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    IT Career News: Odd Questions, CIO vs. CTO, Money Talks

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    Eight Frequently Asked Job Search Questions

    With so much interesting career news this week, a roundup seems in order. These are highlights from IT Business Edge’s IT career coverage, plus other notable happenings.

    What Did You Just Say?

    Addictive career site Glassdoor’s lists of oddball interview questions are always popular. It’s comforting to know that you’re not alone in having walked out of an interview thinking, “what was that all about?” This slideshow collects 30 of the oddest job interview queries from around the globe: the U.S., UK and Canada. Can you top these with your own weirdest question?

    Reining in Shadow IT by Design

    Shadow IT has its pros and cons, but if your company would like to address the phenomenon proactively, advice from EMC Syncplicity may be in order. Rather than throwing up your hands and saying users will do what users will do with rogue apps, address one of the key reasons they do so: design. Excellent user experience in enterprise apps may encourage users to remain engaged. Another benefit: improved security for the organization as a whole.

    CIO or CTO: Choose One

    IT Business Edge’s Don Tennant spoke with co-founder and CTO of RKON Technologies Marc Malizia about a sensitive c-suite topic: Will the shift toward the cloud make either the CIO or CTO irrelevant? With the convergence of duties and responsibilities, Malizia has concluded, the answer is yes. His tech firm operates without a CIO.

    Data Ethics Can Be Ignored No Longer

    Ethics never keep up with technology (nor does the law). But Gartner is making noise about “privileged” people making decisions about data usage without considering the consequences, which means a larger conversation about data ethics is probably about to begin. IT Business Edge’s Loraine Lawson examined where ethics and data may meet, and what those oh-so-popular data scientists bring to the table in this regard.

    Hiring Web Development Engineers and Web Developers

    IT Business Edge’s Kim Mays compared the hiring of web developers and web engineers – which some may argue are too close to diffentiate. If you fall into the group of folks who see two different sets of skills, make sure your job descriptions reflect that in detail.

    The Next Great Philanthropist

    Tim Cook has been thinking about his legacy. The Apple CEO announced that he will pay for his young nephew’s college education, and then donate the rest of his fortune to charities. Cook’s Apple stock is said to be worth around $120 million, says The Los Angeles Times, with additional options worth far more. The Times outlines Cook’s previous philanthrophic efforts, many of which are related to education.

    Salesforce.com’s Money Talks

    Marc Benioff, Salesforce.com CEO, announced this week that his employees and/or customers will not be invited or sent to any programs within Indiana after that state’s governor, Mike Pence, signed into law a bill that makes it legal for businesses to deny service to customers based on religious beliefs. Public reaction focused on the potential for discrimination against many groups, most notably gay and lesbian citizens. The San Francisco Business Times explains that Salesforce.com purchased an Indianapolis marketing company in 2013 for $2.5 billion. The firm now has as many as 3,000 employees in the state, and Benioff is encouraging other tech companies to consider similar financial actions in protest of the new Indiana law.

    Kachina Shaw is managing editor for IT Business Edge and has been writing and editing about IT and the business for 15 years. She writes about IT careers, management, technology trends and managing risk. Follow Kachina on Twitter @Kachina and on Google+

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