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CSULB
Students face global competition in job
market
By
Zamnã Ãvila
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
Cal
State Long Beach students are encountering
challenges in an information era that has
added contenders in their career pursuits
worldwide.
Many
companies and government agencies like Dell
Computer Support, Gateway Computers and
even the Internal Revenue Service have sought
the collaboration of developing countries
in furthering the efficiency and cost savings
of their organizations.
"Looking
at it from the view of free competition,
the world is now more competitive,"
said Wayne E. Dick, department chair of
Computer Engineering and Computer Science.
Offshore
outsourcing, when a company or agency hands
over the responsibility of making products
or providing services to suppliers outside
the United States, is making students worry
about whether they will find a career in
their field of study once they graduate.
Uduak-Joe
Ntuk, a chemical engineering student, noticed
the increased competition in the job market
for students who are preparing to graduate.
On a trip to a factory in Tijuana, Mexico
with the CSULB chapter of the American Institute
of Chemical Engineers, Ntuk encountered
workers who were paid $60 a week for their
labor.
"Companies
can get the same level of engineering at
one eighth of the cost," Ntuk said.
"It's raised the bar of competitiveness
and forces you to be part of the global
community."
In
the past, offshore concerns were limited
to mainly the manufacturing industry that
typically employs blue-collar workers outside
the country, but the advancements of information
technology have widened the competition
for college graduates.
Offshoring
has become an issue from a political and
social perspective, said H. Michael Chung,
the director of the Center for Information
Strategies and Technology in the Department
of Information Systems, who is also a graduate
program director.
The
media, Chung said, draws attention to the
immediate loss in the number of jobs, but
many times fails to recognize the economic
gains or losses resulting from outsourcing.
He attributes part of the slow information
technology recovery to the demise of the
dot-com era and the commoditazation of information
technology applications.
Indeed,
job loss, especially during election years,
has become a hot topic of debate.
"We
export certain jobs, which do not add higher
value," Chung said. "As a result
of such cost saving we can create more higher-value
jobs."
Chung
said that statements from the States Information
Technology Association of America and the
Federal Government House of Economic Advisers
show that consequent to information technology
outsourcing, the United States creates more
valuable opportunities for people living
in the United States.
As
jobs continue to be outsourced to countries
like India, China and Mexico, and location
is no longer significant, students must
meet with their competition, which are often
equipped with well-versed language skills
with a greater intellectual capital.
"The
basics of the debate is about competition,"
Chung said. "Our students should be
better prepared in knowledge, skill and
collaboration than those typically developing
countries."
However,
Dick believes there is still an adequate
rate of hiring for graduates who enter the
job market. Dick said that while a good
number of programming jobs are no longer
available due to the amount of sophisticated
software developed abroad, career fields
where onsite requirements, like system network
administration, are hard to export continue
to be in demand.
"There
is still a lot of programming that needs
to be done here," Dick said. "There
are simply a lot of things that need to
be customized in the developing regions
that are going to end up staying here."
Chung
agrees. "Despite efficiency cost saving
collaborations, there are certain business
organizational functions you don't outsource
because they are components of the organization's
mission, regardless of the cost."
Enrollment
in the Computer Engineering and Computer
Science Department has decreased by 20 percent
in the past three years, a current approximation
of one-third less students than the department
had enrolled prior to those three years.
Even
with offshore outsourcing, companies like
Microsoft predict a shortage of programmers
in the following five years. Microsoft is
concerned about the ratio of students that
will not go into programming fields due
to offshoring to meet the normal attrition
due to age.
"This
is not a field for C students anymore,"
said Dick, who believes the number of people
employed in computer-related fields will
decrease, but will also become better skilled.
Ntuk
is taking a different approach to preparing
himself for the competition that lies ahead.
Instead of focusing on grades, he is concentrating
his efforts on expanding his expertise and
perspectives.
"I
won't beat them on GPA," he said. "I
have a minor in business, a certificate
in global logistics through extension services
and I am preparing for graduate school."
Ntuk
is also active in forensics, student government
and continuously expands his perspectives
by embracing information available through
the Internet.
Liking
the field of study is also a factor in how
much students succeed in their career goals,
Dick said. The phenomenon he witnessed in
years past was students drifting into computer
science fields due to the strength of the
employment prospects, not to their interest
in quantitative disciplines. These days,
he sees more and more students entering
the field because they enjoy computers and
its related material.
"I
still have students come in and say, ‘I
want to major in computer science but I
don't like math,'" Dick said. "I
think that when we had employers coming
and dragging people out the classroom into
jobs, a lot of people overcame their fear
of math and went into computer science."
"Students
used to view [employment] as a sure thing
and up until four years ago that was absolutely
true and they would be hired before they
graduated."
Chung
warns that outsourcing has very critical
implications for the long-term competitiveness
of our college students. He believes the
job markets will become tougher, so students
have to be better prepared.
As
the graduate programs director, Chung tries
to address involvement of international
business components, collaboration of distance
and, more importantly, how to manage and
lead people. This, he said, is because outsourcing
eventually comes down to human resources.
Ntuk,
who recognizes the value of preparation,
said he thinks it is important to read and
listen to international media and learn
a second or third language.
"If
you think myopically that you are just going
to work in California, then you are going
to have a real tough time succeeding,"
Ntuk said.
Chung
affirms Ntuk's statement by encouraging
students to utilize the access they have
to the many diverse cultures and international
resources the university offers.
"We
prepare our students for cultural diversity.
In that, CSULB is a great environment,"
Chung says. "But you must remember,
eating Chinese food for 10 years doesn't
make you an expert in Chinese culture." |
