Top 10 Metro Markets for Tech Employment

The hiring game wasn't supposed to be this heated; sub-par job growth, modest economic expansion and wavering confidence should have given companies time to find talent. Slow and steady has never been tolerated in technology and the colliding forces of strong demand, talent shortages, and restless employees have sparked a frenzy that hiring managers and recruiters say will only get more intense this year.

This slideshow highlights the top 10 metro locations for tech employment, identified by Dice.com, based on the number of jobs posted as of March 1, 2011.

Click through for the top 10 metro markets for tech employment, as identified by Dice.com.

The New York/New Jersey comes in at number one with 8,714 jobs listed, an increase of 24% over the previous year.

Close behind, second place Washington D.C./Baltimore had 8,161 open positions posted, a 25 percent increase over last year.

With an increase of 41 percent, number three Silicon Valley had an impressive 5,034 positions listed.

In fourth place, Chicago was up 31 percent over 2010, with 3,275 jobs posted.

Los Angeles was close behind with 2,899 jobs listed, an increase of 20 percent over last year.

With an impressive increase of 53 percent, Atlanta showed great improvement with 2,694 open positions.

In seventh place, Boston was up 26 percent over last year with 2,679.

Dallas came in at number 8 with 2,494 jobs posted, an increase of 42 percent of 2010.

Seattle showed progress with a 47 percent increase in job listings over last year, for a total of 2,354 open positions.

Philadelphia rounds out the top 10 with 2,040 jobs listed, a 22 percent increase over 2010.