Getting involved with the IT, or Internet Technology industry, is a way for you to break into a variety of potential coveted career paths and job openings. Whether you prefer working with the back-end of programming or if you enjoy improve user experience while browsing online, there are many different in-demand IT skills that are useful to obtain today if you are seeking a career in the tech industry yourself.

Cloud Computing

Working with cloud computing, otherwise known as "the cloud", requires you to work within various types of servers that store and access data globally from any location. With the increase in mobile usage, cloud computing is becoming even more prevalent in today's society. When you want to work with cloud computing, understanding the basics of programming and network security is a must. Working in cloud computing is a way to help with building new applications, expanding companies online as well as allowing anyone internationally to locate and access a specific blog, website or mobile app.

UX Design

UX Design is also known as user experience design. A user experience designer specializes in understanding the usability and overall experience a web visitor has when browsing on a site or blog. UX design is essential to ensure that all visitors on a website are capable of navigating the blog properly and accessing the site's content with ease, regardless of the browser they are using or the type of device that is being used to access the site itself. Cross-browser compatibility and ensuring that all websites you are working with are accessible via mobile platforms is another responsibility of many UX designers today. Working in UX design is highly recommended if you believe you have an eye for "good" web design and if you have an interest in improving the overall experience web users for a specific audience have when visiting the blog or website you represent or that you are building for yourself.

IT Security

IT security is one of the fastest-growing positions throughout the entire IT industry and field. IT security requires you to understand network infrastructures as well as how to properly manage each server individually to provide security and protection from potential hackers and online thieves looking to steal sensitive data and information. Maintaining the security of a network and all servers for a company is only becoming more popular with the expansion of mobile phone usage along with the growth of the Internet altogether.

Understanding the variety of IT skills that are in demand today can help you to better decide on a path that is right for you. The more you understand about various IT skills, the easier it is to find a position or career in your future that is most suitable for the type of work you enjoy. Whether you are looking to develop new apps or if you are interested in managing the security of company servers, there are hundreds of positions and skills that are in demand in the IT industry today.

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Once again Java tops C as the number one sought after programming language on the internet.  According TIOBE Programming Community Index for February 2013 and five search engines: Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, Amazon, YouTube and Baidu, Java regained its position after being bumped by C in May 2012.

Despite the recent urging by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of computer users to disable or uninstall Java due to a flaw in Runtime Environment (JRE) 7, Java, has increased its market share of all languages by (+2.03%) in the past six months. The jump in Java’s popularity does not come as a surprise as the Android OS claims massive success in the mobile space.  The top twelve programming languages listed in the index are:

1.  Java
2.  C
3.  Objective-C 
4.  C++
5.  C#
6.  PHP
7.  Python
8.  (Visual) Basic
9.  Perl
10.  Ruby
11. Java Script
12. Visual Basic.NET

Also rising, Python and PHP which are competing to becoming the most popular interpreted language.

Big data is now in an incredibly important part of how many major businesses function. Data analysis, or the finding of facts from large volumes of data, helps businesses make many of their important decisions. Companies that conduct business on a national or international scale rely on big data in order to plot the general direction of their business. The concept of big data can be very confusing due to the sheer scale of information involved.  By following a few simple guidelines, even the layman can understand big data and its impacts on everyday life.

What Exactly is Big Data?

Just about everyone can understand the concept of data. Data is information, and information is everywhere in the modern world. Anytime you use any piece of technology you are making use of data. Anytime you read a book, skim the newspaper or listen to music you are also making use of data. Your brain interprets and organizes data constantly from your senses and your thoughts.

Big data, much like its name infers, simply describes this same data on a large sale. The internet allowed the streaming, sharing and collecting of data on a scale never before imaginable and storage technology has allowed ever increasing hoards of data to be accumulated. In order for something to be considered “big data” it must be at least 10 terabytes or more of information. To put that in perspective, consider that 10 terabytes represents the entire printed collection of material in the Library of Congress. What’s even more remarkable is that many businesses work with far more than the minimum 10 terabytes of data. UPS stores over 16 petabytes of data about its packages and customers. That’s 16,000 terabytes or the equivalent to 1,600 printed libraries of congress. The sheer amount of that data is nearly impossible for a human to comprehend, and analysis of this data is only possible with computers.

How do Big Data Companies Emerge?

All of this information comes from everywhere on the internet. The majority of the useful data includes customer information, search engine logs, and entries on social media networks to name a few. This data is constantly generated by the internet at insane rates. Specified computers and software programs are created and operated by big data companies that collect and sort this information. These programs and hardware are so sophisticated and so specialized that entire companies can be dedicated to analyzing this data and then selling it to other companies. The raw data is distilled down into manageable reports that company executives can make use of when handling business decisions.

The Top Five:

These are the five biggest companies, according to Forbes, in the business of selling either raw data reports or analytics programs that help companies to compile their own reports.

1. Splunk
Splunk is currently valued at $186 million.  It is essentially a program service that allows companies to turn their own raw data collections into usable information.

2. Opera Solutions
Opera Solutions is valued at $118 million. It serves as a data science service that helps other companies to manage the raw data that pertains to them. They can offer either direct consultation or cloud-based service.

3. Mu Sigma
Mu Sigma is valued at $114 million.  It is a slightly smaller version of Opera Solutions, offering essentially the same types of services.

4. Palantir
Palantir is valued at $78 million.  It offers data analysis software to companies so they can manage their own raw data analysis.

5. Cloudera
Cloudera is valued at $61 million.  It offers services, software and training specifically related to the Apahce Hadoop-based programs.

The software and services provided by these companies impact nearly all major businesses, industries and products. They impact what business offer, where they offer them and how they advertise them to consumers. Every advertisement, new store opening or creation of a new product is at least somewhat related to big data analysis. It is the directional force of modern business.

Sources:
http://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/big-data/what-is-big-data.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2013/02/22/top-ten-big-data-pure-plays/

http://www.whatsabyte.com/

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Python is an incredibly powerful and useful computer programming language that many of the biggest websites in the world rely on for their foundation. Python provides reliable results that are functional and involve a variety of dynamic scripted and non-scripted contexts. And because it is free and open source, it has remained a popular choice for a variety of different developers who are looking to build new sites on one of the most reliable languages available. Here is a look at 10 of the most famous software programs that are written in Python and what they do.

YouTube
If you love watching hours of homemade and professional quality video clips on YouTube, you can thank Python for giving you that option. The foundation for Python helped YouTube integrate streaming videos into their pages, as well as the ability to like videos and embed certain information. YouTube is one of the most popular sites on the Internet, and it runs off of one of the most powerful languages in Python.

DropBox
What started as a powerful app, DropBox is now used by a variety of individuals, businesses, companies, organizations and more. This program lets you save files to a cloud-based service, that you can then access from anywhere in the world. With Python at the root of DropBox, there is no longer a need for USB sticks or blank CDs, since you can now save and share everything with your cloud-based account.

Google
It takes a lot of power to be able to handle the most popular search engine in the entire world. That is why Google uses Python for its mainframe foundation, as well as in addition to various apps that it runs in conjunction with the main site. The ease that Google provides for finding certain information, would be impossible without Python at the core.

Quora
Got a question? Ask it on Quora. This site compiles a list of questions and answers that come from a community of individuals. Those questions are then organized by various members of the community, which puts the most relevant information at the top. The creators of Quora, who happened to be former Facebook employees, decided to use Python to help them create the world’s best Magic 8 ball in Quora.

Instagram
If you love taking photos of your food or a new outfit and posting it online for all of your friends to see, you can thank Python for that ability. Granted, Instagram has both a very powerful app and a website, but the latter runs on Python language. The system allows for users to browse, find and post pictures that they like on the site.

BitTorrent
BitTorrent has evolved quite a bit in recent years, but its foundation and earlier years were built on Python. When it comes to one of the largest databases of knowledge, media and content, BitTorrent is the way to go. But you wouldn’t be able to get any of those lectures or other legal stuff that you are downloading from BitTorrent, if it wasn’t for Python.

Spotify
Spotify changed the music game when it allowed you to listen to ad-free music of your choice. This wasn’t a program where you got to select a playlist, but rather full songs that you love, on repeat as many times as you can imagine, if you so desire. But whether you are rocking out to the latest K-Pop song from Psy or a classic jazz tune, you are doing so because Spotify was built on Python.

Reddit
Reddit is one of the biggest open communities on the web. You have a question, want to talk about something in specific, or find tons of information regarding a particular topic, you can just look on Reddit. The site relies on Python to help them store user names, categorize subreddits, upload links to GIFs and, of course, award gold to valued posters.

Yahoo Maps
Much like Google, Yahoo also uses Python for a variety of different resources. Most valued may be Yahoo Maps. The API and programming behind the maps program, which is built with Python, allows for users to find locations, get directions and even find reviews about local places.

Hipmunk
If you love to travel, you have likely come across Hipmunk. And while the site lets you save money on booking your itinerary through Hipmunk, it is Python that keeps everything organized. Python also helps sort the best discounts and rates, so you can get the best packages available.

Python is an incredibly powerful tool for web development. More and more sites rely on it, including 10 of the most powerful sites in the world that are listed here.

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