10 great job markets for techies

[homesick_american 1]

http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/22/news/econo...sion=2007052309

(Fortune) -- No question about it, technology careers suffer from an image problem. A study by Dice.com (www.dice.com), a leading job board that's exclusively for techies, says that 94% of tech professionals are happy in their work, and 88% would recommend a tech career to others. They're far more concerned with issues like keeping their skills up-to-date (82%) than with outsourcing (41%) or layoffs (37%). Yet, the study says, "those outside the industry don't see technology as appealing when compared to other industries."

That's partly because the 2001 recession hit the tech world particularly hard. "When the technology bubble of the late '90s burst, there were lots of layoffs, and many of those who lost their jobs didn't have enough experience to find new ones as the technology industry cooled," observes Dale Welch, a partner in Winter, Wyman & Co. (www.winterwyman.com), a Waltham, Mass., recruiting firm.

As a result, young people stayed away from the field in droves, which has led to what Welch calls a "lost generation" of techies. So many frustrated job seekers moved on to other careers that "we're facing a dearth of software engineers and developers with 2 to 8 years' experience," Welch says. That's likely to continue: The number of college students majoring in computer science has dropped 40% in the past decade.

Meanwhile, the tech job market has come roaring back almost to its pre-2001 heights, and skilled techies can pick and choose among job offers. Pay has gone up accordingly. A new survey of 1,000 tech employers by staffing firm Yoh (www.yoh.com) shows tech wages overall at their highest point since the dot-com bubble burst. Tech consultants now command an average of $83.72 per hour, hardware engineers earn $75.68, and ETL developers pull down $66.52. (To see the full study, go to www.yoh.com/YohIndex.)

But as with any job boom, some geographical locations, and some sets of skills, are hotter than others. Based on the number of openings posted on its site earlier this month, sorted by zip code, here is Dice.com's list of the top 10 metropolitan areas for tech jobs:

1. New York/New Jersey - 11,044 postings

2. Washington, D.C. - 7,971 postings

3. Silicon Valley - 6,755 postings

4. Los Angeles - 4,546 postings

5. Chicago - 4,241 postings

6. Boston - 4,167 postings

7. Philadelphia - 3,156 postings

8. Dallas - 3,084 postings

9. Atlanta - 2,987 postings

10. Seattle - 2,309 postings

The skills most in demand, again based on the number of job listings on the site: among operating systems, Windows and Unix, with 16,573 and 14,870 job postings respectively. Oracle database experience is wanted for 17,354 jobs, and SQL for 14,880. The hottest programming languages are J2EE/Java, with 13,690 job postings, and C/C++, with 11,862.

Overall, Dice.com reports a 119% jump in tech job postings over the past two years. Says Dale Welch at Winter, Wyman: "Competition for tech talent is intense, and it doesn't look like it will lessen anytime soon." For talented techies battered by years of layoffs and cutbacks, it's about time.

[mawilson 2,133]

I'm surprised that New York and New Jersey have more openings than Silicon Valley.

[Alex+R 0]

Yeah, but acourse Rey has been poking around Dice pre-move and had thought that a lot of those jobs were in NJ though...

[Saddle Bronc 124]

I'm surprised that New York and New Jersey have more openings than Silicon Valley.

I've received many times emails and phone calls for contracts in NYC area.

After hearing out a couple of the companies (phone only) between 2003 and 2005, I found out that they were invariably offering unreasonably low rates for the task (I should have been clued in when they were asking someone from outside the area, I guess)--as in, you couldn't even rent a squat (no, I don't mean a complete apartment), fuel a vehicle and afford groceries simultaneously.

Even Buffalo is rather overpriced--especially considering the fact that it is one of the most run-down cities (I was there for a weekend last year, and even downtown Buffalo looked generally worse than SOUTH parts of Atlanta).

Edited May 30, 2007 by CherryXS

[Nikita2Charles 32]

Not mentioned in this article is the amount of those Jobs that will go to folks with H1b whose willing to work for depressed wages, but the end of the tunne is the green card, once they get it they can move on to better pasture.

High tech Strategy

If lucky and get and H1 Jobs here in the us.

1) If married, at time leave the wife and kids back home, come out here on the H1 work for low salary, Live with Roomates, just like new college graduate, Dorm settings, work 10-12 hours a day sometimes more to impress the company, a year or 2 later file for the Job opening inside the company and get green card sponsorship.

2) This is where the SMART MOVE, just a couple of months before the company starts the green card sponsorship, by them the engineer have already save some money by living with Roomates instead of getting an apartment(flat),

If married

Bring wife and Kids to the USA on H4 visa, no immigration headache for the family to come over.

If not married but already engaged,

Go to India get married and bring wife on H4

In both cases once the company sponsors the family for the green card, everybody in the family gets it, no need to deal futher with Immigration, K1, K3, CR and so on.

Downside If not playing the card right, the engineer gets the green card then have to sponsor for his wife and child, that takes around 3-5 years depending on the country.

So for american engineers, they face the short end of the stick since you have to compete with foreign workers who are willing to work for low salary to get the green card, so once the person gets their green card and move on to a better job, Then the company starts the CYCLE again, and so on. So with that in mind, I know lot of kids whose now reluctant to get into computer sciences as their future is quite uncertain, how are you going to compete with someone overseas that will work for 1/5 of your salary. Like this CEO said, why paid $80,000 to a software engineer with a BS when I can get a PHD in India to do the work for 1/5 of the salary.

Edited May 30, 2007 by Nikita2Charles

[mawilson 2,133]

Yeah, but acourse Rey has been poking around Dice pre-move and had thought that a lot of those jobs were in NJ though...

That explains it. There aren't many jobs for techies in New York City.

[Alex+R 0]

So for american engineers, they face the short end of the stick since you have to compete with foreign workers who are willing to work for low salary to get the green card, so once the person gets their green card and move on to a better job, Then the company starts the CYCLE again, and so on. So with that in mind, I know lot of kids whose now reluctant to get into computer sciences as their future is quite uncertain, how are you going to compete with someone overseas that will work for 1/5 of your salary. Like this CEO said, why paid $80,000 to a software engineer with a BS when I can get a PHD in India to do the work for 1/5 of the salary.

What big company that cares about its IT is stupid enough to outsource it? Re: The rest of it, did you read the article?

Yeah, but acourse Rey has been poking around Dice pre-move and had thought that a lot of those jobs were in NJ though...

That explains it. There aren't many jobs for techies in New York City.

Well, there can't be fewer there than here and there are certainly lots here...

[Nikita2Charles 32]

PLENTY!!!!!!!

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Well, there can't be fewer there than here and there are certainly lots here...

But not at such unreasonably low rates (as I've gotten quoted for NYC/NJ jobs).

I basically told one of the NYC-area-job callers (who was Detroit-area based on phone number) that for the rates quoted, I would have to move all the way to Philly--and it would have made sense to simply have a Philly project instead.

Edited May 30, 2007 by CherryXS

[Reynaldo 0]

Well, there can't be fewer there than here and there are certainly lots here...

But not at such unreasonably low rates (as I've gotten quoted for NYC/NJ jobs).

Is it that bad?

[Alex+R 0]

Well, there can't be fewer there than here and there are certainly lots here...

But not at such unreasonably low rates (as I've gotten quoted for NYC/NJ jobs).

Is it that bad?

He's talking about recruiters who have called him and asked him to move. Salary.com is probably a better indication. As well as Dice listings.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Well, there can't be fewer there than here and there are certainly lots here...

But not at such unreasonably low rates (as I've gotten quoted for NYC/NJ jobs).

Is it that bad?

Rates of less than $50/hr for NYC or NJ? That's like quoting a rate of $13/hr for Dallas! Edited May 30, 2007 by CherryXS

[Alex+R 0]

Well, there can't be fewer there than here and there are certainly lots here...

But not at such unreasonably low rates (as I've gotten quoted for NYC/NJ jobs).

Is it that bad?

Rates of less than $50/hr for NYC or NJ? That's like quoting a rate of $13/hr for Dallas!

Ok that definitely can't be the norm. But still, I think you can survive on $50/hr at our age, if it is true.

[mawilson 2,133]

Ok that definitely can't be the norm. But still, I think you can survive on $50/hr at our age, if it is true.

Let's see....$50 / hour x 40 hours/week x 52 weeks / year = $104,000 / year?

CherryX - $100k is an unreasonably low rate???

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Ok that definitely can't be the norm. But still, I think you can survive on $50/hr at our age, if it is true.

Let's see....$50 / hour x 40 hours/week x 52 weeks / year = $104,000 / year?

CherryX - $100k is an unreasonably low rate???

For NYC area, it definitely is!