Strengthening economy bodes well for CS and SW engineering grads

“Government agencies and contractors are hiring” – Dona Gaynor, Florida Institute of Technology

“There are so few women and under-represented minorities in this workforce that companies are always looking for ways to get them in” – Caroline Simard, ABI

By Dan Margherita
Contributing Editor

'Hiring is back on the agenda,” announces Caroline Simard, VP of research and executive programs at the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (www.anitaborg.org). “A lot of high-tech companies have released their Q4 earnings and it is clear that things have improved significantly.”

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE, www.nace.org) forecasts that 2010 entry-level CS salaries will be $59,570, up more than 6 percent from $56,128 last year. This represents a reversal of 2009 numbers that were almost 1.5 percent lower than 2008.

Simard observes that economic sectors move at different rates; the high-tech sector went into the recession later and is emerging more quickly. She adds that the Bureau of Labor (www.bls.gov) projects that the hiring of CS engineers will increase 32 percent between 2008 and 2018.

“There are so few women and underrepresented minorities in this workforce,” she says, “that companies are always looking for ways to get them in, as interns, for example.”

Government agencies and contractors are hiring
“Diverse or not, there are lots of opportunities available to CS and SW engineers,” says Dona Gaynor, director of career services at the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT, Melbourne, FL).

She downplays the effect of outsourcing. “There’s still strong domestic growth in CS and SW engineering jobs.”

Students should start preparing for their job searches while still in school, advises Gaynor. Take advantage of networking opportunities, co-ops and internships, she says. “A high GPA makes a big difference as well.”

Gaynor notes that at FIT’s fall 2009 career fair, some employers were making offers to CS majors on the spot. Most were government agencies and contractors that require applicants to be U.S. citizens eligible for security clearance. “Government agencies like the National Security Administration, the State Department and Naval civilian agencies are hiring,” she says.

Some large employers skipped last year’s spring fair. But Gaynor says that several, like Microsoft and Citrix, are coming back in 2010.

Gaynor cautions that new grads can expect some competition from experienced engineers who have lost their jobs, but she believes this will apply to smaller, rather than larger companies. “Smaller companies that don’t have the time or the money to train someone will opt for an employee with prior experience,” she explains. “Larger companies have positions set aside for new grads. If they are at a college career fair, there’s a reason, and that reason is to hire recent graduates.”

John Campagnino, senior director of global recruiting for Accenture, sums up the recruitment process from a corporate perspective. “Throughout our recruiting efforts, our intention is to identify and attract the best and the brightest people and develop their skills and capabilities while providing a compelling and relevant employee experience,” he says.

“At the heart of our talent acquisition as well as our inclusion and diversity strategy is the belief that everyone brings distinct experiences, talents and knowledge that can add tremendous value to our clients.”

Khoa Le supports regulatory compliance at Highmark
“When I was nine years old, one of my neighbors had a personal computer,” says Khoa Le. “I had never seen one in my life.” His parents had no money to buy such a thing, but told him that if he went to the United States, went to school and got a good job, he could have one of his own.

Until 1995, Le lived in Saigon, Vietnam. His father was a former military officer. At the end of the Vietnam War, the new government sent former military people to re-education camps that Le refers to as concentration camps. Eventually, his father was released and the family was permitted to leave the country.

A Lutheran church group sponsored them, and they moved to central Pennsylvania. Le earned his 2007 BS in information sciences and technology with a minor in business admin at Penn State University (Harrisburg, PA). He’s working on his MBA at Lebanon Valley College (Ann-ville, PA).

Le is a technical business analyst in a Camp Hill, PA office of Highmark (Pittsburgh, PA), a health insurance provider. He works in the Department of Defense (DoD) Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process (DIACAP) and regulatory compliance department. The department is part of Highmark’s information services group; it ensures that DoD information is protected.

Le supports technical and business information systems security for the DoD’s Tricare and Active Duty Dental programs, which are administered by United Concordia Companies, one of Highmark’s subsidiaries. “We support the regulatory compliance side of the department by coordinating internal and external audits and other activities,” he explains.

His job often involves creating or suggesting new process developments. “I have to communicate effectively with all levels of the organizations, including the government contracted engineers, to ensure that our document collections are up to date, and that our environment is secured and safe according to our contracts and policies,” he says.

Le interned at Highmark for seven months before joining full time in December 2007. He applied to four other companies and was happy when he got an offer from Highmark within two weeks of applying online. “It was just a different atmosphere here than at any other company,” he says. “There was an air of professionalism and everyone was extremely nice, very friendly and they didn’t look down on me.”

Le is active in Highmark’s diversity group, which is a subgroup of the Employee Success team of ISG. Outside the company, he is a deacon and youth leader at the Vietnamese Alliance Church of Harrisburg, PA. He also volunteers to support multiple events related to the Vietnamese Alliance Youth in the Northeast.

And “I now have my own desktop computer, a laptop, a Netbook and an iTouch!” Le observes with a smile.

Jan Brown helps improve business processes at Goldman Sachs
“There is no typical day for me,” says Jan Brown, application developer at Goldman Sachs & Co (New York, NY). She works in the Jersey City, NJ location where she designs, develops and tests new software to improve business processes.

It was natural for her to have a passion for math growing up in the small town of La Brea in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. “Most Caribbean islands are devoted to tourism,” Brown explains, “but Trinidad and Tobago is highly industrialized. We are a country of engineers.”

There was an emphasis on math and science in the school system, but Brown found math too restrictive so she gravitated toward engineering. A full scholarship led her to Howard University (Washington, DC), where she earned her 2006 BS in systems and computer science, graduating summa cum laude.

Brown started her job search in the fall of her senior year. She knew that she wanted to focus on software rather than hardware. “My personality seemed most suited to financial institutions where I could actually see the software being used,” she says.

She chose Goldman Sachs over two other investment banks, partly because the company had a very efficient recruiting team. “The recruitment process took only three or four weeks,” she says. “I’m now part of that team.”

Like Gaynor at FIT, Brown advises students to start their job searches as early as their sophomore and junior years. “Pursue internships that are in line with your goals,” she says. “Get involved in extra-curricular activities that provide networking opportunities and strengthen your resume.” She cautions students, though, to be mindful of the work they’re doing, particularly their GPA.

Brown also believes that it’s important to research companies to see if they fit overall life goals. “Until I did my research, I didn’t know that a fifth of Goldman Sachs employees work in technology.”

In addition to her day-to-day responsibilities, Brown serves on committees for two of the company’s affinity groups: the Technology Black Network (TBN) community outreach committee and the Women in Technology (WIT) Urban Assembly mentoring program. TBN works with schools in Jersey City, NJ to expose students to technology in the financial industry and show them positive role models. WIT partners with the Urban Assembly School in New York; Brown is a mentor/coach to one of its female students.

Brown wants to pursue an MBA to develop her management skills. “I feel longevity here,” she says. “I want to be the next CIO!”

Megha Bordoloi automates testing at Nvidia
“I chose a degree in computer science because of the diversity it allows,” says Megha Bordoloi, software engineer for Nvidia Corporation (Santa Clara, CA). “With it, I can apply both my creative skills and business ideas.”

At Nvidia, Bordoloi automates the testing that engineers and developers would otherwise have to do manually. “Because of what I do,” she explains, “they can run a whole test with just one click.”

Nvidia creates and sells visual computing technologies that are used by a wide range of industries, including autos, fashion, gaming, medicine, photography and more. This means that Bordoloi is always being challenged. Currently, she’s working on software that will allow designers without programming backgrounds to write their own scripts. “The engineers appreciate what we do for them,” she says.

Bordoloi’s team of eight works with other teams in places like India, China and Taiwan. Thanks to telephones and online services like WebEx, she does not have to travel much.

She was raised in India, the daughter of armed forces doctors. “I always had an interest in why things work,” she says. “I was taking basic programming courses in the fourth grade and had worked in several programming languages by the time I was in high school.”

Bordoloi earned her 2007 bachelor of engineering in CS at the Osmania University (Hyderabad, India) and her 2009 MSCS at the University of Texas (Arlington, TX). “I was amazed at how such powerful stuff could come out of lines of text,” she says. “I don’t have to depend on anyone but me.”

For now, Bordoloi wants to stay on the technical side. “I’m happy with what I’m getting to learn and I want to apply what I learn to real life,” she says.

Tonya Harrison is a Web developer at SSA
“When people ask where I’m from, I say the Southwest,” says Tonya Harrison, IT specialist at the Social Security Administration (SSA, Baltimore, MD).

Harrison was raised by her mother, a single parent, and lived in a lot of places growing up, including a Navajo Nation reservation in Arizona. At age eleven, they moved to New Mexico so that her mother could continue her education.

Between elementary and junior high school, Harrison’s interest in computers exploded. “If it had anything to do with computers, I took it,” she says. “I also took AP computer science courses in high school.”

Harrison started at the University of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM), but didn’t like being the only Native American woman in the computer science program. In 2004, she transferred to Central New Mexico Community College (Albuquerque, NM), where she earned her 2006 associate of applied science degree in computing technology with a concentration in computer programming. She went on to earn her 2009 BSCS at North Carolina Central University (Durham, NC).

As a student, Harrison held co-op positions as a software engineer assistant at IBM and a quality assurance engineer at Sony Ericsson. But she had no intention of getting a job. Her sights were set on grad school until she and a friend attended a career fair. She had interviewed with SSA, but didn’t think much more about it. “A couple of months later, they called me and invited me up to Baltimore,” she says.

Harrison was told that she qualified for the Federal Career Intern Program (FCIP), designed to facilitate the employment of exceptional individuals with diverse professional experiences, academic training and abilities. “They showed me what I would be doing and how much I’d be making,” she says. “The rest is history.”

As an IT specialist, Harrison works with a team of approximately twenty people who support agency employees implementing congressional laws. “Essentially, I’m a Web developer contributing to the re-write process of an in-house Web application. It provides support within the application lifecycle from development to validation to production,” she explains.

Harrison is an active member of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (www.aises.org). “I want to continue influencing the Native American population when and where I can,” she says.

Jamie Thomas addresses business needs at ADP
Jamercina (Jamie) Thomas is a senior business analyst at ADP (Roseland, NJ). She’s working with ADP’s employer services IT integration solutions team in Alpharetta, GA where she is primarily focused on technology projects and solutions for ADP national account services.

“I work with internal business stakeholders on both client-facing and internal integration projects,” explains Thomas. “I interpret their high-level business needs and then act as liaison between them and our developers.”

Thomas earned her 2001 BSCS at North Carolina A&T State University (Greensboro, NC) and her 2008 MBA with a concentration in IT management at Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA).

She was working in a very technical area when she returned for her MBA. “I was afraid of being stuck in a very technical field,” she states candidly.

Thomas joined ADP in 2008 after what she describes as a very satisfying recruitment effort. “ADP seemed genuinely interested in me and tailored their interview process to me and my degree,” she explains.

Growing up in Raeford, NC, Thomas developed an early interest in computers. “I was the one who programmed the VCR and connected the video games,” she says with a smile. One day, a relative sent her a Tandy computer. “It was really something back then.”

Thomas’s high school guidance counselor picked up on her enthusiasm for computers and set her on course toward her CS degree. “I was excited to learn what I could do with the degree and the money I could earn,” she says.

Thomas is excited about her future at ADP. “Since I first started here, I’ve been placed on interesting projects that have enabled me to grow,” she says. “There are a lot of people who have been at ADP for a long time and I see this as a positive.”

Sravani Malipeddi supports agency markets at Liberty Mutual
“I’m the first person in my family to go into this line of work,” says Sravani Malipeddi. Malipeddi is a software developer in the Indianapolis office of Liberty Mutual (Boston, MA), the fifth largest property and casualty insurance company in the U.S. Her group maintains systems that support the company’s agency markets, particularly small agencies.

Much of Malipeddi’s time is spent working on Java and .Net platforms. “We work with small agents who need lots of systems,” she explains. “If a policyholder files a claim, they use IT systems that we have developed and maintain to process them.”

Malipeddi earned her 2002 undergraduate degree in computer software and engineering at the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (Hyderabad, India). She earned her masters in computer information systems at Purdue University (Indianapolis, IN) in December 2007.

Before graduating, Malipeddi applied online to two companies and got offers from both about a week after interviewing. The positions were very similar, but she chose Liberty Mutual because she considered its technical development program richer and more rounded.

“It was basically a rotation program. I spend time in various business units followed by a technical immersion program and finally become a member of a program team,” she explains.

Malipeddi appreciates Liberty Mutual’s inclusive culture that brings the unique abilities, qualities and approaches of diverse people together to achieve business goals. “Regardless of whether your interest is in retail, financing, computer science or whatever, Liberty Mutual supports diversity of thought and ideas,” she says.

Yijun Tong helps customers use Mentor Graphics products
“I am a bridge between our customers and our development teams,” says Yijun Tong, technical marketing engineer at Mentor Graphics Corporation (Wilsonville, OR). The company provides software tools and consulting services for electronic design solutions.

“We work with huge companies like Intel and Sony,” says Tong. “My job is to understand how they will use our products and to teach them how to do it effectively.”

Tong plans for product release cycles, collects feedback and processes requests. He assists internal teams, including quality assurance groups, software developers and planners. “Currently, I’m in charge of our high speed Calibre DESIGNrev product line,” he says, “I work with worldwide semiconductor manufacturers like Intel, Qualcomm and TSMC developing successful automation design flows.”

Tong grew up in Shanghai, China where his parents sent him to computer classes when he was just ten. “It was a community college kind of program,” he recalls. “China really only saw computers for the first time around 1990.”

Tong earned his 2002 BSEE at Fudan University (Shanghai, China). As a computer-aided design (CAD) engineer at Intel in Shanghai, he won an operational excellence award for his contribution to supporting the chip design team. This gave him the opportunity to interact with many counterparts in the U.S.

“I learned how to teach people because I got to touch the software when it was first developed,” he explains. “I learned how to bring my organizational skills to a new level and to get more exposure on the business side.”

In 2006, he made the hard emotional decision to leave his family to pursue an IS masters in the U.S., which he earned in 2007 at Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA). As a student, Tong was honored as Heinz College’s Dean’s Leadership Fellow.

Before joining the company, Tong was aware of Mentor Graphics because it was a vendor to Intel. He recalls that the interview process was long. “It lasted from 8 AM to 6 PM,” he says, “but I got to talk with people at different levels of the company, including some who would be future colleagues.”

Now in his third year at Mentor Graphics, Tong is happy with his choice. After working in Shanghai, “I wanted a different company culture,” he says. “At Mentor, my job responsibilities cover more areas.”

Kimberly Brinkmeier: mainframe QA testing at EMC
“I learned from my dad that girls can do anything,” says Kimberly Brinkmeier. She recalls spending “take your daughter to work” days with her dad at the large tape/disk manufacturer where he worked at the time. “I loved it.”

Today Brinkmeier is a level one software engineer in a rotational training and development program at EMC Corp (Hopkinton, MA). The EMC Symmetrix Software Mainframe Rotation program is offered to recent college grads with technical degrees. Each on-the-job rotation lasts approximately six months. Training and development is specific to the mainframe field and EMC information infrastructure technology.

Brinkmeier got her 2008 bachelors in business admin with an emphasis on management, because the University of Northern Colorado (Greeley, CO) didn’t offer degrees in engineering. But Brinkmeier experienced the tech field as an intern during her junior and senior years at an IT company in Boulder, CO. “I got to do a lot of different things: software testing, project management, project coordination and administrative duties,” she says.

While interning she heard about EMC’s rotational program for recent grads. Despite having a non-technical degree, she was one of only four people selected that year.

“It’s a two-year program,” explains Brinkmeier. “So far, I’ve worked on testing microcode that runs on EMC’s Symmetrix information storage system. Now I’m focusing on mainframe quality assurance testing.”

At the end of the two-year program, “We’ll get permanent engineering roles based on our interests and where our skills are needed,” says Brinkmeier. “This is a great opportunity.”

She wants to continue in this high-tech track, become a subject matter expert, a team leader and eventually a manager. She would also like to go back to school for her MBA.

In addition to her day-to-day responsibilities, Brinkmeier is a member of EMC’s affinity group, the Women’s Leadership Forum (WLF). The WLF organizes numerous programs and events with internal and external speakers on career development, networking and work/life balance. Recently, the WLF and the Massachusetts professional chapter of SWE co-hosted a panel event at EMC on nontraditional careers in engineering.

And, Brinkmeier notes, she’s still going to work with her dad, who’s also an engineer at EMC.

Alex Gutierrez is in the Nielsen Company’s ELP
Alejandro “Alex” Gutierrez came to the U.S. from Colombia while still in elementary school. Now he’s an emerging leaders associate at the Nielsen Company (New York, NY).

The two-year emerging leader program (ELP) allows participants to experience different aspects of the business in client solutions, financial leadership or operations and technology. Gutierrez is in ops and technology at the company’s Tampa Bay, FL global technology and information center.

During his first six-month assignment, Gutierrez worked in the application development area on a new high performance data warehouse for all of Nielsen’s media measurement data. The objective was to converge and modernize multiple existing databases into a central hub.

Gutierrez was project manager for one of the four workflows in the project. His responsibilities included developing project plans, gathering requirements, assigning work to developers and holding daily status meetings with his team to track progress. He also did some development work for the database application.

After wrapping up the project, he began working in the engineering department on a systems improvement and risk mitigation project. He expects to be in this role for six months.

In high school, Gutierrez was interested in computer engineering. “I wanted to be a programmer,” he recalls. At college, he found that programming alone just wasn’t enough. “My personality was more geared towards a technology management career than a strict developer function,” he says.

Following his brother’s path, Gutierrez earned his BSEE at University of Florida (Gainesville, FL) in December 2008.

Gutierrez considered other companies before settling on Nielsen. He liked the way Nielsen’s program is structured and was impressed with the interview process. He also observed that Nielsen had put noticeable resources into planning and executing the two-day event for second-round ELP interviews. Candidates worked in groups to solve a case study and presented their results to a panel of company leaders.

“The whole time, we were observed and evaluated on our leadership abilities, creative thinking skills and overall teamwork,” he says. “They weren’t just looking for candidates who interviewed well; they were looking for people who demonstrated abilities in a ‘real world’ setting.”

The candidates were all recent college grads with little or no experience beyond internships. “I could relate closely with the group,” he says, “and it made me feel like this program was better suited for me.”

Gutierrez is happy with his decision. “We’re still learning real world solutions to business problems,” he says with a smile.

D/C

Dan Margherita is a freelance business writer based in Philadelphia, PA.

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