Monday, February 15, 2010

The technical skills in demand by online media

If you want to maximize the chances you'll be hired by an online media organization, what technical skills should you master?

A content analysis by Serena Carpenter, an assistant professor at Arizona State's journalism school, of 664 ads on JournalismJobs.com found that knowledge of HTML/CSS, posting content, image editing, blogging and video editing, in that order, were mentioned most often by online news organizations.

Computer programming and database management, two of my areas of expertise, were well down the list.

Her paper, "An Application of the Theory of Expertise: Teaching Broad and Skill Knowledge Areas to Prepare Journalists for Change," was published in the autumn issue of Journalism & Mass Communication Educator. It used data from 2008. As her paper notes, knowledge of social media, which was mentioned in 11 percent of the ads, is likely valued even more today.

Technical expertise preferred by online media

Expertise Percentage
HTML/CSS 27.40%
Posting of Content 20.60%
Image Editing 20.20%
Blogging 17.80%
Video Editing 16.30%
Content Management System 12.80%
Animation 11.90%
Social Media 11.00%
Audio Editing 10.50%
Word Processor 10.10%
Excel 9.80%
Search Engine Optimization 6.20%
Tracking Page Views 5.70%
Computer Programming 5.70%
Podcasting 4.50%
Video Shooting 4.40%
Web-editing Software 3.20%
Graphics Program 3.20%
Photo Shooting 2.90%
Database Management 2.10%
Web Design 2.00%
Slideshow Editing 2.00%
ColdFusion 0.10%

Source: "An Application of the Theory of Expertise: Teaching Broad and Skill Knowledge Areas to Prepare Journalists for Change," Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, Autumn 2009

1 comments:

Michael Corder said...

Gee, I have most of those skills, and many more. Yet I am still unemployed. I can start this evening, where do I apply?