Leading the pack are social networking sites, which comes as little surprise. With the boom in social media usage and the resulting shift in marketing trends, companies like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter have to step up and expand. LinkedIn doubled its workforce to 1,000 in 2010 alone, and is expected to continue hiring this year. Google has also started hiring in several offices across North America.

The demand is so high that there’s room for fresh graduates, especially in medium-sized companies. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner says at the rate the company is growing, they have to keep an eye open for top new talent. And the competition is fierce—a typical graduate can receive a dozen offers from blue-chip companies in one week.

According to Russell Hancock of the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, people with niche skills are among the most likely to be hired. It is better to be an expert in a few nice areas than to be a jack of all trades, master of none, as is the case in other emerging industries.

To be sure, the Valley hasn’t completely recovered from the recession. Its unemployment rate last month remains higher than the national average at 10.6%, compared to just 8.8%. But according Dion Lim, president of job search engine SimplyHired.com, Silicon Valley has always had the distinct ability to “invent itself out of recession.”

Software engineers are particularly in demand, SimplyHired’s data shows. Of the 130,000 openings in Silicon Valley, about 40% are for such positions. Lim says that this is because of innovations in computing, such as social media, mobile internet, and cloud computing (the process of storing, managing, and processing data in online networks, or “the cloud.”) Experts in the PHP, Java, Ruby and Python programming languages are also well desired.

Facebook and Twitter may not be the biggest hirers, but they are definitely spurring the demand in companies that depend on them. SimplyHired stats show that in the past year and a half, the number of jobs whose descriptions included “Facebook” rose 245%, while “Twitter”-related openings went up 421%.

The growth has sparked concerns of a second dotcom bubble, similar to the one that burst in 2000. However, experts hope that this time around, the new jobs will create a positive wave of even more jobs for the less skilled, helping to lift other industries out of the recession’s grip.

If you are new to this world of programming, following are the most important and popular programming degrees that you should pay attention to.

• Associate Degree in Computer Programming

This is the kind of program that will help you to test the waters in this field and enable you to procure the knowledge required to get an entry level position. This degree will let your foot in the door so to say. It will allow you to garner the requisite knowledge in a short time and will be the first step towards catapulting you into the arena of programming. The next stage after this will be the Bachelor’s Degree.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Programming or the Bachelor of Science:

This degree will enable you to major in Computer Programming and help you carve a niche for yourself in the computer related jobs field. This is the degree that will help you learn all about analysis, design, testing and implementation of the skills learned. This is of course beyond the basic programming skills.

• Masters or a Post Graduate degree to major in one of the fields such as Software Engineering, Information Technology, computer engineer and unique and interesting options like Computer Graphics and Computer Forensics.

These programs can be found at most community colleges, technology career schools and online schools. There are a growing number of online learning options

Diploma programs typically last from 13 to 60 weeks where as degree programs in Programming will take you 80 to 90 weeks to complete. For instance if you were to opt for a Computer Programming Degree from the Lane Community College it will cost you $8,220 per year for a two years program. The mode of study is full time and the entry requirements are having passed high school and an acceptable TOEFL score. The other colleges offering this degree are Wood Tobe Coburn, Vatterott, Thompson Institue Philadelphia,, Technology Education College of Columbus, Pittsburgh technical Institute in Pittsburgh.

These courses are in great demand for obvious reasons. So, take some time, do your research and find the right programming degree for yourself.