Upgrading Colorado?s technology workforce

Staff Writer In the late 1990s, the big headlines were that Colorado was suffering from a shortage of technology workers. Companies like U S West, now Qwest, had openings for 10,000 workers if only they could find them.

What a difference a few years makes. With today’s unemployment rate approaching 6 percent, a net loss in Colorado of some 25,000 technology jobs during 2002, and new layoffs announced every day, the job outlook for technology workers looks bleak.

So why are policy-makers like John Hansen and Terry Huffine smiling?

Both are appointees in the Governor’s Office of Innovation and Technology (OIT). Hansen is the newly appointed chief technology officer for Colorado, and former president of the Colorado Institute of Technology (CIT). Huffine is president of the Colorado Technology Alliance (CTA) and has been deputy director of OIT under outgoing secretary of technology Marc Holtzman. Each continues to have a guiding hand in government-sponsored initiatives designed to increase and upgrade Colorado’s technology workforce.

Neither sees the current technology-job shortage as a deterrent to technology workforce development.

In February 1999 U S West said there were 7,000 unfilled technology jobs in the state and anticipated the number to grow to 30,000 during the next decade. According to Huffine, the estimates haven’t changed. ?Colorado still will need 100,000 new technology workers in the next five to 10 years,? he said. ?It’s our job to think further ahead than the current climate so Colorado can meet the needs of our future technology work economy.?

OIT continues to fund and work on initiatives related to growing the technology worker population:

* New Schools Development Corp. NSDC is a nonprofit that develops small, technology-rich ?High Tech High Schools.? Its first charter school, the Denver School of Science and Technology, will be located at Stapleton. The schools will focus on increasing the number of under-represented students — girls and low-income children — who succeed in math and the sciences.

* Colorado Institute of Technology. CIT’s mission is to develop the state’s future technology workforce by facilitating collaboration between the business community and higher education institutions to make sure people are trained in skills relevant to industry needs.

Huffine believes the technology climate in Colorado is poised for a rebound. He said Colorado is in a better position than other states because its technology is very young. ?We didn’t suffer from the dot-com fallout because we came in after the curve,? he said.

He’s optimistic about biotechnology opportunities. The Fitzsimons Bioscience Park Aurora, an incubator for emerging biotechnology, drug development and medical-device companies, is a launching pad to ?move Colorado into the top tier of biotech states,? he said.

Huffine also said Colorado is among the top states for the photonics industry, and there is a very strong venture capital community. ?All those things put Colorado in a great spot, poised well for future growth,? he said.

Like Huffine, Hansen is positive about Colorado’s technology economy. ?The technology sector will come back,? he said. ?Technology is ingrained in our everyday lives now. There’s new and exciting technology that is coming out that will continue this innovative cycle. More and more industry sectors are going to require technology skills for their workers.?

Part of Hansen’s strategy for growing Colorado’s technology economy is wooing California companies to relocate here. The business-tax increases in that state are decreasing its economic growth, Hansen said, since California-based companies are competing with companies all over the country that are paying less in taxes. ?With (California) business bearing the brunt of solving the budget crisis, there are numerous opportunities (in Colorado),? he said. ?We are aggressively marketing to California companies.?

Although recently tapped as the state’s chief technology officer, Hansen remains chairman of CIT, and believes the institute is more important than ever. CIT will be starting high school to college transition programs, ?to keep people focused on why it’s a good career move now,? he said.

?I am really nervous that the number of students in school interested in math and science is decreasing. Most programs in technology in colleges are decreasing. People are looking at their careers and saying, ?The technology sector is down, so why would I invest four years.’?

To these pessimists Hansen said, ?Use this moment in time to refresh your skills and update your degrees so that when the economy comes roaring back you’ll have the skills and education to be a leader.?

Chuck McCoy, president of Longmont-based contract employment service bureau Highland Management Inc., isn’t as cheerful as Hansen and Huffine, but he does see relief in sight for displaced technology workers. His organization is still finding jobs for people, and he’s able to place more people today than a year ago. He also said job seekers are willing to compromise.

?People are definitely willing to say, ?OK I made six figures as an engineer, but I understand that the market has changed, and I’m willing to take a pretty significant pay cut to get back to work,’? he said. Many are taking entry-level jobs like call center and technical support.

McCoy is optimistic for 2003. ?I’m still a technology believer,? he said. ?I think there are a lot of long-term advantages that the information technology industry has. In the long haul there will be growth, and there will be high-paying jobs.?

Hansen hopes his, Huffine’s and McCoy’s optimism is contagious. He’d like employers to begin to think ahead to what he sees as another technology boom and to not be caught short-staffed again. ?The time to build your workforce for the future is now,? he said, ?not when you’re in the middle of the shortage.?Contact Caron Schwartz Ellis at (303) 440-4950 or e-mail csellis@bcbr.com.

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