By Aoibhinn McBride — venturebeat.com — From rising inflation to mass layoffs in the tech industry to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, economic doom and gloom has dominated the headlines in 2023. The threat of recession has also been lingering in the air but new data by Goldman Sachs Group has found that the chance of recession has fallen from 20% to 15%. This is down to two major factors: inflation has cooled from the record-breaking 9.1% we witnessed in June 2022 and currently sits at 3.7%. Secondly, the labor market remains in good shape, despite the aforementioned layoffs. As a consequence, disposable income is on the up and is predicted to accelerate in 2024. So what does that mean in terms of finding a new job? Should you stay put and wait to see what unfolds in the new year or get ahead of the curve now and start looking for opportunities before the holiday season slowdown? Here’s how to work it out.

Career credit check

For starters, it’s a good idea to identify if you really need or want to move jobs and if moving jobs will put you in a better position financially. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data’s July 2023 Survey of Consumer Expectations, salaries have increased by nearly $10,000 on average compared to July 2022. The report identified that in July, the average salary for a full-time job was $69,475 compared to $60,764 a year before. And for those switching jobs, the lowest amount workers were prepared to move for was almost $6,000 higher than what was deemed acceptable a year previously — meaning job seekers are in a prime position to ask for, and get, more money.

Professional gains

Next, look at what a new job will grant you in terms of professional development. If a better job title seems out of reach in your current role or you feel like you’re stagnating and not learning new skills, switching jobs should be a priority. Similarly, if your current employer isn’t offering learning and development opportunities, on site or through a third-party provider, moving jobs to a company that prioritizes L&D and has incorporated it into its benefits package is something to consider. And if you do find yourself on the job hunt, the VentureBeat Job Board is the ideal place to start your search. It features thousands of tech jobs across the U.S. including the three below.

Cyber Analyst Training Developer, Booz Allen Hamilton, Pensacola

As a Cyber Analyst Training Developer, you’ll be passionate about developing differentiated instruction and delivering it in exciting ways. You know that learning styles vary, and you thrive in helping people grasp new information. As such, you’ll provide in-person instruction for a Navy client through curriculum maintenance and development. You’ll showcase your technical expertise and industry knowledge and collaborate to devise creative solutions for mission-critical problems. View additional details here.

AI Expert – Large Language Models (LLM) and Generative AI, The MITRE Corporation, McLean

MITRE’s Human Language Technology (HLT) department works across the full range of U.S. Government agencies to provide language processing solutions to address complex mission needs. It is seeking an AI Expert to research, develop, and implement state-of-the-art techniques in the field of large language models (LLM) and generative AI. In this role you will collaborate with cross-functional teams to design and execute projects that leverage LLMs for various applications, such as text generation, summarization and translation. You will also need to stay up-to-date with the latest advancements in AI, machine learning, and generative models, and apply this knowledge to enhance existing models and methodologies. See the full job description here.

Enterprise Model-Based System Engineer Architect, ENSCO, Inc., El Segundo

ENSCO is seeking an innovative, creative, and highly motivated System Engineer Architect to support the U.S. Space Force, Space Systems Command’s MILSATCOM Program through the MILSATCOM Systems Engineering, Integration and Test (MSEIT) contract. As such, you will lead working groups to develop MILSATCOM architectures and supporting documentation, capture stakeholder needs in models, develop and extend system models using existing requirements, interface documentation, and related design and systems engineering documents and work collaboratively in a digital engineering environment, integrating data from across systems engineering disciplines into a cohesive system model.