RALEIGH – Demand for information technology talent surged to another record high in April, this time surging past 50,000 for the first time. And leading the way is openings in the Research Triangle region.

So says the newest monthly IT Jobs Trends report from the NC Technology Association (NC TECH) released Monday.

Openings jumped by more than 4,000 from the previous record set in March – and 60% higher (some 20,000) more year-over-year. But North Carolina is far from the only state where tech job demand remains very strong.  Nationally, there are more than 1 million open tech jobs, an increase of 71% from last year, the report notes.

In fact, demand has risen for seven consecutive months despite economic challenges ranging from COVID to inflation and supply chain.

And demand isn’t slowing, either as most tech firms (90-plus percent) in a recent NC TECH survey said they continue to plan to hire.

NC TECH graphic

“Once again, IT job openings continue the trend of record setting numbers; although August through October of 2021 were fairly flat, job openings have been on an upward trajectory ever since,” says Andrea Fleming, Director of Talent + Workforce for NC TECH, a busy advocacy group based in Raleigh.

And Fleming noted demand was especially keen in the Triangler.

“With almost 18,000 tech openings, the Raleigh MSA has now surpassed the Charlotte/Concord/Gastonia MSA as the top region in the state for the first time,” she said in a statement.

Where are the tech jobs in the Triangle? Check out these lists

In Raleigh, job openings are up 64% year-over-year while Durham-Chapel Hill postings surged some 32 percent.

In fact, jobs surged in every major metro tracked by the report:

NC MSAs

Locations, Apr ‘22, compared to Apr ‘21
  • Raleigh 17,885 +64%
  • Charlotte / Concord / Gastonia 17,414 +53%
  • Durham / Chapel Hill 4,956 +32%
  • Greensboro / High Point 2,013 +94%
  • Fayetteville 1,595 +62%
  • Winston-Salem 1,142 +145%
  • Wilmington 523 +77%
  • Jacksonville 402 +108%
  • Burlington 396 +19%
  • New Bern 343 +357%
  • Goldsboro 282 +1,126%
  • Asheville 275 +25%
  • Greenville 266 +100%
  • Hickory / Lenoir / Morganton 165 +5%
  • Rocky Mount 59 +37%
Not every firm with the most job openings is high-tech, either, the report notes:
TOP 10 Hirers (Tech Talent)
  • Deloitte
  • General Dynamics Information Technology
  • Oracle
  • PricewaterhouseCoopers
  • Bank of America
  • Microsoft
  • Accenture
  • Wells Fargo
  • KPMG
  • Ernst & Young
The variety of tech skills in demand includes:

TOP 10 Credentials

  • 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
And engineering demand remains tops:
TOP 10 Job Titles
  • Senior Software Engineer
  • Software Engineer
  • Project Manager
  • Data Engineer
  • Devops Engineer
  • Software Developer
  • Senior Data Engineer
  • Java Developer
  • Network Engineer
  • Software Engineer II

Bad news for jobs seekers: Pace of hiring may be slowing in the Triangle