Tech jobs continue to grow despite pandemic

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville was recently named one of the top 5 markets in the U.S.. for growth in tech jobs according to Forrester Research.

Tanner Byers was working as a client service representative at a healthcare company taking phone calls, but he wanted a new career path.

He wanted something that would make him more money so he turned his attention to the University of North Florida's Coding bootcamp.

“They started with Javascript, which is a pure programing language. It’s very, like, logic-driven so we learned how to do just the basic stuff,” Byers said.

In a time where millions of people in the U.S. have lost their jobs because of the pandemic, UNF told me tech jobs are considered “recession-proof.”

“It’s needed in every industry, so it doesn’t matter if you’re talking about transportation or logistics, finance, healthcare, manufacturing, IT specialist, cybersecurity as well as coding are needed in all those industries,” Edythe Abdullah, the dean of the division of continuing education at UNF said.

The university said the number of IT jobs in Jacksonville is expected to grow by 10% in the next decade.

Right now, there are about 1,500 coding jobs available in Jacksonville today. When it comes to cybersecurity positions, there are about 3,200 open jobs.

UNF said these are high paying jobs too.

The starting salary for tech jobs in Jacksonville is 70,000 dollars. That’s about 25% above the average salary in the city.

Byers finished the program in 26 weeks and he just received a promotion from work to a business analyst position with the new skills he learned in the bootcamp.

“It’s 100% because of the bootcamp, like if I didn’t have the bootcamp, probably, eventually I’d get there but it wouldn’t have been so quick,” Byers said.

The bootcamp also gives students a chance to work with people already in the tech industry so they can network and find jobs once they graduate.

UNF is now accepting registration for its July coding bootcamp.

For more information on how to apply and the deadline, you can click here.

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