PA and Pittsburgh on top for tech grads finding jobs

[airwave09]

Well it looks like no one actually read the article. It mainly highlights that most states have a severe tech talent shortage in comparison to many tech jobs being available.

PA and especially Pittsburgh does not have that problem because we turn out many well-educated people into the workforce that can take on those jobs. But since demand for our STEM graduates is high in many surrounding states, we need to keep expanding our tech job opportunities in-state or we could lose these talented people to other states that need them way more that we do.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

My contracting stints lasted one year before I left

One place I worked for would lay everybody off annually for a few weeks to avoid some sort of legal/tax consequence of having people work for you, but not for you.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by airwave09

Well it looks like no one actually read the article. It mainly highlights that most states have a severe tech talent shortage in comparison to many tech jobs being available.

I was mostly referring to this section of the article:

Pittsburgh was successful in generating 22 percent more jobs this year than last. In Pennsylvania, tech job openings were up 46% year to year, which means that more tech applicants with relevant skills are finding highly skilled jobs in the region.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

One place I worked for would lay everybody off annually for a few weeks to avoid some sort of legal/tax consequence of having people work for you, but not for you.

I have heard that there was a 11 month maximum that you could have a contractor before they had to be considered employees. One way a company I worked for got around that was to fire people right before they hit the 12 month mark. I guess people are laying people off and bringing them back as well.

I don't know how the other company got away with it though, they had contractors for years at a time.

[tranceFusion]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

Having a wide number of scam positions available in comparison to the rest of the country is not something the city should be commended for.

While I completely agree with what you are saying about these "scam" positions, it isn't a local problem.. they are all over the place. The pay may be worse here than elsewhere because they have so many college grads to advantage of, but the same garbage exists everywhere.

I also love the recruiters that advertise fake positions or call you in for an interview just so they can pad their resume book, and they have no opening for you to fill, or they try to shoehorn you into something completely different than what you or their employer client is looking for.. huge waste of time for nothing..

It's not really fair to put all the blame on the recruiters though. Employers are always looking to save a buck and in a lot of positions in the tech field you are working yourself out of a job.

There are decent longer-term stable spots to be had, but if you get rid of all the garbage positions you'll definitely find the job vacancy and salary claims to be a farce.

[west seattle gal]

What about engineering jobs in general, such as electrical engineering? Particularly medical devices?

Thanks for any info.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by west seattle gal

What about engineering jobs in general, such as electrical engineering? Particularly medical devices?

Thanks for any info.

Worked for a software company that hired electrical and mechanical engineers left and right. Never saw them contract any of those guys out. However, their positions always required master's degrees and the majority of the people they hired were Indians who were either on H1-B visas or asked for less money.

Not saying this is always typical but be aware that sometimes to be more appealing to employers you will have to work for less than you are worth.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by airwave09

Well it looks like no one actually read the article. It mainly highlights that most states have a severe tech talent shortage in comparison to many tech jobs being available.

PA and especially Pittsburgh does not have that problem because we turn out many well-educated people into the workforce that can take on those jobs. But since demand for our STEM graduates is high in many surrounding states, we need to keep expanding our tech job opportunities in-state or we could lose these talented people to other states that need them way more that we do.

That's what I got out of the article, too.

[XRiteMA98]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

As a tech person who has many jobs in the area over the past 5 years I will say that this means absolutely nothing. Have you every looked at jobs on Dice in the area? About 90% of them are contract jobs where you get little pay, little (or no) benefits, and you will never get a raise or promotion as a contractor. I could write a book about the "contracting" phenomenon in the American tech industry.

Sure they're "jobs", but their pure shit and are nothing but dead ends.

Just my two cents... I am a tech person myself but I did not find jobs with Dice. I noticed they have mostly conntractor jobs. However if you do a good job the respective company might offer you full time employment.

I know someone who did just that right after college and he's been recently offered full time employment.

I agree with the statement that Pgh is an excellent place for tech jobs. We hire every year kids right off college, mainly the ones that did internships with us and did a good job. We even hire them during their last semester and have them work remotely or something if they are that good and we are that busy. And some of them are not even from Pgh.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

One place I worked for would lay everybody off annually for a few weeks to avoid some sort of legal/tax consequence of having people work for you, but not for you.

I used to hear about companies in California doing that. That stinks, although I guess since you know you have a job to return to it's sort of like a vacation.