Technology hiring boom is growing at a healthy rate--healthy in this economy, at least--and some observers are even drawing analogies to the dot com boom of the late 90s. And it's happening across the country, not just in Silicon Valley Salesforce.com is having to work harder to find the people it needs. "It is an incredibly competitive job market. Finding the right people is hard," said Woodson Martin, Salesforce.com's senior vice president for employee success. At the end of October, Salesforce was looking for professionals in IT, technical operations (including Linux network system administrators), R&D staff. The boom is inflating some salaries, said Bill Reichert, managing director for the venture capital firm Garage Technologies. "Software engineers are the hottest," he said. "The higher the software level, the harder it is to fill those jobs." Robert Half Technology has identified seven jobs that will see demand grow in 2012. They include:

• Mobile applications developer. Their salaries are expected to increase 9.1 percent to between $85,000 and $122,500.
• Data warehouse analyst, with salaries expected to grow 6.7 percent to between $88,000 and $119,000.
• User experience designer, whose salaries should increase 6.2 percent to between $71,750 and $104,000.

The others are data security analyst, SEO/SEM specialist, network engineer and Web developer. “A lot of the positions that are in high demand are helping companies take advantage of emerging technology to promote their services,” said Kristen Johnson, regional vice president at Robert Half International in Boston. Cloud computing is another hot area of job growth. Earlier this year Dice reported that the boom in cloud-based applications is likely one factor driving the demand for JavaScript skills, up 86 percent year over year. Salesforce.com's Martin may have an explanation: "Cloud computing is not something people have built their careers on. Experience with it--building or selling or marketing it--is in high demand." A good grasp of business needs for both customers and employers is key to landing and keeping a good job, he added. "People need to be attuned to the use of technology.”