| January 2007 |
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| A huge IT force is required to keep these industries growing |
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| Medical digital imaging specialist Stephen Ferber has just left Dallas and relocated in Charlotte, North Carolina, but it wasn't because he was lacking for work. In fact, Ferber spoke glowingly of the technology climate in and around Dallas and recommended it as a place where continual growth should make IT job hunting relatively easy.
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"Obviously I know the most about the healthcare industry. There are so many hospitals and such a big population. It was interesting to see how many mainstream IT companies such as EDS and CA were looking for ways into this market," Ferber said.
Ferber added that his anecdotal sense was that new business was constantly coming to Dallas, and that his own work could have easily grown 30% a year. His advice to job hunters was to create several vertically-oriented resumes for a wide variety of fields, thereby increasing the chance of being perceived as a perfect fit.
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| "There has been steady growth over the past two years" |
| - Bob Valecka, branch manager of Sapphire Technologies |
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Another piece of advice: check the suburbs. North of Dallas is the cleverly branded Richardson Telecom Corridor, where 600 high-tech companies including Verizon, TI, HP, Cisco Systems, Nortel, Samsung Telecommunications America, and AT&T have presences. Telecom is a strong presence in the region. Another hot area for tech companies is the Las Colinas development midway between downtown and the airport.
Bob Valecka, branch manager for IT recruiter for Sapphire Technologies, mentioned telecom as one of three hot industries, along with finance and, as Ferber asserted, healthcare. Valecka cited a special demand for project managers, business systems analysts, and developers. "There has been steady growth over the past two years," said Valecka. "Move to Dallas. It has a great, diverse economy, low cost of living, and stable and growing companies."
Valecka's enthusiasm is backed up by IT staffing consultancy Robert Half Technology, whose first-quarter IT Hiring Index found that 17% of Dallas CIOs plan to make new hires this quarter. Meanwhile, the Hudson Employment Index, a measure of overall optimism of employees, stands at 110.7, above the national average of 105.3. And the quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey said that from January to March, 21% of the companies interviewed (across all industries) plan to hire more employees.
The numbers at Dice weren't quite as exuberant for the fourth quarter. Listings were down for the quarter, although seasonality may have played a role in that result. “As Dice users and IT job recruiters have told us, Dallas is vibrant," said Scot Melland, CEO of Dice. "There's no doubt that 2007 will bring excellent job opportunities for people with excellent IT skills."
And on the salary front, things are looking good as well. In the 2006 Dice Salary Survey, the average IT salary in the Dallas region was found to be $74,656, better than those of similar cities such as Houston and Atlanta and up 4.42% from the 2005 level. Factor in the relatively low cost of living, and IT appears to be a good career track in “Big D.”
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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