Over the past seven months, companies across the country have shifted their hiring focus to remote workers. That’s created some interesting conundrums for hiring managers and HR specialists, who must conduct interviews and onboarding via video and phone as opposed to in-person. It’s also changed the game for technologists, who must decide whether they want to accept a particular position without ever setting foot in a physical office.

Nonetheless, hiring has continued for technologists of all specializations. But which companies are actually on the hunt for fresh talent? For an answer, we turned to Burning Glass, which collects and analyzes millions of job postings across the country. 

As you can see from the chart below, which analyzes postings for remote tech roles over the past 60 days, it’s clear that healthcare, education, and defense firms are doing the most hiring. This should come as no surprise to anyone who follows hiring data. Throughout 2020, healthcare and defense have continued to hire strongly; the former needs technologists and other specialists to handle the flood of work related to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the latter is always looking to spend massive budgets on those with the right combination of tech skills.  

Education also makes sense, as technologists are needed to help the nation shift to e-learning with the opening of the new school year. 

It’s also worth noting the presence of VMware, if only because the company has wholeheartedly embraced remote work—but if employees move to a place with a lower cost of living, they may face a proportionate reduction in pay.  According to Bloomberg, which quoted anonymous sources within VMware, an employee moving from Palo Alto, California (where VMware is headquartered) to Denver would need to take an 18 percent salary cut; moving to Los Angeles or San Diego would lead to an eight percent cut. That places VMware firmly in the center of a current debate over whether such salary reductions are warranted if remote technologists are performing the same tasks as before, just from a different geographical location.  

When it comes to the most in-demand skills for these remote tech jobs, it’s clear from the following chart that employers are interested in technologists who can wrangle data (hence SQL topping the rankings) as well as manage projects (as evidenced by project management, Scrum, JIRA, and more). 

If you’re hunting for a new job right now, things are obviously very different than at the start of the year. Video and phone interviews now dominate hiring, which means new etiquette to follow (Look at the camera! Make sure your video app is downloaded in advance!). You’ll also have to evaluate a company’s culture as best you can via a video screen, which can prove a tricky proposition. Fortunately, if you have the right skills, it’s clear that employers out there want to hire you.