Software development expertise: Demand

I was thinking of a way to gauge the current demand for expertise in various software development skills and what simpler way than to do a keyword search in a leading online job recruitment website in Malaysia using the site's own search engine. Here's what I found:

c - 137 (note however, it covers c, c++ and c# due to search engine limitations)
java -131
oracle - 114
sql server - 81
asp - 76
html - 70
xml - 70
visual basic - 60
.net - 58
j2ee - 54
vb - 54
javascript - 44
asp.net - 43
jsp - 40
php - 34
perl - 33
mysql - 32
db2 - 28
crystal reports - 27
vb.net - 27
sdlc - 25
uml - 19
web services - 15
struts - 14
ejb - 12
weblogic - 12
com - 11 (covers com+ as well)
delphi - 11
servlet - 10
xsl - 9
xslt - 8
dcom - 7
rpg - 5
soap - 5
python - 4
extreme programming - 3
msmq - 3
rational rose - 3
rup - 3
ado - 2
mts - 2
ado.net - 1
corba - 1
msf - 1
soa - 0
windows forms - 0
winforms - 0
c# - (?) .......it can't handle "#" ....duh!
c++ - (?) ......it can't handle "++" either

I must point out that this method of measuring demand are at best crude. For example, the results returned for Oracle and SQL Server cover not only those hiring software development expertise but also DBAs. Moreover, some employers may imply requiring a certain skillset but did not list the skills explicitly in their requirements. So, I leave it to your interpretation!

Java Certification Day 2003

Went to the venue early as I was expecting a big crowd but only to discover that it wasn't the case. Interestingly, I learnt from the event that the GM of Worldwide Certification at Sun Microsystems is a Malaysian! And also, two new Java certifications are in the works -- one on J2ME and the other, on web services.