Each year experts talk about which markets are hot in the technology space. If you are in search mode, it’s probably wise to pay attention to these trends. You may not agree with all of them, but there are many that are hard to dispute. As recruiters, our success depends on knowing what markets are growing and subsequently what companies are hiring. We have seen a huge upswing in the overall market the past six months. The momentum shifted in early fall and has really picked up the last six weeks. Every indication points to a strong year for our sector. We have clients hiring in cloud computing, security related services, enterprise software, storage and networking.
If you are approaching some of these “hot” companies, you want to make sure you do it correctly. Just sending a resume is a waste of time if done incorrectly. There are many articles on our blog that can help you achieve better results. So which markets are growing?
Below is a quick summary of markets that seem to be getting the most buzz. While buzz is nice, it certainly doesn’t equate to a great place to work. Don’t get caught up in the hype and make sure you are doing your homework before making a commitment to join one of these “hot” companies. No one is going to argue that cloud computing is here to stay, but by next year at this time, many of the companies you see today will be gone. Good luck.
Cloud computing
Cloud computing gets talked about as much as any market I have seen in the past 15 years. Every expert agrees this is a market that is here to stay and one that will no doubt change the way services are offered. Every large and small vendor has a cloud strategy, or at least wants you to believe this . The VC’s are putting a ton of money into this sector. This is all good news. The issue as with any exploding market is figuring out which companies will be here in the next five years or even the next three. My advice is to look at who is running the company, who funded them, how many actual customers they have and what makes them unique. If you want to look at startups for your next job, this is a good place to start.
Storage
I remember when Data Domain first hit the market and the whole dedup explosion took place. People were making a lot of money. Startups were popping up everywhere. The people who went to work for these companies in the early days had the chance to really do well. This market has matured quite a bit but overall continues to grow and produces tons of very interesting startups. There seems to be many ways to handle the same problems and the key as always is finding the companies that offer a blend of solid solutions and fair pricing. Besides the leaders we are all familiar with, you can find hundreds of startups with unique offerings that could potentially be big hits.
Data analytics
The more data we create, the more important the ability to quickly decipher this data becomes. Companies that make this process faster and easier are growing rapidly. They have a huge market to sell into and tons of upside potential. Many of our clients are in this space and are doing well. Again, picking which companies will be here in 3 years is never easy. Having great products is a good start. Like any company that is still early stage (many of these are), you need to look at the management team, the number of paying customers, who funded them and how much money they received. This will certainly help you eliminate some of the risk if you do decide this is a market you want to work in.
Security related technologies
Let’s face it, security sells and will continue to sell. It is a must have, not a nice to have. From the early days when the first firewalls came out to the more sophisticated products and services we see in today’s market, the options are endless. We find more startups in and around this space than any other. The VC’s also invest heavily in this arena. With that said, it is also one of the most competitive and picking winners is not an easy endeavor
Good luck in 2011.
