http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/05/19/BU2630.DTL


NO SHORTAGE OF EXPERIENCE
Some seasoned technology workers say they've been unfairly passed over
by Silicon Valley companies looking to fill jobs
Carrie Kirby, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, May 19, 2000

When he got his degree in computer science from the University of
California at Santa Cruz in 1997, Don Harlor thought he could write
his own ticket in Silicon Valley's booming job market.

But after three years of sending out resumes, relentlessly networking,
attending job fairs and going through two to three interviews a month,
Harlor is working as a census taker to keep himself occupied.

Although he hasn't given up his dreams of landing a job in software
quality assurance, Harlor realizes that at 56, he's fighting an uphill
battle in an industry that puts a premium on younger workers.

That point was brought home recently when he walked into an Internet
startup for an interview. The young receptionist asked, ``Who are
you?'' as if he couldn't possibly be the young job applicant she was
expecting.


Age discrimination has always been acknowledged by many as a part of
Silicon Valley's culture. Just last week, a 55-year-old former
manager sued Oracle for age discrimination after he lost his job in
February.


Now, Harlor and other older techies face further frustration: As they
struggle to find work, the very industry that keeps rejecting them is
lobbying Congress to vastly increase the number of foreign
professionals who can work in the United States using H-1B visas each
year.

With support from the president and both political parties,
legislation that would double, or remove limitations on, the number of
such workers is virtually assured to pass this year.

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would
allow U.S. companies to hire an unlimited number of highly skilled
foreign workers.

The effort to raise the quota rests on the belief that practically all
of America's high-tech workers are already employed and companies must
turn to overseas workers to fill open positions.

But groups representing computer workers like Harlor dispute that
belief. In August, John Miano, chairman of the American Programmers
Guild, testified before Congress that the often-quoted studies
``proving'' the shortage of tech workers are false reports, bankrolled
by a greedy IT industry interested in exploiting cheap foreign labor.

There is some substance to their contentions. Some surveys reporting
talent shortages are funded by the high-tech industry. For example,
the Information Technology Association of America released a survey in
March saying that the IT industry would create 1.6 million jobs in the
next year, and half would go unfilled. The survey was sponsored by
Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle and other tech companies.

Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported that Senate
Republicans had been pressuring computer companies to donate
generously to an outside group supporting Michigan Sen. Spencer
Abraham and his bill to raise the yearly H-1B quota to 195,000.

University of California at Davis computer science Professor Norman
Matloff is perhaps the most vocal critic of raising the H-1B cap. He
argues that tech companies could not possibly be desperate for new
talent, because most accept a tiny fraction of their job applicants.

Even large tech companies acknowledge that they are highly selective
in their hiring. ``We receive 20,000 resumes a month; we hire a
thousand,'' Cisco Chief Executive Officer John Chambers said in a
recent speech.

In a nutshell, companies say the problem is that most applicants don't
have experience in the exact skills they need at the time. Fine, say
Matloff and other tech workers' advocates, then the companies should
hire smart workers and let them learn on the job. Matloff claims
companies are not willing to train workers on the job. The companies
are in too much of a hurry to make use of the talent that's available
to them, said Bill Payson, the head of SeniorTechs, an employment
firm.

``There's a shortage of ready- made techies,'' he said. ``What they
really want is somebody who's been doing exactly what they're looking
for as recently as yesterday, available tomorrow.''

Payson insists the real reason the tech companies are using the labor
shortage argument is to save money by hiring foreign nationals at
lower salaries.

Never mind that the law governing the H-1B visa program requires
employers to pay their H-1B workers the going rate. That rule is easy
to get around, and some employers just ignore it, Matloff said. The
legislation now in the House would require an H-1B worker to be paid
at least $40,000 -- hardly a competitive wage in Silicon Valley, where
computer workers routinely double that.

Silicon Valley headhunter Linda Tuerk said that in her experience,
employers are saving a lot of money by hiring H-1B workers, no matter
what the rules say.

``Companies are firing older, more-expensive workers -- people making
80 grand -- and they can turn right around and hire two people right
off the plane for 45 grand each,'' Tuerk said.

Payson has 12,000 reasons to believe that there's no huge talent
shortage in IT. That's the number of unemployed and under-employed,
experienced technology workers listed in the database of his
employment firm. Most are over 50, although Payson has been getting
more interest from professionals in their 40s who feel they are
already experiencing age discrimination.

``Our success rate is minimal. One out of 10 employers (who clients
visit) hire somebody,'' Payson said.

To some older techies, what hurts most is the feeling that Congress is
changing the rules for their industry alone. According to the
Immigration and Naturalization Service, 70 percent of H-1B visas go to
computer industry workers, 53 percent of whom are involved in creating
software.

At this point, it seems inevitable that Congress will pass some form
of legislation from the bills being considered and that the IT
industry will be hosting a larger pool of foreign professionals in the
next few years.

What is a 45-or-older programmer to do in the face of that heightened
competition?

Matloff contends that any amount of retraining doesn't help older
workers, because employers just don't want them. But Payson, whose
SeniorTechs business has a partnership with online course provider
SmartForce, disagrees.

``Older techies have tended not to keep up with their skills,'' Payson
said. ``The old-timers are going to have to get a lot more aggressive
in retraining and looking for jobs.''

With a powerful lobby and support from both political parties, high
tech is holding all the cards now. But Payson believes a political
change is on its way because ``more and more voters are over 50.''

For Harlor, however, political change may come too late. A former
field service engineer, he updated his skills by getting a degree in
computer science, and last year he received a certificate in software
quality assurance. He has even tried to get internships, just to get
his foot in the door. Nothing has worked.

When his census-taking job ends, he's not sure of his employment
future.

``My wife and I have been talking about retirement,'' he said. ``She
said since I've been in forced retirement, why not go ahead and just
say it is retirement.''

But even at 56, Harlor is thinking of looking for a different career
altogether.

``I definitely wasn't thinking about retiring until I was in my 70s,''
he said.

E-mail Carrie Kirby at ckirby@sfgate.com.