One of the first things a student of economics will learn is the principle of supply and demand. Information technology students also should understand supply and demand. Have too much supply and it becomes a buyer’s market. Have too much demand and competition for something increases. Guess which one, supply or demand, applies to information technology careers and jobs today? Indeed, it’s demand.  “I don't think there's ever been a more competitive job market, a more robust job market in this industry than there is right now,” says John W. Thompson, president, CEO and chairman of the board at Symantec Corp. in Cuppertino, California, which supplies Internet security solutions such as software that combat computer viruses.

"If you are a student honing and nurturing technical skills in college today, you are in big demand," adds Kristin Copeland, director of online services for Management Recruiters International Inc., a Cleveland-based worldwide search and recruitment company. "You not only command the attention of recruiters and hiring managers, but also the chief executives of companies. You will be courted, not only by information technology companies, but also across other sectors of the economy."  Copeland adds, “Everybody is looking for IT professionals. They’re tough to find. And they’re expensive because there is such a need. We are in an information economy so everything is based on technology. Everyone needs to have a computer. Everybody needs to have a high- speed connection. Everybody needs to have a Web site. All of it is starting to merge and it’s happening in the IT area.”

According to a report released in May 2000 by the American Electronics Association and Nasdaq Stock Market, more than five million people worked in information technology jobs at the end of 1999. While California, Texas, Virginia, Colorado and Georgia led the way in the creation of high-tech jobs between 1997 and 1998, all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico added tech jobs during that period. And the jobs don’t offer a pittance as pay. The annual average wage for high-tech workers was $58,000 in 1998 for an annual payroll of $279 billion compared with the average private sector wage of $32,000, according to the AEA/Nasdaq survey.

A 1999 IT hiring report from Management Recruiters International showed that nearly 72 percent of those responding to a survey planned to increase their IT workforces into 2000. What are the hot jobs? Skills in electronic commerce, computer networking and Internet/Web will all command recruiters’ attention, Copeland says.  As one of a handful of African-American executives running technology companies, Thompson calls the search for IT professionals a “talent war.”  The need for employees is so great that even as CEO of a company with more than 2,500 workers spread out across 24 nations globally, Thompson must take an active role in getting jobs filled. “This business can't operate without talent and if the CEO isn't aware of what talent we're looking for, and what we're doing to constantly monitor our competitive posture, vis-a-vis other companies, who are also seeking that same talent, then you're not doing a total job,” says Thompson, who worked at IBM for 28 years before joining Symantec as CEO in April 1999.

A look at Symantec’s Web site in June 2000 showed more than 300 unfilled positions, ranging from communications specialists, and global notes managers in the information systems division, to associate product support analysts in the services division. Rosters of unfilled jobs are more the norm than the exception in information technology. Symantec, in its effort to grab its share of IT workers, lists numerous benefits as enticements. They include the usual 401(k) savings plans and medical plans, but also stock options, an employee stock purchase plan and quarterly bonuses. There is also flexible scheduling, a generous personal time-off plan, attractive computer and software purchases, and employee assistance including legal and financial consultation.

“The war for talent has us competing with literally thousands of firms, large and small. So what we have to do is identify our place of work as a place that's exciting, where the work that we do is challenging and where the rewards can be significant. People not only get a chance to participate in the quarterly bonus plan, but more important I think than that is they get a chance to participate in the equity growth of our company,” says Thompson, who has his undergraduate degree in business administration from Florida A&M University and master’s in management science from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. For newly minted graduates and others with tech skills, the meaning of an IT career is wholly different than when Thompson joined IBM. The focus of the career in the 1970s and 1980s was to join a large company like IBM. Today, the options are much more diverse.

In addition to the large firms that need tech workers, all industries, whether banking, insurance, energy, aerospace or government, need them too. And about every organization on the scene today will be practicing e-business or have a Web site to interact with customers, suppliers and employees, which require people with technical skills. In addition, the new Internet economy has created an onslaught of what are called dot-coms, new companies whose businesses were spawned from the Web. “Today's information technology industry is one, global, two, made up of literally tens, if not hundreds of thousands of firms, and, three, being propelled by an even faster rate by the explosive growth of the Internet,” according to Thompson. What the Internet has done, Thompson says, is to open up the information technology arena to people with clever business ideas to use technology. “This represents an enormous opportunity for people who want to be a part of what has become, I think, the growth engine for the U.S. economy,” Thompson says. “To enter the industry now, you don't have to necessarily be an electrical engineering graduate or a graduate with math and science backgrounds.”

While IT jobs keep growing, African-American graduates can’t rest on their laurels. They still must be vigilant in seeking out opportunities. The Computing Research Association in a May 30, 2000 study said the IT industry, particularly in senior management, still lacks sufficient diversity amid strides made by minorities and women. The Information Technology Association of America notes that only five percent of computer programmers are African American. However, statistics like that shouldn’t deter African Americans from entering the industry, says Ken Denman, an African American, who is founding president and CEO of AuraServ Communications, a telecommunications provider based in Englewood, Colorado. Denman, who founded AuraServ after spending more than 15 years at U. S. West Communications in Denver, and then MediaOne Group, where he was senior vice president over broadband services, says “red hot” demand for IT jobs means the industry will have little choice but to embrace qualified minority workers.  “The great equalizer, if there is such a thing in the world, is market forces,” Denman said. “Market forces are red hot right now in this area, and when there is that kind of demand, that's one of the things that begins to level the playing field quickest.”

A key requirement for African Americans in IT is to be responsible for managing their own careers. For instance, in his case, Denman said he felt the time was right to make a career move to be a CEO when AT&T Corp. acquired MediaOne Group. Through early May 2000, Denman had rounded up more than $15 million in venture capital funding to carry out AuraServ’s ambitious business plan of providing telecommunications services to small and medium-sized businesses in 15 markets by the end of this year. In managing your IT career, Denman says, be proactive and be aggressive. “The key word is ‘managing,’ ” according to Denman. “Be accountable for your own career. One of my pet peeves is either {a situation where} organizations or individuals tend to spend a lot of time asking for things and asking for help. I don't think that anything worth having is ever given to you. It is really incumbent on all of us to be very proactive in managing our careers. Be aggressive, even if people think you are overreaching.”

Once in the IT workforce, a key to success is to be flexible, says Birdie M. Sadberry, a senior telecommunications analyst for Union Pacific Resources Co., an oil and gas company in Fort Worth, Texas. Sadberry, who has a degree in computer programming from the University of Kentucky, is responsible for project management and implementing new IT processes for her company, such as interactive voice response systems and voice and data backbones. Flexibility means embracing team concepts and being prepared to adjust to work processes as the technology changes, Sadberry said.  “A successful person in IT is one who would like to work in a team environment. There's a lot of collaboration in our group. It's not the silo effect that you may be accustomed to or you think of in most corporations where you learn your skill and that's all you learn,” Sadberry says. Graduates entering IT will need to be mobile and quick studies, she adds. “If you think you are going to learn C++ and that's all you're going to have to know, you'll be sadly mistaken or you will be one that's left in the dust. It's the person who recognizes change, embraces it and looks at that as an opportunity rather than a challenge, who will be successful,” Sadberry says.

African-American students and graduates seeking opportunities in IT professions will get help. IBM, for instance, which had 307,401 employees worldwide at the end of 1999, recruits widely on college campuses and runs a program called Project View geared specifically at minorities. Each year IBM invites more than 1,000 minority job candidates to meet with IBM hiring managers in various cities around the country to discuss a wide range of opportunities ranging from electrical engineering to computer science and management information systems.

“We try not to spare any expense,” says Bill Lawrence, IBM senior diversity staffing program manager in Raleigh, N.C. “We’re looking to bring in the brightest and the best. The thing that we feel is that in a company like IBM you can have a career that stretches through areas such as technology, sales, marketing, technical management and business management without leaving the company.” For consideration, students can go to the IBM Web site and do a search for Project View.

For students entering IT professions, Denman of AuraServ urges them to be what he calls “students of the game.”  He means, "{students} need to be knowledgeable about the major trends in technology and computing and telecommunications. They need to be conversant with major trends, major initiatives and what's in the pipeline. They ought to take advantage of every opportunity to read and to stay in touch. The field is really the future of the next wave of productivity for this country and the world,” Denman says.

Marvin V. Greene is a contributing writer in Baltimore, MD, who specializes in the high-tech and business industries.