The information technology field moves fast, and if you’re not familiar with the industry, it can be hard to keep up. If you’re looking to hire IT staff soon, here are some trends for the coming season, based on the biggest tech news stories of 2014.
March 2014: Healthcare.gov signup issues
The site that was launched to help people sign up for health insurance had many initial problems. Not only was the website unable to handle the load of millions of citizens logging on at once, but the system didn’t have a good way to handle big data. It pulled consumer health information from multiple databases managed by different organizations, and it didn’t do that efficiently. Going forward, big data is something that everyone in IT will need to know how to make sense of.
April 2014: Heartbleed bug in OpenSSL
We all know to look out for secure sites when we’re online. But what happens when the sites aren’t actually secure? That’s what happened earlier this year when the Heartbleed bug was discovered. The vulnerability allowed access to user passwords and other sensitive information, and affected over half a million servers. Even giants like Instagram and Tumblr were affected. No matter what size your company is, you’ll want an information technology worker who knows their way around security issues.
June 2014: Cell phones can’t be searched without a warrant
Mobile devices are so important that even the Supreme Court has set them apart under the law. Unlike most personal property that someone carries, the police now need a warrant to search a person’s cell phone. Chief Justice John Roberts was quoted as saying, “Cell phones differ in both a quantitative and a qualitative sense from other objects that might be kept on an arrestee’s person.” This just goes to show that mobile devices are a huge part of our lives, and your IT workers need to know how work with them.
August 2014: iCloud photo hack
Cloud computing is becoming more and more popular, both in terms of development environments and in terms of storage. There are many advantages to cloud computing, but it also presents its own security problems, as in the case of the celebrities whose private files were obtained by hackers and released to the public. Today’s IT professionals need to embrace the cloud for its efficiency while staying vigilant about the unique security risks it poses.
Need some more advice about what background or skills to look for in your potential Information Technology employees? Speak with someone at Contemporary Staffing’s Technical Services department for help. We can help your company achieve its unique goals, and keep your workflow as streamlined and efficient as possible. Get in touch with us today to get started!