When you're thinking of moving to a new city, like Boston, Massachusetts, you need to have a clear idea of what sorts of jobs will be open and whether they suit someone with your training and abilities. You'd do your research on a graphic design firm in Toronto before moving there if you were an artist, so for those of you with training in computers and technology, here's some information about the high tech industry in Boston, just in case you're thinking of moving there.

Boston was once a powerhouse in the manufacturing industry, but unlike many cities in the rust belt area around the Great Lakes, the city didn't turn into a heap of rusty central heating boilers when most of the jobs in that industry started to migrate overseas. Instead, in the last twenty years technology has gradually risen to take its place. Technology is now one of the largest components in the city's economy, along with education, health care, government, and finance.

Though Boston itself has an ever growing number of technology jobs, it's actually the surrounding suburbs, where land is cheaper, that have the highest concentrations of technology and research companies. Cambridge, which is home to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Worcester are two of the largest. Therefore if you're thinking of moving to Boston to take a job developing high temperature insulation, you likely won't have to commute into downtown. You can live in the suburbs close by your place of employment.

Companies in Greater Boston focus on everything from calibration management software to artificial limbs, and much of the research that goes into developing new products happens at local universities, such as MIT and Harvard. Much of the focus these days is on biotechnology and defense technology, which weds the technology industry to two of Boston's other large moneymakers. Some items produced in Boston include specialized medical tools, navigational instruments, missile guidance systems, and computer software.

None of the top ten largest employers in the Boston area are in the technology industry, but there are a lot of companies there which could potentially have a job for you, so it's unlikely you'll end up working at a woodworking machinery supplier. Local companies include the Boston Scientific Corporation, Advanced Cell Technologies, Evergreen Solar, Avid Technology, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Akamai Technologies, Biocell Center, Carl Zeiss, IBM, Sun Microsystems, and Raytheon. Take a look at each company's profile to see if they would be a good fit for someone with your skills.