Life as an IT contractor

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From: "Network World Daily News AM Alert" <nww_newsletters@newsletters.networkworld.com>
Date: Oct 19, 2014 7:47 AM
Subject: Life as an IT contractor
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Best Tech-o-Lanterns 2014 16 tips for thriving as an IT contractor Network World Daily News AM October 19, 2014 Life as an IT contractor The upside of life as an IT contractor is alluring. You get to be your own boss, accept only the jobs you want, and work flexible hours. With each assignment comes the opportunity to learn new skills and gain exposure to different environments.But there are obvious sacrifices – job security and paid vacations, for starters. As an IT contractor, you're also often responsible for your own benefits (healthcare, retirement), paying taxes, and marketing yourself for the next gig.Tech pros who successfully balance the pros and cons of contracting play an important role in the IT world. They provide manpower when workloads spike and can bring key expertise or niche skills to a team. In recent years, companies have increasingly relied on a contingent workforce to augment their full-time staff. In a new survey by TEKsystems, more IT leaders said they expect to increase temporary hiring (42%) than those who plan to increase full-time hiring (37%).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here READ MORE   Issue highlights 1. Best Tech-o-Lanterns 2014 2. INSIDER 16 tips for thriving as an IT contractor 3. Cisco exec: Turnover in engineering no problem 4. How Aruba Networks is tackling the SME market 5. Cloud giants do battle backed by distinctly different partner networks 6. Open source startup targeting DevOps-defined networking 7. Only 14 U.S. states have handheld-while-driving bans 8. 'Unlawful' WiFi hotspot blocking ruling highlights academic IT headaches 9. First Look: The magnificent new Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 10. The Onion's 9 best bits about Microsoft 11. Get More Network World Newsletters! WHITE PAPER: Riverbed | Orange Application Performance Management for Dummies Application performance management helps deliver the application performance users and the business demand. Effectively monitoring and troubleshooting application performance issues requires a comprehensive solution. View now>> Best Tech-o-Lanterns 2014 We've updated our collection of cool, scary and fun pumpkin carvings from around the web, with social media and other topics trending hot. READ MORE INSIDER 16 tips for thriving as an IT contractor When demand exceeds the supply of available IT talent, many companies are using contractors to help fill the gaps. IT contractors provide manpower when workloads spike and can bring key expertise and skills to a team. (See related story, Life as an IT contractor)To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story) READ MORE Cisco exec: Turnover in engineering no problem The engineering reorganization currently underway at Cisco is intended to streamline product development and delivery to customers, Cisco says. That it is prompting some high profile departures is an expected byproduct of any realignment of this size, which affects 25,000 employees, says Cisco Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer Pankaj Patel, who is conducting the transformation.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here READ MORE WHITE PAPER: Alert Logic State of Cloud Security Report In a relatively short time, cloud computing, specifically Infrastructure-as a-Service, has shifted from a new but unproven approach to an accepted, even inevitable, model. Driven by flexibility and efficiency, the question facing most organizations is which applications and workloads to move to the cloud and when. Learn More How Aruba Networks is tackling the SME market Aruba Networks has arguably been the most successful enterprise-focused wireless network company over the past five years. Cisco may have more share, but much of that is due to Cisco's massive wired base. At one time, Motorola was on par with Aruba, albeit in different verticals, but that business is but a shell of what it once was and Aruba has continued to steal its share.As successful as Aruba has been in the enterprise segment, the company has had less success with the SME market, i.e. businesses where the employee count ranged from about 25 to 250. Why, you ask? Well, two big problems: a lack of product built for this segment and no channel to sell the product. In this case, the double negative doesn't create a positive, just a bigger negative.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here READ MORE Cloud giants do battle backed by distinctly different partner networks When evaluating the marketplaces of the big three public IaaS cloud providers - Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft - AWS stands out in terms of the maturity of its platform for partners to offer products and services on top of its cloud. But Microsoft, too, has a formidable partner program that could rival Amazon's in the future, analysts predict.Each of these three providers has a network of partners that have products and services that run on top of their IaaS clouds. Examining these marketplaces can be important for cloud customers; once a cloud provider is chosen, users may want to explore other third-party apps and services that are tightly integrated with that cloud service. In many cases, apps on top of these providers' clouds are a customer's first use of Amazon, Microsoft or Google's cloud.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here READ MORE Open source startup targeting DevOps-defined networking A software startup debuted this week proposing software-defined networking to Docker, the open source software for creating Linux application virtualization containers. SocketPlane was founded by former Cisco, Red Hat, HP, OpenDaylight and Dell officials. In the open source world, their names are well known: Madhu Venugopal, John Willis, Brent Salisbury and Dave Tucker.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here READ MORE WEBCAST: AT&T The Future of Cloud: Public, Private or Network-Enabled? Cloud Services have transformed the way businesses operate and manage IT. Join us for this on demand virtual event and hear from IDC's Melanie Posey and AT&T NetBond VP René Dufrene as they explore the cloud models available and discuss why a network-enabled approach may be right for you. Learn More Only 14 U.S. states have handheld-while-driving bans Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Handheld-while-driving bans across the United States Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Handheld-while-driving bands across the United States Even though use of handheld devices while driving has become a dangerous and growing epidemic in the US, many states still have not enacted nor enforce a usage ban.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here READ MORE 'Unlawful' WiFi hotspot blocking ruling highlights academic IT headaches Managing the wireless environment at the average college or university can be a difficult task at the best of times, and when students and staff start using personal hotspots – the sort that provide wireless data access from the same -- it's not the best of times.As anyone who's ever been to any sort of large techie convention knows, these little devices – each of which creates its own Wi-Fi network on the same frequencies as every other Wi-Fi network – can cause a huge amount of interference, making existing networks difficult or impossible to use.+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Marriott must pay $600,000 for blocking personal Wi-Fi hotspots | Gartner: Make way for digital business, risks or die?+To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here READ MORE First Look: The magnificent new Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 Nexuses big and, um, biggerThe newest members of Google's Nexus line of "stock" Android devices are the Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 – a phablet and tablet, respectively. Made by Motorola and HTC, the new Nexuses are impressively well-stocked with high-end hardware and software features. Have a look.1440p!Not to be outdone by Apple's splashy move into the world of very large "handsets," Google reminded us all that humongous phablets were an Android thing first. Is the Nexus 6 outsized? Check. Sporting a full 1440p display? Double-check.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here READ MORE The Onion's 9 best bits about Microsoft Poking fun at the software giant and founder Bill Gates since 1996 READ MORE Get More Network World Newsletters! We have a wide variety of newsletters to satisfy all sorts of IT pros READ MORE WHITE PAPER: Lenovo Choosing Your Tablet: 5 Steps to Cut Through Confusion This paper will help you sort through your device and solution options to arrive at the right choice for your organization. Learn More SLIDESHOWS The Onion's 9 best bits about Microsoft Poking fun at the software giant and founder Bill Gates since 1996. JOIN THE NETWORK WORLD COMMUNITIES As network pros you understand that the value of connections increase as the number of connections increase, the so called network effect, and no where is this more evident than in professional relationships. Join Network World's LinkedIn and Facebook communities to share ideas, post questions, see what your peers are working on and scout out job applicants (or maybe find your next opportunity). Network World on Facebook Network World on LinkedIn MOST-READ STORIES of 2014 1. Moto X 2nd Gen review: Same same but different 2. Apple's iPad 2 vs. Google's Nexus 9: Comparing the two new tablets 3. Conspiracy Theory With Teeth: Government Allegedly Forced TruTV To Yank FEMA Camps Episode 4. First Look: The iPad Mini 3, iPad Air 2 and more 5. 12 things I hate about Hadoop 6. The Snappening: Snapsaved admits to hack that leaked SnapChat photos 7. A tale of Ransomware that will make your blood run cold ... 8. Apple's most important iPad, iMac, OS X Yosemite, and other announcements this week 9. Hordes of cable modems, Web cams, printers can become DDoS launch platforms 10. First Look: The magnificent new Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 Follow Network World You are currently subscribed to networkworld_daily_news_alert as aquarianm@gmail.com. Unsubscribe from this newsletter | Manage your subscriptions | Subscribe | Privacy Policy Learn about INSIDER When accessing content promoted in this email, you are providing consent for your information to be shared with the sponsors of the content. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information. 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