Working From Home – Still A Possibility

By jeffcBlogging

Elance, a website specializing in online work released their April edition of the Elance Online Work Index which is a ranking of the top skills businesses are seeking on the web. The results are based on data from more than 100,000 jobs posted on Elance. The top skills in demand include: PHP, MySQL, HTML Graphic Design, Writing, AJAX, Adobe Illustrator, WordPress, Photoshop, Flash and Blogs.

Some other notable trends include:

  • Open Source on the Rise: The overall trend of businesses migrating to open source technology solutions is stronger than ever with PHP (#1) programming now topping the Index followed closely by MySQL (#2). Demand grows for a variety of other open source skills including Joomla (#18), Drupal (#48 – up 10 spots), osCommerce (#49 – up 20 spots), Ruby on Rails (#73 – up 27 spots), and Linux (#74 – up 13 spots).
  • User Experience Paramount: With more pressure than ever for companies to compete based on a world-class user experience, hiring trends show accelerating interest in technologies that deliver and enable great customer experiences, such as HTML (#3 – up 3 spots), Flash (#10 – up 2 spots), AJAX (#12 – up 14 spots), JAVA (#16 – up 13 spots), and – the biggest mover on the list – Actionscript (#56 – up 43 spots).
  • Social Media Rising: Social media continues to gain mainstream traction with companies that want to connect with customers, drive traffic, and become part of the conversation with customers, partners and prospects. Demand for professionals skilled in developing for Facebook, Twitter and blogging applications is growing. WordPress (#15) and Blogs (#19) crack the top 20, while Social Networking (#38) moves up 6 spots, Facebook (#61) is up 10 spots and Twitter (#93) makes its debut on the Index.

The bottom line is, people who are skilled in certain areas of tech who are having a hard time finding full-time jobs due to various factors such as lack of previous experience, travel expenses, etc., seem to be having better luck performing specialized part-time jobs for companies through sites such as Elance.

11 thoughts on “Working From Home – Still A Possibility”

  1. I can certainly attest to a couple of things in this post. Firstly, the rise of Drupal. I actively take part in the forums their and must say how much the open-source platform is improving. Secondly, the need for writers on Elance. I’ve used many and have yet to find many capable of decent writing skills. I think there’s definitely a shortage of HIGH QUALITY content writers available.

    Briany
    – wood burning stoves

  4. Working from home was always a possibility for peoples with good skills and now it’s booming. It’s specially attracted to Asian countries like INDIA, Philippines etc… $200 is a very high earning because those peoples won’t even make that with 9-5 jobs.

    ~ Keith Assembly Jobs

  5. I have to agree resoundingly – if you could only hear me shouting ‘Yes! Yes!’ at my computer 😀 !
    If you’re willing to put in the effort to find jobs, and keep your current clients happy, there are never-ending options. I write, and for the technically-oriented this is even more true. Elance is only one site, there are literally hundreds.

  6. I agree, I’ve been working from home for the last two years, and I have to say that I love it. However, it wasn’t always so fun, especially when I first started.

  7. I agree, as bad as the economy is, allowing people to work at home is a good alternative when companies can’t provide a bonus or a raise. But for some companies (specifically large corporations), they just don’t see this as a way to cut costs while retaining good employees as a way to get through bad times.

    -Stephen Injury Lawyer Cherry Hill

  8. There are real benefits for companies and employees to working from home, and contract work. There are also drawbacks to both (to employees, not having as reliable a source of income – at least until you have a stable of steady employers). I am glad to see Ruby on Rails keep growing in popularity.

  9. With the current economic weather we are going through globally, it is only
    logical to say that companies will try to find alternative ways to spend less.
    That is why home-based work and earning online is creating a lot of noise
    nowadays. I know a few who have been engaged in working with clients from
    elance.com and have been paid pretty well.

  10. I think companies are going to continue to run their businesses with less employees going forward by turning to technology and possibly hiring contract workers. Before this economic downturn every company I’m sure was already sitting down trying to figure out the direction of their company with the help of technology. Reducing costs is always the name of the game and with the popularity of social media, companies want to take advantage of these venues to create a sense of being more tech friendly.

  11. Yes, I think this makes sense in the current economy. Companies can save a boatload on insurance costs and things like overtime by outsourcing specialty jobs through Elance and similar sites. If you know PHP, MySQL, etc. you could well pick up lots of contract jobs there, at least for the short term, until the economy heats up again and they start hiring in-house.

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