Question:
I am planning to move to Denver in the next six weeks and I am
wondering if anyone can brief me about the current "hot" areas in IT
in the Denver metro area. I read on the Denver Post website that
unemployment rate in Colorado is only 5.5%, which is better than the
national avearage and sure a hell of a lot better here in Los Angeles
and the real estate in Denver is affordable! Any feedback will be
appreciated!
Answer:
-More Californication of Colorado, just what we need. The unemployment
figures have been cooked by the government. People on UI for more than 6
months become "no longer in the job market", which makes the rates appear
lower. There are hardly any jobs here, the jobs section of the paper is
like 2 pages. Stay away.
-Tech is dead in Denver. Something like 40% of the tech jobs have
disappeared
since 1999. Of about 20 acquaintances laid off in that field,
only one has found another tech job. Denver's biggest tech industry
was telecom & broadband- US West, Quest, TCI, CGI, Rythms, AT&T,
Excite@home... Much merging and splitting and bankrupcy.
Denver also has a major division of Sun Micro due to one of the
foundersin Aspen, but they have been shrinking. The southern "suburb"
of
Colorado Springs has semiconductors and military suppliers.
The health industry has the biggest employee shortage.
Construction and remodeling is still busy, though cooling off.
Denver has a large recreation & travel sector.
Funny, I heard advice to look for tech wor in southern california's
large defense industry which may still be hiring.
