According to the most recent data available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of tech jobs available to pros spiked last month. Examining the government’s jobs data, CompTIA notes the “IT sector” is the largest segment for IT occupations in the United States, supplying “approximately” 44 percent of tech positions. It also notes the remaining 56 percent is comprised of sales, marketing, finance, research and development roles, and other miscellaneous positions that require someone tech-savvy. January 2019 was a solid month for tech job growth – at least for tech pros. The top five jobs (by title) combined to add 150,100 to the market, up 11,800 versus December 2018. As the chart below illustrates, “Software Developers, Applications” is far and away the most in-demand position for tech pros; in January 2019, nearly 80,000 developer roles were available, up a massive 10,300 versus December 2018. Meanwhile, Support Specialist job openings dipped to the tune of 2,100 jobs, while the other top jobs (Systems Engineers, Systems Analysts, and Project Manager) all gained incrementally. CompTIA states “IT and software services” contributed over 2.1 million jobs to the labor force in January 2019, up 7,000 month-over-month. “Data processing, hosting, and related services” added another 334,100, while the catch-all “other info services” contributed 320,500 jobs. All categories showed positive gains. Via this BLS tech-jobs info, CompTIA shows things are looking positive. Since March 2017, the number of tech job postings has grown by 50,000 overall. While there are definitely peaks and valleys on a month-by-month basis, the overall gains are significant. But we’ll express a touch of caution here. CompTIA admits monthly data has a “higher volatility," and that some data points are not always available immediately. We should point out that many contracts operate on a calendar year, and it’s likely (if not definite) a healthy portion of the listed jobs were simply companies posting contract openings with the intent of retaining the person already doing the work – which means the job posting was not actually an available position to begin with. Happily, the tech jobs growth trend is expected to continue well into the next decade, so our caution is not a cause for panic.