IT Job market by state/city

Hello everyone,

I want to start this thread by saying couple words about my current situation. I'm actively looking for any position similar to System Engineer, Network Administrator, IT Administrator, IT manager etc in South Florida and am barely can get any traction. I mean, I do receive random calls from recruiters and occasionally from companies' HR but it just either doesn't meet my salary expectations or skill set required doesn't match what I can offer. I'm looking for a mid level position and it seems that in this area only entry jobs are available with the pay grade of $10-13/hour or senior positions with the salaries upwards 100K. I understand that midlevel is probably the most competitive but when I tried to look for jobs in North East region I was able to schedule 3 interviews in one week, while here I only had like 1 or 2 in six month period.
Someone had already discussed the job market in South Florida in other thread. Lower salaries and huge competition is most likely related to a high number of highly-skilled transplants who tend to lower the overall compensation in IT. I believe that other states and cities may not be as desirable as SFL from the standpoint of weather, the amount of sunshine and ocean but there should be other benefits such as lower COL and better IT job market.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback from someone looking for work in other metro areas.

P.S. I have 5 years of mixed helpdesk/admin/managerial experience with BS:CS and no certificates (currently working on CCNA and LPIC-1...).

Thanks

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Comments

JoJoCal19

Success101 wrote: »

So much wrong. Not sure where you're getting your information from, but I live here and talk to other professionals. Tech jobs are seriously lacking. It's not about skills or certifications to an extent. My boss is an idiot, but he just hired a new guy who has no certifications, degree, and hasn't been hands on any technology for about 10 years. He hired him because he "liked him". His lack of knowledge shows too. I believe in giving people a chance, but you have show an interest...perhaps by getting at least one certification.

tprice5 wrote: »

Link? This goes against what pretty much everyone on this board has said, as well as a coworker of mine, that IT is terrible throughout FL, to include Tampa. Specifically, wages.

Well then, I stand corrected.

I have no idea what this means.

Iristheangel wrote: »

... I still want to see a link to a reputable article that states that Tampa is in the top 10 for IT job market in the US. Just based off friends I know in the industry that live there, this defies everything they've told me or that I've seen on this forum so I'm curious.

I've been in Tampa for a year and a half and until I decided to relocate back to Jacksonville and changed my LinkedIn, Indeed, and Dice profiles back to Jacksonville location, I had no less than 6-8 emails and phone calls every week for InfoSec and InfoSec related jobs. Hell, I even got contacts for non InfoSec jobs where they wanted people who had some InfoSec experience or what seems like no other reason than they liked my resume. I definitely don't know about top 10 as I can rattle off 10 other cities that I believe are hotter for IT, but it's DEFINITELY not the IT doldrums as some folks would have you believe. And Jacksonville isn't the worst as again, when I changed the afore mentioned sites to Jacksonville, again I was regularly getting 4-5 contacts a week and just landed the new Sr InfoSec Administrator role I just accepted and have posted about previously. Maybe the issue for folks here in the Tampa area that complain have poorly put together resumes, lack of in demand skills and experience, lack of in demand certs, interview poorly, or some combination of those. I can't speak to the South Florida IT job market however and am only going by my combined 10 years of IT experience in Jax/Tampa.

IIIMaster wrote: »

I live in Tampa too and i see a lot of IT jobs. Im not sure how you conduct your searches etc but there are a lot for those who are qualified. Before i came down here I had several job offers. If you live in Tampa why are you talking to other techs ? You should know exactly what the scene is

As well do I see a lot of IT jobs in all areas including systems admin, networking, and InfoSec.

JoJoCal19

tprice5 wrote: »

The coworker I was referring to earlier is a senior level VMware administrator that has done DT at his previous post and currently does DCV. He says that he could probably pull, at the most and if he is lucky, $100k in Tampa. Take it with a grain of salt but he is from there so I trust his opinion.

What is the discussion, jobs or salary? It's pretty much common knowledge that IT salaries in FL won't match what you can get in the hottest IT areas (or salary for any job industry for that matter). The saying is, we get paid in sunshine. But if you make $100k anywhere in Tampa (or anywhere in Florida really) you can live like a king. I'd take $100k in Florida any day over even $150k in California, NY, Seattle, DMV, etc.

Town

Anyone know about Indiana? I've seen it mentioned that Indy has a decent IT scene, but it'd be interesting to see what you guys thought.

Verities

There are a huge mix of job opportunities in San Diego and the largest tech scene over here is called Sorrento Valley, that's where companies like Qualcomm and AIS are headquartered.

IT-Fella

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

I can't speak to the South Florida IT job market however and am only going by my combined 10 years of IT experience in Jax/Tampa.

I personally think that the problem in South Florida is for mid-range IT folks with 3-6 years of experience and anticipated salary range of 50-100K. Your example with 10+ years of experience and bunch of certs would land you a job pretty much anywhere in US.

JoJoCal19

Verities wrote: »

There are a huge mix of job opportunities in San Diego and the largest tech scene over here is called Sorrento Valley, that's where companies like Qualcomm and AIS are headquartered.

I'm from San Diego and I would LOVE to go back. Honestly if my wife and I did not have kids, I would already be there. Unfortunately I don't think I'd be able to swing a nice 4bd home over there. Once the kids are grown, I'll definitely be checking it out.

Verities

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

I'm from San Diego and I would LOVE to go back. Honestly if my wife and I did not have kids, I would already be there. Unfortunately I don't think I'd be able to swing a nice 4bd home over there. Once the kids are grown, I'll definitely be checking it out.

Yeah house prices are through the roof and the cost of living is significantly higher than most of the country. I love it here, seriously couldn't ask for better weather and there's a ton of stuff to do.

Nersesian

--the phrase "same people different lanyard" is tossed around a lot.

-I have no idea what this means.

Typically lanyards are worn here for just about every office gig in the city as most buildings have more security than some of the nicer military installations I've been on, so this could mean a few different things. Government employees have a mostly white, color coded badge which is chipped and wrapped in a case that looks like an otterbox. Most do, but some don't of course. Contractors have similar badges, but have a company logo and maybe a parking pass/door sensor pass on theirs - Otterbox optional. This is a workplace appropriate way of saying same **** different day.

joelsfood

Town,

I do some consulting on the side for a guy in Indiana, and he always has trouble finding senior people at least locally. He keeps trying to get me to drive down and do onsite work.

gregonometry

I agree with the posts regarding South Florida. However, good jobs can be had if you can find your way into one of the many large law offices in South Florida.

IIIMaster

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

I've been in Tampa for a year and a half and until I decided to relocate back to Jacksonville and changed my LinkedIn, Indeed, and Dice profiles back to Jacksonville location, I had no less than 6-8 emails and phone calls every week for InfoSec and InfoSec related jobs. Hell, I even got contacts for non InfoSec jobs where they wanted people who had some InfoSec experience or what seems like no other reason than they liked my resume. I definitely don't know about top 10 as I can rattle off 10 other cities that I believe are hotter for IT, but it's DEFINITELY not the IT doldrums as some folks would have you believe. And Jacksonville isn't the worst as again, when I changed the afore mentioned sites to Jacksonville, again I was regularly getting 4-5 contacts a week and just landed the new Sr InfoSec Administrator role I just accepted and have posted about previously. Maybe the issue for folks here in the Tampa area that complain have poorly put together resumes, lack of in demand skills and experience, lack of in demand certs, interview poorly, or some combination of those. I can't speak to the South Florida IT job market however and am only going by my combined 10 years of IT experience in Jax/Tampa.

As well do I see a lot of IT jobs in all areas including systems admin, networking, and InfoSec.

I agree...orginally im from Ga and i had zero succes. I had one phone call from a gig in Atlanta and one from Columbus over the course of 1 year after finishing up my AAS . I use fill out dozens of applications every day all over Ga... And 2 phone calls is all I got. I decided to change location and the phone calls came, companies was interested in me and just like that I got into IT.

IIIMaster

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

What is the discussion, jobs or salary? It's pretty much common knowledge that IT salaries in FL won't match what you can get in the hottest IT areas (or salary for any job industry for that matter). The saying is, we get paid in sunshine. But if you make $100k anywhere in Tampa (or anywhere in Florida really) you can live like a king. I'd take $100k in Florida any day over even $150k in California, NY, Seattle, DMV, etc.

I agree although its not cheap its not through the roof. 1k a month will put you in a upscale middle class 1 bedroom apartment in Tampa. Show them 1300 you can rent a real nice 3-4 bedroom condo in an nice upscale community.

Jackace

Like others have said. Idaho is pretty much dead.

In the surrounding area though I hear Utah, Colorado and Washington are booming.

SixtyCycle

Anybody from Austin? I'm in L.A. and there are plenty of jobs to go around here but cost of house/ living is ridiculous that I'm seriously thinking of moving.

loxleynew

Been working in IT in Colorado for about 8 years now ranging from Boulder to Denver. I live basically in the middle of those two in broomfield and the COL is actually pretty cheap and you get paid pretty well. Also a lot of jobs here especially in downtown Denver. I may be a bit biased thought as I love the mountains

MSP-IT

loxleynew wrote: »

Been working in IT in Colorado for about 8 years now ranging from Boulder to Denver. I live basically in the middle of those two in broomfield and the COL is actually pretty cheap and you get paid pretty well. Also a lot of jobs here especially in downtown Denver. I may be a bit biased thought as I love the mountains

I hope to be back there by this time next year.

srabiee

Charleston, WV and the surrounding areas. Absolute crap for IT professionals. Stay far, far away from this area.

IT-Fella

Let me try to resurrect this thread...

I know we have here quite a few fine folks from DC. Do you guys have any idea about the job perspectives in Baltimore or its suburbs? I also know that it's possible (to some extent) to travel from Baltimore to DC by MARC. I might be able to relocate to southern suburbs of Baltimore sometime this year due to my current job relocation and was wondering how the opportunities are in Baltimore or whether it would be possible to live somewhere in the middle to increase the potential job opportunities if I will have to look for something else in the future.

JamesKurtovich

Great thread. I've seen some areas here I'd be interested in relocating to (namely Washington and Colorado), so I'm glad to hear business is good down there.

Muhammed H

How is the job market in NYC for System Admin / Desktop Support or Network Engineers?

I am planning to move there early in the next year. Currently I am working for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company as System Support Engineer. Mainly working with Symantec Netbackup and also for user support but my goal is to work as a System Admin or a network engineer.

Qualification: M.Sc in Telecom (UK)

Certs: CCNA, MCSA-2012, VCP-DCV 5.5 and currently studying for RHCSA .

Experience: 2+ Years (Desktop Support, back up, Windows Server 2003/2008 )

My present job in Dubai is quite good but as my wife is living and studying in US (She is a US citizen), therefore I have no option but to move there. Anyone here to provide me some insights or tips?

N2IT

Here in St. Louis.

Development, ETL, Database, Business Analyst, Tech Project Management, Anything Data related to be honest, System Administration, Virtualization

These are the hot ones

Networking, Service Desk, Desktop Support (hit and miss)

Chadius

Here is Wichita Kansas:

Desktop support and admin positions seem to go super fast. (as soon as they are posted, tons of applicants)
There isn't much entry level, except with Koch and Buchanan. (help desk)

We have a ton of business analysts and senior level positions here. (ranging from high level Cisco peeps, developer positions, etc)

We run into that employer wish list type job postings too. The Support guy who must know everything that has come out in ten years. lol
But there are companies who are actually knowledgeable of the job market.

I would say besides NOC work, there is almost no middle of the road CCNA type positions here. Lots of Windows, ERP, etc type jobs.

no!all!

I've been trying to make the plunge to Tampa for a while now. I'm at the point where I may just take a pay cut and make the pluge...

Tremie24

Live in the Denver area, the IT market is pretty good, but competitive. Also the cost of living here has gone up considerably. Has me wanting to jump ship, maybe to AZ or New Mexico.

anhtran35

DC/VA/MD area. Very IT oriented. Mostly government contracts. I'll prob. be stuck here FOREVER due to job security.

JohnnyUtah41

I've been working in the VA/DC area for 8 years or so, but have been ready to get out of the area for awhile. There are a ton of jobs in the area, in fact a recruiter randomly called me today. Lots of jobs here but lots of competition. My biggest reason for wanting to get out of here is the transient nature of the area; no one is from here. It's wayyy too expensive and the traffic is awful.

My parents want me to move to Tampa since they are in Ft. Myers. The other side of my family are all in the DFW area, so i'm torn on what to do. I've also heard good things about Atlanta, and maybe Charlotte.

So I've sorta narrowed it down to those 4 cities. I'm leaning towards Dallas, but i'm afraid my mom might have a heart attack.

anhtran35

JohnnyUtah41 wrote: »

I've been working in the VA/DC area for 8 years or so, but have been ready to get out of the area for awhile. There are a ton of jobs in the area, in fact a recruiter randomly called me today. Lots of jobs here but lots of competition. My biggest reason for wanting to get out of here is the transient nature of the area; no one is from here. It's wayyy too expensive and the traffic is awful.

My parents want me to move to Tampa since they are in Ft. Myers. The other side of my family are all in the DFW area, so i'm torn on what to do. I've also heard good things about Atlanta, and maybe Charlotte.

So I've sorta narrowed it down to those 4 cities. I'm leaning towards Dallas, but i'm afraid my mom might have a heart attack.

She's not a Cowboys fan? LOL. Dallas cost of living is very cheap! I have relatives there also. I assume you are digging your way out of the SNOW today. You are correct about the transient nature of the area. I'm originally from Baltimore. Move here in 1996. The traffic is HORRIBLE.

JohnnyUtah41

whats the cost of living in tampa? anything like living in dallas?

anhtran35

Try this:

City of Tampa Cost of Living Calculator. Florida--Tampa Relocation Calculator & Index.

JohnnyUtah41

anhtran35 wrote: »

Try this:

City of Tampa Cost of Living Calculator. Florida--Tampa Relocation Calculator & Index.

that was cool. thanks man. tampa is 42% cheaper cost of living..