Metro Detroit region is fastest-growing region for tech jobs
Tim Devaney, Detroit News staff writer
Metro Detroit was the fastest-growing region for technology jobs in America last month, but still has plenty of catching up to do before it will be a major player.
The region had more than 820 openings for jobs such as data security and project management in February, compared with about 400 the same month a year ago, according to the Dice Report, a monthly look at the technology job market from Dice.com, a popular career site for tech professionals.
Metro Detroit's 101 percent growth rate led the country, in part because the region is growing from a small base, ranking 18th in the country in the number of job openings in February. The top market, Washington, D.C.-Baltimore, had 8,500 new job opportunities and a growth rate of 33 percent.
"This is a step in the right direction" for Detroit, said Jeff Kagan, a wireless and telecommunications analyst in Atlanta who follows technology trends. "But I wouldn't say at this point that Detroit is a high-tech area. It's just getting started."
Metro Detroit was followed in the growth rankings by the Ohio cities of Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus. Silicon Valley, Calif., which is the third biggest technology job center in the country, was the 10th-fastest growing region as the number of tech job openings there jumped 40 percent.
The nation has 75,000 technology positions available. After the Washington area, the New York City area was the second biggest with more than 8,400 openings. Chicago and Los Angeles round out the top five.
It might take five years of continued growth in technology jobs for Metro Detroit toreach that level, Kagan said.
"When you think of technology hubs, you think of the Silicon Valley, outside of Boston, north of Dallas," Kagan said. "You think of different spots around the country, but Detroit doesn't come to mind."
Because Metro Detroit was hit worse than most areas of the country during the recession, it is making a steeper and swifter comeback now than other regions, said Tom Silver, senior vice president at Dice.com.
Many companies held back on technology investments during the economic downturn, but are expanding since the economy and consumer confidence are improving, he said.
"Detroit is coming back," Silver said.
Detroit in infancy stage
The uptick in tech jobs comes six months after Quicken Loans Inc., the nation's largest online mortgage lender, moved its headquarters to Detroit from Livonia and founder and Chairman Dan Gilbert said he wanted to create a concentration of tech firms downtown.
"Detroit is in the infancy stage of becoming a hotbed of new economy, technology, Internet and entertainment-based entrepreneurial growth companies," Gilbert told workers at the headquarters' formal opening last summer.
Metro Detroit technology workers this year make an average of $71,455 annually, according to the Dice Report. That's $8,000 less than the national average, but up 2 percent from a year ago. The growth in pay locally outpaced the national average for tech workers, a 0.7 percent increase.
"This speaks to the recovery of the Detroit economy," Silver said. "As a tech worker, there are opportunities in Detroit you might not have thought about."
Detroit Venture Partners was founded late last year as a way of jumpstarting investment in Detroit area technology start-up firms. The venture capital company founded by three local entrepreneurs, including Quicken Loans' Gilbert, is looking to invest $2 million to $3 million annually into each of more than 15 local startups.
Investing more than $100 million in the next few years could create thousands more technology jobs, said Josh Linkner, CEO and managing partner at Detroit Venture Partners.
"Our goal is to create the next Facebook or Groupon," said Linkner, an entrepreneur who also founded ePrize, a digital marketing firm in Pleasant Ridge. "We're investing in Internet companies that have the potential to be home runs. And not just home runs for us, but for our city and our region."
Startups see growth
Dice.com's Silver said many new technology jobs come from an influx of startup companies.
While giants like Quicken Loans, Chrysler Group LLC and General Electric have openings, there are just as many coming from smaller, lesser-known companies, he said.
Detroit Venture Partners already has agreed to invest in six of them.
Greg Schwartz runs two startups in the region that are hiring — Mobatech, a firm that builds smart phone applications such as for personal finance, and OfferedApp.com, a website where smart phone users get paid apps for free. Schwartz has three to five openings for workers who can help both Birmingham firms.
"Detroit is making a comeback around technology," he said. "It's an exciting time to be here and to be part of it."
Linkner said real growth is coming to Metro Detroit, and young, startup companies will make the biggest difference.
"There are always cynics out there," he said, "but I'm seeing, in my own eyes, the rebirth of a great American city."
Photo caption: Josh Linkner, ePrize founder, hopes a Michigan-based Internet company will be able to create the next Facebook or Groupon. (Steve Perez / The Detroit News)
