Stay Employed – Jobs with the Least Competition and Greatest Opportunity
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Due to the popularity of our Web Developer Skills in Most Demand post last week, we thought we would follow up with more interesting information from the oDesk Trends vaults to assist you develop your resume to stay employed in these challenging economic times. Last week we looked at the base number of job postings for various web technologies and skills over the past year on the oDesk job boards. This week, we will look at various skills and technologies and the competition, or lack thereof, for them. A look at the supply compared to the demand.
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In viewing these numbers, keep in mind this is for oDesk which is primarily concerned with placement for freelance and contract positions. As noted by some of our .NET and Java brethren from the previous post’s comment section, this may vary with respect to full time placement numbers. We think the data is useful to all.
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In looking at the table below we give you three columns, one with the skill or technology, the second with the average jobs posted per month and the last with the Fill ratio below average. The Fill Ratio Below Average will show the competition for these postings as these jobs are not getting filled at our usual rate. A high number indicates great job opportunities whereas a 0% score indicates all those jobs get filled at our usual rate. Anything not on this list is getting filled at a high rate indicating above average competition for the skill or technology.
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|
Skills |
Jobs Posted Per Month |
Fill Ratio Below Average |
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Database Modeling |
63 |
75% |
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LAMP |
51 |
58% |
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Sales |
43 |
51% |
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|
71 |
48% |
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Cake PHP |
43 |
38% |
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Drupal |
187 |
32% |
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Cocoa |
45 |
29% |
|
Flex |
59 |
28% |
|
Link Building |
44 |
27% |
|
C# |
205 |
27% |
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Linux |
136 |
22% |
|
Data Entry |
195 |
21% |
|
C++ |
136 |
18% |
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Ruby on Rails |
187 |
18% |
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SQL |
362 |
16% |
|
Web Design |
244 |
15% |
|
E Commerce |
87 |
14% |
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Java |
221 |
13% |
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VB.NET |
90 |
11% |
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JQuery |
60 |
11% |
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AJAX |
707 |
11% |
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Graphic Design |
342 |
7% |
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SEO |
290 |
6% |
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Magento |
51 |
6% |
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Objective C |
51 |
6% |
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ASP.NET |
376 |
1% |
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Logo Design |
48 |
0% |
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CMS |
53 |
0% |
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First up, Database Modeling has the lowest fill rate which means the competition is lowest in this particular field but the postings are in the lower ranges of 63 per month.
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Moving down the table we see that Drupal developers are in demand with 187 jobs posted per month and a 32% below average fill rate. PHP is very popular and competitive on oDesk but developing some specialist knowledge of the Drupal CMS might give you an edge in this field.
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The .NET languages have a good showing in demand with ASP.NET developers being most favored and most competitive and C#.NET being the least competitive but with a respectable 205 job postings per month.
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Java developers and Ruby on Rails developers are similar in fairly high demand per month (180-230 postings per month) and the competition below our average in the 13-18% region below average fill rate.
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AJAX programmers are in high demand with 707 jobs posted requiring this skill and the competition is below average at 11%. This seems like an essential element for any web developer to have on his resume.
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There you have it! Hopefully some useful information when guiding your career path. More information can be found on the skills and languages above as well as many other tech skills on our Trends page.
Timothy
December 23rd, 2008 at 7:04 am
I would love to see JavaScript (MooTools, Prototype, JQuery, etc) on that list.
Md. Mahmud Ahsan
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:55 pm
But I found many jobs like Senior PHP, Long term PHP contract, why not individual “PHP” in this list ?!? As a facebook application developer, I’m very happy to see facebook popularity in number 3 position.
Mike, Lost in California
January 4th, 2009 at 2:01 am
Amazing how C# and ASP.NET post so many jobs, but so few people apply. I’m studying C#.NET for the heck of it, hoping to move into the .NET genre.
sirrocco
January 6th, 2009 at 10:38 am
I wonder what an “AJAX programmers” programmer is ???? Do they write only the JavaScript ? do they use every language asked of them on the server side ?
As an ASP.NET programmer… I write AJAX all the time … Am I an AJAX programmer ? or ASP.NET programmer ?… hmmmm
Frank Higgins
January 6th, 2009 at 10:59 am
sirrocco … ok maybe i should have phrased it “AJAX skill or experience”. you got me.
mycall
January 6th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
ASP.NET is open 1% of the time, VB.NET is open 11% of the time, and C# is open 27% of the time.
Of course, no one does ASP.NET without VB.NET or C#. Something is wrong with this data.
Outsourcing Tips, Best Practices, and News from oDesk » Top Growth Tech Skills in 2008
January 8th, 2009 at 9:25 am
[...] | Forums | oConomy | Store « Stay Employed – Jobs with the Least Competition and Greatest Opportunity | Top Growth Tech Skills in 2008 January 8th, 2009 by [...]
BriceRichard
February 6th, 2009 at 6:07 am
There is no requests for the development of small-scale apps using VBA in MS Access?
You are kidding me right?
Joomla vs Drupal - Battle of the CMSes | Outsourcing Tips, Best Practices, and News from oDesk
February 11th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
[...] to choose from, it seems to be much less competitive of a skill. In fact, it made our list of the top 10 skills with the least competition and most opportunity, which we published in [...]
The Freelance Economy according to oDesk | Freelancing and Outsourcing Tips, Commentary, Analysis, and News from oDesk
February 18th, 2009 at 9:09 am
[...] Increased competition leaves the freelance provider with two recourses as she shapes her resume, especially in tech-oriented categories such as software development: Pursue the skills and jobs showing the greatest growth in 2008, or those with the least competition. [...]
Ariel Balter
December 14th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Great data collection! These are important numbers for jobs seekers.
However, the REAL number that matters is the product of the two columns. That tells how many available jobs there actually are in each area (at least as far as the number of postings measures number of jobs).
I’m going to make that data myself, but it would have been a cinch for you to do, and would have (IMHO) a superior understanding of numbers.
Ariel Balter
December 14th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Here are the numbes in csv format. I someone can tell me how to post it as an html table, please tell me!
Skills,Jobs Posted Per Month,Fill Ratio Below Average,Total Number of Fillable Jobs
Database Modeling,63,75%,47.25
LAMP,51,58%,29.58
Sales,43,51%,21.93
Facebook,71,48%,34.08
Cake PHP,43,38%,16.34
Drupal,187,32%,59.84
Cocoa,45,29%,13.05
Flex,59,28%,16.52
Link Building,44,27%,11.88
C#,205,27%,55.35
Linux,136,22%,29.92
Data Entry,195,21%,40.95
C++,136,18%,24.48
Ruby on Rails,187,18%,33.66
SQL,362,16%,57.92
Web Design,244,15%,36.6
E Commerce,87,14%,12.18
Java,221,13%,28.73
VB.NET,90,11%,9.9
JQuery,60,11%,6.6
AJAX,707,11%,77.77
Graphic Design,342,7%,23.94
SEO,290,6%,17.4
Magento,51,6%,3.06
Objective C,51,6%,3.06
ASP.NET,376,1%,3.76
Logo Design,48,0%,0
CMS,53,0%,0