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Tech Update
Opportunities in the communications industry

Telecom services companies: now hiring leading-edge technologists

Systems skills and a business mindset are keys to jobs in the field

By Tom Stabile
Contributing Editor

When the technology bubble burst on Wall Street, a cloud formed over the telecommunications services industry. Lowered industry growth expectations, combined with a slumping national economy, have slowed hiring for IT professionals and engineers in the field.

Slowed, but not stopped. Some telecom industry leaders report growth and hiring needs in cutting-edge technologies like wireless services and development of Web-based products.

What's new? Everything
Just a few years ago, the idea of wireless phones with cameras and color handsets was virtually science fiction. Broadband service for the Internet was barely getting a toehold. The hand-held Internet was more concept than reality. Wireless computing was just on the horizon.

Today they're all here, and the next round of technology is on the way for technical professionals to envision, create, develop and maintain. Recruiters say the key to landing jobs in the constantly changing telecom industry is the right mix of systems skills plus a broad business mindset.

Al Calalang.

SBC: growth in IT apps development
"What we want to hear is, 'I created a system that allowed the company to provide a greater level of services, or that made the organization more effective in meeting customer requests, or that helped increase revenues,'" says Al Calalang. He is an associate director of human resources for the IT division of SBC Communications (Hoffman Estates, IL), a major provider of data, voice, networking and Internet services across the Midwest.

"What I'm seeing is that most companies have limited external hiring," Calalang reflects. With more people and less jobs, "Companies are definitely going to look at experience, education, certifications and applicable skills.

"This leads to a longer selection process, as opposed to three or four years ago when a person who could spell 'C++' was in the door," he says.

Calalang notes that in the IT division at SBC, the growth is in application development, including client/server, mainframe and Web-based technologies. The IT division provides services for other SBC units and the company's 180,000 employees. Tech staff in IT splits into about 8,000 in application development and 4,000 in networking.

Michelle Watts.

Verizon Wireless: adding staff incrementally
The tighter market puts a premium on flexibility, notes Michelle Watts, associate director for network staffing at Verizon Wireless (Bedminster, NJ), a leading wireless communications provider. "The ability to multitask is important," she says. "Because things are changing so rapidly, being flexible and willing to upgrade your skills is important."

In fact, she's seen "people with a lot of experience from other industries who are willing to come here laterally for the opportunity to grow and develop."

Verizon Wireless is "incrementally" adding field technicians and RF/systems performance engineers, Watts notes. "As we continue to grow the network, we continue to add positions," she says. "We have had growth throughout the country."

There's also employment growth in the company's centralized HQ services, like the network repair bureau and the wireless data service center. Watts points out that "Because the work has become so challenging, we're now hiring four-year grads as technicians."

Tech development at AOL
At America Online, the major Internet service provider, most current hiring is on the technology development side.

Ruben Moreno is a VP for human resources who focuses on AOL's technical hiring and diversity talent acquisitions. He notes a need for architects, coders and engineers to work on the development of a new 9.0 version of AOL software.

John Nicholas, an AOL senior tech manager, supports an aggressive project schedule.

John Nicholas, AOL senior technology manager
John Nicholas, a senior technology manager working on AOL's software development and broadband projects, has been hiring to support his aggressive project schedule.

Nicholas says his focus on leading-edge technology resulted in a recent round of recruiting for folks with backgrounds in CS, EE, ME and computer engineering. Nicholas has his own 1987 bachelors and 1989 masters in ME from the University of Virginia.

"People are more and more on the go, so we have to build products that enhance their lives," Nicholas says. "They want to be able to access their documents when they're moving around."

Although he's been a paraplegic since college days as the result of a spinal cord injury, Nicholas is certainly one of the people on the go. His favorite sport is golf, which he plays from his wheelchair (check out his website, http://members.aol.com/accessiblegolf/home.html, for more).

Larry Rybar, exec director of technology development at Verizon Wireless, shows off one of the neat cell phones that got it all started.

Coming down the pike
Driving the flood of cutting-edge new products is the ever-growing capacity of microchips, says Larry Rybar, executive director of technology development at Verizon Wireless.

"Your phone will become a communications appliance," he says. "You'll be able to do anything you do now with a PC wired to the Internet. It will be almost like a watch - people will have difficulty not having one."

Verizon Wireless has great hopes for its new Express Network, Rybar confides. The nationwide data communications network will serve many emerging technologies, from Blackberry personal communication devices to push-to-talk services.

BellSouth intends to replicate the basic reliability of landline dial-tone service for all its new products, says Elyse Hammett, a public relations rep. "We want to have that same expectation for broadband, interactive paging, wireless communication and everything you want from telecom," she declares.

Another telecom growth sector is in Web-based amenities for customers. Both telecom giant BellSouth (Atlanta, GA) and SBC are working at improving Web-based billing, customer service, product ordering functions and the like.

Business sense drove William J. Todd, who was a telco engineer, co-founded a Bell Atlantic venture and is now a VP at TCS.

William J. Todd: business growth at TCS
The ability to think about technology in terms of business and the bottom line is the cornerstone of William J. Todd's successful career. Today, Todd is senior VP for corporate affairs at TeleCommunication Systems, Inc (TCS, Annapolis, MD), a leading designer of wireless messaging and location technology.

Todd's ASEE is from Temple University (Philadelphia, PA). In the early 1970s he began work as an engineer at Pennsylvania Bell Telephone. He worked in tech positions and participated in Bell's business management programs.

A break for a Congressional Fellowship inspired him to switch to the government relations office of Bell Atlantic. He went on to co-found PrimeCo Personal Communications, an $840-million Bell Atlantic venture. And now he's at TCS.

On each step of the way, he says, business sense propelled him. "When people talk about going into technical careers, I tell them to think about being a manager first and a technologist second," Todd explains.

"The days of 'build it and they will come' are over. Whether it's the generation of new revenue or the avoidance of new expense, you need to understand what makes a business profitable.

"Publicly traded companies need to demonstrate that they are growth businesses. What can you do to deliver revenue to that bottom line?"

At BellSouth, Andre Jarboe's diverse architecture and compliance group. From left: Deadra Edwards, Joe Folk, Jarboe, Ed Chapman, in back, and Navied Yousuf.

BellSouth's Andre D. Jarboe: leveraging technology
BellSouth's Andre D. Jarboe echoes that philosophy. "To move up, you need to understand the business strategy, and how to leverage technology to move the business along," he says.

Jarboe received a BSCE from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1982, followed by an MBA from Georgia State University in 1993.

He started out as an engineer at Atlanta Gas Light Co, then became a systems architect. He moved to BellSouth where he designed systems and later took on supervisory and management responsibilities for his projects, including overseeing implementation and ops. After more than five years at BellSouth, Jarboe is now director of architecture and compliance in the BellSouth technology group.

The integration package
The hiring managers who cited systems skills as a prime qualification for work in the telecom industry broke that generality down into a host of specifics.

A very important one is the ability to understand the complex integration of new systems. Watts at Verizon Wireless thinks that calls for a "hybrid" techie, with both engineering and information technology backgrounds and strong systems skills.

Verizon Wireless technology development director Rybar explains that a big part of integration is blending systems and equipment from many different vendors. "You don't need to be able to write code to work here, but you do have to have a high level of understanding of how these platforms work with each other," he says.

"With servers, links and getting different software to talk together, a fair amount of IT-type data communication skills are required even on the engineering side of the shop." Engineers are more marketable, he says, if they bring along some data communications expertise and related courses and certifications.

It helps to be nimble
"I need people who are nimble and versatile," says AOL's Nicholas. "Technology changes. I'd rather have somebody who's going to be with me for the long haul."

And Rybar of Verizon Wireless adds that "The turnover in technology is amazing. If you're more comfortable in a slow, steady environment, this is not the industry for you."

Communication and negotiation
Communication skills get high ratings in telecom today. AOL's Nicholas likes to see engineers who can clearly articulate the big picture as well as the technical details of their projects. Rybar notes that good interpersonal skills are critical at Verizon Wireless because of the team setup at many technical divisions.

SBC's Calalang looks for "not just someone who can talk, but someone who can present in front of a client and deliver clear and concise information." That talent, he says, is "a resource we can leverage to meet other needs that come down the pipeline."

Ability to manage a project is another sought-after skill. To Rybar, that includes everything from negotiating with vendors to quality control. "If you catch a mistake early in the process, it's much cheaper to correct than it is a year later," he notes.

Platforms and languages
Familiarity with the programming platforms and languages in use in telecom today is obviously a strong selling point. Nicholas says AOL is focused on object-oriented software development, especially using C++. He also looks for developers with cross-platform experience (Windows, Macintosh and Unix), as well as knowledge of Java, JSP and advanced UI programming.

For SBC's Web-based product and software development, Calalang seeks object-oriented programming with C++, Java, J2EE and Unix.

Java is the big draw at BellSouth, Jarboe discloses. But that doesn't mean only software developers need apply. His own background is CE, and a technical colleague of his began with a degree in music.

Networking gets your foot in the door
AOL's Moreno cites networking as a useful tool for technical job hunters. "It pays to leverage that personal relationship," he says.

John Nicholas, Moreno's colleague at AOL, notes that networking has been key in his own career. "Personal references have greatly assisted my job searches over the years," he says. "It's especially important for me, because someone with a disability is somewhat of an unknown quantity."

"I'm hiring mostly contractors right now, and I get a lot of them through referrals," says Jarboe of BellSouth. "Your networks work for you, helping you get that first foot in the door. Networking is a key factor no matter what diversity group you're in."

And once you're in, Jarboe adds with a smile, keep right on networking. Try to get as much exposure to relevant assignments as possible, through job shadowing, individual research or requesting rotational assignments.

"Try to build a career development plan," he says.

D/C

Tom Stabile is a freelance writer in New York, NY.