Although the economic downturn has currently put a damper on the job market in all industries, some areas have been weathering the storm better than others. For example, there are still some openings available in the technology sector in various cities around the country. Here are the top 10 U.S. cities for technology jobs.
Seattle, WA
How can this list not include the emerald city of the great northwest? With employers such as Microsoft and Adobe anchoring the Seattle suburbs, and Amazon.com headquartered across the lake in the city itself, high technology is one of this area’s biggest industries.
Bay Area, CA
Comprising the cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Fremont, Sunnyvale, and Mountain View, this area is full of hundreds of high technology companies with many thousands of jobs. In fact, you could probably throw a baseball from any local street corner and hit one of these businesses. Although the end of the dot-com boom put a damper on the area’s high-tech industry for a while, the companies that rose out of the ashes shortly after the bubble burst were strong, fundamentally-sound organizations such as Silicon Graphics and Network Appliance.
Austin, TX
Long a well kept secret, many in the media exposed Austin’s charms to the rest of the world in the past ten years. This home of Dell Computer also has other, lesser known companies like Cirrus Logic and Trilogy Enterprises. Combine a large number of technology jobs with an all-around great living environment, and it’s no wonder this city has become a media darling.
Boston, MA
This home of storage companies Iron Mountain and EMC, as well as supply-chain management company ModusLink (formerly CMGI) has long been a leader in the technology arena of the east coast. Although a high cost of living has hurt the Boston Area’s ranking on a number of “Best Places” lists, the amount of industry jobs make this metropolitan area an attractive place to live for the high-tech worker.
Denver, CO
Although the mile high city is considered by many to be the technology capital of the Rockies, it isn’t about to rest on its laurels. In recent years, this dynamic city has added a new high-tech hotspot to its portfolio, the Denver Technology Center. This collection of large and small businesses makes up an area about 20 minutes south of Downtown on the outskirts of the city, and provides thousands of jobs for Denverites and other Coloradoans alike.
Los Angeles, CA
This sprawling metropolis is home to high technology companies both young and old, from the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab to MySpace. Other large companies like Yahoo and Electronic Arts also provide jobs for these latte-sipping Angelinos.
Orlando, FL
Although one doesn’t think of Disney World as a technology center, this huge employer provides tons of high-tech jobs to Orlando area workers. After all, think of how many computers are needed to run the 25,000 acre complex. But Orlando is not just made up of theme parks, as Electronic Arts’ Orlando location was named the top company for working families by the Orlando Sentinel.
New York, NY
A glance at the job listings for New York City is all one needs to confirm that there are still tech jobs to be had in the Gotham City. While pure tech companies such as Google and IBM have large NY City locations, it’s the immense number of other large companies (presumably with huge I.T. Departments) in other industries that makes this city a good one for the technology job-seeker.
Washington, DC
The DC Metro area is comprised of Washington, DC; northern Virginia, and portions of southern Maryland, and offers thousands of technology jobs in both the public and private sectors. Area companies such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and CACI employ programmers, systems administrators, and other high-tech workers in support of the Federal government.
Golden Triangle, NC
The Golden Triangle is the familiar name for the area surrounded by Chapel Hill, Durham, and Raleigh, and is more than just a college basketball hotbed. Companies such as IBM and Red Hat have set up shop in the area, along with hundreds of other high-tech businesses.
