The Rock Stars of Silicon Valley

By Dominique Soenens, Vacature Magazine

© Griet Dekoninck

Is the talent war over? 

Not in Silicon Valley.  In the technological heart of the U.S., software engineers enjoy the status almost of a rock star: companies fight to land them, their wages rose last year and they are sometimes prone to the most amazing extras.

End of June.  It’s smothering hot in Palo Alto, the university town in the heart of Silicon Valley.  People are strolling lazily down University Avenue, the tree-lined street that cuts the center in half.  On the covered patio of Starbucks, a good stone’s throw from the prestigious Stanford University, almost everybody is busy strumming on his laptop. Whether it’s a work meeting, a video meeting or a young start-upper working on the next big thing, a terrace with free Wi-Fi is a suitable area for many who work in the technology valley.

“I have a meeting soon, I just stopped in here with a friend,” said the 26-year-old technology consultant Jordan Buller, a laptop and coffee within reach.  “I studied computer science at the University of Virginia and came here because of the nice job offers that I’ve received. That was three years ago when the economy is badly made. Now it is much better. A lot of people are being recruited, and the demand is high, not only for people that graduated at top universities like Berkeley and Stanford.”  Many people come here. Did I dream of a business? Of course, everyone in Silicon Valley dreams of a business. I just have no concrete plans.”

Whether dreaming of their own project or not, engineers live (again) in a golden era in Silicon Valley.  Figures published in the NY Times indicate that this year alone, nearly 150,000 new technology jobs will be created in the U.S.. Over the last year, wages of top engineers – especially software engineers – have gone up. While the salaries for IT engineers have barely increased since the outbreak of the recent economic crisis throughout the rest of the U.S., a Dice salary survey of American experts indicates that salaries in Silicon Valley grew in 2010 by an average of 3 percent.  And this year, that percentage is much higher, by a whole lot.

“We’ve really seen the war for talent erupt over the last eight months,” said Andy Nacsin of Redfish Technology, a recruitment agency specializing in the high technology and clean technology sectors in Silicon Valley.  “Wages have since gone up by about 10 percent.  Companies are offering bonuses and shares, many companies are seriously pushing these to attract the talent they want.”

Translated with Google Translator.

Read the original article “De rocksterren van Silicon Valley” by Dominique Soenens

http://www.vacature.com/de-rocksterren-van-silicon-valley