Jobless techies may have some glimmers of hope by Brian Falk

 From the November 21, 2003 print edition of the Charlotte Business Journal
HIGH TECH: SOFTWARE

http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/high_tech/software/2003/11/24/charlotte_focus2.html



The technology sector has yet to emerge from the slump of the last few
years, but bright spots can be found. While many frustrated IT
professionals are likely to have difficulty finding full-time positions,
leaders in the field say contract work is on the upswing.

Such work won't provide security, but the increase in activity is welcome
after years of a weak economy and the loss of jobs to offshore outsourcing.

"Slump would be a mild term," says Penny Parks, president and chief
executive at Parks Consulting, a Charlotte-based business and technology
consulting firm. "I've seen many of my local peers devastated and put out
of business." Since 2001, Parks Consulting has cut its staff of 110 by
almost half.

The damage can be seen in professional organizations as well. The Charlotte
chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals has seen
its membership drop from about 100 several years ago to 20. Chapter
president Larry Bumgardner notes a recent attendee at a meeting reported
being a member of a support group for out-of-work IT professionals, where
he's one of 125 participants.

Stan Brookshire, chief executive of Charlotte-based Acentron, says the glut
of job seekers makes it easier to find qualified employees for his
consulting and software development services.

Technology was changing so rapidly in the 1990s that companies were forced
to continuously upgrade to remain competitive. With the economy weaker and
technology more stable, "they're riding that technology longer than they
would have in previous years," he says.

Pelican Technology Partners provides senior-level IT professionals to
clients, and President Tom Whiting says the climate appears to be
improving. "We feel there is a recovery in progress in our industry."

Whiting believes that's a result of an improving economy and the pent-up
demand for expansion of IT projects.

Parks also sees an uptick in what she calls "good business projects," as
companies invest in technology. She points to recent news that IBM Corp.
expects to add 10,000 employees next year in areas including high-value
services, middleware technologies, Linux and open standards-based hardware
and software.

Parks Consulting is benefiting from a decision last year to focus primarily
on the financial services industry, a sector that's using technology to
comply with new governance mandates and other regulations from the
Securities and Exchange Commission and other agencies.

Comsys Information Technology Services, which opened a Charlotte office in
August, is also benefiting from the strength of the banking sector.
Regional Vice President Sidney Harrelson says the financial services
industry is making a quick recovery.

"We're getting a lot of demand for experts in various middleware packages
and data warehousing," he says. In banking, data warehouses are often used
with transactional enterprise resource planning systems. Middleware is used
to connect the two.

In wireless telecommunications, he says, "we're getting a lot of requests
for Web-based IT consultants who have experience in various Web
applications." Comsys is an IT staffing, project services and
vendor-management company.

Harrelson says companies in many industries are upgrading or installing new
enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management
applications, and need expertise to manage them.

Demand for IT workers exists in management and business analysis for
projects such as application upgrades and implementations or network
rollouts. Brookshire notes those jobs are difficult to outsource offshore,
which may offer comfort to pink-slip wary professionals. He and Harrelson
say jobs in software development and other services related to mainframes
will continue to be tough to find.

Harrelson also expects the full-time hiring of IT professionals to lag
until companies become more profitable.

Bumgardner agrees. "Until the economy turns around," he says, "the majority
of IT work is going to be contract. For people who have lost their jobs, I
think that's the avenue they'll initially have to take."

Brian Falk is a Charlotte-based free-lance writer who can be reached at
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