It's just one example of new tech business coming to town. "The Atlanta market remains one of the most diverse in the U.S., with a vast array of companies in the area. Many regions throughout the country are niche markets that offer limited opportunities for IT workers who seek to gain experience in a multitude of technologies and industry verticals. Atlanta is loaded with service companies that continue their race to innovate their offerings. That race leads to technological innovation and development, offering job seekers exciting opportunities to work with cutting-edge technology." That's the analysis of Travis Reding, Atlanta branch manager for IT recruiter Sapphire Technologies, who adds that "All indicators point toward a strong IT marketplace as the year approaches its end."

Among those indicators is IT staffing consultancy Robert Half Technology's fourth-quarter IT Hiring Index, which finds that 10 percent of Atlanta-area CIOs plan to make new hires this quarter. Significantly, Atlanta is the only city Robert Half tracks where no CIOs say they plan to cut jobs during the period.

At Dice, Atlanta IT job hunters have had a bountiful year. Job listings have risen steadily throughout 2007, and in the most recent quarter they were up a healthy 6 percent. Currently there are more than 3,200 opportunities listed.

"The majority of hiring CIOs are demanding individuals with software development life cycle skills such as software developers and QA testers," says Reding. "Our financial services clients are requesting candidates with business analysis and project management skill sets, a strong indication that M&A activity is still prevalent. Java, .NET, and niche banking skill sets are in high demand as well."

A recent report published by the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) found strong growth in long-term demand for software developers. Job opportunities grew 5.1 percent over the 12 months ending in April, on par with national trends. Other skills in demand included Linux, SQL Server, C++, and JavaScript.

According to Business 2.0 magazine, one of Atlanta’s fastest-growing companies is Atlanta Global Payments, whose current job offerings include business system analysts, QA managers, IT auditors, network operators, and IP engineers. At Cbeyond, a VoIP provider that's another one of Atlanta's fastest-growing businesses, recent job postings run the gamut from messaging architect and OSS business analyst to Siebel developer and billing ops mediation analyst. At Greenway Medical Technologies, yet another fast riser, database management experts are most in demand. And software engineers may want to take a look at SPI Dynamics, a company that has grown more than 2,000 percent in the past two years.

Statewide, Georgia has actually suffered some technology job losses in the past couple of years, according to AeA's annual Cyberstates report, and the current mortgage crisis could spell trouble for local financial institutions. Still, Georgia employs 162,500 tech workers, venture capital investments rose by 44 percent in 2006, and the number of high-tech establishments grew by 252. The state is fifth in the nation in telecommunications services employment, with 47,100 jobs; sixth in software publishers employment with 10,800 jobs; and sixth in Internet services employment, with 17,500 jobs. Clearly, there are plenty of places here to seek out the next step in your tech career.

Just step carefully. As one frustrated Atlanta-based commenter in Dice's discussion forums said, "I have an extended background in telecom and product support ranging from working in a call center for Sprint to testing in a lab for Nortel Networks. Back in 2002, Lucent had a large layoff. Next was Nortel. I was in the first cut along with 4,999 of my best friends. I managed to make it to a smaller engineering firm where I worked in their lab testing their latest DSLAM solution for two years. Then they laid off 50 percent of their folks." It’s always important to keep an ear to the ground and try to spot trouble before trouble finds you.