WRAL Tech Wire

IT workers, take heart – nearly 3,900 jobs are available in N.C. for many skillsets

High-tech jobs are available.

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• SkillProof
• NCTA

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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — Yes, some workers at IBM, Lenovo and GlaxoSmithKline are being let go as North Carolina’s unemployment rate continues to rise. But high-tech workers should take note: The number of IT jobs across the state have actually increased three straight months.

That’s the latest report from SkillProof and the North Carolina Technology Association, which say the state’s high-tech sector “keeps improving.”

SkillProof, which surveys job openings in the IT sector across the U.S., found 3,380 job openings in the Tar Heel state in September. That’s up 270 from August and nearly 300 from July at a time when IT openings fell nationally by 1.4 percent,

Jobs most in demand? IT management (up 22.9 percent), sales and marketing (an increase of 13.6 percent) and IT architects and consultants (up 10.2 percent).

In fact, “Demand for all IT occupations in this report grew,” SkillProof and NCTA reported in their regular monthly update.

So, sharpen up your resume if you are looking for jobs in the following areas:

• Systems engineering and support: 1,010
• Software development: 680
• Architects/consultants: 540
• IT management: 430
• Sales and marketing: 250
• Systems administration: 160
• Hardware engineering: 110
• Training/technical writing: 80
• Business/process design: 80

Top demand by specific skills:

• SQL: 570
• Unix: 460
• Windows OS: 460
• Oracle DBMS: 390
• Java: 380
• Linux: 350

Openings are also available in large-system technologies: XML, Microsoft SQL server, C++ and VC++, business analysis, Perl, Web services and others.

Granted, the job openings are fewer than in September of last year (4,490) and two years ago (4,870). But the bottom line remains this: People with the right skill sets do have opportunities.

Interestingly, the SkillProof report found that the IT job market remained unchanged in Charlotte last month despite turmoil in the financial sector. The Triangle market, meanwhile, dipped 5.4 percent.

So what do those data indicate? IT opportunities exist outside of those two high-tech hotbeds.

The Skinny

WRAL Local Tech Wire Publisher and Editor Rick Smith dishes out tidbits from the local technology sector. Read more articles…