Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Officials from OIC will use federal funds to subsidize tuition of high-tech students. Educators say the demand for technical training exceeds the courses availible.
High-tech shortage gets a boost
Funding for NOVA program may help address needs for skilled workers
By Sam Scott
In 35 years of business, administrators of Opportunities Industrialization Center, a vocational school in East Palo Alto, have never seen the volume of demand that was created by the school's new computer system administration classes. More than 300 people applied for 60 spots in the school's last offering of computer system administration certification classes.
"There was a huge demand for the classes," said Sharon Williams, the school's executive director. "We could not nearly enroll all the people who were interested."
The reason for the demand is obvious--almost guaranteed high-tech employment after a relatively short training period.
Sunnyvale-based NOVA, an organization that addresses the needs of employers and employees, soon will be able to slightly increase space at OIC and other training programs. On Feb. 11, NOVA officilas learned that the program had been awarded a $1.3 million federal grant for training high-tech workers.
A portion of the grant will be used to allow 25 more students to attend OIC's classes. The rest of the funds will be used to subsidize the tuition of 125 students at other computer schools. The grants are funded by a portion of the $500 fee employers pay for temporary H1-B visas issued to foreign workers.
The idea of the grant is to help locally grow the workforce required to run the high-tech economy, NOVA officials said. Employers hope the program will serve to address the growing shortage of skilled workers in high-tech fields.
Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Local companies are sponsoring high-tech classes to fill their workforce gaps.
"This training is equally for the benefit of employees who have openings and can't fill them and for [people looking for jobs]," said NOVA spokeswoman Joann Kleinman.
"There's a demand. We're trying to figure out where to find the supply," said Rob Gamble, NOVA's employment and training manager. "We're taking folks that are here already."
Rich Halberg, a spokesman for Joint Venture: Silicon Valley, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving local conditions, said the workforce shortage presents a high hurdle for businesses in the area. Filling a position like systems administrator, for example, can take as much as six months. Companies must offer high salaries, spend long hours searching and train extensively in order to fill their staffing needs.
"It's imposing a cost of about $3 billion on high-tech employers in the area," Halberg said.
Training local workers, he said, is preferable to importing more foreign labor because it distributes the benefits of the booming economy to workers who might not otherwise receive them. It also produces local workers who are loyal to the area and less likely to leave, he said.
To help fill the gap, leading local companies have sponsored the training of students themselves, forging partnerships with NOVA and local schools to do so. Sun Microsystems, for example, has linked with OIC and area community colleges to help them offer current classes on systems administration. Without corporate support, administrators said, the schools would never be able to offer their current curricula.
"It's going to be more successful for everyone if we all work together and have a strong partnership," said Leslie Bowers, a human resources executive with Sun.
With the new federal money, NOVA will enroll students in classes sponsored in part by Cisco, Oracle and Sun.
In the big picture of high-tech, Halberg said, such advancements are relatively small. He anticipates the shortage of workers will continue to grow. A more comprehensive system needs to be worked out, he said, in order to create a high-tech economy that can sustain its own workforce. He estimated a workforce gap of about 160,000 workers or more. The NOVA program, Halberg said, is a positive first step. And for the people lucky enough to get the subsidized training, he said, the program can be the beginning to a successful career.
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
