RALEIGH – Information technology talent is at a record high level of demand with nearly 50,000 open jobs being advertised across North Carolina, says a new report.

Openings hit 49,143 in March, a 31% jump over a year ago. That is an impressive jump, especially when compared to overall job growth in North Carolina, which rose 4% year-over-year to more than 4.7 million people – also a record – according to federal jobs data,

“IT job openings in March continued a six-month trend of record-setting openings,” said Brooks Raiford, CEO of NC TECH, in disclosing the findings of the latest Tech Talent Trends Alert, which is published monthly. “The first quarter of 2022 has mimicked past patterns of accelerated hiring after a holiday slow-down; we are interested to see whether hiring dips after this quarter, or remains high due to ongoing demand,” he explained.

The news adds more weight to the growing demand for workers in general, especially in the Triangle where recruiting sites list 50,000 openings on a weekly basis as noted by WRAL TechWire’s exclusive Jobs Report.

Triangle employers looking to fill as many as 50,000 jobs, data show

The hottest metro area in the state, however, is Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia where more than 16,500 openings were reported last month. That’s 41% higher than March 2021.

In the Triangle, the report notes:

  • 15,320 openings in Raleigh, an increase of 26% year over year
  • And 4,926 in Durham-Chapel Hill, a jump of 23%.

Fastest growing demand, however, is in the Triad:

  • In Greensboro-High Point, openings spiked to 1,891 – a jump of 101%.
  • And in Winston-Salem demand soared 94% to 1,000.

Openings also swelled in New Bern (372% to 368), Goldsboro (1,092% to 286). Greenville (306, up 115%), Jacksonville (390, 78%), Fayetteville (1,466, up 38%) and Wilmington (441, 43%).

Rocky Mount, Asheville, Burlington  and Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton markets also show gains.

Not all high-tech firms

As usually is the case, the top 10 companies looking for tech talent weren’t all high tech.
The top 10 hirers:
  • Deloitte
  • General Dynamics Information Technology
  • Bank of America
  • Microsoft
  • Accenture
  • PwC
  • Wells Fargo
  • KPMG
  • EY
  • Humana

Need skillsets

As for the most in demand job titles, they were:
  • Senior Software Engineer
  • Software Engineer
  • Project Manager
  • Devops Engineer
  • Data Engineer
  • Senior Data Engineer
  • Software Developer
  • Java Developer
  • Senior Java Developer
  • Software Engineer II
As for the top 10 most needed credentials, they were:
  • Certified Info Systems Security Professional
  • Security Clearance
  • Secret Security Clearance
  • Certified Scrum Master
  • Certified Information Systems Auditor
  • Certified Information Security Manager
  • Cisco Certified Network Associate
  • Project Management Institute
  • Cisco Certified Network Professional
  • Top Secret Sensitive Compartmented Information Clearance

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