"Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one." - Bill Gates
Net use grows
Back in November 1996, Net use began rapidly growing among job seekers and human resources pros. Indeed, use of the World Wide Web to list jobs and to find them has taken off. Kudos to you for taking advantage of it! The links on this page provide access to over 1,000,000 high-tech career positions now available. Good luck!
First Steps
Youth Options BC provides young people in BC with job and advanced education options, and a voice in government.
Youth Options BC is part of the B.C. Government's commitment to young people
Attend a Hi-Tech Career Event.
Visit the Vancouver High Tech Career Expo at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre, Vancouver, BC Canada
Network with others in your area of interest.
Have some business cards made and attend some upcoming high tech Career Fairs
and events or users groups related to your area of interest (e.g., your local PC User's Society or a Board of Trade event). Also, check out free career resources and job search tools.
Training For the New Economy
We've all heard that a new economy exists in Canada due to corporate restructuring and information technology. We are now in the Information Age. Yet even though organizations in the private and public sectors are reducing headcount, the hunt continues for people with applied computer skills.
by Linda Lilley
Have you got what it takes?
Take an inventory of your skills and attributes. Most people start a business without ever completing an honest, thorough personal assessment. Without this self-appraisal, your personal success in business could be limited. Focus on your strong points, identify your weaknesses, and deal with areas that need improvement.
by Douglas Gray
Working with Computers
A search for high tech jobs reveals a need for deeper skills. Could you be a desktop publisher? Or start your own company to do online research? Or better yet, unleash your total creative potential with hypermedia? Could there be a future for you as the aspiring entrepreneur in one of these areas? Venture forth into the information world in search of new career opportunities.
by R.G. McNutt
Will Write For Food
It was a joke at the radio station where I worked half time as a news reporter and half time writing commercials. I would push my chair and typewriter from one office to the other down the hall crying out "Will write for food, writer for hire." And then one day, a hand in a corporate head office thousands of kilometres away, poised over a list. A decision was made. Striking Robert Earley from the roster was a way to increase profits in a corporate re-shuffle. Do you have a secondary career path planned?
by Robert Earley
Professional Assistance for Job Hunters
ResumeMaker Deluxe CD From: Individual Software Requirements: Windows 3.1 or higher or Windows 95 (33-MHz or better processor), 8 MB RAM, double -speed CD-ROM drive, 256 VGA adapter or higher, and a sound card Estimated price: $50. ResumeMaker Deluxe CD is touted as the best-selling resume software with career planning.
by Martin P. Waterman
Absolute Beginner's Guide to Programming
Despite the recession, there are currently a lot of jobs available for computer programmers. If you are interested in joining the field but have absolutely no experience in programming, you should check out this book first. This is a no-nonsense introduction to computer programming. The book provides the background on how computers work, and shows how computing and computer languages have evolved over the years. It gives the reader an idea of fundamental programming concepts, provides samples of code written in several different computing languages, and then gets the user to practise writing sample code in the QBASIC computer language. Title: Absolute Beginner's Guide to Programming. Author: Greg Perry Publisher: Sams Publishing Price: $24.95 448 pages Softcover.
Reviewed by Keith Schengili-Roberts
Adventures at Camp Silicon
Consider a computer camp -- perhaps the perfect summer getaway for your child. Summertime and school is out: time to label clothes and pack the kids off to summer camp in some remote nature spot. You remember -- the smell of pine, sound of camp songs and long hikes down woodland trails! This year, however, the hottest camps are trekking young internauts through the jungles of the Internet, jumping into virtual-reality computerscapes, and bringing it all to life with multimedia camper-designed projects. While computer camps have been around for a while, a few are taking the experience to new levels.
by Jean-Ellen Ikeson
Industry Assistance
SHRC_in_Canada
Industry Group Aims To Beef Up Canada's Software Skills.
The Software Human Resource Council (SHRC), an industry group formed several years ago, has revealed plans to tackle a shortage of software skills in Canada. The council was formed after publication in March 1992 of a report entitled Software and National Competitiveness. Prepared for the federal Department of Employment and Immigration, with the support of the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS), the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC), and the Canadian Advanced Technology Association (CATA), the report said Canada does not have enough skilled software workers, and that fact could cripple not only the country's software industry but other economic sectors as well. In June of 1992, the sponsoring groups held a roundtable conference in Toronto to discuss the problems. As a result, they agreed to form the SHRC, with representation from the three industry associations, government, and education.
Reprinted from Newsbytes
Working at Home
Home based business: Is it for you?
The small business sector is a dynamic, innovative, and growing force that provides challenge, fulfillment, and financial security to millions of Canadians. Studies show that over 75 percent of these small businesses have fewer than five employees, and various studies estimate that there are approximately 2.2 million to 2.5 million Canadians working from home. This would include part-time or full-time self-employed people, as well as moonlighters.
by Douglas Gray
Desktop Publishing
Once there was a time when a Mac, a LaserWriter, and a rudimentary knowledge of PageMaker were the ticket to steady work in desktop publishing. While this continues to hold true at the simplest level, newly possible functions of desktop publishing require equipment and operator knowledge far beyond the imaginings of just a few years ago. The rewards, too, are potentially greater than ever before. The self-employed desktop publisher who succeeds in the mid-90s must have professional design skills, but that's just the starting point. Beyond that, they will require professional prepress and print production skills.
by John Mulvihill
Books and Resources
Counsel Thyself on the Net
I work regularly with technology-shocked entrepreneurs and business people. The last thing they need is yet another high-tech toy they don't understand and can't use -- or a month lost learning how to use it. The Internet can be an unbelievable time and energy drain if it's not tackled with a plan and some prior knowledge.
by Cub Lea
Business and Marketing on the Internet
With the increasing popularity of the World Wide Web on the Internet, a lot of activity is being generated by those in the business of marketing products and services. For anyone who is interested in jumping into the pool, Jill Ellsworth's book, Business and Marketing on the Internet, is a good place to start
Reviewed by Frank Garcia Apr. 28, 1999, 10:05 PM
Multimedia Entrepreneurs
Title: Making Money with Multimedia. Authors: David Rosen and Caryn Mladen.
Reviewed by Keith Schengili-Roberts Apr. 28, 1999, 10:05 PM
Neat Effects, Inc.
So, you would like a career in computers. You are interested in computer animation, but you also want to learn about CD ROMs and the Internet. And maybe you are interested in computer games too. Where should you go to get a good education? Start with your local government's offices or websites. There are many bursaries, assistance programs and helpful pamphlets at employment. In BC, for example, a site called http://www.youth.gov.bc.ca/ provides assistance to young people. Call 1-800-OCANADA for more listings.
by Malcolm Warwick and Graeme Bennett
Makin' Dough With Your Computer
Book title: The Entrepreneurial PC: The Complete Guide to Starting a PC-Based Business 2nd Edition. Author: Bernard J. David.
Reviewed by Keith Schengili-Roberts Apr. 28, 1999, 10:05 PM
Software Development
Objects Hot, says IBM
In the ever fluctuating computer industry, where can the best career opportunities be found? According to John Soyring, director of software development for IBM, object technology and distributed client/server computing hold two of the keys. In a presentation at Software Development '93, held in Boston, Soyring asked developers in the room for a show of hands as to how many were currently working in OT-oriented development. After seeing that many of them hadn't yet hopped aboard the OT bandwagon, he advised audience members to start getting ready now for the industry changes to come. A recently released IDC study revealed that 56 per cent of participating companies were "exploiting or expecting to exploit OT," along with a strong positive relationship between use of OT and client/server technology, he said.
Reprinted from Newsbytes
East or West, Cobol is Best
For a "dead" language, Cobol is certainly enjoying a revival these days. It was one of the first practical programming languages developed back in the 1950s, and many large businesses still use Cobol applications that were written decades ago. While languages like C and C++ are used to write most of the programs people use on their PCS at home, Cobol is still used for many mission-critical applications in the corporate world. For that reason it's kind of ironic that this largely corporate-centered programming language found a true home in formerly-communist Russia. This book reflects that fact, and anybody interested in either learning or enhancing their knowledge of this programming language will find a wealth of information contained in this massive book.
by Keith Schengili-Roberts
Education
Teacher, leave those kids alone. .. Have you heard the one about school being a place where they take bright lights and screw them up? Computers are changing the learning process and to some, at least, bring into question the very necessity for schools. Just as computers have brought vast changes to corporations and created new options like telecommuting, home businesses and portable offices, the use of computers in education opens up the options of home schooling, using telecommunications in teaching, and brings new meaning to the concept of life-long learning. CD-ROMs with their vast storage space and very rapid updating may put into question the viability of the old textbook route to learning.
by Douglas Alder
Higher Learning
Shad Valley expands computing options for bright students. With a stated goal of advancing the scientific, technological and entrepreneurial capabilities of youth, a primarily corporate-sponsored program called Shad Valley brought 378 bright young high school students from disparate regions across the country to seven Canadian universities this summer. While topics covered were diverse-the Internet, calculus, cryptography, medicine and the United Nations to name a few-the themes of computing and high technology were prevalent throughout the summer program for high achieving Grade 11 and 12 students. Computers are being used in all sorts of things.
by Grace Casselman
UBC Offers Software Business Course
Entrepreneurs, executives and managers of start-up or high-growth software or other high technology companies are often overwhelmed by the complexity of the problems facing them. They become stymied by lack of expertise in particular mission-critical areas. A new seminar being offered by UBC hopes to address this challenge. The course, Operating a Successful Software Business, is aimed at individuals from both technical and business backgrounds who are thinking of starting their own software company.
by TheTechnoZone.com staff
Jumping Into The Future
Why do people decide to spend one year of their life studying a technology so new that their teachers are learning it at the same time? Because the leading edge is usually where the money is -- and the competition isn't. People from various backgrounds attempt to master a trade that they are helping to define, at Capilano College's Applied Information Technology (Infotech) program.
by Michael Gascon
Online training
Teleworking is growing in scope, with training becoming the latest job function that people can now accomplish from their home using a computer. With the advent of the Internet, the World Wide Web and the corporate "intranet" it is now possible for employees to use "Web-based training" to do much of what previously would have required them to attend training sessions at the office. In fact, interest in this area is growing so fast that a research survey released earlier this year by U.S.-based market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) reveals Web-based training is slowly starting to take market share from other training delivery methods.
by Geof Wheelwright
Resumes of High-tech Successes
Geof Wheelwright is a freelance writer and author in Vancouver, B.C., with a long and varied freelance career with business and technology reporting primarily for British newspapers and magazines including The Times of London, the Sunday Times, the Financial Times, The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph as well as a host of technology trade journals.
Graeme Bennett is one of Canada's best-known technology experts, read monthly by over 1,000,000 readers.
Graeme was formerly the Editorial Director of Canada Computer Paper Inc., publisher of The Computer Paper, Canada's largest monthly computer publication, as well as Canada Computes!, (including Toronto Computes!, Ottawa Computes!, Quebec Micro!, and Computer Player!), Government Computer and Canadian Computer Wholesaler. He was also the primary architect of that organization's site on the World Wide Web (http://tcp.ca), named "Top Canadian Web Site" by the Canadian Internet Directory.
Authors on Computers
You don't need to have a great computer -- but it sure helps to have some computer. When crackerjack lawyer/novelist John Grisham (The Firm, The Pelican Brief) started out writing, the brick house he was living in was so cramped that the computer was between the washer and dryer. As novelist Arthur C. Clarke completed 2010: Odyssey Two, his long-anticipated sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey, he sent the manuscript from his home in the remote country of Sri Lanka as a 5.25-inch disk to his publishers in New York. Later, during the filming of the feature film adaptation of the novel, written and directed by Peter Hyams, Clarke in Sri Lanka assisted the director in Los Angeles via computer modem. The correspondence became the book The Odyssey File (Del Rey/Ballantine, 1985).
by Frank Garcia
Career Classifieds
The Computer Paper offers FREE CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING FOR PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS. Private Individuals: to qualify for a free ad, the ad must be for one-of-a-kind items of sale. FREE ads qualify for one month in the local edition only and may be emailed to Clas...@tcp.ca. For businesses or placement into the Career Section at CanadaComputes.com, monthly advertising rates are $7 per line (40 characters). Send in your ad, along with payment, for the next available issue, or contact TCP for further details.
by TheTechnoZone.com staff
Placement Agencies
The company formerly known as MacTemps now has job-placement services for a variety of Canadian and U.S. cities. Check out their listings at
www.aquent.com/contact/locations/
Contributed by Kit Griffin
Job Search Engines
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