Tech leaders scramble for IT talent
Massachusetts and Boston CIOs say meeting demand for IT talent among their top priorities
By
Denise Dubie
,
Network World
, 03/06/2008
- Share/Email
- Tweet This
- Print
BOSTON -- Massachusetts tech leaders today are working to get ahead of the "quiet crisis" IT management will face in a few
years when scores of IT staff retire.
"We have more than 2,000 IT professionals in the Commonwealth, and 30% are going to retire within five years. The changing
workforce is dramatic, both in demographics and skill sets," said Anne Margulies, assistant secretary and CIO for the commonwealth
of Massachusetts. "The people we have, all have to be retrained. This is the quiet crisis in IT management," she added.
Margulies told attendees Thursday at research firm Input's State Executive Breakfast in Boston that, because of her previous work experience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and Harvard University, she also realizes the number of computer science graduates is dwindling. The imminent retirement of baby boomer IT workers and the loss of interest in IT for students has tech leaders at public and private organizations looking for talent now to
avoid being resource constrained in the future.
"Even at MIT, enrollment in computer science programs is steadily declining, due to outsourcing concerns and the dot-com bust.
We have fewer computer scientists in our schools, and the supply is going to be down when the demand will be way up in a few
years," she said.
Margulies included recruiting new IT talent among her top five priorities as Massachusetts' technology leader. The commonwealth has partnered with the University of
Massachusetts Boston to develop courses and internship programs to make sure existing government IT staff can be trained in
the latest skills, and to develop a pipeline of new talent graduating from the university into commonwealth positions.
Margulies said as part of its updated training program, the commonwealth has developed courses in project management, Java
development, and business analysis and design methodologies at the city school. And by partnering with the university on the
internship program, Massachusetts will hire 20 UMass Boston computer-science graduates this year.
"UMass Boston is eager to increase enrollment and create a pipeline of students coming out of UMass and into the commonwealth,"
she said.
Despite Massachusetts' and many other states' having to cut costs, Margulies reported that IT is an area in which commonwealth
leaders will increase investment. The IT Bond Bill currently before the Massachusetts legislature calls for a $450 million
budget for modernizing existing systems and investing in new technologies, as well as for another $78 million for a second
data center in Western Massachusetts to augment the current Chelsea location.
While it can get "pretty gloomy in staff meetings," Margulies says IT is one of the "few budget areas with increases."
Bill Oates, CIO of the city of Boston, also spoke at the Input event and reinforced Margulies' sentiment on the graying of IT and the
potential skills shortage his organization faces.
"We're facing the same situation as the state. We have a lot of retirements, and we need to find the right skill sets," Oates
said. "There are great IT roles within the city to fill, and I'm having enormous difficulty filling these roles."
Partner Content
Blue Stripe Software
www.bluestripe.com/
Improving Application Performance Troubleshooting
Diagnosing why an application is slow is hard, at times taking days or weeks to isolate and resolve. This paper explains the challenges involved using current management tools, provides a 'wish list' for application management and analysis, and explains the need for an application system-wide approach that monitors entire applications, not components.
Download Whitepaper
Virtual Vigilance: Managing Application Performance in Virtual Environments
This paper highlights the impact of virtualization on application performance. "Managing Application Performance in Virtual Environments" states: "Best-in-Class organizations are predominately taking actions around improving visibility across both physical and virtual systems, assessing the business impact of application performance and understanding interdependencies of applications in virtualized environments."
Download Whitepaper
Application Service Requests: The Missing Link for Pragmatic ITSM
Forrester Research analyst Glenn O'Donnell and BlueStripe co-founder Vic Nyman discuss a breakthrough approach to application problem management. Learn the new approach for ITSM problem management, which provides: Rapid isolation of application slow-downs to specific components for quick problem resolution, 24/7 monitoring for proactive notification of potential issues before end users are impacted and much more.
Register for Webcast
Comments (1)
H1b and L1 visas + Offshoring=low payBy Anonymous on March 6, 2008, 4:25 pmAll CS students should demand long term contracts with golden parachutes. They will need to pay off student loans in a six year (at best) career.
Reply | Read entire comment
View all comments