The Tech Gap Information Technology Workers Are In High Demand Around The World. Spokane Must Develop Its Own Work Force To Take Advantage Of This Need.

I love Spokane. Whether tubing on Newman Lake with my brother and his family, losing golf balls at Hangman Valley with friends, watching a Jazz game at Jack & Dan’s, or taking all of 15 minutes to drive from Mead to downtown Spokane during morning “rush” hour, the Lilac City is a special place.

This sentiment has never wavered despite my move to the Washington, D.C., area seven years ago. But during a recent visit I noticed a dark storm cloud on the area’s economic horizon. Spokane is NOT suffering from an acute shortage of information technology workers.

Let me put this into perspective. The demand in other places for information technology workers — computer scientists, systems analysts, software programmers — has grown so rapidly that a recent study by Virginia Tech estimates 190,000 information technology jobs cannot be filled. In the Washington, D.C., region, the 18,000 information technology vacancies cost nearly $1 billion in lost wages and spending. Companies are moving or locating new operations elsewhere because they can’t find the people they need.

And the shortage of qualified personnel will rise over the next few years as the increase in demand outpaces the increase in supply.

For Spokane NOT to be suffering from a shortage means there’s little demand for information technology workers. On Aug. 21, the Washington State Employment Security Office listed 13 information technology vacancies. Just 13! This minuscule figure conceals a huge implication. The Inland Northwest is in danger of becoming a “have not” in the Knowledge Age.

This reality has not been lost on the area’s business leadership. Focus 21 recognizes that work force development is a key to future success, but one of its objectives — to enhance the efforts of education to focus on work force development — is admirable but misguided. This is not a problem that can, or should, be solved by the education community alone, nor is it simply a case of work force development.

The absence of an energized high-tech breeding ground is partly a function of too little interaction between higher education — faculty, students, and administrators — and business — line managers, training and development specialists and executives.

A more useful objective would be for the region’s business and higher education leaders to collaborate to develop a world-class technology work force.

Building high-tech training and education relationships between universities and companies may seem like putting the cart before the horse, but the information technology work force shortage has created a buyer’s market. What this means is that Spokane won’t draw the talented individuals driving the technology era, nor the companies that depend upon them, if they do not have a strong and dynamic higher education/business infrastructure.

Noticing this problem is an occupational hazard. My specialty is the role of higher education in regional economic development; specifically, I help build business-university partnerships to meet goals that neither can achieve on their own. My work, first at George Mason University and now at American University, puts me at the center of efforts designed to upgrade the information technology work force, recruit top college graduates in information technology, and entice technology companies to use the results of these efforts.

Spokane can avoid becoming a “have-not” region by applying some of the lessons learned by growing technology regions. One person — typically the head of a large, local institution with a vested interest in the area’s long-term success — must step forward to lead an “Inland Northwest Technology Work Force Initiative.”

This individual would rally a small and dedicated group of results-oriented business and education leaders to join the effort. Each member would agree to leave at the door personal gain, political interests and preconceived notions about the problem and solutions. Once these pieces are in place, the group — with the help of an outside authority on the subject — would deliberate over the problem and break it down into manageable dimensions. Task forces would then puzzle through specific issues and develop alternative solutions. The findings would be reported to the full membership and depending on the feedback, the task forces would then adopt specific goals for which they would be held responsible.

This results-oriented approach leads to real programs rather than another list of “next steps.” Similar efforts in the D.C. area led to a number of success stories, including securing several multimillion dollar work force development grants from the U.S. Department of Labor, forging many training and education partnerships between companies and universities, and holding information sessions for elected officials to update them about the problem and proposed solutions.

Sometimes group members take an idea and run with it on their own. I worked with one group that spun off three major projects. The Capital Investor’s Conference brought together venture capitalists and investment bankers to hear from entrepreneurs and start-up companies. The Potomac Knowledge Way Project committed itself to enhancing the growth of Internet-based businesses. And the Top HATS program at George Mason University matches talented undergraduates earning a degree in information technology with companies for summer jobs, scholarships, special projects and employment.

Last, and certainly not least, the initiative would complement the work of the Spokane Area Economic Development Council, North Idaho’s Job Plus Inc., SIRTI, and area Chambers of Commerce. These organizations already have strategies and programs for enhancing the region’s quality of life, but should welcome a small, creative and focused campaign generating higher education/business solutions to the area’s shortage of technology jobs.

Spokane is still the great place it was when I caught grasshoppers in vacant lots during the 1960s, played high school football in Joe Albi Stadium in the 1970s, and started a business career in the 1980s. But it needs to give its children and grandchildren an economic reason to stay. The solution takes vision, dedication, perseverance, investment and, most of all, leadership.

It worked with Expo ‘74. But is there another King Cole out there for this important job?