Dice Report: Early Look at COVID-19 Impact on Tech Hiring

Dice, the online technology recruiter, this week presented re-evaluated business hiring plans data for Q1 in light of the COVID-19 impact on the economy. It looks like impact of COVID-19 on the tech sector is less severe than in other industries. That said, although hiring is up in many technology occupations, it is negatively impacting many in-demand occupations while driving up others.

For example, job postings for tech jobs such as software developers and network engineers were down, -8% and -3% respectively. That decline is from February to March. The demand for cybersecurity engineers, systems engineers and systems administrators were up, 20%, 11% and 7%, respectively for the same two-month period.

Dice attributes the job postings decline to deprioritization of new development projects. Companies are shifting focus to stability and adoption of more employees having to work from home. At the same time, the company attributes the increased job postings for cybersecurity engineers, systems engineers and systems administrators to the need to ensure security for remote employees and maintaining core platforms.

Looking at the report data for top tech occupations in 2019, software developer, network engineer and systems engineer, ranked #1, #2, and #3, respectively. Systems administrator ranked #9 and cybersecurity engineer, #10.

In the first quarter, the impact of the coronavirus on tech job postings saw significant increases compared to Q1 2019. That’s among both established and emerging technology hubs. Data for April is showing signs of softening but not significantly, according to the company.

Dice focuses its Q1 2020 Tech Job Report on job posting volume to highlight the early effects of the coronavirus outbreak on the tech industry by location, role and skill. It looks at both macro and micro levels.

Looking at hiring by location, cities and states, 2019 data suggests the growth in emerging innovation centers and technology corridors in cities across the country. The fastest growing states – Florida (26%), Ohio (25%), California (23%), New York (15%) and Alabama (15%).

For Q1 2020, four of the top tech hubs saw a reduction in job postings in March compared to February. The four cities – Boston (-6%),; Columbus, Ohio (-5%); Atlanta (-4%), and New York (-1%).

On the flip side, cities such as Raleigh, North Carolina, San Diego and and Arlington, Virginia. saw increases, 28%, 23%, and 20%, respectively.

The report also looks at hiring at some big name vendors, such as Amazon, Cisco and Walmart, to name a few. Hiring at these companies was up 110%, 71% and 64%, respectively. Amazon was looking for software developers and network engineers. Walmart was looking to primarily fill software developer and project manager roles.

DHI Group’s Art Zeile

Dice also this week announced that it will offer thought leadership on remote hiring during the pandemic through the Dice COVID-19 Jobs Resource Center.

“We’re pleased to be able to share Dice’s COVID-19 Jobs Resource Center with the larger tech community. Dice’s deep knowledge and critical understanding of changing trends in technology careers puts us in a unique position to share proprietary data and timely content that allows us all to manage through the pandemic,” said Art Zeile, CEO of DHI Group Inc., parent company of Dice.