Despite some signs of a slowdown, Florida's tech community, by and large, is keeping busy.

Veredus Corp., a Tampa Bay staffing agency that focuses on placing tech contractors, has noticed a slight slowdown in matching independent IT workers to some of its major business clients, which include restaurants, healthcare and financial firms.

"It hasn't been a huge impact but there is a perceptible slowdown in Tampa Bay," says Chief Executive Dan Rodriguez. "We're seeing certain spots in companies where it's taking a little more time to fill certain jobs. Some jobs have gone on hold until next quarter. It's a little slower process. Things are taking a bit longer to close."

That's not necessarily the case in Orlando, home base to much of the Walt Disney Company's entertainment business. There, the demand for tech talent continues to be strong. Both cities tend to have a strong demand for software expertise, particularly in the areas of .Net, Java and Oracle software.

"They are both big markets and markets tend to get skill-centered," says Rodriguez. "A lot more companies in Tampa select .Net skills then Java. Orlando is more focused on Java. There's a big demand for these skill sets, and it's very hard to find qualified candidates in these areas."

Another way of looking at it: Orlando tends to emphasize entertainment and simulation modeling while Tampa Bay is home to a mix of industries.

While Rodriguez hasn't seen this kind of downturn since the dot-com bust of 2001, he does see differences. "Back then, it slowed down in a hurry," he notes. "Hopefully, it will stay like it is now, a little bit of a slowdown without too much pain and suffering."

Raising Its Profile

On a national level, Florida is among the top ten high-tech states. Matt Doster, executive director for the nonprofit public policy group IT Florida, agrees Florida's IT sector hasn't been hit deeply, but it's unclear whether a sharper downturn is lagging or if the industry will continue to remain strong. "We're watching the economy to see if this industry can withstand it," he says.

While the state does have a high demand for IT workers in terms of quantity, Florida leaders are aiming to give the state the same type of cache that Boston and Seattle have as IT markets. "We want the quality to increase as well," Doster says.

Florida is home to some notable tech companies, including Fort Lauderdale-based enterprise software firm Citrix Systems and Miami-based Terremark Worldwide, which provides IT infrastructure solutions. The state also has a strong engineering community based around the Kennedy Space center. The coastline of Central Florida in Brevard Country, better known as the Space Coast, is home to more than 5,000 technology companies and the nation's fifth largest high-tech workforce.

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