“Tech careers in the Pittsburgh region these days are not for software engineers only,” says Allegheny Conference on Community Development CEO Dennis Yablonsky.
That was a key finding of the inaugural issue of Workforce Quarterly, a new publication that promises to shine a bright light on the Pittsburgh region’s employment ecosystem.
The free publication, published by the Conference’s ImaginePittsburgh.com and the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, will analyze and present data about the region's evolving workforce landscape in an easily digestible and visual way. The inaugural issue (Fall 2014) focuses on IT-related careers in the region and the need to shift perception to meet demand.
“Job seekers, educators, career counselors and parents need to understand where the opportunities really are,” explains Yablonsky. “Tech, we discovered, is at the heart of many open positions in the region. This is one example of perception-changing news that we hope our Workforce Quarterly reports can communicate.”
Here are a few more of the findings from the first issue:
• Fifty-seven percent of all the open jobs in the region — across all sectors — require some IT skill or knowledge.
• Not every candidate for an IT job needs a four-year degree.
• Web developers (who have experienced the fastest growth rate, 21 percent, between 2007 and 2012) typically require only an associate’s degree.
• Advanced manufacturers are increasingly seeking more brain than brawn in employees, hiring women and men who are tech-savvy and capable of using the technologies that run today’s innovation-driven manufacturing processes.
“It is clear that individuals no longer need a four-year degree to work in IT-related jobs, nor do IT-related careers exist only at such companies as Google, IBM or Microsoft,” the report concludes. “Well-compensated IT-related jobs exist in every industry in nearly every company and at every education level. As demand for these occupations continues to grow, it is important for the region to graduate and train more individuals, to develop and promote clear career pathways for all, and to have industry at the table to appropriately align supply to demand.”
The next Workforce Quarterly is set for December and will focus on the region's aging workforce.
Source: Dennis Yablonsky, Allegheny Conference on Community Development
Writer: Elise Vider
