SF & SJ Both Top 5 Cities Accounting for Tech Job Growth

From my vantage point as a recruiter, I’ve seen the Bay Area legal market on fire for years. I recently read a Wall Street Journal article confirming the area’s dominance. It reported that only five cities accounted for 90% of all new tech jobs in the US from 2005 to 2017. San Francisco led the list, and San Jose came in third. (Second was Seattle, fourth Boston. The other California city making the list was San Diego at #5. LA actually lost more than 45,000 tech jobs.)

What does this unprecedented job expansion mean for Bay Area lawyers? I’ve seen employers willing to stretch on compensation, give sign on bonuses, and offer more flexibility with telecommuting. On the employee side, I’ve seen more rapid moves on resumes.

Despite the ease of changing jobs now, think through any moves beforehand because when the market corrects, employers will have the upper hand again. They usually prefer candidates with fewer moves and longer tenures at fast-growing companies.