September 29, 2011

Tide still rising for Seattle tech jobs

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If there ever was a time for Seattle-area job seekers to add high-tech skills to their resumes, it would be right now. In just the last week alone, several developments in the gaming, software engineering and IT fields have pointed toward robust growth for technology jobs through 2012.

Here are some of the highlights of what's to come:

Jones Lang LaSalle Report -- In one of the more encouraging studies about the long-term health of the local tech sector, commercial real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle released a report yesterday measuring the skyrocketing growth of the office space market for technology-focused Seattle companies, such as Amazon, Microsoft, Nintendo, Expedia and F5 Networks.

The report called Seattle "one of the largest high-tech clusters in the nation," which is experiencing above-average job growth. "Thousands of new high-tech industry jobs created in the Puget Sound region have boosted the office market over the past three quarters, most notably in the Seattle [central business district]," the report stated. "Struggling or once empty buildings at the start of the recession have experienced significant occupancy gains as a result of this rapid growth, avoiding serious financial hardships and default."

"Expansion within the high-tech industry is expected to significantly outpace employment growth from years to come," the report stated in its Seattle outlook. "In the past three quarters alone, over 2.5 million square feet [of office space] have been newly occupied by high-tech firms. Their increased office space needs and new desire for downtown locations is likely to ramp up competition and escalate occupancy costs to more noticeable levels by 2012."

Washington Interactive Media Accelerator (WIMA) -- On Monday, enterpriseSeattle announced that it had been awarded a $1.2 million grant through the Federal Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge to create WIMA, an incubator that focuses exclusively on developing companies in the gaming industry.

While the location for WIMA has not yet been decided, it is expected to support an initial round of five or six new gaming-sector startups in a common space and provide internships, a mentoring program, an online job portal and various training opportunities.

According to enterpriseSeattle, the Puget Sound area has seen a 33 percent increase in the "interactive media industry" since 2007, in spite of the Great Recession woes. All told, there are more than 150 gaming companies in the area (Nintendo, Big Fish Games, PopCap, Valve and Wild Tangent to just scratch the surface) employing more than 15,000 people.

"The funding provided by this grant will allow us to continue our work in support of the interactive media industry, creating an accelerator and programs that will continue to attract jobs and capital investment to our region," said Jeff Marcell, president and CEO of enterpriseSeattle.

HCL's Global Delivery Center -- India-based IT firm HCL Technologies turned heads last week when it announced the opening of its $4 million Global Delivery Center in Redmond, which is expected to create more than 400 jobs in the region over the next two years. HCL anticipates demand in for jobs in software product development, test engineering and business-critical platform development.

Gov. Chris Gregoire has pledged $200,000 from the state's Workforce Investment Act Fund to help HCL train future employees in the region. At the kickoff ceremony, HCL revealed that Microsoft will be the first official enterprise customer at the collaborative engineering hub.

"We understand that the advancing technologies and their swift adoption have created disruptions in the market," said Rich Kaplan, corporate vice president, customer and partner advocacy, at Microsoft. "The collaboration with HCL demonstrates our commitment in development of new technologies such as large-scale data management, cloud computing and mobility that are redefining the technology landscape."

Attention Seattle job seekers: It's time to get out that slide rule and jump ahead of the curve. Engineering jobs appear to be all the rage in 2012 and beyond.

Randy Woods writes about job-search tools, networking techniques and other tips to help you land your dream job.

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high tech, IT, Microsoft, software, technology

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