WASHINGTON — There should be plenty of IT hiring in the Washington region next year, if companies can find the talent to fill the jobs.

Staffing firm Robert Half Technology, forecasts 73 percent of DC-area companies will expand their tech staffs in 2019.

And many of those jobs will be contractors.

“A lot of companies have the green light to start projects, and when they are working on a project basis, that is where you will see a company ramp up with contractors,” Matt Deneroff at Robert Half’s D.C. office told WTOP.

“It is for a very specific need over a specific duration of time and it allows them to be agile,” he said.

Nearly 60 percent of D.C. area company IT departments have budgets next year that include bringing in project-based professionals.

Many IT professionals in the Washington region actually prefer being an outside contractor.

“The contractors that I speak with really enjoy the flexibility it gives them. They get to own new skills from different contracts. It gives them a different environment to go into. They get to meet new people,” Deneroff said.

It is still difficult to fill technology jobs in Washington, with 80 percent of D.C.-area companies saying it remains challenging to find the right IT talent.

The top tech jobs to be filled in the Washington area in 2019 include cybersecurity, cloud security, cloud computing, cloud architecture and business intelligence.

The Robert Half Technology online survey included responses from more than 2,500 senior managers in 28 markets including Washington, D.C.