Competition for IT workers
Even the U.S. economy is still slowly recovered with high unemployment everywhere. There is a hiring frenzy going on among Information Technology (IT) companies in California. In the past twelve months, Google and Apple are competing fiercely with fast-growing companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for workers. Companies like Facebook, Twitter are eagerly recruiting recent graduates, offering them the thrill of creating something new when traditional companies like Apple and Google are willing to pay big salaries. While a hiring boom may seem a contradiction when so many people are unemployed but according to the local survey, most IT companies are still having difficulty finding people with the skills that they are looking for, especially in the area of mobile applications or cloud computing system management.
The hiring boom began in late 2009, and really picked up steam at the beginning of 2010. Today California posted its first year-over-year job increase in nearly two years. Overall, high tech job listings are up 38% nationally from last year but they have jumped 64% in Silicon Valley. Most companies are looking for Java programmers, network engineers, network security analysts, cloud computing specialists, virtualization programmers, user interface engineers, mobile technology specialists and Information System Service managers. The main reasons for the high demand has been the rise of so many new startup companies. As a result, there has been more software engineers starting their own companies, so that on a per-company basis there are fewer software engineers available. With the iPhone and Androids claimed to have a combine of over million applications, there are at least several thousand small companies develop applications for these mobile platforms. The demand is higher in the tablet platform such as iPads and other similar devices. Companies that are first on these markets already made several hundred million dollars last year. Since many of them are small, usually less than 50 people, some of their people already made their first million dollar. This situation adds fuel to the fire for more people want to start their own companies instead of working for the established ones.
Established companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple are exploring a number of alternatives to attract and retain their IT workers. They are offering perks ranging from extra vacation days, to bonuses, to gift cards, as a way of showing their workers how much they matter. However, according to several people, these perks are not always enough to keep their top people. According to the survey, nearly 27% of employees of these companies said they plan to leave within the year and the turnover rate among workers will continue to rise as the economy stabilizes. In addition to higher compensation, most IT workers are looking for more challenges that allow them to advance quicker. Many want a larger share of company's profits such as stock options. One software developer told the local newspaper: “I want to make a million dollars within a year, whether it is in bonuses or stock options. In this shortage, I have to take care of myself first because few years from now, there will be many people with similar skills as more people are enrolling in software area in university now. This is a golden opportunity for a few people who has the needed skills so I have to take advantage of it”. When asked about people who are unemployed, he shrugged: “Few years ago, people in Finance and stock market investing were making million dollars so now it is our time. Of course, the time has passed for people who are currently studying Finance and Investment. The rule of the game is being the first, not the last in this changing market”.
To solve this skilled workers shortage, IT companies are opening offices in other countries to take advantage of skilled workers there. Companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft, IBM are looking at western Europe with their good education system as their main destination. Smaller companies select outsourcing to India and China to get their works done despite the wages there has been increased fast. One executive said: “It is no longer the lower wages anymore, it is acquiring the needed skills to stay competitive. We must focus on developing software globally with team members live in many places since we cannot find enough workers in one place anymore”. According to the survey, global software development seems to be the new way to solve this critical shortage. The survey found that 42% of company already follow this concept with team members spread around the world in multiple locations and 67% are planning to do the same within this year.
According to the survey, many workers want to be loyal to company but their managers turned them down, laying them off when the economy sank. Today as the skilled worker shortage is critical, many employees refuse to return to companies that did not treat them well. Some want to start their own company to compete with their former companies. Since there are so many new technologies and opportunities, established companies could not move fast enough to catch up without skilled workers so the industry predicts that there will be a major “Shake-up” among software companies, some will grow larger but many will collapse as more newer startup companies are competing with them.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
