Job vacancies for technology workers of all stripes are in demand all over the United States. Silicon Valley has the most opportunities for contract and full-time work in more than two years. Pay rates are also inching up for specialists and technology project managers.
The
leaves may be turning toward a winter rest, but technology work is not going
dormant. Contract and project-based work is flourishing compared to last year. Silicon Valley technology jobs are at
a two-year high on at least one job board.
Technology job vacancies are up across the board
in every region of the country, with opportunities in Java developers,
virtualization specialists, database administrators and project managers,
according to the October report from the technology job board Dice. Job vacancies
at Dice have grown by 50 percent from October 2009 numbers with at least one
city seeing a 100 percent increase.
"In tech, both full-time and contract hiring have
been in lock-step with recruitment activity in both up about 50 percent since the
lows in mid-2009," wrote Tom Silver, vice president at Dice in a statement.
"Not surprisingly, clients are mixed on whether their markets are favoring more
contract or permanent hires."
Seattle has more than 2,300 open
technology job vacancies which is up 105 percent from October 2009. Los
Angeles (2,791), Boston (2,544) and Philadelphia (1,980) have increased
by 35 percent or more from a year ago; Atlanta (2,281) is up nearly 55
percent while Chicago (3,069) and Dallas (2,156) have risen over 45
percent.
Silicon Valley continues to see
noticeable hiring demand for technologists with over 4,500 vacancies for a year
over year increase of 64 percent.
"In Silicon Valley, one recruiter noted
that during the first quarter, companies often switched full-time positions to contract-to-hire when
they made an offer," wrote Silver. "Now, they stick with full-time."
The Washington, D.C. area has seen the
smallest annual increase for the month at only 13 percent, but this region has
consistently seen demand from the federal sector even during the darkest days
of the recession. On the Dice job board, D.C. consistently ranks No. 2 in
terms of total job opportunity volume and presently has 7,756 job vacancies.
"Experienced project managers, who before the
downturn were among the best compensated tech professionals, are back in demand
as projects move back to the front burner," wrote Silver. "Their rates are rising, also."
Hiring in technology consulting, professional
services and project management grew by 19,500 between June and September, according to data provided by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau
of Labor Statistics. Software-as-a-service applications and outsourced cloud
infrastructure continue to be go-to services for many technology departments
who cannot expand full time staff or who want to focus on their core business,
according to technology analysts.
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