Top 12 Knowledge Requirements for 2012

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2011 gave a very powerful positive impact on specialized business life for Social Media and Smart Phone Professionals - many new Gadgets, Applications, Job Profiles, Start-ups and Success Stories.

2012 – Definitely, is coming with lot more new opportunities for IT communities.

Well, what is essential for your success in 2012 – Let’s take a quick look on top knowledge requirements.

• Mobile Application Programming – It is not just Android, Windows Phone and IOS Programming. Look into HTML5, CSS3, Advance Java-script, JSON, JQuery and PHP. Mobile WEB Frameworks are going to be an excellent option for “Develop Once-Deploy to All” Concept.


• Customized Agile Project Management – Agile is still not professionally implemented in many organizations. Most of the Small and Medium size companies are using it as simplified version of traditional project management – but in the name of Agile. Certified Scrum Master and Agile Scrum Trainings for your Project Team are essential for a success with quality.


• Location Based Services – There are very few applications with Location based Content Identification as a feature and most of them are just social and Infotainment. There are lot more requirements which can be fulfilled with LBS – for Example: Tourism, Education etc.


• Data Center / Networking Technologies- The demand for networking professionals is high with virtualization and cloud computing projects. Virtualization and the Cloud could also be behind the increased need for IT professionals with backgrounds in data center operations and systems integration.


• Smartphone Security – Smartphones are becoming part of corporate network elements now days and security for official and personal data becomes major question. Data Security Applications, Anti-virus Tools, Remote Content Management, Policies for using Smartphones are high in requirement.


• User Interface Design – UI Design and Development is an important presentation layer element, which decides the success of many Smartphone and Tablets apps, and also PC and WEB Apps. There are certification course available to educate you about best practices and standards and it is a hot item in job market too.


• Mobile Commerce / Payment – Smartphones and Feature phones are fully capable for Money Management now days with Applications from various vendors. There were few banking apps, mobile malls and payment apps showed success stories last year, and I am expecting more to come in 2012.


•  Context Aware Applications – A new technology provides improved user experiences by using the information about a person's interests, intentions, history, environment, activities, schedule, priorities, connections and preferences to anticipate their needs and proactively serve up the most appropriate content, product or service.


• Gaming Smartphones, Devices – estimated to $800 million business, it provides numerous opportunities for business owners and technical professionals.


• Help Desk/Technical Support–Mobile operating systems have added a new dimension to help desk and tech support community and this will improve a lot in future.


• Business Intelligence – from Cost saving to investing in Technology, I am expecting many new prospects with BI.  There are certifications, Business Analysis best practices to improve it.


• Life with Open Source – Open source is not just limited to PHP and MYSQL, but there are more useful, free to use, efficient platforms for developers, designers, project managers, analysts, testers, business owners and general IT end-users.

I wish you all the best in this New Year 2012 for many new success stories, career improvements and business values.

Social Gaming and Music Opportunities

“Social gaming on Facebook is a growing trend that is slowly starting to see more opportunities for the music industry. The most recent development is the official launch of Nightclub City, a game that lets users oversee virtual live music settings.”

The above news made me to read the complete article, and I feel it is an interesting new industry for our multimedia developers. There are many Music development applications are available – many of them are free too. Basic music knowledge is enough to create small themes, and quick instrument notes. It can be linked with Social Gaming engines to improve the quality of gaming experience. There are many such projects available in freelance project sites. If interested, try them, and let me know your experiences.

Social Gaming and booming Opportunities

Social Gaming is a next generation gaming platform, for playing computer games as a way of social interaction. The popular examples are Care World, Farmville etc from Facebook Games section. These types of games are becoming more popular not only with youngsters but also with many, who ever using social network for various purposes. It’s a great mind relaxation technique, many doctors say.

Now days, these games are in internet enabled computers, and in near future, it goes to mobile and televisions through 3G and broadband television networks. Just like any game development model, the social gaming zone is also having plenty of openings for experienced and also for newbie. There are many types of Social Gaming include Role Playing Games, Alternate Reality Games, Board Games, Social Casual Games etc. Each model will have its own fundamental graphical / logical / technical framework to build multiple concept games.

The possible openings at first level are

1. Graphic Designer – with knowledge in Photoshop, Flash, animations, graphic design
2. Programmer – Action-script, SOA, XML, Network Programming, C++, Java is also required
3. Concept Analyst – with Game theory, Logical Model Development and Integration knowledge
4. Game Engine expert – Game engine development and framework configuration knowledge + SOA + Knowledge about multiple delivery media including Mobile and Television Networks.
5. Testers – Knowledge in testing games with multiple criteria, devices, environments etc. Knowledge in strategy building for efficient test automations.

Come – lets work on the new booming industry. It is going have a big impact with multimedia based development in near future.

India: Destination Next for the International Gaming Industry

India is fast emerging as a key destination for Game development - It is already a $10 billion industry in United States. The overall development period takes around 24 months and the production budget is from $4 to $10 million now days. The game industry is under increasing pressure to reduce development time and cost of production. Many publishers and studios are looking for outsourcing development.

Computer games, Video games and Wireless games are three major segments. There are few companies in India - already in aggressive development in all these segments. The requirement is still high and it’s an excellent business and career opportunity for many. The development cycle includes concepts, scripting, programming, character design, animation, level making and testing – as an overall – pre-production, production and testing. There are many training institutes provide good training on all these. There are free-lancers and professionals work together for great results.

The skill-sets and software: basically the right combination of design, programming and creative art.

PC Games: Shockwave, Flash, Visual Basic, Java, visual C++, DirectX, Open GL, Graphics software like Adobe Photoshop, animation software like Maya, 3D Studio Max, Lightwave etc.

Pocket PC Games: Flash, Embedded Visual C++, Embedded Visual Basic, Personal Java, graphics software like Macromedia Fireworks, Freehand, Adobe Photoshop, animation software like Maya, 3D Studio Max, Lightwave etc.

Mobile phone Games: Visual C++ for native application development, J2ME, VB, WAP, ASP, JSP, graphics software like Macromedia Fireworks, Freehand, Adobe Photoshop, animation software like Maya, 3D Studio Max, Lightwave etc.

So guys – business application development and websites is not going to be the only option for career– there are a lot..!! Check them and do great in your business and career.