IT Tackles Shortage of Technical Staff with Innovative Program

By Mary Sue Hedrick

 
The demand for highly skilled technical personnel has never been higher, both in the corporate world and in higher education. UC Davis is no exception. Over the years, the campus has grown increasingly reliant on technology, calling on IT services to meet the needs of instructional technology, business, application development, and general computing. However, in a technology environment, quality service depends on the ability to recruit and retain highly technical staff, which has become an increasingly difficult proposition.

To meet this challenge, The Division of Information Technology has created a unique and innovative program. A small application development group has been formed in IT-Information Resources (IR) including entry level professional staff, temporarily assigned technical staff from other IT units, and graduating seniors already employed by IT. The group will be responsible for short-term projects, particularly those focusing on the development of campuswide administrative computing systems, such as Banner and the Personnel Payroll System (PPS). Lana Moffitt, IR Director, sees the program as a great opportunity for the campus. "This program will help us meet our immediate commitments to the campus, but more importantly by tapping into our student's skills and experience, we will be able to develop a larger pool of technical expertise on which to draw in the future."

This new application development program is one solution in the fight against staffing issues. According to Tom Field, Senior Editor of CIO magazine, the IT staffing crisis is real; solving it requires innovation. There are currently 300,000 unfilled IT positions, and he expects 1 million new jobs to be created by 2003. "There is no one solution to be handed down by a government, business or consultant. There are many smaller remedies that work--homegrown solutions that, with variations, may work for you." (See "Whatever Works; Staffing Up When the Pool of Applicants Is Down," CIO, January 7, 2000).

As the need for IT services continues to grow, UC Davis will require other innovative solutions. "This program is only one part of the solution. We need to continue to explore every opportunity to get or build the skills necessary to support the information technology needs of the campus," says Moffitt.

For more information on this program, contact Brian Alexander at bcalexander@ucdavis.edu.