10 Best Places for Tech Jobs

These cities boast some of the best job opportunities for technology workers

By Liz Wolgemuth

Posted: September 15, 2009

Seattle
Although best known for its software companies, the city's tech sector has enormous potential to become more diverse, says Xconomy's Buderi. According to the Washington Technology Industry Association, Seattle is home to more than 700 tech industry organizations and companies. Buderi suspects the city may have been among the most active for start-ups this year.

Seattle had among the highest demand ratios for computer software applications engineers relative to supply. This city's tech employees rank third highest in average pay, higher than considerably more expensive cities such as New York and Washington, according to data from Glassdoor.

Washington
It turns out the nation's capital needs geeks. From network engineer to systems administrator, Washington has among the highest number of openings in the nation. Washington ranks in the top five for volume of job openings on Dice.com. The Washington metro area's economy has outperformed much of the nation, thanks to the stabilizing force of government—particularly a new, popular, and active government.

Still looking for IT job in Atlanta

I have been unemployed and looking for work for the past two months for a database position in Atlanta, GA. There are not many positions being posted on Dice and CareerBuilder and on top of that, the companies are looking for contractors with the cheapest rate. I'm competing with folks from offshore that are used to working at lower rates. I wish the companies would realistically post the positions with the rate that they are actually willing to pay. I had seen a rate as low as $35 for a dba position in NYC. What a joke.

HardatWork of GA @ Oct 30, 2009 19:25:31 PM

Washington: Fed or Kill Industry Jobs

It must be said that the DC job market is limited to two specific industries: Military and Goverment, industries not based on profitability but rather get their money from allocated budgets, id est, taxpayers money, the public coffers. Most of the positions offered are contract or similar low-quality positions from the usual suspects: CACI, Lockheed, Raytheon, Sparta, etc, etc. If you don't have clearance, you're out of luck. Citizenship IS NOT enough; most companies only bother with candidates who already have clearance because it is expensive to get, it takes a long time, and it's not guaranteed that a candidate will get it at the end. If you have Top Secret with Poly you can be incompentent as heck but you'll have plenty of job offers. There are VERY FEW jobs in the commercial arena (where companies get their money from banks or their profits, not the tax payers). Having said this, the DC metro area is a great place to live (Northern VA, DC, South MD), specially places like Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Rosslyn, Arlington, Dupont Circle, Georgetown, etc.

Rudygotmarried Inathrepiecesuit of MD @ Oct 19, 2009 09:51:52 AM

rainy day Seattle

YES RAIN,RAIN, AND MORE RAIN. This city is ugly, dirty, and not like San Diego! Seattle? yes, it's too wet! San Diego is the best. That is why Seattle is home!

Caesar Of Seattle of WA @ Oct 16, 2009 00:46:28 AM

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