PA and Pittsburgh on top for tech grads finding jobs (lawyers, job openings)

[airwave09]

The study compared a single day of job openings on Dice to the number of college degrees conferred in 2009.

Regions where available tech talent development is stronger, such as Pittsburgh, may want to consider incentives to keep the talent in the region or risk losing those professionals to states where there are more available jobs, adds Hill.

Earlier this year, Dice reported that Pittsburgh was one of the fast growing regions in the country for tech-related jobs.

PA and Pittsburgh on top for tech grads finding jobs, says Dice report

[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.

[thelazyone]

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.

Its even worse on this side of the state. I had been contacted about a position providing lvl 3 support @ $14 an hour. Half of what I was earning in NY.

[pman]

Tech jobs have been in steep decline nationwide since 2000.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by thelazyone

Its even worse on this side of the state. I had been contacted about a position providing lvl 3 support @ $14 an hour. Half of what I was earning in NY.

Meanwhile the place you work at pays $30/hour for you, but they claim it's cheaper to keep you a contractor somehow. Some companies like HP and Microsoft have been sued successfully for putting people into "permatemp" positions, where you physically work at a company, report to that company's bosses, and do everything at that company...yet your paycheck and benefits come from the contracting company. You get none of the protection of being a full time employee and crappy or no benefits (and in the case of large tech companies, missing out on stock options is a big deal). Basically you're a second class employee.

All that said, I have seen some local success stories where people work as a contractor and make connections to companies that eventually do hire them...but it's still a BS system that is operating in a grey area legally.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

you physically work at a company, report to that company's bosses, and do everything at that company...yet your paycheck and benefits come from the contracting company. You get none of the protection of being a full time employee and crappy or no benefits (and in the case of large tech companies, missing out on stock options is a big deal). Basically you're a second class employee.

I've been there twice in my career in this exact scenario as recent as last fall working for a company everyone on this board has heard of. However, I didn't have the means to fight their army of lawyers. Many of my peers can tell the same exact tale.

That's what all of the abundance of tech jobs in the area entail, you are treated as less than human just so the company might save a few bucks. It's a complete train wreck, and companies are slowly bringing the same "contractor" mentality to other industries.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

I've been there twice in my career in this exact scenario as recent as last fall working for a company everyone on this board has heard of. However, I didn't have the means to fight their army of lawyers. Many of my peers can tell the same exact tale.

That's what all of the abundance of tech jobs in the area entail, you are treated as less than human just so the company might save a few bucks. It's a complete train wreck, and companies are slowly bringing the same "contractor" mentality to other industries.

That's the part I still don't get. If someone is working for you through a contractor and they are making $14/hour, but you are paying $30...there's some leeway where you could eliminate the middleman. Even a pay raise to just $20 an hour would be great in the eyes of the employee, and the $10 your company saves should be more than enough to cover whatever expenses are incurred by having the employee actually on your payroll. The only reason I can come up with is that using contractors allows you to instantly fire someone, or even cut a whole team, without having to go through your organizations red tape or having a layoff at your company reported to the media.

And just to be clear, I'm not talking about 3 or 4 month jobs you would typically imagine when you hear "contractor." I've seen people stuck at the same company through a contractor for as long as 3 or 4 years.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

That's the part I still don't get. If someone is working for you through a contractor and they are making $14/hour, but you are paying $30...there's some leeway where you could eliminate the middleman. Even a pay raise to just $20 an hour would be great in the eyes of the employee, and the $10 your company saves should be more than enough to cover whatever expenses are incurred by having the employee actually on your payroll. The only reason I can come up with is that using contractors allows you to instantly fire someone, or even cut a whole team, without having to go through your organizations red tape or having a layoff at your company reported to the media.

And just to be clear, I'm not talking about 3 or 4 month jobs you would typically imagine when you hear "contractor." I've seen people stuck at the same company through a contractor for as long as 3 or 4 years.

Yes, many times using that contracting agency middleman provides little financial savings to an employer. If you add in the fact that being treated as a second class employee completely destroys morale and any loyalty to a company, companies don't really get much of a "savings" at all. Although, at the last place I worked the agency was owned by the boss's brother in law so I'm sure some good savings were had by all.....

My contracting stints lasted one year before I left and there were others who had been "contracting" for 3 years. The permatemp mindset is forcing talented American workers to not even consider hundreds of jobs because they know they're dead ends. It seems that companies are filling in the gaps with H1-B workers, it's an endless cycle of greed.

[BrianTH]

Doing relatively well in a national comparison isn't the same thing as saying it is a great field objectively speaking.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Doing relatively well in a national comparison isn't the same thing as saying it is a great field objectively speaking.

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.