IT employers look to connect schools to jobs

GOING BACK: Kristy Moreau, developer at Precision Design Studios in Providence, majored in psychology at URI before beginning work in the IT field and returning to school to study software engineering at New England Institute of Technology. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
GOING BACK: Kristy Moreau, developer at Precision Design Studios in Providence, majored in psychology at URI before beginning work in the IT field and returning to school to study software engineering at New England Institute of Technology. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

(Updated, Aug. 12, 9:07 a.m.)

Information technology professionals concerned about the shortage of skilled computer science employees in the Rhode Island workforce are taking action to fill the void.
A group of industry professionals have formed a working group to conduct a survey of the business community in August in preparation for a computer science curriculum summit this fall.
The goal is to determine the specific IT needs of businesses in the state and fill the glaring gap in skilled employees by strengthening the educational pipeline – more specifically to get colleges to offer more training for IT developers and encourage more students to fill vacant seats in computer science programs.
“We’re talking to schools around the state, and what we’re finding is many of them have issues related to lower enrollment of computer science majors at a time when the demand is growing,” said Joe Devine, a partner in Bridge Technical Talent, a North Kingstown-based IT staffing firm that has offices in Franklin, Mass., and Waterford, Conn.
The shortage of students interested in majoring in computer science and the needs of the business community have spurred Devine to take action. He is spearheading the survey of the IT needs of businesses and will compare those to college and high school offerings.
“Our colleges offer a very robust range of computer science classes, but we need to start in high school and strengthen the pipeline,” said Devine. “There are classes [in high schools] like how to use Word or Excel or Illustrator, but there aren’t as many classes in how to create the technology.”
Many colleges do have a variety of computer science offerings, but those graduates often leave the state because of the high demand for skilled IT professionals, he said.
“If we can get Rhode Island students into computer science programs in colleges in the state, we can get them to stay in Rhode Island,” said Devine.
Rhode Island native Kristy Moreau, who lives in Burrillville, did manage to develop a successful career in technology in her home state, but she took a somewhat indirect route.
A Web support developer at Precision Design Studios in Providence, Moreau got a degree in psychology from the University of Rhode Island in 2003. She considered getting her master’s degree in counseling,
“I was looking for a job, and I stumbled upon a position in IT as a project manager,” said Moreau. “It was at a company called Critical Mix – it was in Greenville at the time. … They taught me programming basics. I dove in head first and started learning software development.”
During more than four years with the company, she expanded her skills into programming, testing, delivering the projects to clients and supporting the project after it was released. “I was really glad to have stumbled into this niche market,” said Moreau. “I never thought I’d have a talent for it.”
Moreau did go back to school in 2010 – to New England Institute of Technology to study software engineering.
That put her on a direct path in her IT career. In 2012, Moreau got a job as a software engineer at Laser Star Technologies in East Providence.
In December 2013, she began working at Precision Design Studios, which provides e-commerce services for a wide range of mostly large companies.
Moreau is collaborating with Devine and others in the IT industry on the computer science awareness project.
“Every company needs IT developers,” said Moreau. “I think there’s a lot of misconception about what being a developer is. The people I work with are down-to-earth, friendly and social.
“I hope that IT classes become more integrated into the high school curriculum,” said Moreau. “Even if you’re not intending to be a developer, technology is integrated into what we use every day.
Lisa Duda is director of global IT process and methodology at Schneider Electric SA in South Kingstown and is also collaborating on the computer science survey and summit.
“We need to train our students in the very hard technical skills, as well as soft skills, so they can take these entry-level or mid-level technical jobs,” said Duda.
Opportunities are broad, said Duda, who works on a global scale for Schneider Electric, which is headquartered in France. Duda has a bachelor’s degree in finance, an MBA and a master’s degree in information systems, all three from Bryant University. She worked in Germany for an American bank for six years and has worked at Fidelity Investments and Textron Inc.
“What I’m doing is collecting information from technical-hiring managers so we have feedback for our working group on the curriculum summit,” said Duda.
“Our state certainly has many kids who have the ability go into IT, and if can provide them with education and opportunity, they can stay in Rhode Island,” she said.
The computer science curriculum awareness survey will be distributed to businesses by mid-August, said Devine. The date of the curriculum summit is to be determined. The summit is tentatively planned to be held at the Sheraton Providence Airport Hotel in Warwick. •

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