You get spammed by recruiters via email, LinkedIn, and even on Twitter, all of them with a job opportunity they want to talk to you about. Sometimes, the job is even *almost* relevant to your area of expertise. Most use words like “awesome,” “greatest,” “amazing”… and provide absolutely zero context for doing so.

Your company offers all sorts of work/life balance perks, and they’re planning to give raises to most (if not all) employees.

There are meetups and events catered to your interests, where technical ability and understanding (and craft beer) are prized.

If any of this sounds familiar, you probably live in the Seattle area, and you almost certainly work in tech. 2018 promises to be a great year for tech professionals, especially in this region—it’s no wonder that our recent survey found 73% of tech workers reported feeling “optimistic” or “very optimistic” about the job market, and 74% said they were “satisfied” or “highly satisfied” in their current role. Half of the survey participants said they weren’t planning to change jobs in 2018.

But what if you’re in the 50% of tech workers who are open to a job change?

The good news: You’re in high demand and a lot of opportunities will likely be coming your way.

The not-as-good news: People may say and do whatever it takes to hire you, but six months down the line not fulfill all of the promises made about company culture, perks, or work/life balance.

Now is the time to evaluate what is really important in your life—the things you want to retain as well as what you need to add. Although this is different for every individual, our research showed tech professionals have three top concerns when considering a new job:

• Career development/advancement (67%)
• Higher salary (60%)
• Commute/proximity (59%)

Ask yourself questions like:

• Do you want your next role to be one where you can advance within the company?
• How much of a salary increase do you need for your new job? Would that change if it was your dream job?
• Is it important to shorten your commute or have the flexibility to work from home occasionally?

Once you’ve determined which areas that important to you, make sure they’re actually important to the employers with whom you interview. Ask detailed questions, such as how many people on the team currently work from home one or more days per week. Try to find opportunities to speak to others who work there and get their feedback.

When you’re ready to negotiate the terms of your hiring, be prepared with data to back up your requests. This is where Glassdoor and tech market reports (like ours—pre-order a copy here) come in handy—they provide information from others within the company and your industry, proving what you want is common (and therefore reasonable to the eyes of the hiring manager). When it comes to discussing your salary, keep in mind that in many states, prospective employers aren’t allowed to ask for your current or previous compensation and some corporations like Amazon, Facebook and other tech companies are moving beyond that and will offer you what they believe you are worth. If you’ve reviewed data highlighting what others with your skills and experience make, you’ll be able to better make your case.

If researching, soul-searching, and negotiating your salary and benefits seems like more work than you have bandwidth for, you may want to consider working with a recruiter who specializes in tech. Great recruiters can act as a job search shortcut by asking you the right questions about what you need in your next role, pair you with an organization that can offer what you need, answer your questions honestly about culture, and help you negotiate the final compensation package.

This is a great year to work in tech, and it’s an even better year to be in Seattle tech and open to a new job—if you know what you’re looking for and how to get it.