The local technology industry, as defined by the sub-industries Computer Systems Design, Software Publishers, and Data Processing/Hosting, is projected to grow by 14%+ over the next five years, and is expected to add nearly 5,000 new jobs. Each of the occupations mentioned below will have at least 50 annual openings per year, and there are local training programs at the community college and university level that lead to relevant credentials in each job category.
Largely, opportunities for those new to the field require a post-secondary certification at a minimum, likely an Associate’s degree. If not pursuing a Bachelor’s degree from the outset, most new IT/Software industry workers will start in a technical support capacity, often not within the defined cluster. But further credentialing can lead to movement into and within the cluster. There are various short-term trainings that can help people learn new platforms or programming languages to maintain skill relevance in a quickly changing field.
A map of the geographic distribution of high tech companies in the region is included in the appendix.
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High Tech Target Occupations:
Entry-Level Occupations |
Middle and High-Level Occupations |
Computer Support Specialist |
Computer and Information Systems Managers |
Data Entry Keyers |
Computer Hardware Engineers |
Computer Programmers |
|
Computer Software Engineers |
|
Computer Systems Analysts |
|
Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
|
Network and Computer Systems Administrators |
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Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts |
