1. Real and Wage Inflation
2. Intense Competition for Talent
3. Corporate cost-cutting
4. High Energy/Commute Costs

The hardest part to pin-down is that the economic indicators show a market that is schizophrenic. Utah’s high tech job market is part recessionary and part booming. There’s both signs of weakness, but signs of boom-cycle madness.

If there were ever a time to unveil the invisible hand and see what’s really going to happen to this economy over the next six-12 months, now is the time… those who navigate this juncture well stand to gain a lot of opportunity, while these massive icebergs of clashing forces might very well crush entire sections of our economy and workforce if we’re not paying close attention.

Real and Wage Inflation

The Fed won’t admit there’s inflation yet, even though everyone else is worried about it… but one trip to the grocery store tells you a dollar doesn’t go as far these days. This plays into issues 3 and 4, and is the driver for issue 2.

Bottom-line: If the same amount of money you made last year isn’t cutting it, talented people will demand higher wages for the same jobs they were doing a year ago.

If the company they currently work for won’t pay up, no problem, they’ll just move.

Intense Competition for Talent

As a recruiter, I use every tool I can find. The job boards, these days, are as silent and un-exciting as a Hillary Clinton rally in Payson. The war for top-talent has moved from remote, tactical operations using unmanned email probes and remote-controlled resume submittal to (continuing the analogy) hand-to-hand, street fighting. Candidates are being approached at every angle, from every recruiter, in very creative ways…. and they’re getting hired, too!

At the Blogger Dinner last Thursday, Steve Spencer quipped something like: This is just like the late 90s. It doesn’t matter if you can actually do any of the stuff on your resume, but if you have the right acronyms, you’re hired!

(And, yes, Steve’s company is hiring… tell ‘em I sent ya)

Corporate Cost-Cutting

Client after client of mine has issued cost-cutting warnings. Several more companies are putting in-place hiring freezes, readjusting their priorities, laying people off or closing down all together.

This hyper-sensitive focus on costs can be unacceptable to a workforce already in high-demand.

One jobseeker for a Salt Lake-based IT Outsourcing firm told me last Thursday that his current employer has”implemented a new performance-based pay plan where you get a “very low base wage” and, if you hit certain quotas every day, you will get paid more.

The story goes that these employees, if they are industrious little busy bees, can earn even more than they have been making, but the employees don’t quite see it that way.

“Its a joke,” my jobseeker friend told me. “I’ve done the math. It is impossible to make anything close to what I have been making. I am outta here.”

There’s bound to be losses when a company needs to refocus. A recent article by Tiffany Hsu in the Baltimore Sun explains this very well:

“It costs a lot to let someone go,” said Don McNamara, president of Heritage Associates Inc., a management consultant company based in Laguna Niguel, Calif. “So we’ve got to circle the wagons and pull in a little bit.”

Businesses, he said, can cross-train employees in multiple roles to boost productivity and restructure to remove inefficiencies…. but employers can’t cut too many expenses and perks without risking driving workers away.

“You’ve got to be sensitive to your people and make sure morale isn’t one of the things you cut,” McNamara said. “If this comes as a surprise to them, they might be tempted to update their resumes at another company.”

High Energy/Commute Costs

Even thinking about high gas/energy prices makes me exhausted, but the simple fact is we are receiving regular calls and updates from our candidates seeking more commute-friendly work options, telecomuting, shorter commutes, or other benefits to offset the incredible rise in fuel costs this last year has seen. For once, the State has taken a lead here, generating (I predict) pressure on many new fronts to allow employees to have more control over when, where and how much they work.

On the flip-side, a lot of people who otherwise want to keep their current job are interested right now in part-time, flexible, contract-based work options too. That is an unforeseen consequence of these higher prices.

Summary

At the end of the day, companies are asking their employees to do more with less, while these same high-demand employees are not afraid of feeling out their options and making a more lucrative move if needed.

I fear, for companies too cost-conscious, this will become a race to mediocrity unless they very creatively examine their work demands, and be very open and honest with their employees. Find out what they need/want and even while cutting costs, you can make work fun and, heck, maybe even more productive.

These are generally very talented individuals who like their current job/employer, but are looking for additional work to take on.

Likewise, these same people are usually willing to take a decrease in their “day-time wage” for a flexible work opportunity because of the, well, flexibility of it.

Some are cutting their pay-rate down as much as 75% of what they would deserve in a day-time/full-time gig because they are not looking for just income, but additional income.

If you are a software development manager and I was willing to experiment with adding flexible/additional staff (especially if you’re already considering outsourcing where there are time-differences anyway), this might be the time to seriously consider bringing on a swing/night shift (your programmers are already there all night anyway, right?) and acquire some excellent talent at a discount.

Of course, finding the people to do this is what we do all day (at SOS Engineering & Technology, where I work). Even if you had your own person in mind, contracting them through an agency like mine (so you would not have to hire them permanently, or deal with 1099 messes) can remove a lot of headaches and legal issues down the road.

If you’re curious about how an agency like mine could help you, please feel free to contact me.

If you know of companies that are accepting candidates for non-traditional work hours, and you want to share, please feel free to leave a comment!

Executive Preview

With more than 20 years of solid experience with web and systems development, this consultant brings quite a lot to the table, technically. When you meet him, you’ll see why so many companies have trusted him to work on their mission-critical apps, as well as lead their development teams. He has a great personality for someone that understands the deep roots of technologys intimately as he does. Plus, he understands business through his experiences in small/startup companies as well as large ones. Currently, he enjoys the mentoring aspects of his role as a Senior Software Developer, and he works hard with clients/customers and co-workers to ensure that they’re getting all they can from the tools they have.

Resume:

SUMMARY
Development Manager/Senior Software Engineer with over 20 years experience designing, developing and implementing software solutions on many different platforms. Has lead development teams, reported to senior management including CIO and CEO, and even filled Sales Engineering roles. Can work equally in large organizations with large teams, with start up companies with very small teams or working individually.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Languages: C#, T-SQL, XML, HTML
Databases: Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 2005, MySQL
Development Tools: Visual Studio 2003/2005, MS SQL Server Management Studio, Infragistics Controls, Vault, Visual Source Safe, Test Track Pro, Final Builder, Nunit, Django, Python
Operating Systems: Windows XP/2000, Windows 2003 Server

WORK EXPERIENCE

Confidential Company*
Senior Software Engineer
Currently designing and developing desktop software solutions using Microsoft .Net 2.0, and web applications using Django/Python for various clients. Helping clients implement the SCRUM agile development process.

Technologies used: C#, Visual Studio 2005, .Net Framework 2.0, XML, XSLT, T-SQL, SQL Server 2005, Django, Python, MySQL

Confidential Company*
Engineering Manager, Senior Software Engineer
Managed development and quality assurance teams. Designed and developed software used to create security policies. Assisted in the design of a database system that handles several thousand transactions in a day. Interfaced with customers on site and over phone for support of pre-sales technology questions. Managed Core Technology and Quality Assurance teams.

Used .Net 1.1, Visual Studio 2003 and C# to develop easy to navigate desktop applications.
Delivered projects on or before required dates.
Lead a team that finalized the successful development, testing and delivery of version 3.0.
Created and executed plan to scale out quality assurance test lab, including hardware upgrades, and improved test cases.
Utilized portions of the Dynamic Systems Development Model (DSDM), an agile methodology.

Technologies used: C#, Visual Studio 2003, .Net Framework 1.1, T-SQL, XML, XSLT, ADO.Net, SQL Server 2000, Microsoft Exchange Server

Confidential Company*
Development Manager
Managed development project deliverables, budgets, programmers. Improve existing application integration with computer telephony software and hardware, voice recordings and IVR. Assist in defining company architecture and product offerings. Reported to VP of Research and Development and Chief Technology Officer.

Developed a core reporting application, including report wizard, exporting and SMTP mail delivery.
Instrumental in designing and developing a middle tier system to manage all aspects of a hosted solution for Windows 2000, including Active Directory, Exchange Server, Genesys CTI and SQL Server 2000.
Managed the design and development of data extraction process that improved access from daily to real time.
Mentored developers, assisted in customer technical reviews, and client implementation.

Technologies used: C#, Visual Basic 6, XML, XSLT, SQL Server 7 and 2000

Confidential Company*
Senior Software Engineer
I worked as a contract Senior Software Engineer responsible for project management and development projects for key clients. These clients included American Express, Kennecott Utah Copper and Echopass Corporation. Also mentored other developers, conducted technical interviews and assisted Account Managers and Clients with project requirements.

Projects that I worked directly on were credit card application processing system, multi site inventory tracking and management system, and hiring a team of software developers to write applications used in call centers.

Technologies used: Visual Basic 6, Java Script, SQL Server 7, Oracle 8i

Confidential Company*
Team Lead, Software Developer
Develop applications and provide technical support for internal Manufacturing applications. Responsible for converting applications in DOS FoxPro to Visual FoxPro and mainframe based applications to Oracle Forms applications. Assist 6 plants with troubleshooting and system enhancements.

Confidential Company*
Contract Software Developer
Member of Y2K project team for American Stores Company. This team was responsible for inventorying and assessing all of the company’s software and hardware, evaluate it for potential failure and recommend solutions. Developed the application that was used in collecting information on company hardware, software, maintenance contracts and Non-IT assets. Application used by 40 plus individuals at various sites across the country. Utilizing Visual Basic 5, Microsoft Access.

MILITARY

United States Marine Corps, Details Withheld*
Communications and Electronics
Provided communications hardware and software technology to command centers and combat units.
Graduated from communications and electronics school
Expert marksman awards
Several awards and ribbons for exemplary performance
Honorable discharge.

CERTIFICATION / TRAINING

Developing and Implementing Windows-based Applications with Microsoft Visual C# .NET and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, 70-316. MCP.

Sun Java Programming, SL275
Emphasis: Development of Java applications using Sun Java 1.2.

Developer/2000: Forms and Reports Builder
Emphasis: Design and deployment of Oracle Forms and Reports.

Oracle SQL*Plus
Emphasis: Database creation and management through SQL procedures.

* Certain information about this consultant, including companies worked for and dates worked there, have been withheld from this posting for privacy reasons, but is available upon request.