Hiring Hot Spots for New Grads, Other IT Pros

by Nathan Eddy

The Dice report found 8,669 open IT knowledge positions located in the nation’s largest city.

The number of available tech jobs in the United States stood at 83,086 as of May 1, 2013, according to the Dice report.

From the turn of the millennium to the next year, the Department of Education tallied 50,365 computer and information sciences degrees awarded, according to the Dice report.

In the 10 years covered in the study, the period between 2003 and 2004 resulted in the highest number of computer and information sciences degrees, at 59,488.

After peaking in 2004, the number of computer and information science grads plunged to 38,000 in 2009. But that figure jumped 4 percent between 2009 and 2010, and another 9 percent to more than 43,000 bachelor’s degrees the year after that.

The Washington, D.C./Baltimore metro area landed in second place with 7,045 available tech-based jobs.

Out of the more than 83,000 tech jobs available in the U.S., 59 percent—48,643 positions—were full time.

Contract-based positions were close behind full-time jobs as the most required type of employment, with 37,170 positions listed as of May 1.

The center of the IT universe actually lags behind New York and Washington for IT job opportunities, with 5,291 positions available.

Chicago placed fourth on Dice’s list of the top markets for IT job opportunities, listing 3,875 open positions, up 3 percent since the last report.