More well-known as The O.C., Orange County is one of the most populous counties in the country (it is the third largest in California, the sixth largest in the nation, and it would be the 30th most populous state were it a state). This, along with its ideal location on the scenic southern California coast, makes it one of the most attractive places in the nation to live and work. Home to Anaheim, Santa Ana, and Irvine, Orange County has a bustling economy defined by its beautiful vistas, prime real estate, and partnerships with neighboring Los Angeles County. If you are looking to find tech work, there are few places better than a large, thriving economic hub like The O.C.
Home to Disneyland (the second most visited theme park in the world) and Knott’s Berry Farm, Anaheim is among the hottest tourist destinations in the country for anyone interested in theme parks and associated attractions. If you are interested in working on the design or technical side of these attractions, Orange County is a great place to look for work, particularly if you have skills in mechanical or software engineering, since so many aspects of the process of navigating and interacting with the parks are now digital. It is important that systems and information infrastructure work well to avoid delays or other problems that cause congestion or other issues during the daily operation of the parks.
It should also be noted that with an average daily attendance of over 47,000 visitors (which is far from its peak during holidays, weekends, and other prime vacation times), Disneyland runs what is functionally a small city inside the city of Anaheim. This means that a great deal of attention is paid to the movement of every visitor, and systems and structures are designed with maximizing the experience (and the spending) in mind. Data scientists and analysts work to perfect the park experience and make everything from queuing for rides to getting food into an optimal system for park goers. If you are interested in logistical data and the movement of large groups of people, working in a theme park is a surprisingly complex way to follow this interest.
Plus, Anaheim isn’t just a city that happens to be around a major theme park. The Anaheim Convention Center hosts hundreds of thousands of visitors a year, and the scenic coastal views make it a destination for nature enthusiasts. This has created a whole variety of industries that emerge around the tourist trade, including a vibrant food culture, a massive hospitality industry, and major public works projects. All of these businesses and attractions need to hire financial and data analysts to keep their businesses running, and they need to hire marketing experts, since they are all competing against one another for the limited time and attention of the city’s tourists.
Some of the largest permanent employers in the county are insurance companies like Pacific Life and First American Corporation. These massive corporations rely heavily on the work of data specialists who can create the infrastructure that they need to administer policies and organize sensitive consumer data. In addition, these analysts need to understand how to assess risk and perform the complicated actuarial work that makes insurance operations possible. Professionals looking to find work in a complex, data-driven field will want to consider looking at some of these local insurance companies.
Many businesses, particularly international businesses centered in East Asia, house regional headquarters in Orange County. These include the likes of Mazda, Toshiba, Toyota, Samsung, and Kia, in the City of Irvine, Mitsubishi in the City of Cypress, Kawasaki Motors in Foothill Ranch, and Hyundai in the City of Fountain Valley. These businesses hire significant numbers of employees working in everything from tech and design processes (for example, most cars today are just very complex computers that happen to drive you places) to commercial and consumer data analysis, meaning there are jobs for mechanical and software engineers, analysts and scientists, and database administration specialists.
Closely associated with the tourist industry, Orange County has one of the largest and most robust commerce and retail economic sectors in the nation. It is home to the largest mall in California (and the third-largest in the nation) at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, and it is also the location of over 20 of the 100 largest malls in the country. This means that there are a ton of shopping opportunities for permanent residents and tourists alike, which will reward businesses who can set themselves apart from the competition by hiring skilled advertisers, financial managers, and business analysts to give them even a small edge.
If you are looking for a job in a design, tech, or data-related field, it is likely that there are opportunities for you in Orange County. Since it is a relatively affluent part of the country and it is part of the greater Los Angeles Metro, the cost of living will be higher compared to other parts of the state, but the jobs will tend to pay more as a result. Here are a few examples of job titles available in Orange County alongside their mean annual salaries:
Since it is part of the greater Los Angeles area, there is no shortage of high-profile schools and firms that offer tech training education in and around Orange County. Whether you are looking at a private training company like LAATC (Los Angeles Area Technical College) or a major university like UCLA, there is likely to be a wide range of different classes and opportunities available for anyone looking to learn skills like Excel, Python, data analytics, or graphic design.
If you are looking for a wider range of options, you may want to consider enrolling in an online training program. These courses, which are often offered as live online instruction courses, provide students with hands-on, practical, career-focused training that they can take advantage of without leaving their homes. These classes offer students the chance to learn practical career skills that they can start using almost immediately after completing the course, and they have all of the major benefits of in-person learning, including personalized feedback and the ability to work one-on-one with instructors.