The Silicon Valley is known for IT and Computer Programming jobs and has seen strong hiring demand so far this year. In July, more than 6,500 new jobs were advertised online for IT related openings in the Silicon Valley – up 9% from July 2010. To determine the tech jobs that were the most challenging for recruiters to fill, we took a look at the hiring demand of the top IT and Computer Programming occupations and the potential candidate pools for each occupation in the area.

Hiring demand varies widely by specific job in the Silicon Valley.  Computer Software Engineers (Applications) are the most demanded with 2,000 new jobs during July.  This is more than twice the demand of Web Developers, the occupation with the second highest volume of job ads last month.  While demand for Applications Software Engineers is up, job ads for Systems Software Engineers saw a 13% decline in July 2011 vs. July 2010.  Other occupations that also saw a decrease were Network and Computer Systems Administrators, Computer Systems Engineers/Architects, IT Project Managers, Business Intelligence Analysts and Statisticians.

Year over Year Hiring Demand

Source: WANTED Analytics

 

According to the Hiring Scale™, Recruiters in the Silicon Valley, are likely to have the most difficult time recruiting for Web Developers.  There were approximately 4 potential candidates per job opening during July.  

Database Administrators, despite seeing only 244 new job ads in July and a year-over-year decline in demand, will likely be challenging to recruit as the talent pool in the Silicon Valley remains small. There are 6 potential candidates per advertised job during July.  

The talent pool of Computer Systems Engineers/Architects also remains smaller than average, with about 10 potential candidates in the Silicon Valley for every job opening.

An 18% decrease in hiring demand has not alleviated any recruiting challenges for Network and Computer Systems Administrators.  With about 10 potential candidates in the workforce for every job ad during July, the Silicon Valley falls below the average recruiting conditions in the US.  

Finally, Computer Software Engineers (Applications) will be also be moderately hard-to-find. There are more than 580 different companies in the area currently recruiting for Software Engineers.  There are about 11 candidates in the workforce for each job ad placed during July, compared to the nationwide talent pool which consists of about 17 potential candidates for job.

Hiring Scale for Web Developers in the Silicon Valley vs. Nationwide

Source: WANTED Analytics