e-commerce carriers

So, you have decided to take a plunge in Electronic Commerce, but need to see the options and fathom the knowledge required, I must say you have chosen the right place then !

The developments of Internet and Electronic Commerce technologies have opened floodgates for Electronic Commerce professionals. The estimated figures for Businesses over Internet and consequent demand for professionals are mind-boggling. Not only Professionals with cutting edge technologies are in great demand but professionals in traditional fields are also finding new areas to work in.

Web site design and development

The activities involved are Web Site layout design, creation of web pages, graphic design and multimedia animations. Earlier web pages were created using HTML languages but today graphical Web authoring tools allow you to create attractive web sites with ease, which even beginners can learn quickly.

Skills required:

• Knowledge of Internet and World Wide Web
• Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML)
• Web creation tools

Popular web creation tools are:

• Microsoft Front Page
• Macromedia Dreamweaver
• Hotmetal Pro
• Fusion
• Adobe GoLive
• Graphic Design tools

Popular Graphic Design tools are:

• Adobe Photoshop
• Corel Draw
• Adobe Illustrator
• Fireworks 
• Photopaint 
• Gif Animator 
• Macromedia Flash

Content Development

Creation of innumerable web sites and portals have created a great demand for people who can research and provide written matter for the web sites. The job involves extracting and analyzing information from varied sources including Internet, write synopsis and prepare final content. People having knowledge and experience are hired to research and prepare write-ups in their area of expertise. Experience as a copy writer in an advertising agency or a journalistic background helps.

Skills required:

• Good written communication skills. 
• Knowledge in the area of subject. 
• Researching abilities.

Web Programming and Application Development

This is a techie job in the web development. The web programmer creates web pages that constitute a web site and also adds the required program functionality to it. At advanced level, the programmer creates complex applications that provide dynamic content, returns data from database and even provide Electronic Commerce functionality.

For programming, skills in the following areas are essential: 

• HTML, DHTML 
• VB Script, Java Script, CGI/C,CGI/Perl, Active Server Pages (ASP) 
• Java, Java Servlets 
• XML 
• CGI / PERL / PHP

There are various integrated development tools which are used extensively by programmers like:
Visual Interdeveloper
Visual Cafe 

Apart from above, for development of applications, the knowledge of following application servers is gaining: ColdFusion / Web Objects / Broad Vision / Silver Stream / Web Sphere / Web Logic

Database administration

The database administrator designs, develops and maintains database systems that act behind the scenes of commercial and information intensive web sites. Ensures that the database system has an optimum design that takes care of accurate and updated information whenever required. One must be familiar with the hardware such as servers and back up media and must have thorough knowledge of database design and maintenance.

The knowledge in following databases are preferred: 

• MS SQL Server 
• Oracle 8i 
• Sybase 
• Informix 
• MS Access

Apart from database, knowledge of various application servers is also required.