Employers bow to tech workers in hottest job market since the dot-com era

There's an air of desperation among tech employers this summer. The job outlook for workers like Chesnutt has been good for much of the past decade. "This is the most competitive market I can remember in my professional career, with many people comparing it to the dot-com market of the late '90s," said Jim Bartolomea, vice president of Global Talent at tech titan ServiceNow, which employs a huge chunk of the software talent in San Diego. Last month, employers posted more than 365,000 job openings for IT workers, the highest monthly total since September 2019, according to IT trade group CompTIA. The positions highest in demand include software developers, IT support specialists, systems engineers and architects. Aaron Bartholomew, a lead backend developer at tech company Trust & Will, just went through a two-month job search in which he held the power in the employer-worker exchange. U.S. employers across all industries - not just tech - reported their strongest hiring outlook since 2000, according to an employment outlook survey published by staffing giant ManpowerGroup in June. "Now is the time for employers to get creative to attract talent - and to hold onto the workers they have with both hands."