Tech Hiring Slows

Tech hiring is beginning to slow from the first part of the year, a sign that some restraint has returned to the recruiting landscape. According to this month's issue of the Dice Report, companies are not as eager to recruit and hire tech professionals as they were in the first half of the year, as job counts on Dice have plateaued for five months.

But overall, the tech hiring landscape is still good: the unemployment rate for technology professionals is 4.2 percent, resumes viewed on Dice is at an all-time high, and the job count on Dice is up 12 percent over last year.

"Less urgent does not equal less crucial," the report states. "Technology teams are playing an increasingly large role in supporting companies' goals. Likewise, there is still a strong belief that proper investment in technology will help the bottom line of any business."

As for recruiting priorities, the top five skills requested by hiring managers are: Java/J2EE, .NET, business analyst, Sharepoint and project manager. On the supply side, the positions most in demand by applicants are: business analyst, project manager, software engineer, network engineer and systems administration, Dice noted.

The top metropolitan areas for tech jobs last month were New York/New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Silicon Valley, Chicago and Los Angeles.