North Carolina has record number of tech job openings as companies compete for talent
North Carolina saw a record number of technology job postings in January, according to new figures released by the N.C. Technology Association, a trade group for tech companies in the state.
The record job openings comes as the economy gains momentum after two pandemic-stricken years and both local and national tech firms go on a hiring binge for tech talent.
There were 47,778 tech job postings in January, according to N.C. Tech, a figure that bested the previous record from November of last year.
Brooks Raiford, the CEO of N.C. Tech, said he expects the number of postings to continue to grow across the state in the coming months. “It is common for hiring to pick back up in the first quarter after moderating in the final months of the previous year,” he said.
Tech companies, ranging from behemoths like Apple and Google to homegrown companies such as Pendo and Epic Games, have all continued to post jobs in the Triangle in recent months.
It’s leading to some of the most competitive hiring landscapes ever seen in the region.
In the Triangle, there were 19,217 tech job openings, the most of any region, according to N.C. Tech. Charlotte had the second most job postings, with 16,295.
“The talent market is crazy right now. There is no other word,” Pendo CEO Todd Olson told The News & Observer last month. “It is an all out war for talent. You can’t let up.”
Pendo, which raised $150 million from investors last year, continues to hire. The company should hit 1,000 total employees in the coming months, and it has set a goal of hiring 400 more employees in 2022.
However, Olson said that while the Triangle remains its home base, it is considering hiring in other regions because of how much competition there is for workers here.
“Existing employers are countering in ways we haven’t seen before,” Olson said. “But you really can’t slow down at all. If you slow down you get behind. We need people to achieve our goals.”
Some of that competition is coming from a growing presence of the country’s largest tech firms. Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon have all increased job postings in the Triangle in recent months, The N&O previously reported.
Apple, specifically, is just beginning to ramp up growth in the area, after announcing last year it would build a campus for up to 3,000 employees in Research Triangle Park. Apple was given the largest incentive package in North Carolina history in exchange for the expansion.
But smaller firms also are hiring at a brisk pace, especially venture-backed ones, like Chapel Hill’s CData, which raised $140 million from investors last year, and Durham’s ServiceTrade, which raised $85 million.
Raiford said employers are having to give raises and increase perks to attract workers right now.
“I definitely hear, anecdotally, that companies are having to do a few things to attract/retain talent (particularly tech talent),” he said in an email. Many employers, he said, are raising pay for open jobs, giving existing employees raises and boosting retirement benefits.
They also are having to become much more flexible on hybrid work preferences of in-demand workers, he said.
The most in-demand roles, according to N.C. Tech, are software engineer, senior software engineer, project manager, data engineer and DevOps engineer.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate.
This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 3:44 PM with the headline "North Carolina has record number of tech job openings as companies compete for talent."
