Build Better Boolean Search Strings

You don’t have to be a master sourcer to be great at finding top tech candidates on Dice. Just use this handy guide to build better Boolean search strings, based on common keywords and job titles.

Have questions or suggestions? Contact the Dice support team at 1.888.321.DICE(3423), option or support@dice.com.

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Below are common search strings organized by keyword. Copy and paste each one as a stand-alone, or use them in conjunction with other skills/requirements. Boolean on Dice does not require you to use an asterisks * function to the end of words because the database already auto populates the various endings, as a result, use the shortest form of a word to find relevant candidates. Example: (admin) will help you find candidates who are admins, administrators, or have administrative experience. 

For further insights into Dice’s search, please review the support page:

• Dice Knowledge Center
• Boolean lessons for how to search on Dice (videos & classes)

The 5 Main Boolean Functions

There are 5 main functions to writing an accurate and pointed Boolean search: (parenthesis), “quotation marks,” AND, OR, and NOT. 

• “QUOTATION MARKS”

  Use quotation marks on your keywords if they have spacing or punctuation. Example: (“.net” OR “network developer”) these keywords require quotation marks because of the period in “.net” and the spacing between ‘network’ and ‘developer.’

• AND

  "AND" between keywords in a search query narrows down the search results to include only those that contain both terms. Keep in mind you can string multiple keywords together with the AND function, but that will continually narrow down the results. Example: Searching for "java AND sql" will return candidates who have both those keywords in their profile. If a candidate does not have one, then they will not appear in your search results. 

• OR

  "OR" broadens the search results by including pages that contain either of the specified terms, or both. Example: Searching for "java OR sql" will return candidates who have either one of those terms, or even both. This is a great way to search for candidates because most skills have synonyms or related subjects that you can search with to find the best fit for your role. 

• NOT

  "NOT" excludes specific terms from the search results. Example: Searching for (NOT(java)) will omit candidates who have the word “java” anywhere in their resume or profile. As a result, use the NOT function sparingly because you will miss out on relevant candidates

Boolean Strings by Keyword

• (admin) - Will catch any positions or skills as extended terms, such as "administrator", "administration", etc.
• (app) - This will catch any positions or skills as extended terms, such as "apps", "application", etc.
• (business) AND (analyst)
• (“business intelligence” OR “business analyst” OR “business analysis”)
• (“business analyst” OR “business analysis” OR ccba OR cbap OR “business intelligence” OR “business objects” OR “business systems analyst”)
• (ecommerce OR “e commerce” OR “online retail” OR sem OR “search engine marketing”)
• (LAMP OR linux OR apache OR mysql) AND (perl OR php OR python)
• (linux OR unxi OR centos OR redhat OR ubuntu)
• (mobile OR Android OR droid OR iphone OR ios OR blackberry OR swift OR java)
• (network OR system OR “operating system”)
• (network OR system OR operating OR information)
• (“object oriented” OR “object-oriented” OR oop OR oo)
• (test OR qa OR qc OR quality OR troubleshooting OR debug OR tuning OR solving OR solutions)
• (“project manager” OR “project management” OR PMP)
• (ui OR “user-interface” OR “user interface”)
• (ux OR “user-experience” OR “user experience”)
• (warehouse OR warehousing OR san OR nas OR storage)
• (web OR internet OR portal OR portlet OR microsite OR url)

Boolean Strings by Job Title

Below are search string examples sorted by job title. Copy and paste each one as-is, or edit to fit your search needs.

• .Net Developer

  (“.Net” OR C#) AND (VS OR “Visual Studio”) AND (VB OR “Visual Basic”) AND (ASP OR “ASP.net”) AND (SQL)

• Android Developer

  Android AND (SDK OR Java OR SQLite) AND (SVN OR subversion)

• Apache KAFKA

  (KAFKA) AND (apache OR framework OR platform) AND (Java OR J2EE OR Python OR "Dot Net")

• Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ML)

  (“Artificial Intelligence” OR “A.I.” OR “MACHINE LEARNING” OR “DEEP LEARNING” OR “ML” OR “neural network” OR NLP OR “natural language processing” OR “text to speech” OR “speech to text” OR “expert system” OR robotics OR “machine vision” OR “image recognition” OR “cognitive science” OR “natural language”)

• Automation Tester

  (qa OR “quality assurance” OR “quality analyst” OR “automation tester”) AND (sql) AND (agile OR scrum) AND (rest OR soap) AND (java) AND (cucumber OR “jet brains” OR gherkin OR cmm OR cmmi OR cast OR cste OR cmst OR certified OR certification)

• Business Analyst with Business Objects Experience

  (ba OR “business analyst” OR “project manager” OR “project analyst”) AND (etl) AND (“business objects”) AND (informatica) AND (sql) AND (“data warehouse” OR financial OR analysis OR analytics OR mappings OR “product roadmap”)

• CTO

  (cto OR “chief technical officer” OR cio OR “chief information officer” OR vp OR “vice president” OR svp OR “senior vice president”)

• Database Administrator

  (“database administration” OR “database administrator” OR “DB Admin” OR DBA) AND (SQL OR server OR sequel OR warehouse)

• Developer Evangelist

  (enterprise) AND (java OR javascript OR html) AND (php OR rest) AND (sso OR video OR integration OR deploy OR implement OR prototyp OR “project manager” OR “project management”)

• Docker

  (docker) AND (containerization OR kubernetes OR compose OR synopsys) AND (API OR OR python OR java OR OR JSON)

• Drupal Expert / Webmaster

  (“web developer” OR “web master” OR webmaster) AND (drupel OR “google analytics”) AND (seo OR websites OR microsites OR “landing page” OR cms OR crm OR “relational database” OR api OR ui OR ux OR “social media” OR paradot OR requirements)

• Elasticsearch

  ("ElasticSearch" OR "Elastic Search" OR "Elastic Certified" OR "Elastic Certified Analyst" OR ELK OR "ELK Stack")

• Email/Messaging System Administrator

  (“systems administrator” OR “systems administration” OR “email systems administrator”) AND (“email delivery systems” OR powermta OR port25 OR “message systems” OR strongmail OR qmail OR sendmail OR ironport OR postfix) AND (mta OR dns OR ptr OR “mx records” OR “smtp protocols” OR dkim OR spf OR dmarc OR fbl OR “feedback loop”)

• Hana

  (Hana OR Architecture OR “SAP HANA” OR “High Performance Analytic Appliance” OR “Systems Applications” OR “Products” OR “Data Processing” OR "SAP" OR "HANA" OR “High Performance Analytic Appliance”)

• Help Desk Support

  (helpdesk OR support OR technician OR “help desk” OR “service desk”) AND (JDE OR iSeries OR virtual OR virtualization OR vmware) AND (AD OR “Active Directory”) AND (DHCP OR DNS) AND (network) AND (switches OR switching OR routers OR routing) AND (firewall OR security cybersecurity)

• Information Security Manager

  (“Information Security”) AND (forensic OR “Security+” OR CISSP OR “security Standards” OR “Certified Information Systems Security Professional” OR “Advanced Persistent Threats” OR “asset protection”)

• Java Developer

  (Java) AND (“object oriented” OR “object-oriented” OR oo OR oop OR ooad OR ejb OR J2EE OR Linux OR Hibernate OR Jidesoft OR MySQL OR Subversion OR SVN)

• Korn Shell

  ("Korn Shell" OR kornshell OR "ksh" OR "KSH") AND ("Unix" OR "Linux")

• Kubernetes

  (kubernetes AND Scala AND JAVA AND PYTHON AND SQL)

• Linux Sys Admin / DBA

  (dba OR “database administrator” OR “database administration” OR “system administrator” OR “system administration” OR sysadmin) AND (linux) AND (mysql OR “my sql” OR “my-sql”) AND (ksh OR bash OR perl OR python) AND (nosql OR “no sql” OR “no-sql” OR mongo OR “disaster recovery” OR “meta data analysis” OR “data modeling” OR troubleshooting OR reporting OR backup)

• Linux Systems Administrator

  (Unix OR Linux) AND (RedHat OR “Red Hat” OR Centos OR Debian) AND (smtp OR dhcp OR dns OR ldap OR nfs OR smtp OR http OR snmp) 

• Microstrategy Consultant

  (MicroStrategy OR “Business Objects” OR OBIEE OR Cognos) AND (Informatica OR “Ab Initio” OR SSIS OR Websphere OR “SQL Server Integration Services”) AND (rdbms OR oracle OR “SQL Server” OR Teradata OR Netezza OR DB2) 

• Mobile Applications Architect

  (ios OR iphone OR ipad OR Android) AND (SDK OR Java OR “objective-c” OR “objective c” OR “C++”) AND (optimization OR “web services” OR UX OR “user-experience” OR “user experience” OR “Mobile Applications” OR “Mobile Developer”)

• Mockito

  (Mockito) AND (JUnit OR JMockit) AND ("behavior-driven development" OR BDD)

• Network Administrator

  (“.net” OR network OR server) AND (AD OR “Active Directory”) AND (Exchange OR DNS) AND (Linux OR Unix OR Centos OR RedHat) AND (Lan OR WAN) AND (VOIP OR SIP) AND (“power shell” OR script) AND (routers OR routing OR switches OR switching OR bridges)

• OBIEE Architect

  (OBIEE OR “oracle Business Intelligence”) AND (DW OR “data warehouse” OR “data warehousing”) AND (IBOTS OR DAC OR RPD OR SME OR OOTM OR BIAPS OR OBI OR ETL OR informatica)

• PAAS

  ("PaaS" OR "Platform as a Service" OR "Cloud Platform Services")

• PHP Developer

  (PHP) AND (PostgreSQL OR “Pervasive SQL” OR Intranet OR Linux OR Apache OR Javascript OR HTML OR CSS)

• PostgresSQL

  ("Postgres" OR "PostgresSQL") AND ("DBA" OR "Database administration") AND (SQL OR "Structured Query Language")

• Project Manager

  (“project manager” OR “project management” OR PMP)

• Python Developer

  (python) AND (mysql OR “my sql” OR “my-sql” OR postgresql) AND (django OR flask OR pyramid OR bottle) AND (virtualenv OR chef OR puppet OR sentry OR raven OR “project management” OR “project manager” OR implement OR deploy OR design)

• Quality Assurance Analyst

  (“Quality Assurance” OR qa OR sqa) AND (“test cases” OR automated OR scripting) AND (agile OR ruby OR java OR javascript OR sql OR plsql OR “pl-sql” OR “pl/sql” OR selenium)

• RELATIONAL DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM SOFTWARE (RDBMS)

  (rdbms OR "relational database management system Software") AND ("sql Server" OR sql) AND (oracle AND mariadb AND sqlite)

• REST

  ("REST" OR "Representational State Transfer") AND ("API" OR "Application Programming Interface")

• Senior Manager, IT Programs

  (“program manager” OR “project manager” OR “it manager” OR “information technology manager”) AND (“ms certified” OR “ms certification” OR “microsoft certified” OR “microsoft certification”) AND (“ms project”) AND (“c#”) AND (“sql server”) AND (“asp.net”) AND (mvc OR “big data” OR scope OR deliverables OR timelines OR budget OR “use case” OR design OR deploy OR supervise OR manage)

• Senior PHP Developer

  (php) AND (sql OR lamp OR linux OR apache) AND (javascript OR jquery OR memcache OR “apc cache” OR nosql OR “no sql” OR “no-sql” OR analytical OR analysis)

• Senior Software Architect

  (“c#”) AND (“asp.net”) AND (“sql server”) AND (java OR j2ee OR jsp OR servlet OR ejb OR jms) AND (html) AND (xml) AND (css) AND (Oracle) AND (unix OR linux) AND (“app development” OR arch OR design OR develop OR hadoop OR python OR rails OR php OR websphere OR tomcat OR “big data” OR spring OR hibernate OR eclipse OR log4j OR ant OR maven OR ooad OR uml OR mvc OR jsf OR velocity OR struts)

• SharePoint Developer

  (SharePoint OR “share point”) AND (html OR css OR xsl OR xslt OR javascript OR jquery OR ajax) AND (“asp.net” OR “C#” OR “vb.net”) AND (Silverlight OR “SQL Server” OR SSRS OR SSAS OR “reporting services” OR “analysis services”)

• SQL Data Analyst

  (dba OR “data analyst” OR “database administrator”) AND (“sql server” OR “transact-sql” OR “t-sql” OR tsql) AND (“stored procedures” OR ssis OR ssas OR ssrs OR analy OR “data conversion” OR query OR queries OR “data mining” OR excel OR pivot OR vlookup OR “v-lookup” OR chart OR graph OR “ms office” OR audit)

• SQL Data & Quality Assurance Analyst

  (dba OR “data analyst” OR “database administrator” OR qa OR “quality assurance” OR “quality analyst”) AND (sql OR transactsql) AND (“stored procedures” OR ssis OR ssas OR ssrs OR test OR analy OR “data conversion” OR queries OR query OR “data mining” OR excel OR pivot OR vlookup OR “v-lookup” OR chart OR graph OR “ms office” OR audit)

• Sr. Data Warehouse Architect & Developer

  (architect OR develop OR program OR engineer) AND (“sql server” OR “data warehousing”) AND (perl OR microstrategy OR profiler OR “data hygiene” OR etl OR computations OR aggregations OR analy OR quer OR index OR design OR deploy OR test)

• Sr. Linux Administrator

  (dba OR “database administrator”) AND (linux) AND (redhat OR fedora OR centos) AND (tomcat OR mysql OR “my sql” OR “my-sql” OR postgre OR zimbra OR ssh OR nfs OR bind OR djbdns OR qmail OR openldap OR openssl OR lvs OR perl OR python OR ruby OR bash OR firewall)

• Sr. Programmer – C++, Linux

  (programmer OR engineer OR developer) AND (linux OR unix) AND (redhat OR centos OR fedora) AND (“c++” OR sql) AND (perl OR php OR shell) AND (postgre OR analy OR test OR design OR deploy OR execute)

• Systems Engineer

  (Windows OR Exchange OR Cisco) AND (rout OR IIS OR voip OR citrix OR aix OR linux OR mcse OR ccna OR ccnp OR cnna OR “systems engineer”) AND (“TCP/IP” OR “Active Directory” OR DNS)

• Technical Account Manager

  (“account manager” OR “project manager” OR “program manager”) AND (“sql server” OR warehouse OR warehousing)

• Telecommunications Specialist

  (Telecommunications OR Telecom) AND (network OR ip OR pbx) AND (voicemail OR “voice-mail” OR “voice mail”) AND (Cisco OR Avaya OR telephony) 

• User Experience Designer

  (“User Experience” OR “User-Experience” OR UX OR “Human-Computer Interaction” OR “Human Computer Interaction” OR HCI) AND (CSS OR HTML) AND (JavaScript OR jQuery)

• Web Designer

  (html) AND (javascript OR css) AND (photoshop OR illustrator OR adobe) AND (flash OR actionscript OR macromedia) AND (“Java Server Pages” OR JSP OR Java OR “Active Server Pages” OR ASP OR “Google Web Toolkit” OR XML OR oracle OR IIS) 

• Web Developer

  (html) AND (css OR javascript) AND (design OR xml OR jquery OR ajax)