Tech hiring surged in the first quarter, as optimism for a swift economic recovery drove tech job postings up 28% nationwide, according to the Q1 2021 Tech Job Report from Dice, a DHI Group brand.

The strong quarter caps off four solid months of growth in tech job postings, presenting encouraging news for skilled technologists and a promising outlook for the tech hiring landscape.

“Tech hiring was at near record levels prior to the pandemic, and the data in our Q1 Tech Job Report shows that the demand for skilled technology talent is ramping up considerably. We saw open tech positions surpass 307,000 in March, and in the first quarter of this year, 60% of employers created more job postings than in Q1 2020,” said Art Zeile, CEO of Dice.

“The continuous surge in tech job postings, combined with the low tech unemployment rate, offers a positive growth outlook for technologist hiring and for the landscape as a whole for the remainder of 2021,” added Zeile.

Several established and emerging tech hubs saw significant growth in job postings in March (compared to February). Richmond, VA saw the most growth with a 68% month-over-month increase. In Georgia, Alpharetta (+36% between February and March 2021) and Atlanta (+26%) saw increases; the state has long positioned itself as the Silicon Valley of the South. In Texas, Austin (+29%) and Dallas (+20%) continued to drive the state’s hiring momentum, with both improving year-over-year hiring ranks by one place.

For the first quarter as a whole, California topped the list with 146,000 job postings, with the cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose showing the most hiring activity by job posting volume.

With the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines and federal stimulus spending, many businesses have begun longer-term planning centered around innovation and transformation. As a result, product managers saw a surge in job postings, improving by 16 spots to 15th place.