The Reason for Becoming a Web developer

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Hume

Web development – everyone has got a website who needs one, so there’s no need to learn how to do it! Wrong! Websites are being developed & deployed at an alarming rate for 1000′s of businesses every week. Not only that but once deployed they need to be constantly updated, refined and maintained to keep the public coming back to them and to keep their positions within the search engine results!

So how do you develop and maintain a 1000 page website being constantly updated by multiple members of staff within a company? How do implement the new marketing look and feel across all those pages?

Gone are the days of creating each page individually from HTML, European standards have been agreed for accessibility and readability and content has had to separated from the structure to allow none programmers to add their material onto the sites – but who checks what is being posted that could damage the company brand?

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Becoming an Expert in Digital Project Management

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Hume

In the current climate being an effective project manager takes a lot of skills, not only do the basics of delivering on time & to budget but with the vast array of project types and sectors it has become very hard for a project manager to shift between project types without being able to show knowledge of that project type, hence the fear of being ‘pigeon holed’ which may be OK for a while if there is plenty of projects on the horizon but you do not want to become a one trick pony!

So how do you adapt and stay up to date? Well there are the normal accreditations for the larger methodologies like Prince 2 or PMP and there are always new versions of Microsoft Project to learn how to use but these will not give you the edge for long. What would keep you busy with numerous project types is the field of digital media, rapidly expanding at the present time with lots of creative talent but very little project management determining costs of ‘one last change request’ and impact on the delivery schedule or adding support for feature X on the IPad 2 to a simultaneous application release across multiple platforms.

But to do this you need to understand the implications of these changes and the numbers of staff effected by the change and this can only happen if you have a grounding in the technologies and approach of these new businesses for application or website development – where competition for coding a innovative effect or being the first to implement a feature is the norm – i.e. The rules of project risk are different. Even the role of the project manager is different within these companies – being one of facilitator & problem eliminator to teams of self organising creative developers.

 

Posted in Mobile Application Development | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mobile Application Development: Using multi platform toolkit approach

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Hume

With Apple releasing the IPad 2 in March with enhanced capabilities the pressure is now on for other tablet manufactures to tweak their designs to gain market share. Although the google Android platform had provided a raft of new tablets based on version 2.1 & 2.2 they appear to have only made a minimal impact on the Apple sales machine – so strong is the brand. Famous laptop brands HP & Acer are providing variants on the windows operating system – with a clever convertible tablet / laptop being made available from Acer. Battery life vs facilities vs thickness appears to have been won by Apple again.

Another version of the Apple operating system IO4.3 will be released with the iPad 2 which will have to be incorporated into our multi platform toolkits. But this is the beauty of the multi platform toolkit approach.

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Online Marketing Is Taking Over

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Hume

The marketing world is changing – never before have opportunities as cost effective, targeted and efficient been available to businesses of all shapes and sizes. As traditional marketing methods are abandoned and the online world takes over, the challenge for most organisations is to find the right technical approach to maximize their own online potential.

We provide courses aimed at providing all the foundations for online marketing, from online delivery to back office analysis. A successful candidate will be able to enable a business’s web, emarketing and social media tools to co-exist in a single integrated platform. Without these elements working together an online marketing strategy will ultimately lead to a constant battle of manual processes and missed opportunities.

It is becoming clear that graduates without any work experience in the UK will struggle to secure employment.  According to the Graduate Market in 2011 report by High Fliers, three fifths of employers believe that those with no previous work experience are highly unlikely to find a job.  One in three entry-level jobs is likely to be filled by graduates who have already worked for a company through work placements or similar schemes. According to the report, employers want evidence that applicants have practical experience. Our courses are specifically designed to address this by providing guaranteed work experience to all participants.

Many recruiters commented that irrespective of the academic results that a graduate had achieved, it would be very hard for an applicant to demonstrate the skills and competencies that they were looking for if they’d not had any prior work experience,” the study noted. Hume’s innovative approach to its courses and to looking to bridge the skills gap will give keen and enthusiastic individuals the chance to develop their dream careers.

Posted in Digital Marketing & PR | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Have iternships and work experience become a key into many professional careers?

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Hume

The recent survey on fair access to the professions highlighted how internships and work experience has become a key route into many professional careers. Many of the graduate job seekers say that during or after the work placements, the employer offered them a contract or encouraged them to apply for a job role – in some cases to apply to their graduate training scheme. Sometimes, the work placement and the personal contacts created during this time means that the graduate could to a certain extent sidestep normal recruitment and selection processes, or at least have a distinctive advantage over any other potential candidates. One example of this is a student being notified about vacancies in advance.

In the survey, work experience is demonstrated to be an important way to get noticed by employers. Not everyone connects their placement with getting a job at the same employer as some respondents did placements in for instance the same sector but not with their current employer. The work experience enabled these students to gain sector knowledge and contacts to use in pursuing employment opportunities.

“I did a work placement year working for a similar employer and got to know the names of competitors. Through searching the websites of other companies and the areas they specialise in I decided to join current employer” said one student. What the graduates’ experiences do emphasise is how useful work experience is for students and that not only does it allow them to acquire skills, knowledge and contacts, it also allows them to explore job roles, careers and their interests.

 

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Career in New Media Industry: Does Work Experience Matter?

Posted on March 12, 2011 by Hume

There is nothing that irritates most graduate job seekers like the part of a job advert that is mentioning work experience required for job vacancies. Many graduates job seekers wonder where on earth do people get work experience or how can a recent graduate secure work placement to get more relevant experience to satisfy the employers requirements. However, how do you get work experience without doing a gap year?

According to research, many graduate job seekers who take a gap year after university are facing a “career crisis”, because they are taking low-paid admin jobs. Whilst graduate unemployment in the UK is at a 15-year high and the labour market is flooded with new job seekers, employers can take their pick of the best of the best. More than 45 students are expected to compete for each graduate job this year. It is a fact that graduates, who have not bothered to secure work placements whilst at university or college stand “little or no” chance of getting a job. IT was the most difficult degree with which to get employment in 2010. Media studies graduates were facing the second highest level of unemployment amongst university leavers in the UK. The research however showed that that in 2010 only 7 percent of UKs IT and Media graduates had relevant professional skills. It is also true that Media was the industry that graduates of 2010 most wanted to work in. A remarkable 15.2% of students stated they had either applied or planned to go into the industry.

One thing you will need to understand is the reality that by the time the employers or recruitment agents put forth the advert, they are certain that the job market out there has many fresh job seekers with relevant professional skills. So, what is the solution?

To bridge this gap we have launched five new professional courses with arranged work experience aimed specifically at IT, Media and Marketing graduates and those looking for careers in new media and creative industries. Using our strong connections with a number of burgeoning new media companies who are willing to offer our interns work placements with a view to eventual employment, we can help you land your dream career in this competitive industry!

 

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