Tech unemployment is notably low right now. CompTIA’s monthly Tech Jobs Report, for example, estimated the tech unemployment rate at 2.4 percent in May 2021, roughly half the national average. But not all tech jobs are created equal, and some are more in demand than others. The big question is, which ones?
For the purposes of this study, we focused on a mix of well-established and up-and-coming technology hubs, all of which feature companies and other organizations competing hard for top tech talent:
- San Francisco
- Silicon Valley
- Atlanta
- Houston
- Austin
- Raleigh, NC
- Chicago
- Boston
- Washington, DC
- Seattle
- Los Angeles
Now here’s the list of hardest-to-fill tech jobs, generated via Burning Glass, which collects and analyzes millions of job postings from across the country. Software developers/engineers top this list, followed by product and program managers, followed by network engineers/architects. Take a look:
The average salaries for tech roles in these hubs are quite high, which is a natural side effect of intense demand. While many organizations are investing considerable resources in hiring highly specialized experts in cutting-edge areas such as artificial intelligence (A.I.) and machine learning, hiring managers and recruiters are clearly on the hunt for thousands of technologists who can build apps and networks, manage projects, and keep the tech stack safe from outside intrusion. That’s good news for technologists with all kinds of skills.
Moreover, there seems to be a good deal of hiring momentum at the moment. According to Dice’s first Tech Job Report of 2021, the first quarter of 2021 showed a 28 percent increase in job postings from the fourth quarter of 2020; of the top 50 hiring organizations thus far in 2021, 60 percent are hiring more than in the first quarter of 2020. That’s also good news; hopefully, the trend continues for quite some time to come.
