By Chelsea Babin

Vacant jobs in the national technology sector are a dime a dozen according to a new report from CompTIA. There were 2.8 million new technology job postings last year, with the bulk of those in California, Texas, and New York respectively.

California earned top honors, adding 1,749,400 technology jobs in 2017 and Texas came in second adding 963,400 jobs in 2017. As this new era of tech innovation expands the IT industry, it also expands the need for technical professionals at companies in a wide variety of other industries. Because there are a wealth of open job opportunities and an expectation of the same rate of expansion for 2018, the process of finding qualified technical professionals is just as challenging as it has ever been.

Overall, CompTIA found that there are 11.5 million tech pros in the United States. These professionals make up around 7.2% of the overall workforce. Therefore, the number of new jobs last year would have required almost a quarter of all existing technical professionals to all be filled. The majority of these existing technical professionals are currently employed and have a choice to make. As they see a massive amount of positions open in their field, they can either stay where they are or move on easily to a new position.

On average, these technical professionals make almost double what most U.S. workers do annually. While technical professionals have an average salary of $112,900, the average American worker earns a salary of $54,500. When you factor in the massive number of open jobs, the chance for almost a quarter of technical professionals to switch jobs easily if they wanted to, and salary levels far above the American average, it’s easy to see why hiring technical professionals shouldn’t be thought of or looked at in the same way as other employees.

For the time being, demand for technical professionals far outpaces employee demand in any other sector. And, while salaries are leveling off for most technical professionals this year and studies show that income satisfaction in technology is holding steady, many IT professionals are ready to move on from their current job in search of something better. From improved perks to learning and growth opportunities, companies are scrambling to offer incentives that might lure in the top technical talent they need. And, for the companies who aren’t jumping on that bandwagon, the hiring process for technical professionals is getting lengthier and more costly.

Because the strength of the national technology sector isn’t fracturing, we should anticipate the number of open jobs to come close to matching the 2.8 million open positions in 2017. And, it’s within the realm of possibility that 2018’s numbers will outpace those. No company should underestimate the importance of technical professional happiness at their company if they want to avoid lengthy, costly hiring processes that are inevitable right now.