Understanding the SharePoint Market

by: Shadeed Eleazer, MCTS WSS/MOSS

NRWA

Presentation Objectives:

Discuss trends (good/bad) within the SharePoint market

Clearly discuss and define SharePoint roles (Admin/Developer/Project Manager) and how misunderstanding of these roles affect staffing and on-the-job performance

Case studies regarding SharePoint professionals Questions you should ask before accepting your next SharePoint role

Common qualities in every solid SharePoint professional

Provide a few helpful tips from a resume writing perspective.

What this Presentation Is My “report” of the last few years operating in this market

from a consultant’s and technical writing perspective. An open discussion of the trends, practices, and indirect

mishaps that make up the greater Mid-Atlantic SharePoint market

An opportunity for attendees to receive honest feedback from a staffing professional in this market

What this Presentation Is Not Sales Pitch

Infomercial

Marketing Campaign

Overview Member of National Resume Writer’s Association

Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist (Configuration) on WSS 3.0

and MOSS 2007 platform

US Navy Veteran with wide range of experience dealing with SATCOM, government systems integration, and lots of management/leadership experience.

What if I already have a job? Most SharePoint initial or technical recommendations

are made by members of SharePoint team In smaller SharePoint practices, you may be called upon

to write descriptions, conduct interviews, and provide recommendations.

If your company is adopting to SharePoint, this presentation will raise your awareness that you will be required to perform tasks and duties that may or may not be within your scope.

Trends I’ve Noticed For the first time, there is an acknowledgement of junior

and senior roles within SharePoint. Junior Professionals – Help Desk/Support Roles Senior Professionals – Design/Architecture,

Requirements, Demos, Sales Roles You can’t find something if you don’t know what you are

looking for Individuals that do possess Senior Level SharePoint

skillsets are being placed in positions requiring managerial-level skillsets that they are not prepared for.

Disturbing Trends The rise of contract-to-hire employment as a means of

determining technical aptitude on a project Consulting companies are looking for experts instead of

specialists

Clearly Defining Roles The release of MOSS as a development platform has

lead to loopholes in the following areas:

1. Project Management

2. Delegating roles and responsibilities

3. Completing tasks

4. Hiring the ‘right’ candidate

Defining Administrator Provide core infrastructure support which includes

hardware, storage, software, and licenses. Infrastructure support to include maintenance,

upgrade and replacement of software Backup and recovery Manage accounts and grant/deny access and

permissions

Administrator Gray Areas Layout/Master Page Design Customizations Custom development of Web Parts Workflow (custom) Solution Deployment Web-based concepts/technologies

Defining the SharePt Developer Strong analytical skills Strong knowledge of (C#)

ASP.NET Development within the SharePoint framework Experience:

1+ years experience with Visual Studio 2003 or greater 1+ years experience with Sharepoint Designer

Provide SharePoint design work, custom development, documentation and best practices consulting SharePoint Design

Consults with customers to identify and implement SharePoint requirements

Developer Gray Areas Windows Server platform (build, test) Managing virtual/test environments Integration (Project Server, OCS, TFS) MOSS Platform – Migration and Deployments Active Directory DNS Requirements gathering

Issues Facing Project Managers What criteria makes up a good SharePoint project

manager? PMP certifications do not measure SharePoint aptitude Can you effectively manage a platform that you do not

understand? Mis-understanding of roles lead to missed deadlines and

decreased performance

The Ideal SharePoint Resource Can-do, Will Do Attitude Advanced troubleshooting ability Take-charge personality High-initiative, works independently Passionate about technology Able to discuss technical matters in meetings, demos,

and assemblies

Case Study #1 – Mr. Eric Harlan

Case Study #1 – Mr. Eric Harlan Facts: Possesses the right combination of skillsets to

gear him for a position in Technical Management Well-rounded skillset – Type of consultant that

companies tend to build entire practices around. Upon hiring with his current , was promoted to position

of Principle Developer in one month. Hypothesis: (Discuss)

Case #2 – What’s Active Directory? Solid developer hired as SharePoint “expert” for coding

experience to begin work as member of a SharePoint team of professionals.

Struggles during Project Planning Phase: Initial build-out and deployment of testing environment

“The Developer” struggles to complete tasks – “Expert” level is questioned.

Case Study #3 – Let’s Wing It!

Case Study #3 – Let’s Wing It! Key decision maker attends user’s group, decides

MOSS is the “wave of the future” Enlists internal SysAdmin to install SharePoint and

“make it work” with zero consideration to licensing costs Zero requirements gathering combined with

management dictated architecture (I want it/I get it) leads to chaos.

One year (and 700 team sites) later, SharePoint “Expert” is brought in on short term (contract/1099) basis to fix the mess.

Resume Writer Hats On!

The majority of resumes are not actually read – They are scanned for keywords

The phone screen is the most important portion of the entire employment process. Face-to-face interviews are fast becoming a thing of the past

Contrary to popular belief, a great resume is not needed to break into the SharePoint industry if you are coming from an administrative or programming background. A great attitude and willingness to roll up the sleeves is needed to do that.

Great resumes benefit those individuals who have reached a certain plateau in their career and are looking to move to a higher level

Next Speaker: Lennell Key K-Force Consulting’s Baltimore Office Understanding the SharePoint Marketing

from staffing/Human Resources perspective

THE END