This is where the agency starts putting the system you’ve jointly created into place. The Silicon Valley staffing agency is able to use their developed talent network to find you top candidates for your positions.
4. Work. With the firm now fully handling your recruiting plan, you can get back to the 1s & 0s, default gateways, and PHP source code. This is where the firm operates and refines the plan, based on the comprehensive solution. This also reduces operating costs and lowers churn (and coincidentally, your blood pressure).

All staffing firms are not created equal. That’s why we’re here. At the Armada Group, we’re a Silicon Valley based IT staffing firm, specializing in on-demand solutions, and while our full, proprietary methodology is a little more involved, it has won us several awards, including “Best of Staffing,” several years in a row. The Armada Group also offer a complimentary 8 point consultation to benefit you, and to demonstrate our subject matter expertise so you’ll see why we’re the best. If you are looking for a Silicon Valley based staffing agency, contact The Armada Group.

Social Media Branding for Silicon Valley Job Seekers

Businesses make or lose money by image. And that image costs a significant amount of money to create and maintain using branding.

And it works. Brilliantly.

So, don’t reinvent the wheel; brand yourself as a candidate if you’re on the hunt. And, as an IT professional, what better way than to do so using social media? (HINT: there isn’t one) Here are a few tips to help you along the way:

• Keep your LinkedIn profile clean and polished. This is likely to be the first site a recruiter will check. Also, make sure it includes keywords a recruiter will be likely to search for. In this case, it’s perfectly acceptable to use some tech jargon as long as there’s still plain English somewhere in there.

• Clean up your Facebook, especially any crazy college years. No future employer wants to see a picture of you performing keg stands just a few short years ago. This also applies to lewd memes or profanity.

• Don’t appear desperate. Maybe I’m judgmental, but when I see a name like “Joe Looking For Work Smith” on LinkedIn, it’s not good, and certainly not professional. I would probably – no, definitely – veto that candidate immediately. Clean and polished.

• Create a video. Ever see a video on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter? Exactly. They’re becoming more and more popular; this is one way you can certainly stand out. Embed it into your media presence, or create a YouTube video with a link in your profile.

• Participate on IT specific forums, and demonstrate your subject matter expertise. It should go without saying to use the same sort of language and tone that one would use in an office setting.

• Contribute to open source projects. There are TONS out there, and while this looks good on a resume anyway as experience, it allows you to interact within a community that may know someone. IT is a huge small world.

• Let people know you’re looking. But, as we mentioned above, don’t be obnoxious about it. There are times to be direct, and times to be subtle – your relationship with the person you’re talking to will be a defining factor. A periodic update letting your connections, followers or friends know that you have a lot to offer helps, too.

• Be positive, and be confident. It can be difficult for unemployed candidates to stay positive – but it’s necessary. The technology world has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation.

If you’re unemployed, we’re here to help you. At the Armada Group, we maintain a wide variety of world class talent with skills just like yours. The Armada Group also work with some of the largest and fastest growing companies in the world, and we want to help you find the right career opportunity. If you are looking software developer jobs in Silicon Valley, contact The Armada Group today

5 Mistakes Technical Hiring Managers Make

There seems to be a stigma attached to hiring that, in today’s economy, anyone can find a qualified IT candidate, to the dismay of many great HR professionals. The IT industry has an enormous skills gap where many managers simply cannot find enough qualified candidates. Consequentially, it’s not uncommon to find candidates in a position where they’re underqualified or simply in the wrong place for a mutually beneficial career opportunity.

Often, a skilled recruiter or staffing agency is able to avoid these situations. The problem often arises when one has a particular IT talent, but doesn’t have the required understanding of hiring and recruiting. Here are five mistakes technical managers make while recruiting.

1. Keywords can be learned overnight. Often, technical managers listen for certain acronyms or keywords to vet a candidate – just because a candidate is able to define a “variable” in a colloquial sentence doesn’t mean they’re a Java programmer. Knowing how to declare a variable and write an if/then statement doesn’t lend them any credence.
2. A week of lost productivity is bad. Several months are worse. If you’re looking for a networking technician, taking the first person with a CCNA doesn’t always make sense. Make sure they have experience and referencesto back it up. Many technical managers want to fill a spot yesterday. If you don’t maintain a list of passive candidates, it will take time to find the right fit.
3. Hiring underqualified personnel. This isn’t always as simple as it seems. Initially, it seems very straightforward – does the applicant know the subject matter and have the degree or certification required? Rooting out who is really qualified is something that takes practice and skill. A resume says only so much; experience in asking the right questions – and listening for the right answers- is paramount.
4. Talk too much. The interviewer should be asking the questions and listening to the answers. Many technical managers like to ask a few basic questions then rave about the advantages of their company and their job for the remaining allotted time.
5. Hire the wrong business culture. Skills are the obvious first priority – but hiring the right person also entails the candidate with a viewpoint and methodology that is in lockstep with the company and team. The wrong culture and mindset can cause personality clashes and generally raises the likelihood of turnover, thus costing more money.

Technical managers have a wealth of experience in their role – and there’s something to be said about that. However, it’s also fair to say that their role is not hiring, but managing current employees.

No matter what your recruiting process is, we can help. The Armada Group is a Silicon Valley based staffing agency specializing in many areas of on-demand talent. We specialize in bringing the most elite candidates to some of thefastest growing and most innovative companies in the world. Contact The Armada Group today to see how we can help you. If you are looking for a technical recruiting agency in Silicon Valley, contact The Armada Group today.

Microsoft Certifications – Which Ones are Right for You?

For some reason, the IT industry places a different emphasis on certificationsthan other industries. Perchance it’s because there are so many “self-taught” IT professionals who understand the subject matter but never set foot in college. Or perhaps it’s because IT is such a wide vertical that even a degree can’t teach you everything. Whatever the case, there’s no doubt that certifications provide one of the best measures of demonstrating subject matter expertise.

With that in mind, your career path will help determine which certifications are right for you. Here are some of Microsoft’s certifications to help advance your career:

MTA, or Microsoft Technology Associate, is the most basic MS certification, and usually entails an entry-level (if even that) understanding of the subject matter. The MTA is presently offered in Server, Desktop, Database, and Developer categories. The MTA by itself will not likely land you a job, but it may help familiarize you if you’re new to the field.

MCSA (Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate) is a more common “entry-level” certificate and proves a solid understanding of the fundamentals. This is widely accepted as the standard in beginning an IT career, and is offered in servers (Windows Servers 2008 and 2012) desktop, (Windows 7 and 8) applications and database roles.

After the MCSA is the MCSE (or MCSD for developers) which is a notch above, and is the pinnacle of Microsoft’s certifications since the retirement of MCM/MCSM/MCA programs at the first of the year. The Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert certification is for the elite, and requires documented hands-on experience – as well as the MCSA – prior to testing. Servers, databases, and developers (MCSD) all have this as an option.

The Microsoft Office Specialist and MOS Expert are unique to the applications field. The MOS is the base; while MCSA is the middle and MOS (Expert) is at the top.

When examining credentials, the most important factor to consider is “where will this take me, and is it worth the time, effort, and cost?” The best way to discern the above is to plan out a career path with where you want to be, and then ascertain which certifications will get you there.

This is when talking to a staffing agency becomes the logical next step. At The Armada Group, we know what certifications are important, and as we deal with many different talents, we can help you in terms of finding the right career opportunity for you. We work with some of the most innovative and fastest-growing companies in the world, and we want to help you find the opportunities you’re looking for, and develop the experience along the way. If you are looking for technical employment in Silicon Valley, contact The Armada Group today.