IT Job Markets - where are the jobs?

To make a long story short, I spent 21 years in the Bay Area and had no problems finding a job.

Moved to Raleigh-Durham NC on the advice of a few people (and the fact I wanted to leave the Bay Area) but have not been really successful finding the IT job I wanted.

Let's start with the statistics. I moved here in June 2015. Found a contract job in August 2015, that lasted for a year. They didn't end up converting me (mainly due to politics, good ole boyz club mentality).

I was un-employed from August 2016 until March 2017. In February 2017 I had 3 job offers. I picked the wrong one and the job didn't last more than 6 months. Unemployed again as of September 2017. The IT job market in RTP slows down quite a bit when we enter the holiday season.

Statistically, I've been unemployed 37% of the time I've spent living here, which is a lot of time.

Moving on. I am not going back to California, and I don't really want to get into why. It is a fact.

I decided to increase my odds with the job search by renewing my certifications. I'm working on my CCNA-Security and so far I'm on schedule. I hope to have it before 01/01/2018. After that, I plan on going after my CCNP so set myself apart from the crowd.

By "crowd" what I mean is, I have 3-4 recruiters calling me about the same job. When I apply for a job on Indeed.com, it tells me 20 other people already applied for it.

I figured it is quite possible there are too many IT Professionals in RTP all competing for the same jobs.

I will continue giving it my best, but figured if I can't find a steady IT job with all the knowledge and certifications, I may have to move again. Austin, TX and Las Vegas, NV are the 2 possibilities I'm looking at.

Let me know what you think, looking for some input.

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

boxerboy1168

you should try entry level. I have to move to California to even get an interview. With a Net+ 220-901 and some college I stopped even trying. Luckily I used to work for an IT company on the operations side in inventory so I have a few contacts there and I will probably be moving to get a job.

I will be diving DEEP into Cisco and Python in my future. I believe network automation and fully customizable network and cloud solutions are the future. Luckily the company I will be working for has an awesome CCNA training program and with WGU I am hoping for a bright future.

Codeman6669

Texas Austin and Dallas lots of IT jobs (security as well) and not enough qualified people to fill the jobs. no state income tax too

scaredoftests

DC/Balt metro area. Plenty of jobs.

Dojiscalper

I've had the same experience as the OP in the Carolina's, I've got over 20 years of experience, tons of certs, I get a lot of interviews, phone screens etc, but there's always a huge number of people applying, if I'm not the first 10 to apply I don't typically hear anything. I found most of the recruiters job posts are bogus, they are just fulling their job duties of contacting potential talent. I always manage to bomb the interview somehow though because I'm just not good at that situation. I decided I'd try the indy contractor thing for awhile and even started my own consulting business. Its starting out slow, but its grassroots so thats expected but it is growing.

Moon Child

2URGSE wrote: »

To make a long story short, I spent 21 years in the Bay Area and had no problems finding a job.

Moved to Raleigh-Durham NC on the advice of a few people (and the fact I wanted to leave the Bay Area) but have not been really successful finding the IT job I wanted.

Let's start with the statistics. I moved here in June 2015. Found a contract job in August 2015, that lasted for a year. They didn't end up converting me (mainly due to politics, good ole boyz club mentality).

I was un-employed from August 2016 until March 2017. In February 2017 I had 3 job offers. I picked the wrong one and the job didn't last more than 6 months. Unemployed again as of September 2017. The IT job market in RTP slows down quite a bit when we enter the holiday season.

Statistically, I've been unemployed 37% of the time I've spent living here, which is a lot of time.

Moving on. I am not going back to California, and I don't really want to get into why. It is a fact.

I decided to increase my odds with the job search by renewing my certifications. I'm working on my CCNA-Security and so far I'm on schedule. I hope to have it before 01/01/2018. After that, I plan on going after my CCNP so set myself apart from the crowd.

By "crowd" what I mean is, I have 3-4 recruiters calling me about the same job. When I apply for a job on Indeed.com, it tells me 20 other people already applied for it.

I figured it is quite possible there are too many IT Professionals in RTP all competing for the same jobs.

I will continue giving it my best, but figured if I can't find a steady IT job with all the knowledge and certifications, I may have to move again. Austin, TX and Las Vegas, NV are the 2 possibilities I'm looking at.

Let me know what you think, looking for some input.

Indianapolis has lots of IT jobs there. My cousin is down there he relocated down there for better job opportunities.. I might do that one day too. A lot of teaching jobs down there too. So Indianapolis might benefit me from both my degrees in Education and CIS more jobs down in Indianapolis in both my fields of study then where I am currently living.

Krones

Not a lot of great opportunities in Vegas. I live here now, if I had to choose I would go with the Austin area and is probably my next target when looking for employment unless I find something remote. I have a few friends that work remotely/Devops from Vegas.

DoubleNNs

Lots of jobs in Dallas. I don't know abut Austin -- you might run into the same issue as you are in Raleigh. I've never been to Austin, but I've changed my location on all the major job boards a few times to Austin and didn't get many calls. It was the exact opposite in other areas, such as Atlanta, Dallas, NY/NJ, Boston, etc.

In comparison to the other areas in the Carolinas, there are def a lot of IT opportunities in Charlotte and the RTP. But it def seems a lot less compare to other cities across the country.

Good luck w/ your search moving forward!

macarius

Not in L.A . I've been in the Job market for 2 months already with almost 10 years of experience in Networking , all CCNP certs + PCNE.

NetworkingStudent

2URGSE wrote: »

To make a long story short, I spent 21 years in the Bay Area and had no problems finding a job.

Moved to Raleigh-Durham NC on the advice of a few people (and the fact I wanted to leave the Bay Area) but have not been really successful finding the IT job I wanted.

Let's start with the statistics. I moved here in June 2015. Found a contract job in August 2015, that lasted for a year. They didn't end up converting me (mainly due to politics, good ole boyz club mentality).

I was un-employed from August 2016 until March 2017. In February 2017 I had 3 job offers. I picked the wrong one and the job didn't last more than 6 months. Unemployed again as of September 2017. The IT job market in RTP slows down quite a bit when we enter the holiday season.

Statistically, I've been unemployed 37% of the time I've spent living here, which is a lot of time.

Moving on. I am not going back to California, and I don't really want to get into why. It is a fact.

I decided to increase my odds with the job search by renewing my certifications. I'm working on my CCNA-Security and so far I'm on schedule. I hope to have it before 01/01/2018. After that, I plan on going after my CCNP so set myself apart from the crowd.

By "crowd" what I mean is, I have 3-4 recruiters calling me about the same job. When I apply for a job on Indeed.com, it tells me 20 other people already applied for it.

I figured it is quite possible there are too many IT Professionals in RTP all competing for the same jobs.

I will continue giving it my best, but figured if I can't find a steady IT job with all the knowledge and certifications, I may have to move again. Austin, TX and Las Vegas, NV are the 2 possibilities I'm looking at.

Let me know what you think, looking for some input.

Maybe this will help:

Cybersecurity Supply/Demand Heat Map
Cybersecurity talent gaps exist across the country. Closing these gaps requires detailed knowledge of the cybersecurity workforce in your region. This interactive heat map provides a granular snapshot of demand and supply data for cybersecurity jobs at the state and metro area levels, and can be used to grasp the challenges and opportunities facing your local cybersecurity workforce.

http://cyberseek.org/heatmap.html

This map focuses more on Cybersecurity, rather than general IT jobs.

ImYourOnlyDJ

Keep in mind that this time of the year companies start cutting expenses for end of year results. I'd wager that you will have much better luck at the start of the new year and many companies consider first quarter to be hiring season. My company won't even hire one of our Contract-To-Hires until the start of the new year (long past when they were supposed to be hired). Also don't read too much into applicants on Indeed as a lot of times the applicants are nowhere near qualified. I once had the same thing happen (20ish Indeed applicants), but one of my internal contacts said none of the Indeed applicants were remotely qualified.

So I'd suggest keep looking, studying, and possibly taking a lower level job to get your foot in the door.

McxRisley

I think the issue is that you have no infosec experience (I'm assuming this from your list of certs). I moved to VA for 6 months and I still get 4-5 emails/phone calls a day about jobs in VA/NC/DC area.

TechGromit

NetworkingStudent wrote: »

Cybersecurity Supply/Demand Heat Map

Montana, here I come, sure there are no jobs, but all you have to do in California, Virginia and New York is have a pulse to get a job, but if you can land a job in Montana, you know your at the top if your career game!

On a serious note, it always puzzled me why Black Hill Security (John Stand) was located in South Dakota and LMG Security (Sherri Davidoff) in Montana, would think they would be located in areas with a far higher demand for there services. Makes me wonder if they are closet survivalists, have fallout shelters filled with food and guns.