2008
Fastest Growing Skills
Statistics Report
January 2008
Statistics Report
January 2008

AGENDA
 Background
 Summary of findings
 Fastest Growing Skills of 2008, by Demand
• Wordpress
• Writing
• Excel
• SEO
• XHTML
• Linux
• Drupal
• Joomla
• CSS
• Graphic Design
 How to use this data
 Methodology

BACKGROUND
oDesk (www.oDesk.com) is the leading marketplace for online workteams with the best business
model for both buyers and providers
Over 125,000 professional contractors, including software engineers, web developers, graphic
designers, writers, researchers, and virtual assistants around the world provide services via oDesk.
The average job size on oDesk is $4,000
The following presentation summarizes the fastest growing skills in 2008 on oDesk, by Demand
Growth. Click here for more information on trends in technology
Click here to see complete oDesk Outsourcing Statistics

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
• Blogging dominated as a tech growth area in 2008. Demand for developers and designers with
Wordpress experience has increased by more than 4 times.
• Demand for Writers, a good portion of which are online or blog related, more than tripled
• “Web Presence,” including blogging, was the fastest growing general growth area, with significant
growth in SEO, XHTML, Drupal, Joomla, CSS, and Graphic Design.
• Linux continues to march into the mainstream with a 152% increase in job postings listing it as a
required skill.
Skill/Experience Openings, Last 60 Openings, Last 60 Days Change
Days in 2007 in 2008
1. Wordpress 37 195 427.0%
2. Writing 32 138 331.3%
3. Excel 30 118 293.3%
4. SEO 73 250 242.5%
5. XHTML 24 61 154.2%
6. Linux 23 58 152.2%
7. Drupal 70 169 141.4%
8. Joomla 157 352 124.2%
9. CSS 119 250 110.1%
10. Graphic Design 20 42 110.0%
For more detailed statistics, visit our oDesk Trends Pages

WORDPRESS
Wordpress is an open source blog publishing application. WordPress is the official
successor of b2\\cafelog, developed by Michel Valdrighi.
The number of jobs posted with “Wordpress” listed as a required skill increased by
427% in 2008. Below is a chart showing the number of jobs posted with “Wordpress”
listed in the job post title, and some summary stats on Wordpress on oDesk:
Click here to find Wordpress jobs on oDesk
Click here to find Wordpress providers on oDesk

WRITING
Freelance, Technical, and Creative writers can all be found through the oDesk
System.
The number of jobs posted with “Writer” listed as a required skill increased by 331%
in 2008. Below is a chart showing the number of jobs posted with “Writer” listed in
the job post title, and some summary stats on Writing jobs on oDesk:
Click here to find Writing jobs on oDesk
Click here to find Writing professionals on oDesk

EXCEL
Microsoft Excel is part of the MS Office suite. Excel continues to be one of the most requested
skills by oDesk providers
The number of jobs posted with “Excel” listed as a required skill increased by 293% in 2008. Below
is a chart showing the number of jobs posted with “Excel” listed in the job post title, and some
summary stats on Excel jobs on oDesk:
Click here to find Excel jobs on oDesk
Click here to find Excel providers on oDesk

SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality
of traffic to a web site from search engines via \"natural\" (\"organic\" or \"algorithmic\")
search results.
The number of jobs posted with “SEO” listed as a required skill increased by 243% in
2008. Below is a chart showing the number of jobs posted with “SEO” listed in the
job post title, and some summary stats on SEO jobs on oDesk:
Click here to find SEO jobs on oDesk
Click here to find SEO providers on oDesk

XHTML
The Extensible Hypertext Markup Language, or XHTML, is a markup language that has
the same depth of expression as HTML, but also conforms to XML syntax.
The number of jobs posted with “XHTML” listed as a required skill increased by 154.2%
in 2008. Below is a chart showing the number of jobs posted with “XHTML” listed in the
job post title, and some summary stats on XHTML jobs on oDesk:
Click here to find XHTML jobs on oDesk
Click here to find XHTML providers on oDesk

LINUX
Linux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux
kernel. Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software
collaboration.
The number of jobs posted with “Linux” listed as a required skill increased by 152% in 2008. Below
is a chart showing the number of jobs posted with “Linux” listed in the job post title, and some
summary stats on Linux jobs on oDesk:
Click here to find Linux jobs on oDesk
Click here to find Linux providers on oDesk

DRUPAL
Drupal is a free and open source Content Management System (CMS) written in the programming
language PHP. It is used as a \"back end\" system for many different types of Web sites, ranging from
small personal blogs to large corporate and political sites.
The number of jobs posted with “Drupal” listed as a required skill increased by 141% in 2008. Below
is a chart showing the number of jobs posted with “Drupal” listed in the job post title, and some
summary stats on Drupal jobs on oDesk:
Click here to find Drupal jobs on oDesk
Click here to find Drupal providers on oDesk

JOOMLA
Joomla! is a free open source content management system for publishing content on the World
Wide Web and intranets. The system includes features such as page caching to improve
performance, RSS feeds, printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, polls, website
searching, and language internationalization.
The number of jobs posted with “Joomla” listed as a required skill increased by 124% in 2008.
Below is a chart showing the number of jobs posted with “Joomla” listed in the job post title, and
some summary stats on Joomla jobs on oDesk:
Click here to find Joomla jobs on oDesk
Click here to find Joomla providers on oDesk

CSS
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a stylesheet language used to describe the presentation of a
document written in a markup language. Its most common application is to style web pages written
in HTML and XHTML, but the language can be applied to any kind of XML document, including
SVG and XUL.
The number of jobs posted with “CSS” listed as a required skill increased by 110% in 2008. Below
is a chart showing the number of jobs posted with “CSS” listed in the job post title, and some
summary stats on CSS jobs on oDesk:
Click here to find CSS jobs on oDesk
Click here to find CSS providers on oDesk

GRAPHIC DESIGN
Over 30,000 Graphic Designers can all be found through the oDesk System.
The number of jobs posted with “Design” listed as a required skill increased by 110% in 2008.
Below is a chart showing the number of jobs posted with “Design” listed in the job post title, and
some summary stats on Design jobs on oDesk:
Click here to find Graphic Design jobs on oDesk
Click here to find Graphic Design providers on oDesk

HOW TO USE THIS DATA
• Buyers:
– Understand which skills demand is growing the fastest for,
to help you:
• Determine how much to pay for providers
• Understand how much competition there might be for
qualified providers with these skills.
– Make educated decisions as you interview candidates on
oDesk
– Understand which skills demand is growing the fastest for,
to help you:
• Determine how much to charge for your skills
• Determine what skills to gain experience in
zz
• Understand how competitive your skills are
– Both
• Feel confident that oDesk has the best
business model for all parties, and thus
continues to change how the world works
*For a more complete summary of oDesk statistics,
(and grow explosively):
visit the oConomy