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(Sam Hodgson/San Diego Union-Tribune) 'I've never seen anything like it': How remote work has upended the tech talent market. By Brittany Meiling San Diego Union-Tribune July 31, 2021 5 AM PT * Facebook * Twitter * Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options * Facebook * Twitter * LinkedIn * Email * Copy Link URLCopied! * Print There's an air of desperation among tech employers this summer. Software talent, it seems, is in such high demand that companies are morphing how they hire. And workers are the ones with the power. Good and experienced tech workers are being treated like celebrities -- hounded by recruiters, courted by managers, and bestowed a bevy of options before choosing their next boss. "It makes you feel like you're amazing, when really ... you're just another software engineer that's looking for a job," said Henry Chesnutt, who just moved back to San Diego from San Francisco to work at the rapidly growing tech startup Flock Freight. The job outlook for workers like Chesnutt has been good for much of the last decade. But now, a multitude of factors are driving competition for talent to a level not seen in nearly 20 years, some recruiters say. Advertisement "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. LONG BEACH, CA - JUNE 30:. Ashley Richardson, franchise owner of 9Round Fitness gym in Long Beach, said that it's hard for her business to find personal trainers to hire in the coronavirus postpandemic reopening. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) Business There's no labor shortage -- just not enough good jobs Employers in California and the U.S. are scrambling to fill jobs as the dust from the pandemic begins to settle. Just don't call it a labor shortage. The demand has been attributed to all sorts of things. During the pandemic, businesses that had been slow to adopt enterprise software began rapidly catching up. A tidal wave of productivity software, conferencing and collaboration tools, and e-commerce tech flooded the world. The same was true for consumer tech, with video game development, entertainment tech and social platforms booming. Many of these jobs are going unfilled, as competition for new hires ramps up. Simultaneously, remote work became the status quo in the tech industry. Suddenly, software talent could pick and choose from a massive pool of job opportunities. All while existing talent is beginning to stray. Roughly a third of more than 2,800 IT professionals said they plan to look for a new job in the next few months, according to a recent Robert Half International survey. 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. Advertisement "I realized pretty quick that I was the one with the upper hand," Bartholomew said. "All these companies were moving incredibly fast to try and close on me." Software interviews have a reputation for being slow, painful processes that involve tests of logic, design and computer science knowledge. Years ago, Chesnutt was tested for five straight hours on algorithms during an interview with YouTube. But now, these technical interviews are often being waived, said Chesnutt and Bartholomew, who both experienced this step dropped for the sake of urgency. Recruiters are increasingly using what Chesnutt sees as pressure tactics, such as "exploding offers," which are job offers that self-detonate at a set date and time if engineers don't accept them soon enough. "They'll try to rush you through the process as soon as possible, and get you to sign that day while they're on the phone with you," Chesnutt said. Advertisement Brett Wayne, a tech recruiter and managing director at Cypress, said the competitive pressure is unlike anything he's seen in his 13-year career in recruiting. He likened it to what's happening in the real estate market. Just like a hot property with multiple bids, Chesnutt ended his job hunt with four employment offers. To win a bid on a quality engineer, companies are offering things such as flexible hours, sign-on bonuses and permanent remote work, the last of which has become a requirement for much of the workforce. Dice, a website and staffing firm that focuses on tech talent, published a report in June that found only 17% of technologists wanted to work in an office full time, while 59% wanted remote and hybrid approaches. Ilo for op-ed on working from home/pay cut (Chelsea Charles / For The Times) Technology 'Work from anywhere' is here to stay. How will it change our workplaces? Working from home will become the norm for many employees even after the pandemic ends. But prepare for a pay cut. Advertisement Wayne said he's observed companies shoot themselves in the foot by not offering remote options, making an already slim candidate pool even slimmer. "If it was hard to hire talent 18 months ago -- and now you cut the group you're going for in half -- it's going to be really tough for you," Wayne said. Bartholomew said he's watched a great migration of developers out of urban areas, riding remote work out of San Diego or other cities. "Literally about 50% of my peer group has moved," Bartholomew said. "Companies that adapt will get the majority of the talent pool." Advertisement It's not strict remote work, however, that seems to be appealing to the majority of engineers, according to the Dice report. It's more about flexibility to choose. "While many technologists would still prefer to work 100% remotely, there is an equal desire for a hybrid approach, and we've actually seen fewer remote days per week become more desirable over the past year," Art Zeile, CEO chief executive of Dice, said in a statement. "The companies who succeed in attracting and retaining top talent will be those who take the time to build an agile approach that gives technologists flexibility and control over their work environment." U.S. tech salaries are also on the rise. A recent Dice report found tech jobs saw an average salary increase of 3.6% between late 2019 and late 2020. That might not sound like much, but it's a significant jump compared with 2017, 2018 and 2019, when annual increases were less than 1%. 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. "It's a worker's market, and employees are acting like consumers in how they are consuming work -- seeking flexibility, competitive pay and fast decisions," Becky Frankiewicz, ManpowerGroup president for North America, said in a statement. "Now is the time for employers to get creative to attract talent -- and to hold onto the workers they have with both hands." --------------------------------------------------------------------- BusinessTechnology Newsletter Your guide to our clean energy future Get our Boiling Point newsletter for the latest on the power sector, water wars and more -- and what they mean for California. Enter email address [ ] Sign Me Up You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. [gif] Brittany Meiling Follow Us * twitter * email Brittany Meiling covers startups and small business for The San Diego Union-Tribune. She's been covering early-stage entrepreneurship in San Diego since 2014, when she joined the San Diego Business Journal to cover tech and biotech. There, she created the Startup Page business column that won an award for Best Recurring Feature in a national contest by The Alliance of Area Business Publishers. Brittany also has a long history covering the biopharma industry, most recently covering breaking stories for Endpoints News. Other topics she's covered include: finance, clean tech, food and beverage. More From the Los Angeles Times * MALIBU, CA - JULY 20, 2021 - - Lenise Soren, owner of Sorenity Rocks, sings as she creates a tone from a quartz crystal singing bowl inside the crystal sanctuary that features pieces for sale from her Sorenity Rocks crystal collection in Malibu on July 20, 2021. A pair of amethyst museum quality tubs or tables rest in the foreground. All items are for sale. The rich are collecting enormous crystals - 7-foot-tall rocks, amethyst thrones, etc. - for their homes. Retail stores and dealers say these status crystals can cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and are becoming more popular thanks to Instagram and TikTok. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) Business A new thing rich people are into: absolutely enormous crystals * LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 29: Work is underway on a $100 million makeover of the Hollywood & Highland shopping center in Hollywood that was completed in 2001. Real Estate private equity firm Gaw Capital USA with DJM, a private equity real estate developer unveiled their vision and plans for the famed shopping center at Hollywood & Highland which includes a major design update and new name as Ovation Hollywood. The notable giant elephants that reference the Babylon set of D.W. Griffith's 1916 movie "Intolerance" and other Babylonian themed elements are being removed, in part because Griffith in now more widely regarded as a racist who encouraged the growth of the Ku Klux Klan. Hollywood on Thursday, July 29, 2021 in Los Angeles, CA. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times). Business The Hollywood & Highland elephants are coming down, a rejection of D.W. Griffith's racist legacy * FILE- In this June 19, 2017, file photo, a person types on a laptop keyboard in North Andover, Mass. A new report by a global media consortium that expands the known target list of the Israeli hacker-for-hire firm NSO Group's military-grade spyware provoked alarm Monday, July 19, 2021, among human rights and press freedom activists. They decried the near-complete absence of regulation of commercial surveillance tools. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File) Business A side job for fast typists: transcription * Shown is entrance to a Presidio Heights building under renovation where a wealthy couple received a record half a million dollar buyout to vacate their luxury apartment of three decades in San Francisco on Friday, July 30, 2021. The $475,000 voluntary buyout is considered to be the largest in city history underscoring the lengths some landlords will go to to get rid of long-term tenants in a city with strict rent control and soaring market rents. 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