| April 2007 |
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| Job listings and salaries are up as public and private sector activity increases |
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| Here's a bit of a surprise: small, unassuming Maryland turns out to be a high-tech powerhouse that's a national leader in several measurements of technology success. Is this a good place to seek out a prosperous IT career? It sure looks like it.
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The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation's 2007 State New Economy Index finds that Maryland (including Baltimore) comes in third nationally as a new economy success when measured by the number of knowledge jobs, globalization, and innovation capacity. Maryland has the fifth highest number of high-tech jobs and the fourth highest number of "knowledge" jobs, ranks second in economic dynamism, and is fifth in the measure of high-tech jobs as a percentage of all jobs.
Some evidence: When The Maryland Stem Cell Commission put out a request for applications for funding through the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund under the Maryland Stem Cell Research Act of 2006, an amazing 85 local companies applied to get part of the $15 million in funds. At the same time, the Maryland Technology Development Corporation has been busy funding startup efforts, giving grants of up to $75,000 to six small companies focusing on technologies such as nanotechnology, RFID, and geographic information systems since the beginning of the year.
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| "We've seen a 25% increase in open positions" |
| - Timm Brown, branch manager of Sapphire Technologies |
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It's an active and interesting scene, and recruiters have taken notice. Timm Brown, branch manager for IT recruiter Sapphire Technologies, said, "We've seen a 25% increase in open positions, and candidates are moving through the process faster, which has increased our placements about 10%,” said Brown. “Project and program managers should take an especially close look. We've experienced a surge in demand for those positions in our area since December."
At the same time, IT staffing consultancy Robert Half Technology, whose second-quarter IT Hiring Index was just released, finds that 17% of Baltimore CIOs plan to make new hires this quarter. According to Kerry Welch, Manpower spokesperson, the quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, which covers all industries, finds that from April to June, a strong 30% of the companies interviewed plan to hire more employees.
A quick look at the available positions at Micros Systems, a Columbia-based manufacturer of computer systems for the hospitality industry that's one of the state's fastest growing companies, shows 59 available slots including positions for technical writers, software engineers, and network administrators.
Sapphire's Brown also noted that there are great IT opportunities in local and state government agencies, specifically for .Net and Java experts and testing/QA analysts.
"These projects seem to involve web applications including implementation, testing, and maintaining the applications," said Brown.
At Dice, the number of Baltimore job listings surged mightily at the end of 2006 and into January and has since leveled off at its new, higher levels. Listings are up 13% for the quarter. It's safe to predict that Baltimore salaries will continue to rise. The 2006 Dice Salary Survey found that IT salaries in the region were up 5.71% over 2005 to $79.911, a rise that was the best in the East and exceeded only by that of San Diego, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. With job listings increasing, salaries should continue to inch up.
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| Dice job postings in Baltimore are up 13% since Dec. |
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