From...

February 26, 1999
Web posted at: 7:49 a.m. EST (1249 GMT)

by Steve Alexander

(IDG) -- Computer hardware and software vendors seem to be leading the way in targeting that potential labor pool. But the success of those efforts remains unclear because most of the programs are new and only a handful of new hires have resulted.

Also, the future of school-to-work programs is clouded by a phasing-out of federal grants to support them in two years. Some programs may not survive the transition to nonfederal funding.

Although they're being pressured into school-to-work programs by the IT workforce shortage, IT companies see two other advantages to the programs: The workers can be hired for as much as 20% less than four-year college graduates, and they often require less training to become productive because of their school experience.

IT companies' support of high school and two-year college programs sometimes includes only curriculum planning. But it can extend to teacher training, company-provided instructors and student internship programs.

Planting seeds

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Cisco Systems Inc. has its 1-year-old "Cisco Network Academy Program" in place at 1,043 high schools and colleges in 49 states. Under the program, Cisco brings to the academic world its networking certification classes for IT professionals. Cisco hopes the program will create potential Cisco employees and seed the market with young professionals who know Cisco's products.

The Cisco program provides schools with a cost-free, Web-based curriculum, an assessment system and training for teachers. Schools pay a nominal fee for routers used in the classroom. Cisco is spending "millions of dollars" on the academy program, says Scott Knell, Cisco's higher-education marketing manager in Santa Clara, Calif. "You must be realistic and say this is going to be expensive."

So far, Cisco has hired only one of the academy students: part-time maintenance technician Felicia Voss, 18, who graduated last spring from San Francisco's Thurgood Marshall Academic High School. Approximately 40 high school seniors started the Cisco program at her school, but only 20 finished because the work was difficult, Voss says.

"We spent so much time in class, and we stayed after school until 8 or 9 p.m. But it looks good on your resume if you've taken this class because it's really hard-core, not something simple," Voss says. Now a freshman at the two-year College of San Mateo in San Mateo, Calif., she plans to transfer to a four-year school to study computer engineering.

Sun Microsystems Inc. began school-to-work programs early last year at Mission College in Santa Clara, Calif., and Ohlone College in Fremont, Calif., both two-year schools. Students work on certification as Unix system administrators, and Sun helps with curriculum design, offers teacher internships and sets up computer labs, says Leslie Bowers, Sun's enterprise network services workforce program manager in Milpitas, Calif.

The program's goal is to increase the IT hiring pool while seeding the market with Sun-related expertise, says Pat Deagman, Sun's vice president and general manager of enterprise network services in Palo Alto, Calif. What's more, Sun expects to hire the two-year college graduates for approximately 20% less than it pays four-year graduates, and it should be able to train and advance them faster because of their college studies, Deagman says. But the proof of that concept still lies ahead.

Other companies also are betting on the future. A year ago, Oracle Corp. began a two-year, $250 million investment in school-to-work programs at several two- and four-year colleges.

The Autodesk Foundation, which is 70% funded by Autodesk Inc. in San Rafael, Calif., since 1993 has offered high schools a variety of on-the-job IT experiences, including "shadowing" a professional at work, having staffers give talks to students and offering internships for the help desk, programming, quality assurance and testing. Interns can work for school credit or be paid an average of $7 per hour, says Judy Morgan, director of school-to-career programs at the Autodesk Foundation.

"It increases the pool of qualified applicants, reduces the costs of training, is good for the company's reputation in the community and enhances employees' morale by letting them work with students," Morgan says. For the program to work, both interns and their company managers must know their responsibilities, and someone must follow up to make sure the arrangement is working, she says. The company believes its mentorship of students will pay off for the industry, but it has few students on staff.

Dan Trimble started as an Autodesk Foundation student intern and kept on after his 1997 graduation from Terra Linda High School in San Rafael, Calif. As a senior, he worked 30 to 40 hours per week and got school credit for it. The next year, he became a full-time employee and is now manager of Autodesk Foundation's Internet development.

"This program is aimed at everyone, college-bound or not," Trimble says. "Students have found the program has given them a new life: They've been able to learn how to work, what it's like to be in a corporate atmosphere, how to deal with other people and how to be responsible."

Adds Morgan, "Dan Trimble started part-time when he was 14. He's now a full-time employee, the foundation's webmaster and our computer guru. And he's just turned 20."

Cloudy future

School-to-work programs face two significant challenges -- education critics and the impending loss of federal grants -- that threaten their existence, says Katherine Hughes, senior research associate at Columbia University's Institute on Education and the Economy.

There is organized opposition to school-to-work programs from people who think high schools should focus on educational basics, not job training. Many critics fear that students are pressured to choose careers too early, Hughes says.

But Ruth Madalena, program director of Workforce Silicon Valley, says IT companies will press ahead with school-to-work programs despite their critics. Workforce Silicon Valley is a private, nonprofit San Jose, Calif., organization that organizes high school and community college IT programs with firms such as Cisco Systems.

Another problem for school-to-work programs is that federal funding for facilitating agencies that help corporations set up school-to-work programs will expire in two years, and some agencies may founder for lack of support.

As a result, Workforce Silicon Valley has shifted away from a heavy dependence on federal grants. After two years in which it received $2.8 million in federal grants as well as $600,000 in private funds, the organization has shifted this year to $1.2 million in state funds and $300,000 or more in private money. "We're committed to raising enough money to sustain the program," Madalena says.

Alexander is a freelance writer in Edina, Minn.