Where are the hot spots for IT?

djhss68

I'm looking to move out of upstate NY and to a place where I'll have an easier time finding (desirable)employment. Within 2 years probably. Just wanting to hear opinions of others here around the country.

GAngel

washington

msteinhilber

I'm sure there people out there that would look for best employment opportunities as the primary criteria on where to move, but I would first look for an area I like.

My advice would be to look for places you wouldn't mind moving to and then see how the job market looks there. I would hate to be stuck living someplace I didn't really care to enable me to have a good job. Get a list of places you wouldn't mind and look on some of the national job sites (Dice, Monster, etc) as well as local resources such as state job search websites. I put together a list of state job search resources, it was back in February so some of the links may have changed but here it is: http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/40175-job-search-resources-through-local-governments.html

carboncopy

GAngel wrote: »

washington

DC........

GAngel

carboncopy wrote: »

DC........

Ya. probably the top place for IT pro's right now with all the new laws and regulations.

Slowhand

Northern California's still pretty active, particularly in San Francisco, Santa Clara, and San Jose.

carboncopy

I think areas with large military installations have a fair amount of jobs.

shodown

I"m going to say DC cause I live here. I have the clearance and the whole thing. Its not hard to find a job here. With that said they will low ball the hell out of you. WHen I 1st got here a few months ago I took a job for 72K. After chopping it up with a few people and finding out how much underpaid I was, I found a new job and asked for much more(20K more) and got it without a blink.

One other thing to add. Its very expensive to live here, unless you want to live outside the city. I like not having to use my car for a lot of things so living my a metro is a must. The only problem is you can live in a expensive area or a real bad area. There is no middle class(IT money) neighborhood that its adorable here.

jonfc3s

Silicon Valley,... lol

veritas_libertas

The Carolinas are doing well if you work for military installations or government contractors.

sambuca69

I would think near any major metro area would be a hotspot.

You say you are in upstate NY? Not sure of your commute, but surely NYC would have many opportunities.

cbigbrick

If you are going to come to DC, get a job though a temp agency. You want a position that you will go from temp to perm in 6 months and get a security clearence. Until then, keep your nose clean. Or try for a federal job. There are still lost of them to be found in IT.

GT-Rob

Canada.


:P

GAngel

GT-Rob wrote: »

Canada.


:P

Not if dalton keeps on going on the way he is

tpatt100

Michigan

veritas_libertas

tpatt100 wrote: »

Michigan

That is one of the funniest things I have read today...

Aldur

GT-Rob wrote: »

Canada.


:P

+1 with ya there!

djhss68

sambuca69 wrote: »

I would think near any major metro area would be a hotspot.

You say you are in upstate NY? Not sure of your commute, but surely NYC would have many opportunities.

I am actually looking to get out of NYS entirely. It can't get much worse(if at all) than where I am right now, in terms of economy, jobs, climate, etc. I really want to go some place with not such frigid winters.

djhss68

GT-Rob wrote: »

Canada.


:P

I've looked at job listings in Toronto. It seems to be going well up there. And it's only a couple hours away.

Hyper-Me

veritas_libertas wrote: »

The Carolinas are doing well if you work for military installations or government contractors.

I've always heard (and can tell from job sites) that Raleigh has a very large amount of IT gigs.

Turgon

Jobs in CA and NYC also DC. With foreign policy 'as is' government or military will offer opportunities. The immediate problem is cost of living in these places. Other problems are many people chasing these jobs and wages going down. Strategically you are looking for roles that give you project exposure and experience in having a say in how things are done. Many out and out support roles while inintially well paying compartively are a diminishing currency in the long term. So when you think of hot spots, think more about hot roles in those places. Jobs that will give you exposure to responsibilities that will serve you well in the long term. Not support jobs that can be offshored, replaced by cheaper options, virtualised or eliminated at a stroke.

djhss68

Turgon wrote: »

Jobs in CA and NYC also DC. With foreign policy 'as is' government or military will offer opportunities. The immediate problem is cost of living in these places. Other problems are many people chasing these jobs and wages going down. Strategically you are looking for roles that give you project exposure and experience in having a say in how things are done. Many out and out support roles while inintially well paying compartively are a diminishing currency in the long term. So when you think of hot spots, think more about hot roles in those places. Jobs that will give you exposure to responsibilities that will serve you well in the long term. Not support jobs that can be offshored, replaced by cheaper options, virtualised or eliminated at a stroke.

Yes. That's exactly what I'm looking for. My current role is so very simple and monotonous. It's almost worse than the crappy pay I make doing it. 8 hours of my day wasted when I could be reading/labbing. I'm always thinking I should just quit my job and hammer out the certs. It would probably turn out better for me a year from now. Or maybe not.

veritas_libertas

Hyper-Me wrote: »

I've always heard (and can tell from job sites) that Raleigh has a very large amount of IT gigs.

It does! Someone I know in the area almost got a job working for Cisco in North Carolina. There are a lost of opportunities (from what I hear) in the Tri-Cities area.

jemison

First post here. Just wanted to add something to what everyone else is saying, places near military installations is a plus. My last duty station was in FT. Huachuca, Arizona, home of communications and intelligence. Right outside the gate there is Lock-heed Martin, Man-Tech, ITT, and a few other Army contracts, all IT of course. The area is small, housing is decent, Tucson is 40 minutes away. You can also come out here to Iraq, its not too bad, especially if you just wanna do a year and get out of NY, but you got a couple of years. Good hunting:)

mrblackmamba343

DC area. The government has never stopped hiring!!!!!

Turgon

djhss68 wrote: »

Yes. That's exactly what I'm looking for. My current role is so very simple and monotonous. It's almost worse than the crappy pay I make doing it. 8 hours of my day wasted when I could be reading/labbing. I'm always thinking I should just quit my job and hammer out the certs. It would probably turn out better for me a year from now. Or maybe not.

Keep the job, its a paycheck and keeps you employable, and hammer out the certs on your own time at the expense of WoW. A lot of support jobs will bite the dust in the years ahead as things get automated, standardized, virtualised and moved to cheaper locations around the globe. If it saves money (at least in theory) a company will try and make it happen!

Good luck

RouteThisWay

Turgon wrote: »

at the expense of WoW.

One thing Turgon, I do have a question for you. You have posted in multiple places now about getting out of support functions and into something else long-term. What are some examples you are speaking of? It seems alot of IT is support.

Thanks

Turgon

RouteThisWay wrote: »

One thing Turgon, I do have a question for you. You have posted in multiple places now about getting out of support functions and into something else long-term. What are some examples you are speaking of? It seems alot of IT is support.

Thanks

Nothing wrong with support. It's where you pay your dues and gives you insights into what the crazy world of IT actually involves. But it's seen as a cost and companies and vendors will always be looking for cheaper options. As a consequence organisations are looking for people to make that happen which usually involves infrastructure design and migration. So look for experience in designing solutions, migrations, colocations, new offices, integrations that kind of thing, as opposed to simply keeping things ticking over. If your parent company gets bought out it may all dissappear!

VAHokie56

I had to unistall WoW and take the Cd's out to my parents house 2 countys over so I would not be tempted away from my CCNA studies..I miss it.

RouteThisWay

VAHokie56 wrote: »

I had to unistall WoW and take the Cd's out to my parents house 2 countys over so I would not be tempted away from my CCNA studies..I miss it.

I sold my account for $400 about a year ago. One of my professors told me that if you really want to get deep into IT, you will spend alot of your own time reading and labbing.

Oh how true. But you know... it doesn't feel like work. It is something I am truly interested in, and it is fun. I am currently working on my CCNA path, and I am enjoying going through it, doing some basic labs, troubleshooting, etc.

I think that goes along with any other job- if you have fun doing it, you will enjoy your work and be better at it. Alot of people I have met get into IT because they think it is an easy payday and they swapped out their RAM on their home PC before, so IT must be easy. Alot of those folks aren't in IT anymore either.

As for the original topic, any metro area. Houston had alot of jobs when I left there, unfortunately I wasn't in IT then 3 years ago. (I was actually washing cars for minimum wage 3 yrs ago lol. Goes back to the WoW thing ).

I managed to get a Q Clearance (DoE eq of DoD TS, requires SSBI etc) out here in Oak Ridge,TN which is invaluable, and I am strongly considering making a move to the DC area since I have an active clearance. Apparently, DC is the place to be for IT these days. Cost of living is pretty high I have heard though. Still contemplating.

Sepiraph

djhss68 wrote: »

I've looked at job listings in Toronto. It seems to be going well up there. And it's only a couple hours away.

Well the thing is, Toronto is by far the largest city in Canada and the surrounding area (golden horseshoe region) actually comprised of over 25% of the entire country population.

The amount of jobs in the US and salary is much larger than Canada, but I have reservation about actually working/living in the US.