But educators, employers say demand remains for hiring

By Sarah Toland, For the Camera

March 17, 2005

A degree in computer science, once associated with a six-figure salary, seems to have lost its lucrative allure: According to the Computing Research Association, the rate of new undergraduate majors in computer science at U.S. universities has fallen by 28 percent since 2000.

At the University of Colorado at Boulder, undergraduate enrollment in the computer science department parallels national statistics, showing a noticeable decline over the last five years.

In the fall of 2000, the university had 529 new undergraduate students join its computer science program — an all-time high for the department since its inception in 1970. But by fall of 2004, only 319 undergraduates chose to declare computer science as their major. And that number is down from 2003's 432 enrollees.

At Colorado State University's computer science department, the decline in the rate of new enrollment is even more pronounced. James Peterson, an academic advisor for the university's computer science program, estimates that the institution has had a cumulative drop of 50 percent in the number of new computer science majors over the last five years.

National trend analysts attribute the decline in computer science majors to the widespread perception that the tech industry has become unprofitable in the wake of the collapse of the dot-com boom. The recent economic downturn, the outsourcing of jobs overseas and a decrease in corporate spending on information technology have helped fuel the notion that computer-related employment is not as consistent — or as high-paying — as previously thought.

Not that such a perception was entirely misguided: Thousands of tech-related positions were lost along the Front Range, particularly between 2001 and 2004, including notable cuts at Broomfield-based Level 3 Communications Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Broomfield campus and IBM Corp.'s Boulder operation.

Statewide, unemployment stood below 3 percent for much of 2000, only to jump as the bust progressed. In January, it dipped to 4.9 percent, an improvement from the 5.8 percent reported at the same point in 2004.

"After the tech boom, there were a lot of people laid off from the industry and rumors of outsourcing made computer science a less attractive major to high school seniors," Peterson says. "(Students) got the impression that there weren't going to be any jobs if they went through a computer science program."

That impression, says Elizabeth Bradley, chair of CU's computer science department, is largely inaccurate. According to numbers released in 2003 by the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in the IT industry is expected to grow at an annual rate of 3.1 percent between 2002 and 2012, an estimate that more than doubles the projection for overall annual job growth during the same time period.

"Computing is everywhere," Bradley says. "Think about what the average 25-year-old has in their hand — a laptop, an iPod, a cell phone and a PDA. Computer science is not going away, and it's not the case that there's a lack of need for computer science people. There's going to be a growing and persistent need for people with those skills."

The projected statistics will create a yearly demand for 140,000 new jobs in computer-related vocations, even after accounting for offshoring, she says.

But the labor department also predicts an ensuing labor shortage: For every 140,000 new jobs annually created, there only will be 10,000 Americans qualified to fill them.

"As the economy starts to improve and the IT industry rebounds, we can predict that there will be a shortage of graduates in computer science to fill the available jobs in the next several years," Peterson says. "We've been speaking with employers who come to recruit on campus, and they all tell us that they'll be hiring more people. The demand is going up while the number of students is going down."

On the hunt

Local companies say they're looking for good, homegrown talent.

At Boulder-based Webroot Software Inc., the demand for new employees is as high as ever. David Moll, chief executive officer of the Boulder-based Internet security software developer, says Webroot intends to hire more than 150 people over the next year.

"The drop in numbers in the computer science area is concerning from a domestic standpoint," says Moll, whose company already employs 225 workers. "Technology is to our economy today what manufacturing was to our economy in the latter half of the 20th century. If we're growing technology talent and jobs here at a slower rate than the rest of the world, it doesn't bode well for our standing in the world economy."

In addition, Moll says, many of today's new tech jobs, and almost all of the recent positions at his company, are the kinds that don't lend well to offshoring.

"We like having developers near marketers and next to support people," he says. "These kind of relationships are absolutely clutch to companies like us who are responsive to market needs and customer demands."

Trent Hein, a 1991 graduate of CU's computer science department, agrees. The CEO of Applied Trust Engineering is always looking for new computer talent at his Boulder firm, but he says candidates with interdisciplinary skills in other industries are more attractive to his company and other tech employers.

"The U.S. is integrating information technology with so many things, whether it's pharmaceuticals, banking or science," Hein says. "That drives the need for even more people to have a computer science background, combined with expertise in other fields. I think people often think that computer science is equivalent to knowing how to program a computer. But it's a much broader major."

Spreading the message

At CU, Bradley says the department is revising its program to make today's graduate more marketable to a number of industries. She says companies aren't sending jobs involving interdisciplinary work overseas, particularly ones involving communication.

"We're trying to change the way we teach computer science so that our graduates aren't just solitary programmers but that they're able to work with customers and in teams and understand problems in other fields," Bradley says.

Christy Predaina, a computer science major at CU who will graduate in May, has a job lined up with defense contractor Northrop Grumman as an engineering project manager.

"I think a common misconception with computer science is that all we do is program or learn about computer theory and that there are no jobs with the recent decline of the tech industry," says Predaina, 24. "Computer science is a very broad field that can be a starting point for all sorts of careers. A computer scientist can pretty much choose an industry that they are interested in and be in demand. I've found this to be true all over the country as I have traveled to career fairs and recruiting events."

Predaina, who has a second major in astrophysical and planetary science, is not threatened by offshoring, adding many jobs, including software engineering design, software development management and computer education, simply can't be shipped out due to the nature of the work.

Though students like Predaina understand the demand for high-tech workers remains, Bradley says she worries about those who do not.

"The perceived demand and the real demand (in technology employment) are very different," she says. "The perceived demand is much lower than the real demand. And that's going to become painfully obvious in a few years when companies are unable to fill their positions."