freelancer

Talentopoly is a community for programmers, designers, developers, and IT professionals. The site provides a great platform for sharing resources, links, code samples, or networking online. The elevator pitch: “where talented people go to share their best links. No longer do you have to manage lists on Twitter, likes on Facebook or bookmarking in your browser. Talentopoly is about sharing information…” Read a review about talentopoly on www.mostinspired.com.

Last week we wrote about the study conducted by the university of Hagen dealing with similarities and differences between freelance and permanent employees.  The scientists came to the conclusion that freelancers are not less content with their working life than permanent employees.

In the second part of the survey of the university of Hagen the reserchers analyzed where the differences between freelancers and permanent employees are. Therefore in the second part 103 freelancers and permanent employees working in IT, media,training and journalism were surveyed. In the following you will find the most significant points regarding the general level of satisfaction.

Freelancers are less satisfied when it comes to:
1. their work life balance

2. their general life situation

3. their order/booking situation

However freelancers seem to be more content about:
1. their choice of employment

2. their career

3. their salaries

Particularly striking is the difference in how the quality of their activities is viewed by freelancers and permanent employees: freelancers tend to be extraordinarily satisfied in this point.

What are the most important factors motivating freelancers as well as permanent employees?
“Varying tasks” are a motivational factor which is valued higher by permanent employees than by freelancers. Important motivational factors for both groups were “personal responsibility”,  “independence” and “creative work”, the “autonomous time management” as well as the “task itself”. “Status”, “recognition “and “income” seem to be less important.

What is your experience – do you agree with the scientists main results? If you don’t agree what is your point of view?

Based on: elektronikpraxis.vogel.de

Skills shortage has been in the news for quite some time now. The VDI (Verband Deutscher Ingenieure – association of german engineers) has recently conducted a survey questioning 450 experts from various fields in the IT sector and came to the conclusion that the skills shortage in the IT sector is viewed as a serious problem.

According to the annual survey the biggest lack of experts is found in the field of software development, followed by IT-project management, IT-security, Consulting and Support. The hardware sector is not facing serious shortages in human ressources.

So what is done to counteract these growing shortages, that are thought to increase even further until 2015: Development programmes for young talents are essential on the long run. By now companies are already finding ways to solve the problem e.g. by hiring specialised staff from abroad, by providing professional training and development for their employees or by outsourcing of services.

Eventhough the skills shortage is likely to exacerbate over the next years, 2/3 of the respondents view the location of  Germany in terms of business and industry as good or very good.

The trend of skills shortage might be problematic for some, but especially for freelancing experts it might also bring full order books. Even better if those freelancers are specialised in the fields that are having a great potential for growth: cloud computing, IT-security, embedded systems and broadband infrastructure.

Based on VDI: http://www.vdi-nachrichten.com/vdi-nachrichten/aktuelle_ausgabe/akt_ausg_detail.asp?cat=1&id=52095&source=rubrik

The high tech world seems to be happy with the achievements of this years CeBIT:

4200 companies from 70 countries were exhibiting and a number of 339000 visitors from about 90 different countries came to see what news the high tech industry holds in store. Both figures have increased slightly compared to 2010.

Furthermore over 500 CIOs were present and more than 7 million contacts were made. 8000 visitors were interested in the speeches and talks held at the CeBIT global conferences.

One of the main topics  “Work and Life with the Cloud” was published at the right time and had it’s fingers on the pulse of the time. Apart from Cloud Computing hot topics were evolving around tablets, smartphones, mobile business solutions, IT security and 3D.

A regional emphasis was put on this years partnering country Turkey – over 90 exhibitors were taking part and were meeting up with a growing number of international visitors.

Impressive numbers and facts – the CeBIT seems to be one of the main attractions and the place to be for everyone active or interested in high tech trends.

projektwerk CEO Dr. Christiane Strasse says “meeting freelancers and corporate representatives at the CeBIT is always interesting and very beneficial to our business.”

What is your opinion: As an IT freelancer is it crucial for you to be present at the CeBIT? Do you profit in terms of business or is it more about staying informed?

Based on: CeBIT Abschlussbericht

Fair wages and a decisive, unanimous project management are the main motivational factors for IT freelancers, so far the results of a survey of IT job boards among 99 IT professionals.

Additionally IT professionals tend to be more motivated at the end of a project than at the beginning. The reason for this is the prospect of the feeling of satisfaction, that occurs when completing a project. For 93% of the respondents, productivity means to produce as much as possible and not to finalize one thing that one can show off in front of the chef.

Another motivational factor is money (important for 46%). So is time pressures of colleagues who are waiting for results (57%). An early finishing time seems to be rather unimportant and was only mentioned by 16% of the respondents as a motivational support.

Many IT experts stated that writing to-do lists on a daily basis is very helpful to them. With those lists you would have a little success in every evening, you would have achieved something and feel more motivated..

The main motivational killers are ambiguous instructions according to 85 percent of the respondents.

However, loud noises or simply a bad mood can harm the motivation. Distractions such as reading e-mails or checking the latest posts in social networks slow down as well. Short breaks on the other hand should not be despised: Seventy-five percent of the respondents said that after a small break they would feel much more productive than before.

We are curious to hear your view on this study. What motivates you most?

Source: http://www.computerwoche.de/karriere/karriere-gehalt/2361421/index.html

…how people work.”

according to chris caposella (senior vice president of microsoft’s information worker product management group): “…we developed our new office products in response to a shift in how people and businesses use technology today. the line between home and work has blurred, so people want more choice and flexibility in how, where and when they work. they’re also demanding the ability to access and effectively manage their information whether at home, at work or on the go. IT professionals, in particular, are challenged to deliver business value to their companies while continuing to decrease their costs…” read full interview on microsoft’s press pass.

…let’s wait and see

“the new york times recently explored trends in the technology jobs market and suggets that significant opportunities only reveal themselves when examining both the available jobs and the underlying trends in demand for skills…”

…read the full article here.

according to vlance, a familiar german information platform for and among freelancers, projektwerk – besides gulp and freelancermap – is the main source for the occupation of (IT) projects in german speaking countries.

however, multiple features positively distinguish projektwerk from its industry colleagues. unlike most other providers for example, projektwerk offers a very simple and transparent billing model – high commissions excluded – confirming projektwerk as a reliable and credible partner. projektwerk stands for high quality. projektwerks talent-pool, consists of the most highly qualified experts, specialists and professionals trading demanding and up-to-date projects on a daily basis. projektwerk promotes equity and the equality of supply and demand on its platform and therefore enables its users to interact at the highest possible level.

link: