Who's hiring? Information technology in Jacksonville (An Article from the TU)

[manasia]

In 2004, Chad Perce and Clint Drawdy started a Jacksonville information technology company that had two employees â€" themselves.

Today, iMethods employs 75 people and anticipates growing to 100 this year. The firm has recruited people from as far away as California for IT jobs.

“Most of the folks we work with in-depth view Jacksonville as up and coming,” Perce said. “There’s another contingent that is surprised there’s as much IT in Jacksonville as there is. The IT community is very healthy.”

As Northeast Florida’s unemployment rate dropped to 9.2 percent in December from 11.1 percent the previous year, iMethods is among the companies that is hiring and bringing attention to the city’s information technology field.

Jacksonville isn’t a tech mecca like Austin, Texas. An ongoing JAX USA Partnership study of Northeast Florida’s economic development strategies found the region has fewer technology firms per 1,000 workers than the national average.

But information technology jobs are on the rise here. A report released this week by Jacksonville-based Modis, which specializes in technology staffing service, ranked the city ninth on the 12 best cities to find an information technology job in 2012.

Modis cited hiring demand in health care, the financial sector, insurance, and logistics and transportation in Jacksonville. Those companies are not technology firms, but they have information technology divisions that are growing.

In the past decade, Jacksonville has gained more of those technology-using companies that relocated here from northern states, said Modis Vice President Chad Moyer.

“When you do that, you have to bring in the talent,” he said.

WorkSource, the state-supported agency that matches employers with job-seekers, found technology ranked second behind retail sales in the number of Northeast Florida job postings in January.

IT salaries typically range from $50,000 to $60,000, WorkSource spokeswoman Candace Moody said.

The state Office of Economic Opportunity estimates Northeast Florida employers will have about 580 job openings this year for computer software engineers, support specialists, systems analysts and database administrators.

Moody said companies are hiring because technology has become a part of doing business. Sales and marketing is using social media more. Hospitals and physicians are making the move toward mandatory electronic record-keeping by 2014, a massive undertaking.

Information technology “transcends every industry,” Moody said. “You can’t live without it anymore.” It’s a field that requires constant upgrading of skills to keep up with the latest developments.

“It really embodies the spirit of lifelong learning that we talk about,” Moody said. “There’s no such thing as standing still.”

JAX USA Partnership, the regional chamber of commerce economic development arm, counts information technology as one of its targeted industries for job growth.

Innovate Northeast Florida, a study being done by JAX USA to develop strategies for job growth, paints a mixed picture of where the region stands regarding information technology firms.

The study says Northeast Florida averages 1.68 technology firms per 1,000 jobs, below the national average of 2.03. Technology firms include biomedical, computer equipment design and manufacturing, and software development.

The region has been closing that gap. From 2005 to 2010, the number of those firms grew by almost 27 percent, compared to a national average of about 22 percent.

The study will give specific recommendations later this year on crafting a strategy to gain more high-tech jobs and firms. The cities that are most competitive offer a good business environment and an attractive lifestyle, said Chris Engle, vice president and chief analyst for Avalanche Consulting, an Austin firm working on the study.

Perce said quality of life is important to technology professionals at all age levels, but he has found it’s most decisive for “the newer generation coming into the workforce.” Moyer said Northeast Florida’s climate is a major selling point for attracting technology professionals.

The Innovate Northeast Florida study said home prices and the cost of living are both lower than national benchmarks, adding to the region’s quality of life.

The study found the region’s suburban murder rate of 4.1 cases per 100,000 residents is higher than the national average of 3.2. But the robbery rate of 72 per 100,000 is lower than the national benchmark of 76.

The study focused on crime in the suburbs because that is where relocating workers most often move, the report said.



David Bauerlein: (904) 359-4581

TOP CITIES FOR FINDING TECH JOBS

The top 12 cities to find an information technology job in North America
this year:

1. Houston

2. Toronto

3. Orlando

4. San Francisco

5. Minneapolis

6. McLean, Va.

7. Walnut Creek, Calif.

8. Detroit

9. Jacksonville

10. New York

11. Denver

12. Boston

Source: Modis

FIRST COAST
JOB POSTINGS

Five types of jobs that had the most online help-wanted postings in January at Northeast Florida workplaces.

■ Sales and related occupations

■ Computer and mathematical occupations

■ Health care practitioners

■ Office and administrative support

■ Management occupations

Source: WorkSource

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-02-18/story/whos-hiring-information-technology-jacksonville

[duvaldude08]

Yeah if you have a Bachelors degree AND Experience. LOL I completed associates in IT/web design last June and enrolled for my bachelor's a month ago.  Every job I come across wants a bachelor's and/or experience.

[jandar]

Yeah if you have a Bachelors degree AND Experience. LOL I completed associates in IT/web design last June and enrolled for my bachelor's a month ago.  Every job I come across wants a bachelor's and/or experience.

And they still want to underpay lol. 

Seriously though, get your resume linked as much as possible. Headhunters, LinkedIn, dice, etc. Very few companies actually directly hire IT by placing an ad, they pull the resumes themselves or a headhunter places you.

[duvaldude08]

Yeah if you have a Bachelors degree AND Experience. LOL I completed associates in IT/web design last June and enrolled for my bachelor's a month ago.  Every job I come across wants a bachelor's and/or experience.

And they still want to underpay lol. 

Seriously though, get your resume linked as much as possible. Headhunters, LinkedIn, dice, etc. Very few companies actually directly hire IT by placing an ad, they pull the resumes themselves or a headhunter places you.

Good Idea

[manasia]

Yeah if you have a Bachelors degree AND Experience. LOL I completed associates in IT/web design last June and enrolled for my bachelor's a month ago.  Every job I come across wants a bachelor's and/or experience.

And they still want to underpay lol. 

Seriously though, get your resume linked as much as possible. Headhunters, LinkedIn, dice, etc. Very few companies actually directly hire IT by placing an ad, they pull the resumes themselves or a headhunter places you.

Good Point Jandar.

I myself have been interviewing in other states, I will probably be relocating from Jax as soon as the right offer comes across the table.

DuvalDude08, yea the Bachelors thing here is a bit much, especially with the pay offered. I have seen jobs who want you to have an active SS clearance for like 12 or 14.00 an hour. I was like really.

Jacksonville's IT market is weird, if you look at most of our openings, we have all of these senior level, high level positions, but not a lot of mid, and entry level. I have grown tired of trying to figure out.

[mtraininjax]

Every job I come across wants a bachelor's and/or experience.

Go look at the CBS 60 Minutes piece they had on last night about unemployed workers, nearly every job available online requires you to already have a job. It was blatant discrimination, the stuff that make Eddie and Chuck happy to see.

I have some friends in IT down in Orlando and they say that area is on fire for IT professionals. Might be worth a look. Jax is a tough IT area, we are not a very techno-driven town.

[Dog Walker]

Not techno driven??  The world's largest internet hosting company is headquartered here, Web.com.  So is the country's largest mortgage servicing company, LPS.  I think we are nearly the largest "back office" for banks and credit card companies like Citibank as well.  The country's largest "on line" bank, Everbank, is here and it is now the largest bank in Florida by assets.  Their back office is in Islandia, NY, but there are a lot of IT people here with them.

Even AOL, poor thing, was based here at one time, out at the Imeson Industrial Park.

[Tacachale]

^Yeah, I think it's really more a matter of supply and demand. We do have a number of tech and tech-involved firms, but there are a lot more people out there looking for a job than there are positions, so they can be more selective than they'd be otherwise. If the sector grew locally, it would balance out more.

[Ocklawaha]

Yeah if you have a Bachelors degree AND Experience. LOL I completed associates in IT/web design last June and enrolled for my bachelor's a month ago.  Every job I come across wants a bachelor's and/or experience.

Check out 'CSX JOBS' there are several openings in IT. Looking around on their site there are dozens of job openings, many right here in Jacksonville.

OCKLAWAHA

[manasia]

Not techno driven??  The world's largest internet hosting company is headquartered here, Web.com.  So is the country's largest mortgage servicing company, LPS.  I think we are nearly the largest "back office" for banks and credit card companies like Citibank as well.  The country's largest "on line" bank, Everbank, is here and it is now the largest bank in Florida by assets.  Their back office is in Islandia, NY, but there are a lot of IT people here with them.

Even AOL, poor thing, was based here at one time, out at the Imeson Industrial Park.

Web.com is not the world's largest webhosting company either, they do not even crack the top 15:

http://www.webhosting.info/webhosts/tophosts/global/

[PhanLord]

unrelated
but i wouldn't confuse domain ownership with hosting actual real domains.

no clue about size of web.com and its relation to other companies.

[duvaldude08]

Yeah if you have a Bachelors degree AND Experience. LOL I completed associates in IT/web design last June and enrolled for my bachelor's a month ago.  Every job I come across wants a bachelor's and/or experience.

Check out 'CSX JOBS' there are several openings in IT. Looking around on their site there are dozens of job openings, many right here in Jacksonville.

OCKLAWAHA

We know the jobs are there, but the minimum requirements are ridiculous for most of them. If you dont have a Bachelors degree and/or 3-7 years experienced you are pretty much thrown out.

[David]

You can probably schmooze your way into a help desk or other entry-level IT position, they're not pretty but they build experience. Depending on the place you're applying at, you can sometimes get by with a few certifications and build your career from there. 

It's too bad AOL has to lose steam and close up shop. A lot of people I know in the IT field went the AOL>Comcast route and started their career that way.

[stephElf]

Not techno driven??  The world's largest internet hosting company is headquartered here, Web.com.  So is the country's largest mortgage servicing company, LPS.  I think we are nearly the largest "back office" for banks and credit card companies like Citibank as well.  The country's largest "on line" bank, Everbank, is here and it is now the largest bank in Florida by assets.  Their back office is in Islandia, NY, but there are a lot of IT people here with them.

Even AOL, poor thing, was based here at one time, out at the Imeson Industrial Park.

Web.com is not the world's largest webhosting company either, they do not even crack the top 15:

http://www.webhosting.info/webhosts/tophosts/global/

Number 3 on that list - networksolutions.com  - Web.com owns them. 

[stephElf]

And also owns number 9 - register.com