While the recession eliminated jobs at larger companies, particularly among defense contractors and computer manufacturers, computer scientists found work and, often, better pay at small software firms developing and marketing their first products, according to the council.
"This continues to be a very successful and growing industry," says Robert Keefe, a partner in the Boston office of Coopers & Lybrand, an accounting and consulting firm that helped compile the survey. Responses to the survey were received from 361 companies.
Respondents were based in cities across the United States. The survey divided those polled into four regions--East Coast, Midwest, Southwest, and Northwest--plus two states with their own separate categories--Massachusetts and California.
While the firms polled included software giant Lotus Development Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., most of the companies polled were small--84 percent reported that they employ fewer than 100 people, and 83 percent said they generated less than $10 million in ...
