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Dallas Sees Jump in Developer Talent Pool
The number of software developers living around Dallas has grown dramatically over the last several years, encouraging technology companies to locate in the area and increasing the pace of local hiring. In 2013, the number of computer and software programming jobs in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area had more than doubled to 23,193 when compared to 10,387 in 2003, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data published in the Dallas Morning News. Click here to see Dallas-area jobs. A number of factors have improved the health of the environment for programmers in the area. Those include the relatively low cost of living, the presence of strong university technology programs and an increasing number of companies who've found it makes sense to either locate in the region or hire locally if they're already there. For example, Bruce Graham, President of Plano-based software company Tyler Technologies' courts and justice division, says he no longer has to look to Austin or California to find developers. “What we found is we have no lack of talent,” he said. “There are very talented programmers here. We haven’t had any issues with that.” Graham has hired developers from the University of Texas at Dallas's computer science department and is also working with local development firms to create his company's solutions for electronic and online court systems. The talent pool is making it easier for tech companies to set up in the area, as well. In Plano, the marketing intelligence startup Oculus360 hired most of its developers locally, putting to rest the initial fears of co-founder John Dubois. Having lived in Austin for some time, Dubois thought of Dallas as being more about hardware and telecom, but found the area "absolutely" had a pool of software development talent comprised of experienced developers leaving large companies and entry-level talent taking their first or second job.
