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Tech sector in hiring drive

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Re: Tech sector in hiring drive

#11

Post by Glide »

xox wrote: post #3

What I find remarkable about the chart is the volume of tech jobs in D.C. relative to the population: D.C. has a population of about 600 thousand versus about 8 million in NYC and yet tech hiring seems to be roughly on a par in these two cities. That's mind blowing (to me at least). If that's correct, it must be virtually impossible to be an unemployed programmer in D.C.

I was reading an unemployment report the local Fairfax county paper (in northern VA if you don't know). During this recession the unemployment rate was 5.6%. I think it normally hovers around 4.6% or something.

This isn't to say that the housing bubble did not affect the area. It did. But the unemployment rate is still very close to "normal."

Re: Tech sector in hiring drive

#12

Post by matrix »

xox wrote: post #3

What I find remarkable about the chart is the volume of tech jobs in D.C. relative to the population: D.C. has a population of about 600 thousand versus about 8 million in NYC and yet tech hiring seems to be roughly on a par in these two cities. That's mind blowing (to me at least). If that's correct, it must be virtually impossible to be an unemployed programmer in D.C.

Ah, but there's a catch: many of the jobs require security clearances. You need to be a US citizen, and usually need to be cleared already. If you're cleared though... it's a license to print money (heck, you might just BE printing money).

Re: Tech sector in hiring drive

#14

Post by strlen »

davidu wrote: post #5

There are different folks qualified for different size companies. Some people do best at the 1-5 person company. Some people do best at the 5-25 person company. Some people do best at the 25-100 person company. And some people do best at 100-250, and 250+. The best people are the ones that grow with you as the company grows and take on bigger leadership roles as needed, constantly working for what's best for the comp…

I'd wager focus has more to do with it than size.

If you're an engineer, it's a bad idea to join a start-up if their focus doesn't align with your interests. Even if there is significant equity and a great salary (it's not uncommon for funded start-ups to pay more than big companies), it's terrible to feel underused, unfulfilled and behind the technology curve in the topics that interest you. If you're the _only_ person knowledgeable about a certain topic in a start-up, there's nothing you can learn about it from coworkers. If one is uncertain of their focus, there's also no ability to switch groups and work on something else.

Your start-up (OpenDNS) is fairly unique in San Francisco, if not Bay Area as a whole, in being focused on network infrastructure (and I applaud you for it, it's a great service!)

Unfortunately, it (+ several other start-ups e.g., rethinkdb) is an exception, not the rule. The focus of most other early stage start-ups is web development. Engineers interested in solving other kinds of problems (e.g., algorithms and scalability challenges) but who like the flexibility of working for an Internet (vs. shrink-wrap product) company typically consider the medium (Facebook, LinkedIn) and big players (Google, Yahoo, Amazon).

Re: Tech sector in hiring drive

#15

Post by Simucal »

We need to have another Hacker News "Who's Hiring?" thread.

I'm a senior CS student gearing up to graduate this May and starting my employment search. I have worked two software engineering internships and I'm proficient in the .Net stack (particularly ASP.NET MVC), Java, and Python. I've also had a some amount of Android experience over the past two semesters.

Re: Tech sector in hiring drive

#16

Post by patio11 »

mahmud wrote: post #2

You know it's getting hot when the vendor that came to sell to your company slips you a card with "your current salary + 15" scribbled on the back.

He knows its getting hot when you give him the card back and tell him to get serious. (That might almost qualify as frothy.)

Re: Tech sector in hiring drive

#17

Post by ivorjawa »

patio11 wrote: post #16
mahmud wrote: post #2

You know it's getting hot when the vendor that came to sell to your company slips you a card with "your current salary + 15" scribbled on the back.

He knows its getting hot when you give him the card back and tell him to get serious. (That might almost qualify as frothy .)

Light on the santorum, please.

Re: Tech sector in hiring drive

#18

Post by agosnell »

Simucal wrote: post #15

We need to have another Hacker News "Who's Hiring?" thread. I'm a senior CS student gearing up to graduate this May and starting my employment search. I have worked two software engineering internships and I'm proficient in the .Net stack (particularly ASP.NET MVC), Java, and Python. I've also had a some amount of Android experience over the past two semesters.

There was one last weekend, might want to check it out:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1255491

Re: Tech sector in hiring drive

#19

Post by shadowsun7 »

stuff4ben wrote: post #8

I can echo this. I've had two Fortune 500 companies, several recruiters, and even Google all contact me (unsolicited too) within the past month. It's the oddest thing I've seen in the 13 years I've been a developer.

I find this particularly interesting, especially as a CS student. Is this hiring binge across the board, or primarily for developers who've been in the market for awhile now?

Because if it's the latter, startups can continue to siphon off from universities (through internships, and later job offers) and the like.

Re: Tech sector in hiring drive

#20

Post by kls »

stuff4ben wrote: post #8

I can echo this. I've had two Fortune 500 companies, several recruiters, and even Google all contact me (unsolicited too) within the past month. It's the oddest thing I've seen in the 13 years I've been a developer.

Just got an unsolicited from Amazon in my inbox, a good job too, something is going on.
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