Virtualization: A Hot IT Job Market

James Maguire is one of my favorite Internet.com editors. He's always writing about something interesting and relevant on the Datamation site. This week he reports on a bright spot in a relatively flat IT job market: virtualization.

He spoke with Tom Silver, a senior VP at Dice:

He notes that there are currently about 1,500 virtualization-related jobs on Dice – still a small amount of the total 90,000 – yet this figure is a whopping 40 percent higher than six months ago. Most of these jobs call for VMware experience, yet as Microsoft launches its virtualization tool Hyper-V later this year, and Citrix’s virtualization offering gains market share, it’s likely that job demand will grow.

According to IDC, the virtualization market will grow to $11.7 billion in 2011, a figure that includes everything from hardware to consulting to training. Something to keep in mind as you pick up some Hyper-V skills.

By the way, James and Datamation team launched a new design of the Datamation site this week. Datamation began as a print product back in 1957. If Web sites were given names like "the Old Gray Lady," Datamation would certainly be deserving.