| October 2006 |
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| Strong across all job categories, the Golden State's capital city has plenty to attract IT experts |
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| In 2003, the Sacramento Area Regional Technology Alliance created the SARTA Tech Index, a quarterly gauge of the area's technology vitality. In the past three years, the Index has risen 76%. As Olge Kaganovich, SARTA's chief executive, said recently in a local media interview, "The situation is really improving, especially if you are looking at early-stage companies. More of them are springing up, and more are getting funded. It's been speeding up every year. Regardless of what happens with any single large company, the trend is moving upward."
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One interesting recent development: in mid-September, two large local tech companies, Sierra Logic Inc. and International DisplayWorks Inc., were sold for half a billion dollars. Local business boosters are hoping that the sale may yield a new wave of local investors who have the cash to start even more tech companies.
It's a vibrant environment. As a center for technology, government, and education, Sacramento has plenty to attract IT experts. Local resident and Dice user Paul Wilton said, "They all hold promise for IT careers, especially state and local governments since they are the last to really embrace technology." But, Wilton said, the temporary independent contracting route may be the way to go. "We're like the Maytag repairman: once you're done, you're done. Most organizations have a skeleton crew of politically competent managers who contract out all of the work. They manage the projects, and when they're over, it's back to the skeleton crew again."
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| An impressive 48% of the Sacramento companies interviewed plan to hire more employees in the fourth quarter. |
| - The quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey |
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"State government can provide a steady stream of IT work," said Scot Melland, CEO of Dice. "And when the government feels it's falling behind, it can often find millions to fund new projects." A total of 26.1% of Sacramento County's 673,000-person workforce works in government.
The quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey reports that an impressive 48% of the Sacramento companies interviewed plan to hire more employees in the fourth quarter, according to Manpower spokesperson Mike Dourgarian. That's a very high percentage when compared to that of many other major metropolitan areas. “Sacramento-area employers have similar hiring intentions to the third quarter, when 48% of the companies interviewed intended to add staff, but 7% planned to reduce headcount,” said Dourgarian. “Employers have more positive hiring intentions than they did a year ago, when 40% of companies surveyed thought employment increases were likely and 10% intended to cut back.”
According to IT staffing consultancy Robert Half Technology, 16% of Sacramento CIOs plan to make new hires this quarter, and perhaps just as important, no CIOs plan to reduce staff.
At Dice, the number of Sacramento job listings is currently at 536, a respectable amount for a city of its size but not the strongest performance of the year. (A springtime rise led to a summertime peak.) Keep an eye on the end of the year for new opportunities. Last year, job listings in Sacramento shot up almost 18% between December and January.
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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