Archive for December, 2011

PHP Developer skills set and job responsibilities

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

PHP is perhaps the most popular web development language at the time. At least 20 million domains use PHP. It is a language that is used on major sites such as Facebook and Wikipedia as well as in some of the world’s biggest open source projects like Drupal and WordPress. The person who is writing this language is a PHP developer. A PHP Developer writes, tests, troubleshoots, and maintains the source code for web pages and computer graphics programs. A PHP Developer uses and develops code that are followed by computers to execute different tasks.

Maintained code of a PHP developer must be well-documented, reusable and able to be modified to fulfill changing needs with passage of time. PHP Programmers are free to work for companies on salary basis or independently on contracts basis.

Job Responsibilities of a PHP Developer

A PHP developer is responsible to look out page layout, design and the entire coding of the developing website according to the PHP format. The PHP developer will be responsible for graphical and technological aspects of a website. The developer is responsible to update existing features of the website.

They are responsible to develop program codes by referring to existing websites and software packages. They are also responsible to upload a site on server. Other responsibilities of PHP Developers include:

  • Updating the site by adding new features.
  • Identifying technical errors that may occur due to bugs in the code.
  • Preliminary testing the site to make sure that it is functioning properly.
  • Deliver appropriate leadership and maintain the page layout and show characteristics for the client websites.
  • Build up contents according to client requirement.
  • Have appropriate contacts with other designers and programmers for a competent outcome.
  • Do proper documentation of the program and add technical requirements in the code.
  • Accurate testing of the built up code at a variety of stages to identify bugs.
  • They work in a team with a number of individuals like database administrators, designers, HTML & CSS programmers and project manager.
  • Write reusable code preferably using classes and libraries
  • They design architecture of the program.
  • Programming databases specially mySql
  • Testing and debugging new programs
  • Establishing projects from scratch or working on accessible projects
  • Staying aware of security issues in PHP
  • Developing front-end and back-end applications
  • Helping team members to solve different problems

PHP Programmers may simply have to adjust or customize essential, accessible code for an application. There programmers with hands on experience on latest open source programs like, Mambo, Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress, Magento are in great demand. On the other hand, a PHP Developers may also be called to build up and write new code for different programs. Some employers also look for PHP Developers who are skillful in other technologies such as SSH, FTP and SQL. A PHP developer will be in great demand if he is experienced in diverse programming languages.

Education Requirements for PHP Developers

Some applicants may require PHP certification that can be obtained through online certification examination. Several institutes in large metropolitan areas are also providing professional PHP developer trainings. But a PHP Developer with bachelor’s degree in Computer Sciences, BSCS, BS IT, BS SW or MCS is more valuable in the market.

Posted in Career Planning, IT Jobs | No Comments »

Job Responsibilities of a Computer Operator

Friday, December 16th, 2011

A computer operator is a person who works with computers on a daily basis and contributes in different tasks related to computers. Duties of computer operators vary depending on particular job titles and places of employment. Generally computer operators are responsible to enter data, aid in fixing computer problems and manage different tasks in computer department.

We are using computers in our daily life, for personal and business reasons and it is almost impossible to work in the job market without use of computer. Most of the jobs in the job market need computer skills to some extent. Therefore, computer-related skills are  quite important in the job market.

Responsibilities of a Computer Operator

Computer operators are responsible to perform a number of responsibilities.

  • Keeping log books and traces for jobs or events that take place in the systems.
  • Assisting programmers and technical staffs.
  • Checking for existence of viruses and upgrading and updating systems to improve working.
  • Will be in control of new equipment orders.
  • Systematizing and preserving disks and files
  • Developing good communication skills that are essential to express technical issues to a person who is non technical.
  • Operate a number of computer systems, fix problems that may arise in routine work.
  • Following operation of the computer on daily basis.

Specific Duties of a Computer Operator

Duties of a computer operator are wide and vary according to job title.

  • A computer operator is responsible to enter data into computer. Sometimes data is entered to ensure proper work whereas sometimes it is entered into the computer as their job requirement. Entering data is a significant part of computer operator’s daily routine.
  • Opening / closing/ modifying accounts on computer include scrutinizing of signatures accordingly authorized by official.
  • Add / delete/ modify records.
  • Generate and print interest and service charges reports.
  • Print registers / scrolls and balances these reports with sums and balance them.
  • Taking calls from customers complaining of computer system issues and diagnosing the problems.
  • Maintaining client database and keeping up with current clients contact information.
  • Making necessary changes along the way.
  • May also be responsible to store items that are related to computers such as disks, files etc.
  • Monitor use of computers for others. This may relate to supervising or security reasons.
  • Set computer control to a specific duty that can be included in their duties.
  • At times checking and altering computer controls.

Other duties from time to time depend on the management. Responsibilities of some computer operators will have a wide range of responsibilities whereas others will have least amount of duties according to their job title.

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5 Most Common Telephone Interview Questions

Monday, December 12th, 2011

A phone interview sounds much easy. You don’t have  to panic to choose a dress for interview, move to a company’s office or have to appear in an interview as one-on-one. Instead, you are easy at your home and interviewing on the phone. But it is not as easier as it sounds.

You usually have less time in telephone interview as compared to in-person interview. So it is necessary to focus on questions that will help you to be assessed rapidly. You intend to turn it into a face-to-face interview, so be concise in your answers. As a rule of thumb, your answers should be less than two minutes. If interviewer wants to know something more, he/she is free to ask.

Tell me a little about you is often the first question. Try to assess, interviewer is not interested in your life story; but they want to have basic information about your work history and experience to assess if meeting with you is a good use of time. Your answer should be concise with a short work history with clear words to show how each job and project helped you to get experience for this job, also give an outline about your professional abilities that address your skills and relate to  this job well.

What experience do you have in? Not the second but a common asked question in telephonic interview. Discuss any of your experience and precise skills you have in a good way. Discuss everything you do professionally but its core should be concerned with identification, solution of problems and prevention within your area of liability.

What are your strengths? Incline your answer toward your particular skills and needs of the job, your problem avoidance, solution headset, and your control of the moveable expert skills such as Critical Thinking, Multi-tasking and Communication skills that motivate success in every job.

What are your weaknesses? You can securely and sincerely say that finding time for all new technologies that are needed in your work is your biggest weakness and you take it as a challenge. Then you give an example of how you have made time to expand an in-demand new skill.

How much amount do you expect? If the interviewer asks about your salary expectation, be clear and say, you don’t have sufficient information about job responsibilities and company, to answer at the time. Say like “I have no understanding of the job or post responsibilities, your company or any kind of benefit that could be offered by the company, so I can’t tell my expectation without all information. However, after analysis of other employment sites and talking with colleagues, I would surely expect in the range of 000000-000000.”

The telephone interview usually comes to an end with the question “you have any questions”. So this is time to take the initiative, “yes I want to ask, when we can meet?”

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Career Counselor Responsibilities

Thursday, December 8th, 2011

A career counselor provides guidance for what job you can do with your present skills, experience and educational background. He also guides you for what career paths you should choose to secure a bright future for yourself. A career counselor also helps you in your job development, job assessment and work planning. Career counselor helps individuals to put their abilities in a job with good skills and help them to move forward in their career.

Fields related to Career Counseling

Working environment varies at every workplace. The time you spend at your job differs according to your changed responsibilities and managing with new people.

Responsibilities of a Career Counselor

A career counselor has many duties and responsibilities that he has to carry out on daily basis. His duties and responsibilities are divided according to the different positions.

Career counseling is helpful for the people who are looking for new jobs or are successful in their job but they are confused in how to move forward in their career? Career-counselors help these people to manage difficult process for job search in a more efficient and effective way or do a career change.

The career counselor counsels students or job seekers to move further in their career.

He is responsible to guide and help the job seekers in making decision about their career.

The career counselor finds out what is the interest of student and what steps should he take to further improve his CV.

He is responsible to formulate a good plan or job opportunities for the job seekers.

A career counselor should be able enough to answer the different questions of the students or job seekers to satisfy them for chosen field or offered job.

The career counselor usually keeps in touch with teachers of different institutes to find out the suitable student for a position.

A career counselor is also responsible to provide educational group sessions where students can learn about different career choices.

A career counselor should have good contacts with individuals like business owners, college administrators and managers. This will help the counselor to give the best possible opportunities to job seekers.

Significance of career counseling in Pakistan

In the job market of Pakistan, we see many of the candidates who have skills and qualification but fail to get a job. We also see many job opportunities that are available in different fields but are unfilled. This is actually because our youngsters lack information and don’t get proper career counseling. The lack of counseling leads them to suffer in their career goals.

Career counseling supports and helps the individuals to realize the actual responsibilities and have a realistic approach to the job market. It also adds motivation to the individuals by learning the best possibilities for them. Career counseling encourages every individual to have a career in their related field. Youngsters must also talk with their teachers and other professionals to have career advice.

Posted in Career Development, Career in Pakistan | No Comments »

Write A Perfect Cover Letter For You

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

A cover letter is a short document to tempt a recruiter to call you for an interview you actually wish. Many of the experts are of the view that one or two interesting sentences in your cover letter are enough to influence the recruiter to read your resume. The resume is a way to take you to the interview and interview leads you to have a job. Getting a job is a three-step process where the first step is most important that is your cover letter.

Potential employers say that applicants add all the things in their cover letters that are unnecessary. So you must be very careful while tailoring your cover letter.

Prepare your cover letter by putting yourself in the position of recruiters. If you don’t show recruiters what they want to read, they won’t read it. You should tailor your cover letter in a way that it should catch the attention of arecruiter right from the beginning.

Recruiters say “received cover letter that begin with an error, usually fail to take attention of the employers”. For instance, I received an application by an applicant who had crossed out his cell and telephone numbers and written his new number manually. His application was directly filed to garbage. Tailor your cover letter short and to the point.

The Dos and Don’ts of a Stand-Out Cover Letter

Give your basics for what post you are applying and the name of the organization. Also mention your reference with name.

Find out who is  hiring manager before applying. Take your time to research on  internet or reading suitable business journals to find the name and title of the hiring manager. This research will help you to take a step forward.

Also use official language, open your letter with Mr. or Ms. instead of Dear Sir or Madam, it does not sound official.

Carefully read the posting for the job and tailor your cover letter to emphasize the skills and qualifications that is required.  Use precise phrases from the posting of the job.

Other tips:

  • If you are applying through an ad, mention a job number or a code in your cover letter.
  • Add something incredible that makes your resume a unique one.
  • Check again and again to make sure that your letter is without any typing mistake. Ask your friend or a family member to go through once.
  • If you are sending your letter through an email, make sure that your document is opening properly and your posted document is virus-free.
  • Don’t make your cover letter lengthy. A few concise sentences will be enough.
  • Avoid repeating your resume in your cover letter.
  • Don’t mention anything that is unrealistic (any certification or skill ).
  • Avoid using funny fonts and different colored papers. Make your cover letter easy to read.
  • A customized approach always wins the meeting.

With a little common sense and a lot of flair, you can make sure that you would successfully get an offer of your desired job.

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