High-skill local tech jobs abound

Despite the listless economy, the state's innovation sector has continued to grow and has created increasing demand for a variety of highly skilled workers, representatives of Phoenix-area tech companies and organizations say.

The shortage of highly skilled workers in all areas of information research has reached a nearly-crisis level and has forced companies to seek out foreign nationals educated inside the U.S., says Steve Zylstra, president and CEO of the Arizona Innovation Council.

Lane Jarvis, vice president of human resources at Scottsdale-based Internet domain-name registrar and Web hosting firm Go Daddy, says her company currently has openings for more than 50 positions locally, most of them in the area of software development for cloud-computing applications.

Jarvis says Go Daddy as well needs experienced workers in software testing, support services and information-innovation security.

The Arizona Innovation Council Foundation

The Arizona Innovation Council Foundation, Arizona State University and several other entities in Arizona plan to host a six-week festival beginning in February to promote research education and workforce development within the state.

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