What’s Next? The Tech Industry in 2015 – Part II

CultureFitTechnical Recruiting

It doesn’t matter if you are searching for your first job, a better job, or perfectly happy with the job you have. You still need to be up to date about the technology and recruitment trends that will affect IT employment now and into the future. Here are the trends that will define the coming year.

More Opportunities – Full Time, Part Time, and Contract

The employment website CareerBuilder puts together a yearly employment forecast based on a survey of hiring managers, and the predictions for 2015 are positive for tech workers. An exciting 54% of employers say they plan to hire full-time IT professionals in the coming year, the most of any field. An additional 31% of employers say they plan to create new positions in STEM fields. Across the employment sector, the reliance on temporary or contract workers is also up. All of this suggests that the coming year will see a greater volume and create variety of job opportunities.

New and Returning Hot Spots for Tech Jobs

The tech research firm Dice conducts a yearly salary survey which reveals a lot about the state of the industry. They measure a number of factors, and then helpfully compile the data into a list of the ten American cities with the highest salaries for tech professionals. Old stalwarts like Silicon Valley are on the list, but unexpected and fast-changing cities like Sacramento and St. Louis also appear. If you are looking for a job, these are the ten cities to focus your search on.

  1. Silicon Valley – average salary $112,600 +3.7%
  2. Seattle – average salary $99,400 +4.6%
  3. Washington, D.C. – average salary $98,300 +0.8%
  4. Boston – average salary $97,300 +0.8%
  5. Sacramento – average salary $96,000 +13.7%
  6. New York City – average salary $95,600 +1.8%
  7. Los Angeles – average salary $95,300 -0.5%
  8. Denver – average salary $94,100 +3.6%
  9. San Diego – average salary $94,100 +1.8%
  10. Louis – average salary $93,800 +23.1%

In-Demand Skills for Today’s Employers

The magazine Computerworld conducts a yearly survey of IT executives to get a barometer of the industry as a whole. The responses of the 194 executives that participated confirm the results of the CareerBuilder survey – tech employment is on the rise. The executives also identified the 10 skills that they are most eager to add to their workforce:

  1. Programming/Application Development
  2. Project Management
  3. Help Desk/Technical Support
  4. Security/Compliance Governance
  5. Web Development
  6. Database Administration
  7. Business Intelligence/Analytics
  8. Mobile Applications and Device Management
  9. Networking
  10. Big Data

Make 2015 the year you get the job you want. Work with the tech staffing experts at CultureFit.