New jobs can't come soon enough. On Dice, the number of Baltimore job listings dipped 10 percent in the fourth quarter, with seasonality at least partially to blame. Currently there are 1,626 jobs listed. As one commenter in the Dice forums puts it, "I've been job hunting since February. I've been working in IT for 20 years, and I have NEVER had such trouble finding a decent job. In the glory days of the past, one could cherry pick the best job from a variety of offerings. The tides have definitely turned."
Perhaps 2008 will be better. Recruiter Robert Half Technology's IT Hiring Index indicates an impressive 19 percent of Baltimore-area CIOs plan to hire new staff in the first quarter. That's the highest hiring rate of any of the major metropolitan areas the company tracks. Meanwhile, the quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, which covers all industries, found that from January to March a healthy 33 percent of the companies interviewed plan to hire more employees, says Manpower Spokesperson Michael Pinkasavage.
Dice's annual salary survey shows that Baltimore IT pay rose an average 2.3 percent in 2007, to $81,750 - about $7,000 above the national average. The 2008 Robert Half Technology Salary Guide sees strong demand in the area for Web developers, data warehousing analysts, and network security administrators.
Liz Cramer, technical recruiter for Sapphire Technologies' Baltimore office,
has seen recent demand for project managers, business analysts, network engineers and network architects. "In our office we see solid demand from the government sectors as well as the insurance and healthcare industries," she says.
Biotech is also experiencing a surge. A recent report said the number of life science-oriented venture capital deals in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore region increased 121.5 percent from 1997-2001 to 2002-2006, the best performance in the nation, and way ahead of second place San Francisco.
So is optimism warranted? Yes, says Sapphire's Cramer. "The Baltimore and D.C. areas are densely populated with businesses that rely heavily on IT talent. These businesses are only continuing to grow, and that will provide a lot of opportunity for IT workers in 2008."
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In fact, Baltimore is striving to earn its place in the mini high-tech corridor that runs through eastern Maryland to Washington, D.C., and into tech-heavy suburban Virginia. It's been a struggle. The state government's best effort to help has been the Maryland Venture Fund, which has spent ten years investing $48 million in more than 175 companies, typically in the startup phase. The state reports it has gotten back its entire investment so far.
