"Best Careers of 2011" – Reviewing the Hiring Demand for Technology Jobs

Over the past 2 weeks we looked at the careers on the "Best Careers of 2011" list, published by US News. Today, we'll review the final group, which are the technology related jobs.

Occupation	Median Pay	% Projected Growth (2008-18)
Biomedical engineer	$78,860	72%
Civil engineer	$76,590	24%
Computer software engineer	$87,480	32%
Computer support specialist	$44,300	14%
Computer systems analyst	$77,000	20%
Environmental engineering technician	$42,350	30%
Environmental science technician	$40,790	29%
Hydrologist	$73,670	18%
Meteorologist	$84,710	15%
Network architect	$73,250	53%

Professionals with various technology skills have been in high demand this year. Recruiters posted more than 1.1 million jobs ads for the above 10 careers between January and November of 2011. This represents a year-over-year increase of about 18%. Over the most recent 90 days, there have been 250,000 new online job ads posted for these occupations, up 7.6% compared to the same 90-day period in 2010.

Hiring Demand for Best Projected Technology Jobs

Hiring Demand for Best Projected Technology Careers

Source: WANTED Analytics

In the past 90 days, the most job ads were posted for Computer Systems Analysts. Recruiters posted more than 100,000 online at a 14% increase from 2010. Software Engineers were close behind with more than 77,000 job ads. Applications Software Engineers accounted for more than 65,000 of the job ads posted online, while Systems Software Engineers accounted for the remaining 12,000. Civil Engineers, Environmental Scientists and Engineering Technicians, Biomedical Engineers, Hydrologists, and Meteorologists saw declining hiring demand over the past 90 days.

Occupation	Volume of Job Ads – 90 Days	% Change vs. 2010
Computer Systems Analysts	100,763	+14.7%
Computer Software Engineers	77,512	+4.0%
Computer Support Specialists	54,206	+4.7%
Network Architects (Network Systems and Data Communication Analysts)	12,112	+4.2%
Civil Engineers	6,594	-8.5%
Environmental Scientists	1,070	-6.3%
Environmental Engineering Technicians	454	-9.9%
Biomedical Engineers	388	-17.3%
Hydrologists	62	-53.7%
Meteorologists	60	-24.1%

According to the Hiring Scale™, Hydrologists are likely to be the easiest job to fill of the above 10 careers. Nationwide, there are about 30 potential candidates in the workforce for every job ad currently online. In comparison, the occupation on this list that is likely to be the most difficult job to fill is Computer Systems Analysts, which only have 5 potential candidates for every job ad online. Some locations will see more difficult recruiting conditions, based on the local demand by employers and talent supply. For example, Cleveland, Ohio falls below the national average with about 2.7 potential candidates for each job opening.

Hiring Scale for Computer Systems Analysts – Cleveland, OH vs. Nationally

Source: WANTED Analytics

The Hiring Scale also showed that the easiest placed to recruit a Computer Systems Analyst is Poughkeepsie (New York), Eugene (Oregon), Binghamton (New York), South Bend (Indiana), and Prescott (Arizona). In these areas, the talent pool consists of up to 50 potential candidates per job opening. Recruiters that are able to source candidates from these areas are likely to reduce their time-to-fill. In fact, ads in Poughkeepsie are online for an average 38 days which is shorter than the nationwide average.

Hiring Scale for Computer Systems Analysts – Poughkeepsie, NY vs. Nationally