From north to south, California has more to offer tech professionals than just Silicon Valley.
While the overall labor
market in the U.S. continues to limp forward, the tech industry is showing more
vigorous signs of growth, and in some places around the country where it
wouldnt necessarily be expected, according to the March tech employment report
from IT jobs specialist Dice.
After two years of
continuous improvement in recruitment activity on Dice, tech is a market-by-market
story, the companys report noted.
There are certainly many
available tech jobs in traditional centers like Silicon Valley, New York or
Seattle, as the report shows, but other cities continue to join the partycreating
possible opportunities for tech professionals in other regions. The
fastest-growing cities for tech jobs are as varied as their geographic
locations. In Houston, Texas, tech job postings on Dice (up 37 percent
year-over-year) received a boost from the oil and gas industry's strength.
Compare that to Portland, Ore.,
which placed sixth. It is often called the "Greenest City," where the
emergence of cloud and virtualization jobs is contributing to its current
growth.
Raleigh, N.C., tops Dices
list of fastest-growing cities for tech jobs. With more than 1,100
opportunities on any given day (up 50 percent year-over-year), tech
professionals in Raleigh enjoy a broad base of possibilities, including current
openings at banks and nearby universities, the report said. Following Raleigh
was Richmond, Va., which posted a 40 percent year-over-year rise in tech jobs,
followed by Houston and Sacramento, Calif.
From north to south,
California has more to offer tech professionals than just Silicon Valley. In
Sacramento, firms in health care and technology are hiring, and tech paychecks
have jumped 6 percent year-over-year to $87,000 on average. In San Diego, tech
salaries average more than $85,000 annually, while defense and aerospace
companies are recruiting.
Not to be outdone, Missouri
also has two cities on the list. Kansas City-based tech professionals can
expect to take home more than $75,000 a year (up 13 percent year-over-year),
and job opportunities can be found at financial services and legal firms. In
St. Louis, where manufacturing and health care companies are looking for tech
talent, yearly tech salaries hover around $71,000. The only top 10 tech market
to also make the fastest-growing city list is Boston, with more than 3,300 job
postings on Dice, up 24 percent year-over-year. Annual tech salaries increased
2 percent to more than $88,000 on average.
The New York/New Jersey
Metro area remained the top metropolitan location for technology jobs, with
9,195 jobs posted as of March 1, a 6 percent rise from the same period last
year. The Washington, D.C./Baltimore area followed with 8,289 jobs, a 2 percent
increase, followed by Silicon Valley, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta,
Dallas, Seattle and Philadelphia.
It's important for tech
professionals to remember with growing opportunities comes expanding optionsif
you're willing to be flexible about where you live, said Tom Silver, Dice vice
president for North America. Consider going for that promotion, asking for a
raise, or changing it up and finding that new opportunity.
Nathan Eddy is Associate Editor, Midmarket, at eWEEK.com. Before joining eWEEK.com, Nate was a writer with ChannelWeb and he served as an editor at FierceMarkets. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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