Posted in the Akron Beacon Journal on Sun, April 3, 2005

Technology at your service

Software, systems specialists riding wave of increased hiring after dot-com dip

By Erika D. Smith

Beacon Journal staff writer

Joe Abraham, a 2004 graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College, caught the beginning of a hiring wave when he landed a job with SageRock.com in Akron.

In the middle of last summer, Joe Abraham was sweating. And it had nothing to do with the heat.

The 2004 graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College had sent resumes to dozens of companies large and small -- many of them not even in his chosen field of computer programming. ``I had a degree and I was afraid I'd never be able to use it,'' he said.

A phone call from SageRock.com soon rescued Abraham from his fears. The 23-year-old is now algorithmic search director for the Akron company, which specializes in optimizing Web sites so search engines notice them.

``For me, being able to code what people see is really cool,'' he said.

Abraham, experts say, caught the beginning of what will become a hiring wave in Northeast Ohio in computer-related fields. The occupations, such as software engineers, programmers and systems analysts, are among the fastest-growing in the incredibly diverse industry sector known as professional and technical services.

``What's happening in here is probably happening nationwide,'' said James Cookinham, president and executive director of the Northeast Ohio Software Association. ``With the dot-com bust, jobs that were very hot got very cool, very fast.''

Now things seem to be picking up.

Tech companies are finally regaining their footing. The reason: Other industries are starting to spend money again on software, computers and networking equipment. It's a trend that could last for years as the region -- and the nation -- shrugs off the economic downturn.

``Everybody's breathing a sigh of relief,'' Cookinham said. ``It's finally happening.''

Ideally, companies want candidates with at least a bachelor's degree and a few years of experience. But that might not be realistic, Cookinham said.

``A lot of these people couldn't get the tech jobs when they graduated, so you're not going to get somebody with three years of experience,'' he said. ``They've been flipping burgers.''

Abraham, who lives in Norton but is moving to Akron, said many of the companies he applied to during his job hunt wanted three to five years of experience.

``Smaller companies are more willing to bend,'' he said.

In the long run, Cookinham doubts experience will matter much. With the hunger for software that's likely to develop in the next few years, he predicts it will be an employees' market.

``I think there's significant pent-up demand,'' he said. ``It could get ugly.''

According to the Ohio Department and Job and Family Services, employment in computer-related fields will expand 28 percent between 2002 and 2012.

Nationwide, the U.S. Department of Labor reports, those occupationswill grow by 54.6 percent and add more than a third of all new professional and technical services jobs by 2012.

That industrial sector is itself growing.

Nationally, employment in the sector is expected to jump 27.8 percent by 2012, according to the Labor Department. Those jobs will range from office support, such as administrative assistants and bookkeepers, to lawyers, accountants and architects.

That growth in professional and office jobs is part of what's fueling the demand for new technology, said Dorothy Baunach, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Technology Coalition. The rest is coming from old-line industries that are trying to innovate.

``Some of it's supporting the manufacturing base that's still here and is becoming more efficient,'' Baunach said. ``Our financial services sector also has been growing. That whole industry is being fueled by IT.''

In a way, technology is creating a circle of employment, especially in office support positions. Jackie Binkiewicz sees it in her career as an administrative assistant. Her latest gig is at FedEx Custom Critical.

The Brimfield Township woman has watched the introduction of different technologies change what it means to do her job.

On one hand, it's made certain tasks, such as typing a document, easier and quicker. But it's also created new tasks, such as setting up Web-based seminars, and a greater need for help pulling them off. Executives don't have time, so the tasks fall to administrative assistants.

``The job is in demand, especially with the fast pace (of work) that everybody is accustomed to,'' she said.

By sheer numbers, administrative assistants are one of the most common occupations in the professional and technical services sector.

The latest figures available show there were nearly 6,000 administrative assistants in the Akron-Canton area in 2003 -- and that's just for the offices of lawyers, accountants, architects and tech types.

Binkiewicz wasn't among them because her employer, FedEx Custom Critical, and its employees are counted in another industrial sector. But her duties are the same as any administrative assistant's.

She schedules appointments; she does research; she creates presentations; she runs errands. She does what the vice president of human resources doesn't have time to do, and Binkiewicz adores it.

``It's a caretaking role. The whole aspect of it fits me well,'' the Brimfield Township woman said. ``... That's my personality.''

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