It’s undeniable. We’re facing tough economic times all over the world, but if you’ve get the right skills, you can still land yourself a job on the tech world, as this infographic shows.
The best-paying jobs are in IT management, information architecture, project management, security, and software engineering.
If you want Facebook, Google, or Apple to hire you, you have to meet some certain requirements.
One of the biggest requirements, as with a lot of other things, is location, location, location. Even though the Internet has opened up new opportunities for telecommuting (as I write this in the Pacific Northwest, my editor’s in Israel, and we and a couple of other writers based in the U.S., India and Romania bounce ideas off each other via Skype), most tech businesses still prefer to have people working in real offices. The biggest regions in the U.S. for tech jobs are the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington, D.C., New York City, Boston, Seattle, San Diego, and Houston.
Not only do you have to be in the right place, you have to have skills that are in demand. The hottest skill is Android app development, which isn’t surprising since Android is currently the most popular smartphone OS. Companies are also hiring people with knowledge of cloud computing, iPhone development, and JavaScript.
If you want to get a job with Google, you have the best prospects if you’re an engineer. The company is always hiring developers. And you’d better be a good one. Out the the one million or so applications they receive each year, Google only selects up to 4,000. Google is looking mostly for creative thinkers who are team players.
If you want to join Facebook in their plans for world domination, however, the company is looking for Facebook addicts who’ve launched their own products and know somebody who works there. Many of the Facebook’s new hires com from references within the company.
If you’ve set your sights on working at Apple, they’re also looking for references from within the company, people who are active members of Apple’s Developer Program, and Apple fanboys/fangirls.
Of course, it helps if you’ve studied a technical field, such as data mining or artificial intelligence, but you can also find a job if you have a background in business or the social sciences, among other fields.
And when you write your awesome resume, be sure to include the word “resume,” but don’t try to impress them by including the accent on the “e.” Be specific about your experience, and try to quantify things as much as possible. And please, please, please, run spell check!
You’ll also want to check out our other infographics on Nintendo, the interconnected world of tech companies, and publishing in the digital era.
