Software Engineer Is Hot Job

Software engineer is the hot job of the moment, according to a new monthly report on Dice Inc.s IT job site. According to the report, there were 5,294 software engineer positions posted on the Dice site as of Feb. 28, out of a total of 30,970 technical jobs.

That makes software engineer the “Tech Stud” of the month, in Dice parlance. Thats opposed to the Systems Programmer/Support job title, which limps in as “Tech Dud,” with a 17.85 percent drop in job postings over the same one-month timeframe.

The most in-demand technology skill set is the C++ programming environment. Dice counted 6,177 jobs postings on its site specifying some C++ skill requirement.

The honor of being tech hub of the month goes to Charlotte, N.C., which so far is technologys fastest-growing metropolitan area in 2002. Charlotte has generated a 53-percent increase in companies listing jobs on the Dice site since the beginning of the year.

Dices data is backed up by recent figures from the U.S. Department of Labors Bureau of Labor Statistics, which show that unemployment rates are lowest in Southern and Midwestern metropolises. The Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill metropolitan area of North Carolina, for example, experienced the fourth-largest employment increases for January, picking up 16,700 new jobs.

Silicon Valley is still a top tech city, however. Dice lists 6,698 technology jobs available in Silicon Valley. New York companies posted 4,555 jobs as of Feb. 28; Los Angeles, 2,658; Washington, 1,771; and Philadelphia firms listed 1,317 IT openings.

Dices report found that the average salary for all technology professionals is now $68,500. For IT contractors, the average salary is $96,540. Permanent IT professionals make, on average, $62,774 yearly.

But wage differential or no, permanent IT jobs still account for the majority of IT openings, which Dice lists at 21,332, compared with 12,434 contract positions available.