Over the past year the momentum behind XML has quickly swelled as Web browsers have added XML compatibility, major database vendors have added XML capability to their products, and XML l ibraries have emerged for most programming languages. A growing number of companies are buying into the technology and want to include it in their most recent development efforts. Now it's one of the required skill sets in almost every position we come across in the e-commerce, Java development arena.
Most recruiters admit, however, that demand for XML is just starting to build.
DeLapa expects demand for XML expertise to flow down from those firms to traditional MIS departments. In the beginning it was only the companies who were developing tools for others that asked for it. Six to eight months later you started to see end-user clients asking for people with those same skills. Unfinished business Part of the problem is that the XML language is still evolving note industry specialists. He notes that the World Wide Web Consortium, the organization responsible for defining XML, is still putting the finishing touches on the language specification.