Technology giants with a market value of more than $100 million, including Google Inc., Apple Inc. and Amazon.com increased their work forces by at least 50 percent over the past two years, according to Bloomberg Inc. data.

According to the data, some small and mid-size businesses boosted payrolls by almost fivefold, underscoring the resilient demand for internet services, software and electronics.

Rohit Dhingra who was recently hired by a Silicon Valley company that produces computer gear said “A few years back, it just would have been a slam dunk that you want to do investment banking.” Dhingra who went to Columbia Business School in New York in the hopes of being hired by in a consulting job said, “The future of financial services does not seem as bright.”

Dhingra joins thousands of workers who switched to technology careers during the economic slump. While unemployment dropped in other sectors, technology companies continued to expand their workforce by at least 10 percent. That was more than any other industry group measured by Bloomberg.

Silicon Graphics International Inc., headquartered in Fremont, CA, increased its employment by 372 percent to 1,500.

Riverbed Technology Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, CA, increased its employment by 208 percent and Cupertino-based Apple Inc., which started with a larger employee base, grew 76 percent. That amounted to 26,100 new jobs.

Riverbed uses a team of 20 people who scour the country for new hires.

“We operate it like a search firm,” said Mike Guerchon, senior vice president of employee services at the San Francisco based network-equipment company. “It’s a tough battlefield for talent all the time.”

Technology hiring will not slow down any time soon. Amazon and Facebook Inc. each plan to add thousands of jobs in 2012. Tibco Software Inc., headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, is recruiting for their next decade of growth is also stepping up their hiring.

“We are hiring quite rapidly now, all in sales and service,” Tibco Chief Executive Officer Vivek Ranadive said recently at the World Economic Forum’s annual conference in Davos, Switzerland. “It’s a good time to hire.”

Intel Corp. (INTC), the world’s largest chipmaker, increased its employment by almost 18,000 people in 2011. The hiring was driven by acquisitions and hiring in research and manufacturing.

High-tech giant Dell says it is looking to add more workers to its Santa Clara, CA location. The Company plans to add a second building to its current infrastructure to add an additional 600 jobs.

The company says it hopes to grow its Santa Clara location to employ 1,500 workers.

Hiring in the tech industry is gaining momentum and does not appear to be slowing down despite concerns of a second bubble.

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Article source: http://thejobmouse.com/2012/02/06/tech-hiring-in-san-francisco-bay-area-continues-to-gain-momentum/

I’ve recently learned that real estate brokers in San Francisco have reached a consensus on a topic that entrepreneurs and investors can’t seem to agree on: that we are in the midst of a technology bubble.

Technologists have been debating the existence of such a bubble for over a year now, but they just can’t seem to agree. Some argue that companies like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, are overvalued with multi-billion dollar valuations. Others say that technology companies are actually undervalued.

Real estate brokers in San Francisco have seen the evidence of a new dot-com style bubble: Rents are shooting up as the demand for apartments grows. As a newcomer to San Francisco, I can attest to how frantic the search for apartments has become in the area, and to the often audacious pricing of rental properties.

An article published on Thursday in The San Francisco Examiner notes that Bay Area renters are now seeing rent hikes that are eerily similar to those during the dot-com bubble that occurred a little more than a decade ago. RealFacts, a real estate analysis firm, told the Examiner that a new wave of San Francisco residents who work for technology giants and start-ups seemed to be responsible for the rise in apartment rental costs.

“I think a lot of new dot-com employees, specifically those who work for companies like Apple, Google and Twitter, are now moving into the city and can afford to pay much higher rents,” said Sally Kuchar, editor of the real estate blog Curbed San Francisco, told me in a phone interview. ”As a result, San Francisco rental rates have risen by 6 percent between 2010 and 2011.”

As a very recent transplant to San Francisco, I’ve visited dozens of open houses over the past week and already see a frightful pattern. When I show up to see a property there is always a long line of young people, mostly wearing t-shirts adorned with Twitter, Facebook or Google logos, who are standing at the ready with an application, credit report and deposit check in hand. They often bid up the price of an apartment by several hundred dollars too.

Real estate brokers I’ve spoken with note that although the San Francisco market has always been challenging for renters, the current state of affairs is extraordinary.

Ms. Kuchar of Curbed said rents were also rising because more landlords were choosing to turn their properties into short-term rentals using services like AirBnB, a company that lets people rent out their spare bedrooms or homes to travelers.

“A lot of residential property owners are now converting their long-term rentals into vacation rentals; that has also depleted the market,” Ms. Kuchar said. She also said that though high real estate prices make it clear there is a new bubble in Silicon Valley, no one can really predict how long it will take before it pops.

Article source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/05/tech-and-the-san-francisco-rental-bubble/