Would you switch jobs in the near future, or have the twists and turns of 2020 left you a little bit leery about jumping from what might be a secure position to a new one?

However you answer the quiz above, that’s a question that many technologists are debating whether to switch jobs within the next quarter or two, and with good reason. Unemployment in the technology sector remains relatively low compared to the national average, and employers large and small, in a variety of industries, are on the hunt for technologists with all kinds of specializations.

In 2019, some 45 percent of technologists told Dice that they’d be likely to change jobs that year. At the very beginning of this year, that number had dropped to 38 percent. (In both cases, we surveyed technologists as part of the annual Dice Tech Salary Report.) Over the summer, when we surveyed technologists as part of an ongoing Sentiment Survey, that number dropped a little bit more, to 32 percent:

With more technologists set on staying in place, the pressure has increased on recruiters and companies to find the talent they need. That’s potentially good news for technologists who are interested in a new position, particularly in in-demand categories such as cybersecurity and data science. 

As we look toward the end of the year, it’s worth bringing up yet again whether technologists feel inclined to look for new jobs, especially since the situation at many companies has stabilized. At the start of the pandemic, companies scrambled to figure out how to shift their employees to full-time remote work; in addition, many departments temporarily changed their technology priorities to handle a radically changed market (for example, many companies had to quickly spin up teams to launch or revamp e-commerce platforms, in order to better handle a tide of online ordering). Months later, regular operations have largely resumed, and companies are again working through their long-term roadmaps. In some states, technologists are actually heading back into the office. 

For those interested in a new job, you might even find yourself engaging in in-person interviews with hiring managers and recruiters (socially distanced, hopefully) and touring offices in a limited way. But whether you’re interviewing remotely or face-to-face, it’s important to evaluate a company’s culture to determine whether it’s a right fit for you at this point in your career. 

Given all of that, are you in the mood to hunt for a new position? Feel free to tell us your opinion in the quiz above.