Older workers see discrimination despite shortages in computer trade


06/02/99 Page 1-D


By Diana Kunde / The Dallas Morning News


At age 42, Kenneth Berridge could see the future, and it wasn't pretty.


When his employer decided to close its Dallas office, Mr. Berridge
decided that - at his age in the information technology field - he'd be
better off independent.


"Quite frankly, I started looking at where I was going to end up if I
didn't do something on my own. I'd be in my 50s" looking for work, said
Mr. Berridge, a programmer who moved into sales management. "I looked
around at the number of guys I've seen that happen to."


He launched his Bedford-based technology marketing firm, Hunters
Marketing Group, in January.


Mr. Berridge's perception is commonplace in information technology - an
industry fraught with legends about young programmers pulling
all-nighters, fueled on Jolt cola. Even as trade groups such as the
Information Technology Association of America complain about labor
shortages, critics say the technology workplace is inhospitable to older
workers.


The issue flared up last summer during congressional debate about
raising immigration limits for skilled workers on temporary, or H1-B,
visas. Opponents accused the industry of trying to depress wages and
said older workers would be hit hardest. A compromise bill raised quotas
for three years and strengthened protections for American employees.


On Tuesday, Sen. Phil Gramm said he would introduce legislation to
address labor shortages on two fronts - by raising the immigration
limits and by removing wage restrictions that discourage Social Security
recipients from working.


Meanwhile, the debate about age bias persists.



Employers are "eliminating positions and filling those desks with
inexpensive young blood," said Gene Nelson, 47, an unemployed Dallas man
with a doctorate in biophysics who's become an activist on the issue.


Or talk to Plano technical writer E.B. "Buck" Buchanan. He had a
contract canceled in January, one day after a supervisor started
quizzing him about his age. "I'd worked there for a month, and up until
that day they'd been telling me what a great job I'd been doing." He's
70.


But not all older workers have had that experience, especially in a
booming economy. Ask Sandra Higgenbotham, 49, about age bias and she
says: "I've found the exact opposite, especially in the IT industry. It
matters not what your age is. It matters what your experience is." After
retooling in network technology three years ago, she earns "in the six
digits" as a program manager for Xerox.


In fact, the age issue is a complex one that brings up debates about how
well technical skills transfer from job to job, as well as the
availability of cheap labor and the difficulty of keeping up while
working in a fast-paced technical environment.


There is evidence that age makes it tougher to land a technical job. The
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers found that its
unemployed members must add three weeks to their job searches for each
year of age over 45. Forty-one percent of hiring managers surveyed by
Computerworld magazine this spring said they see age bias in the
information technology world.


Reliable, broad industry statistics are hard to come by, though - partly
because occupational categories for government data don't match newer
job titles. A workforce study published this month by the Computing
Research Association concluded that until government-mandated research
on older workers is finished, "all discussion. ... is likely to be
speculative."


The age issue often boils down to a hot-skills issue, said Andrew
Jackson, president of Bravo Technical, a Dallas provider of technical
talent.


"When someone comes to us and says they need someone with skills in Java
[a programming language used on the Internet], we go to our database,
and what we come up with is that people who have this experience are 25
to 35 years old," he said. "Does it happen? Yes. Is it intentional? No."


But Norman Matloff, a computer science professor at the University of
California-Davis, argues that programming skills, in particular, are
highly transferrable. A good programmer can be productive in a new
language within a month, said Mr. Matloff, who testified in Congress
against raising visa limits.


Some employers "have genuinely but mistakenly bought into the notion
that they must have someone with Java and so forth," he said. "They feel
that generic programmers are useless to them. They're wrong."


That's true for related languages, said Ivor Page, associate dean for
engineering and computer sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas.
But it takes longer to jump from proficiency in an older language such
as C to new languages such as Java and C++, which are structured
differently, he said.


Time and money to train can become barriers, whether for employer or worker.


Still, recruiters concede job descriptions can be overly specific.


"A lot of employers don't consider the opportunity cost of holding a
position vacant," said Ed Rankin, president of People Solutions, a Las
Colinas human resource firm.


Cathy Rodewald, senior vice president and chief information officer for
Amresco Inc., a Dallas-based real estate and financial services firm,
said she trains existing staff but wants a new employee ready to go.


If a valued employee shows interest in a posted job, "we'll try to
retool that employee. That's because they've already proved themselves,"
she said. "If I go out on the open market to try to find a person, I'm
probably going to require the exact skill set."


Even the older worker who keeps current can find himself at a
disadvantage in front of a young manager who's uneasy about the age gap,
said Paul Kostek, president of the electrical engineers association.


"You've got this disconnect taking place," he said, "with someone
thinking: 'Oh, my gosh, this person's like my dad. How will they fit
in?' "


Steve Martin, a 52-year-old former senior manager at Raytheon Systems
Co., counts himself lucky to have put his kids through college before
Raytheon announced that it would close its Lewisville plant. That gave
him the flexibility to accept less pay and security to retool.


Mr. Martin figured that he still had strong hands-on software and
hardware skills but that he would need to accept contract work to move
from defense to telecommunications. He got a three-month assignment from
Decision Consultants Inc. as a project manager at GTE Corp. just three
days after he left Raytheon.


The pay is comparable, but without his management bonus, he'll make
$15,000 less this year. It's "more than enough to live on," Mr. Martin
said. He compares career progress to the switchbacks on a mountain hike.
You may need to move laterally to eventually move up, he said.


In the end, it may be more productive to speak the language of skills
and shortages than to talk about age bias, said Bill Payson, 75, the
founder of an online database for older technical workers.


Senior Staff recently reached agreement with CBT Systems, a California
training firm, to offer brush-ups via the Web to the 15,000 workers in
its database. The worker polishes or adds skills on his or her own time
and dime, but client firms that hire from the talent pool reimburse
them.


Mr. Payson doesn't know yet whether the idea will fly, although one firm
is interested. Still, given a tight labor market and a smaller youth
population, he said, "Somewhere, sometime, something's got to move."


Working appears weekly. If there is a career issue you would like to see
addressed in this column, write Diana Kunde at The Dallas Morning News,
P.O. Box 655237, Dallas, Texas 75265; fax to (214) 977-8776; or send
e-mail to diKunde@aol.com.


_________


Older Workers in Information Technology graphic:


A 1998 survey of 335 unemployed electrical engineers
showed that older engineers stayed jobless longer:


Re-employed full time as an engineer - Average age 47.6 years
Employed as other than an engineer - Average age 49.5 years
Employed part time - Average age 51.4 years
Self - employed - Average age 53.8 years


Voluntarily unemployed - Average age 48.7 years
Involuntarily unemployed - Average age 54.2 years


Source: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
"An Analysis of Unemployment Trends Among IEEE U.S. Members,"
by Laura Langbein, Ph.D.
___________


Stumbling blocks graphic:


Hiring managers surveyed by Computerworld gave these main
reasons why older workers may be having trouble.


Which of the following is the biggest obstacle for older
IT workers seeking employment today?


Younger candidates are more current with today's technology - 33%
Younger candidates will work for less money - 32%
Companies are unwilling to retrain older workers - 13%
Age Discrimination - 9%
Don't know - 7%
Other responses, one mention each - 4%
No obstacle, or none 2%


Source: Computerworld December 1998 survey of 203 managers.
_____________


Picture caption: At age 42, Kenneth L. Berridge thought
he would be better off starting his own company when his
employer closed its Dallas office. The computer programmer
now runs a technology mareketing firm, Hunters Marketing Group.
_____________


Picture caption: Steve Martin, a 52 - year - old senior manager
at Raytheon Systems Co., decided to accept contract work and
move from defense to telecommunications when Raytheon's
Lewisville plant closed.


____________________________________________________


San Francisco Chronicle
Tuesday, May 18, 1999
High-Tech Workforce Gap in The Valley
Benny Evangelista, Chronicle Staff Writer
bennye@sfgate.com

_________________________________________________________________

A shortage of local high-tech employees costs Silicon Valley firms as
much as $4 billion per year in recruiting and lost productivity costs,
according to a study to be released today.

And the problem may get worse in the future because about two-thirds
of local middle and high school students seem uninterested in pursuing
high-tech careers, according to the report from the nonprofit Joint
Venture: Silicon Valley Network.

About 160,000 jobs -- one-third of the Silicon Valley high-tech
workforce -- are taken by workers recruited from outside the region or
who commute from long distances or simply go unfilled, the report
said.

This ``workforce gap'' could hinder the region's economic growth, the
group warned.

The gap costs Silicon Valley employers between $6,000 and $8,000 for
each vacant position, said Ben Smith, a principal with management
consulting firm A.T. Kearney, which prepared the report for free.

The loss includes the higher salaries needed to recruit workers in the
Bay Area compared to other regions and the constant turnover as
skilled workers hop from job to job, Smith said. The workforce gap
also costs tech industries by limiting their ability to grow, he said.

The workforce gap is projected to grow to 200,000 by 2010. ``For
Silicon Valley to remain the capital of high technology, we need to
produce qualified high-tech workers,'' said Ruben Barrales, Joint
Venture president and CEO. ``Our kids need to be better prepared to
take advantage of the opportunities here.''

Joint Venture is a regional public- private group based in San Jose
and co-chaired by Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive Lewis Platt and
San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales. The group tracks economic and lifestyle
trends in Silicon Valley, which it defines as the South Bay plus San
Mateo and Alameda counties.

The report found that only one- third of 1,160 students in grades
eight through 11 planned to pursue high-tech related majors in
college.

The findings echoed a similar study of college students last month.
Industry trade group the American Electronics Association found that
the number of high-tech degrees granted annually in the United States

--including engineering, math, physics and computer science -- is
declining.

Even in an area flooded with technology billboards and advertisements,
most of the students in the Joint Venture study were intimidated by
the belief that all computer jobs required extensive educations at
four-year universities.

The study found many students didn't know there were other well-
paying positions, such as network administrators, computer repairers
and administration, that were within their reach after two years of
college.

``These are by no means McDonald's workers,'' said Smith. ``They make
significant salaries.''

The study comes as critics like the Rev. Jesse Jackson say technology
firms are not doing enough to bridge a Digital Divide by recruiting
from local African American and Latino communities that are
underrepresented in Silicon Valley's workforce.

An unrelated study released last week by the ad hoc Coalition for Fair
Employment in the Silicon Valley found the percentage of African
American and Hispanic employees at 253 high-tech companies in the Bay
Area declined slightly from 1996 to 1997.

``The fact there aren't enough African Americans, Hispanics and Native
Americans in the pipeline is not a sufficient excuse for
discrimination,'' said coalition founder John Templeton.

And Dan Geiger, executive director of OpNet, a San Francisco nonprofit
that trains teens from low-income and minority communities for
multimedia and Internet careers, said educating a new generation is a
key to the future of the high-tech industry.

``I understand what they're (high- tech firms) saying, that they're
looking for very highly qualified Ph.D. and masters-level people, but
there are a lot of untapped resources and people here,'' Geiger said.
Get a printer-friendly version of this article

MORE BIZ | TECH

SF Gate Business
Bloomberg services, stocks, portfolios...

SF Gate Technology
It's a high-tech world -- we just plug you into it...
_________________________________________________________________

The force of 'Star Wars' merchandising.

High-tech workforce gap in the Valley.

Bill would make it harder to file for bankruptcy.

Investors starting to grow nervous.

Former Insignia exec settles SEC charges.
______________________________________________________________________

Get Quote:
___ symbol ___ name
__________
__ [LINK]
______________________________________________________________________


[LINK]
05/18/1999 - Study shows Silicon Valley companies lack trained workers
.

05/17/1999 - Study shows Silicon Valley companies lack trained workers
.

05/04/1998 - The Digital Divide.

>>more related articles...

Microsoft Northern California
Feedback

The Gate

©1999 San Francisco Chronicle Page D1
[Chronicle Sections] __

Portfolio | San Francisco Index | Silicon Valley Index |
Market Data

The Best Jobs in San Francisco The Best Jobs in San Francisco
[Choose an Industry:] ___




By The Associated Press
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- High tech companies in Silicon Valley can't find
enough qualified workers to fill job openings and it's hampering the
industry's growth, a study released Tuesday found.


That employee shortage is translating into a $3 billion loss for local high
tech companies, according to a study by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley
Network, a group of public organizations and private businesses working to
improve the economic vitality and quality of life in Silicon Valley, where
most of the top high tech businesses in the U.S. are headquartered.


``Our study confirms that the area's high tech industry is not growing as
fast as it could be because there simply are not enough skilled people to
fill the jobs,'' said Ruben Barrales, president of the group. ``If Silicon
Valley wants to remain the capital of high tech, we need to become the top
producer of qualified high tech workers.''


The report found that 160,000 high tech positions -- roughly one-third of
the high tech industry demand in Silicon Valley -- are filled by recruits
from outside the region, by long-distance commuters -- or they go unfilled.


Ben Smith, who conducted the study with the management consulting firm A.T.
Kearney , said the ``gap'' between demand and supply in the local high tech
work force means employers have to pay higher salaries, have to spend more
on recruiting, and lose money during long gaps without employees. Smith said
those costs amount to between $6,000 and $8,000 per employee, or an annual
total of $3 billion to $4 billion.


The study projects that the area workforce shortage will increase to 200,000
positions by the year 2010, driven in part by a lack of interest among area
high school students in high tech careers.


The report comes just one week after Immigration and Naturalization
Service's announcement that the U.S. is about to run out of available visas
for foreign workers with high-tech skills.


Joint Venture managers said their findings do not necessarily point to a
need for more visas. Instead, said Barrales, Joint Venture will be focusing
on improving training and education programs at local schools.