Final version.

2. Anatomy of a Virtual Self-
Study Group
The 99% Solution
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3. Overview
Defining the Problem
● Talent shortage / skills gap
Offering a Solution
● The virtual self-study group
What Skills to Focus On
● The Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston
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4. Defining the Problem
Talent shortage / skills gap
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5. Talent Shortage
Top Three Hardest Jobs to Fill
● Skilled Trades
● Engineers
● IT Staff
Source: ManpowerGroup's 2012 Talent
Shortage Survey
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9. The Skills Gap
● The majority of U.S. workers (55 percent)
report they are under pressure to develop
additional skills to be successful in their
current and future jobs.
Source: Accenture Skills Gap Study,
November, 2011
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10. The Support Gap
● Only 21 percent of U.S. workers say they
have acquired new skills through company-
provided formal training during the past five
years.
Source: Accenture Skills Gap Study,
November, 2011
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11. Offering a Solution
The virtual self-study group
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12. Innovation
"Innovation requires an eye."
Tom Kelley
Founder
IDEO

13. Innovation Opportunity

14. Maximizing "Downtime"
There are more than 700 hours in a month.
Today's "Meetup" less than 7 hours.
How can we maximize non-Meetup time?
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15. The 99% Solution
Let's meet virtually!
No scheduled Meetup time.
Meet in your own place.
Proceed at your own pace.
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16. How a Virtual Meetup Works
Decide on a topic (technology).
Purchase the same textbook.
Make a commitment to ...
● read one chapter per week
● complete the exercises
● post a link to the completed work
Boston PHP Message Board
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17. Virtual Self-Study Groups
Started January 1, 2011
PHP Percolate!
Season 1 -- January thru April, 2011
Season 2 -- May thru August, 2011
Season 3 -- September thru December, 2011
Season 4 -- September thru December, 2012
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18. Virtual Self-Study Groups
jQuery jAM
Season 1 -- September thru December, 2011
Season 1.5 -- April thru June, 2012
Season 2 -- November thru April, 2013
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19. Virtual Self-Study Groups
HTML5 Brunch
Season 1 -- January thru April, 2012
Season 2 -- November thru January, 2013
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20. Alumni
PHP Percolate! -- 23
jQuery jAM -- 28
HTML5 Brunch -- 37
Self-Study Group | Wall of Accomplishment
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21. Road Map -- Training
PHP Percolate! Season 5
January thru April, 2013
jQuery jAM, Season 3
September, 2013 thru December, 2013
HTML5 Brunch, Season 3
February, 2013 thru May, 2013
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22. Road Map -- Services
PHP Percolate! Website
2013
jQuery jAM Website (beta)
November, 2013
HTML5 Brunch Website
2013
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23. What Skills to Focus On
The Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston
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24. Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston
#20 Ruby | 684 jobs
#19 SharePoint | 685 jobs
#18 PHP | 780 jobs
#17 Ajax | 686 jobs
#16 MySQL | 879 jobs
Source: Indeed.com
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25. Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston
#15 SaaS | 888 jobs
#14 jQuery | 968 jobs
#13 UI | 992 jobs
#12 social media | 1066 jobs
#11 Perl | 1068 jobs
Source: Indeed.com
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26. Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston
#10 HTML + CSS | 1179 jobs
#9 Python | 1258 jobs
#8 Web Services | 1291 jobs
#7 C# | 1424 jobs
#6 XML | 1493 jobs
Source: Indeed.com
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27. The NOT Top 20
#22 Photoshop #33 Illustrator
#27 HTML5 #38 Ruby on Rails
#29 iOS #41 iPhone
#30 Android #50 Drupal
#32 Flash #55 WordPress
Source: Indeed.com
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28. Top 20 Web Technologies in Boston
#5 SQL Server | 1518 jobs
#4 JavaScript | 2157 jobs
#3 Oracle | 2842 jobs
#2 Java | 3505 jobs
#1 SQL | 4300 jobs
Source: Indeed.com
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29. Opportunities
Participate in a group?
Lead a Season?
Build a Website?
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30. Conclusion
Let's narrow the skills gap
one chapter at a time!
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