What's New This Quarter
In New York it’s all about real estate, and when a company grabs more square footage it means that things are definitely on the upswing. One good example: Google, which has finally signed an expected deal to grab a massive 360,000 square feet at 85 10
th Ave. in the Meatpacking District, not far from its already huge quarters. And starchitect Frank Gehry will be overseeing renovations at 770 Broadway in Astor Place, where
Facebook has
signed a 10-year lease for two floors and 100,000 square feet. That’s about twice the size of its previous New York office, which currently houses about 320 workers. Also looking for a New York home is red-hot online file storage service Dropbox. Following a funding round that hit $350 million, the San Francisco-based company is hoping to hire 25 employees in town before the end of the year. New York will host operations for Dropbox for Business, an enterprise offering crucial to the company’s future revenue growth. "We see New York as such a ripe market [for talent], with Silicon Alley and all of the new media and design history that's been so rich in the city," Senior Vice President for Enterprise Strategy Ross Piper told the New York Business Journal.
Click here to find tech jobs in New York. Plenty of other companies may be in the process of looking for office space as well. CB Insights says the $2.9 billion that VCs invested in 396 local companies in 2013 is a five-year high for the region and a 49 percent jump from the almost $2 billion invested in 2012. Also hiring: Human capital management solutions provider ADP says it will create an “innovation lab” and
110 new jobs, including positions for
software developers and
data scientists. ADP already employs 2,900 people at nine facilities in New York State. Goldman Sachs is doing some hiring, too, but it may have gone about it the wrong way. During a Goldman-sponsored Women Engineers Code conference at Harvard, the swag bag included Goldman-branded nail files and mirrors. The financial giant quickly fell on its sword, saying in a statement, “We are strong supporters of efforts to recruit and retain women in technology. We apologize if the gifts gave anyone offense."
Skills in Demand
Sixty one percent of New York technology executives in a
Robert Half Technology survey said that
Windows administration is among the skill sets in greatest demand.
Network administration and
desktop support followed. Recruiters also see high demand for
HTML5,
iOS and
Android developers, as well as
Java,
JavaScript, newer JavaScript frameworks, Google apps and all kinds of
UI design. Software development utilizing the Java technologies still dominates hiring, says Adam Bilinski, New York managing director for recruiting firm
Randstad Technologies, followed by the
Microsoft development languages. “We still see a large amount of demand for
project managers and
business analysts, and as in years past we are seeing more needs in the data area. It’s common now to combine a business analyst with a
data analyst role.” The hardest technologies to recruit for, adds Bilinski, are still
Python, JavaScript and
Ruby. “The publishing industry is experiencing resurgence since the advent of e-books and
app development for iPad and Android devices,” adds Eric Newman, regional vice president of Robert Half Technology. “In addition, the PR industry is now using more advanced forms of
predictive analytics, as well as more interactive app development to maximize digital engagement with their client’s customers.”
Salary Trends
According to the
2014-2013 Dice Salary Survey, the average salary for a New York-based IT professional is $93,915, up 4.7 percent from the previous year and 6.9 percent above the national average of $87,811. Robert Half Technology reports that 17 percent of New York-area technology executives plan to expand their IT teams during this year’s first half, up from 12 percent last quarter. At the same time, 69 percent plan to hire only for open IT roles. Ninety one percent were optimistic about their companies’ prospects for growth, while 70 percent felt confident in their firms’ investment in IT projects as 2014 gets underway.
Leading Industries
- Financial Services
- Advertising
- Media
- Insurance
- Telecom (specifically in New Jersey)
Local Employment and Research Resources
Related Stories
Image: cocozero/Shutterstock.com
