| April 2006 |
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Perhaps more than any other region in the country, the Puget Sound’s IT job market is defined by a single entity: Microsoft.
But with increasing tech investments pouring into small businesses -- often from many of the software giant’s wealthy benefactors -- the growing IT job market in the area makes Seattle more than just a one-horse town.
“It is a very good time to be shopping IT skills in Seattle,” said Elon Gasper, senior vice president of Seattle-based VizX Labs. “I’d call it a period of rational exuberance.”
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The exuberance the city has experienced as of late is a result of money pouring in from investors into several key markets, including the software and the biotechnology fields. Although VizX is a biotech company, hiring qualified IT staff has become as important as landing top-notch scientists, according to Gasper.
“Software has become extraordinarily important in labs nowadays,” Gasper said. “Today a life science lab is likely to have more computers than refrigerators.”
And, as is often the case, money is driving cutting edge innovation and new technologies while renewing an entrepreneurial spirit not seen in the city since the economic downturn a few years back.
“The prosperity of others has been a very successful catalyst for starting new companies in Seattle,” Gasper said. “And the momentum is still building.”
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| “This job growth is very positive news for Washington after two years of job losses in the tech sector,” |
| - Terry Byington, executive director, AeA Washington Council |
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For starters, Washington’s high-tech industry employment has grown to more than 152,000, according to AeA, the nation’s largest trade association for the high-tech industry. Microsoft employs 30,255 of those workers.
As might be expected given Microsoft’s long shadow on the tech sector’s landscape, Washington ranked second in the nation in software publishing employment, according to the AeA report. Only California had more employees in this sector.
“This job growth is very positive news for Washington after two years of job losses in the tech sector,” said Terry Byington, executive director, AeA Washington Council. “This is also good news for the state’s economy, as tech industry jobs in Washington pay twice the average private sector wages.”
This year the Puget Sound-area IT sector is expected to export $2.8 billion in high-tech goods, according to the AeA report.
Although growing biotech and software firms are creating a tight IT job market, Microsoft still sets the pace in IT hiring.
The world’s largest software maker says it will add 4,000 to 5,000 jobs this year, of which 40 percent will be in the U.S. A spokeswoman for the Redmond, WA-based company said the vast majority will be based in the Puget Sound region.
Technology job listings for the Seattle area on Dice, the leading technology career site, increased a healthy 11 percent during a recent three-month period, from 1,802 in December to 1,998 in March. The most sought-after IT skills right now, according to Dice, include Java, SAP and Oracle.
And the pay in the region is also trending upward. Tech professionals in Seattle reported earning an average salary of $73,400 in 2005, according to a survey by Dice. The average U.S. tech salary is $70,300.
“Seattle is again showing strong signs of growth in its IT job market,” said Scot Melland, CEO of Dice.
If you would like to be interviewed for the next Dice market report, or if you have comments about this article, please contact us at feedback@dice.com.
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| “It is a very good time to be shopping IT skills in Seattle” |
| - Elon Gasper, SVP VizX Labs |
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