The Dice Report - May 2007

Although Blackberries and other mobile devices allow tech professionals to keep in touch and stay connected, they also propel a ìwork everywhereî culture. Hand-held devices are increasingly promoting an environment of work and prohibit tech professionals from letting go of the work-load during their personal time. This monthís Dice Tech Topic Poll found that 38 percent of tech professionals are ìdoing work-related tasks all the time.î

The overall tech job market remains strong and total job postings on Dice reached 94,846 at the beginning of the month. Demand in the Silicon Valley metro area continued to improve with job postings increasing 18.5 percent since January to 6,755 this month.

Dice can provide specific and targeted data, including geographic information, at your request. Please let us know if there are any areas you would like to see included in the next Dice Report or an upcoming Dice poll.

Available Tech Jobs (Number of jobs posted on Dice as of 5.1.07*) - 94,846

Top Tech Metro Areas (Based on number of jobs posted by zip code on Dice as of 5.1.07* )

1. New York/New Jersey ñ 11,044

(New York City, Long Island, Westchester, Northern New Jersey)

2. Washington D.C. ñ 7,971
(Baltimore, Washington D.C., Northern Virginia, Southern Maryland)

3. Silicon Valley ñ 6,755
(San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, CA)

4. Los Angeles ñ 4,546
(Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange County, CA)

5. Chicago ñ 4,241
(Chicago and Suburbs)

6. Boston ñ 4,167
(Boston and Suburbs)

7. Philadelphia ñ 3,156
(Philadelphia, Allentown, Southern New Jersey, Delaware)

8. Dallas ñ 3,084
(Dallas, Fort Worth and Surrounding Suburbs)

9. Atlanta ñ 2,987
(Atlanta and Suburbs)

10. Seattle ñ 2,309
(Seattle and Suburbs)

Consultant Countdown (Number of contract vs. permanent positions on Dice as of 5.1.07*)

Contract: 37,487

Permanent: 66,776

Top Tech Skills (Skills most in demand based on job postings on Dice as of 5.1.07* )

Operating Systems
1.Windows ñ 16,573

2.Unix - 14,870

Databases
1.Oracle ñ 17,354

2.SQL ñ 14,880

Programming Languages
1.J2EE/Java ñ 13,690

2.C, C ñ 11,862

The use of Blackberries and other Internet-connected mobile devices has blurred the lines between work and personal time. To what extent has the new work everywhere culture changed your habits?

I find myself doing work-related tasks all the time - 38%

Iíve set boundaries on when Iím working and when Iím doing other things - 26%

The technology is quite helpful when trying to juggle work and home/family life - 23%

They have minimal impact on my job or my personal life - 13%

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* Please note that data reflects public information posted by Dice users and customers. For example, 14,870 jobs posted on Dice as of May 1, 2007, describe Unix as a skill needed for the position advertised. A single job posting may reflect more than one skill, location and type of position (permanent vs. contract); therefore total figures for these attributes may be greater than total jobs posted.

As of April 2, 2007, Dice data for Top Metro Areas and Top Tech Skills is being reported using our new search engine protocols. Tech job postings by metro area are now calculated by zip code rather than area code, which provides a more precise reflection of job postings by geographic region.

Dice Inc. 2007.