Top 10 High Demand Jobs in Maryland Suburbs - Gaithersburg and Astronomy History

Travel and Tourism comprise a large share of the local economy in the Greater Washington DC Area, but other industries also contribute. The Washington DC/Maryland/Virginia Metro Area maintains a healthy local economy via the industries of Government, IT, Technologies, Aerospace, Defense, Healthcare, and others. Many of Maryland's Montgomery County's newest jobs are high-paying, high technology jobs and unemployment countywide has been lower than the natonal average.

Rockville and Gaithersburg are growing Maryland suburbs of Washington DC that have been awarded the distinction of Best Places to Live in America, on a yearly Top 100 list.

While Rockville MD was built around a famous tavern, nearby Gaithersburg was built around a legendary tree. Today, Gaithersburg is the 25th Best Place to Live in America, according to Money Magazine online.

A settler named Ben Gaither the house in 1802 where a famous oak tree stood. The oak tree is a forgotten symbol of the United States and several of these trees, such as the Charter Oak in the east have been central to history and love of country. Gaithersburg’s was the Forest Oak, which lived for 300 years until 1997. Gaithersburg incorporated after the Civil War, in 1878, with the Forest Oak standing by since the 1600s, watching civilizations, developments, wars, and famous historical figures pass by.

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (The B & O) arrived as it did to Rockville in late 1800s. The B & O transported a seasonal community to Gaithersburg each summer from Washington, DC as the concept of vacations expanded after the bloodshed of the Civil War and the rise of Reconstruction and business overall, aided by the rail lines. The B & O stations in Rockville and Gaithersburg are both National Historic Landmarks. The Gaithersburg B & O Station is a museum that is the centerpiece of the Olde Town Gaithersburg District, with a Freight House, a History Park, a gift shop, and separate permanent and traveling displays of railroad cars and engines. An annual Celebrate Gaithersburg in Olde Towne Street Festival is held not far form this complex and includes several square blocks of music, concessions, demonstrations, entertainment, and family activities.

The Gaithersburg City Hall today resembles a large house, because it is a house. Once the home of Edward P. Schwartz, it stood among a well-known peony garden that grew over 400 varieties of peonies from around the world on a few acres of land before WWI. It was the major tourist attraction besides the Forest Oak. President Woodrow Wilson once visited to admire the expanse of flowers. The home was refurbished into city offices in the middle of the 20th Century.

In mid-1961, the National Bureau of Standards (National Institute of Standards and Technology) began construction of its first Gaithersburg building. It can be seen in the photograph above. This building drew an unexpected level of growth to the community. Today, the complex houses standards for scientific research, including a standard meter, and a standard kilogram as foundation gold-standard measurements. Because of this, Gaithersburg is sometimes called the "Science Capital of the United States." Scientific firms followed the agency to Gaithersburg to do business in the early 1960s. This city is now a major high-tech region in the 2010s. Although agricultural phased out, several working farms and historic communities preserve the culture and traditions of Colonial, Civil War, and Victorian Era Maryland. Additional measurement standards are connected also with the Gaithersburg Latitude Observatory (GLO), discussed below.

A historic document produced in Gaithersburg MD and Washington DC is the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey (USCGS) Superintendent's Report for 1898-99. Well over 100 years old, it is still relevant.

The document shows a written agreement among members of the International Geodetic Association in the industrializing 19^th Century to construct a northern six observatories in a circle from which to measure the variations in latitude resulting from a tilt and wobble (caused by planetary shape) of the Earth's north-south axis.

This historic agreement created a program lasting originally 15 years from 1899 – 1914 and named the International Polar Motion Service. The six cooperating observatories were built and opened in 1899, each as near as possible to the latitude 39’ 08” (39 degrees 08 minutes) North Latitude. They took the following locations, moving east to west:

• Gaithersburg, Maryland; a suburb of US national capital Washington DC
• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Ukiah, California
• Mizusawa, Japan
• Charjui, Russian Turkestan
• Carloforte, Sardinia, Italy

Lack of funds closed the Cincinnati and Gaithersburg stations in 1915, but Gaithersburg reopened in 1932. Charjui was cut off in World War I, but the telescope continued to record information until 1919. After WWI, the USSR built a replacement for it in Samarkand and continued measurements from there. Five stations recorded information from 1899 until 1914 or 1982, when computer technology subsumed the functions of the observatories.

The Japanese station led a project of star study among the original 6 stations under the astronomer, Dr. Kimura. Twelve groups of 6 pairs of stars, 144 total, were included. Two groups of stars per night were observed at each observatory station within a specific schedule of dates, times, and durations coordinated by Japan. The irregular daily motion of the Earth's axis was previously thought to be miniscule and related latitude variations were recorded to 1914.

The telescope data delivered by the original 6 observatories is a massive database and still useful to 21^st Century scientists. The historic measurements help to determine polar motion and the size, shape, and other physical properties of the Earth. They help to forecast climate changes, impending climactic disasters, and smaller earthquakes and similar events. The data also help International space programs execute precise navigational patterns required for various orbiting satellites. The combined telescopes’ information database is relevant and useful, beginning from the 19^th Century. It has been used to determine that the wobble in the Earth’s north-south axis causes it to draw its own large circle once every 26,000 years. In addition, the Pole Star changes because of this wobble and other factors. While the North Star is Polaris now, it will be Vega in constellation Lyra in the year 15,010 AD.

Preserving their Historic National Landmark, the City of Gaithersburg is restoring and maintaining Gaithersburg Latitude Observatory (GLO) as a Science Education Center on the site of the nearby caretaker's house. The students of Gaithersburg’s schools can enjoy both the observatory and related hands-on scientific exploration at a site that is astronomically important, nearby our nation’s capital, and fascinating as part of the early history of the US Space Program.

As in Rockville, the arts, music, and literature have found considerable support in Gaithersburg. Annually, Gaithersburg hosts and/or maintains the following facilities and events:

• Art in Public Places
• Arts Barn
• Backyard Concerts and Movies
• Bark in the Park Canine Festival
• City-Sponsored Farmers Markets and Indoor Flea Markets
• Gaithersburg Book Festival
• Celebrate Gaithersburg in Olde Towne Street Festival - in conjunction with Gaithersburg Community Museum in the B & O Station
• Independence Day Celebration Festivasl
• Morning Concerts for Kids and other concerts at City Hall Pavilion
• Oktoberfest at the Historic Kentlands Mansion
• Parades: Labor Day, St. Patrick's Day Parade, 4th of July
• Winter Lights Festival
• Young Artist Award

The two employment trending graphs display show increases in job listings form January to August 2010, approximately 20% for Rockville and 30% for Gaithersburg. October '10 job listings about 200,000 or more vacancies available for either city, a larger number than for many other American metro areas.

Even though situated closer to DC, Rockville has immediate access to approximately 11,000 additional jobs than does Gaithersburg, since it is closer to DC. Gaithersburg (the #25 Best Place to Live)  is located nearer other fast-growing suburbs that are creating additional new jobs in the 2010s. A large proportion of the job openings for Gaithersburg and Rockville are located in DC and Arlington, Herndon, McLean, Reston, and particularly for Gaithersburg - Alexandria VA.

1. Staffing Agencies
2. General Dynamics IT
3. Booz Allen Hamilton.
4. Inova Health System
5. BAE Systems
6. ManTech International
7. SAIC
8. CSC
9. Northrop Grumman
10. CACI
11. Federal Govt/USAJOBS
12. CyberCoders, Inc.
13. IBM
14. Critical Connection - Health

Federal Employment Projections to 2018

The jobs forecast for the Rockville-Gaitherburg's area include these expected increase throughout the decade 2008 - 2018:

1. Registered Nurses (RNs) - Current high demand job.
2. Waitstaff: Waiters and Waitresses
3. Personal Care and Service Workers
4. Nursing/Psychiatric/Home Health Aides
5. Financial Clerks
6. Computer Systems Analysts - Current high demand job.
7. Computer Software Engineers - Current high demand job.
8. Carpenters
9. Office and Administrative Support
10. Customer Service Representatives
11. Construction Managers
12. Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts - Current high demand job.
13. Health Technologists and Technicians
14. Accountants and Auditors
15. Sales Representatives for Services

• Aesthetics Institute of Cosmetology in Gaithersburg
• Columbia Union College
• Johns Hopkins University
• Lacademie De Cuisine in Gaithersburg MD
• Long and Foster Institute of Real Estate
• Montgomery College Rockville Campus
• Strayer University
• University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute Center of Marine Studies
• University of Phoenix in Rockville
• Universities at Shady Grove