Why Some IT Jobs Stay: The Rise of Job Training in Information Technology

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Why Some IT Jobs Stay: The Rise of Job Training in
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Karen Chapple; Matthew A. Zook
To cite this Article: Karen Chapple and Matthew A. Zook , 'Why Some IT Jobs Stay:
The Rise of Job Training in Information Technology', Journal of Urban Technology,
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Why Some IT Jobs Stay: The Rise of Job Training in Information Technology 57
Why Some IT Jobs Stay:
The Rise of Job Training in
Information Technology
Karen Chapple and Matthew A. Zook
mode of development, in which “the source of productivity lies in the
technology of knowledge generation, information processing, and
symbol communication” (17). Castells is not alone in this assessment,
as a number of other scholars within urban and economic develop-
ment have identified knowledge and information manipulation as a
crucial component of the current economy.
While these changes were the basis of much of the economi c
boom in the United States in the 1990s, they also bring the dual threats
of the dispersal and polarization of the workforce. For example, a
number of commentators see globalization and the rapid diffusion of
information technologies as foreshadowing the relocation of all types
of jobs to lower cost locations. At times, the level of the rhetoric
reaches doomsday proportions (at least from the perspective of U.S.
cities). There is mention of a “placeless society” in a “spaceless
world.” However, as this paper demonstrates, the dynamic of job
growth, particularly within information technology (IT) occupations,
is much more complicated than simple cost-minimization. Although
information technologies have allowed some regions such as Banga-
Journal of Urban Technology, Volume 9, Number 1, pages 57-83.
Copyright © 2002 by The Society of Urban T echnology.
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
ISSN: 1063-0732 paper/ISSN: 1466-1853 online
DOI: 10.1080/1063073022013533 7
IN the past thirty years, the focus of the U.S. economy has shifted
from the production of goods to the manipulation of knowledge.
This has led to what Castells refers to as a new informational
Castells
Hall
Moss
Reich
Blakely
Greider
Jones
Wolman and Colamosca

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Journal of Urban Technology/April 2002
58
lore, India and Dublin, Ireland to develop their knowledge-based
workforce, there are a number of factors, such as the need for face-
to-face interaction and proximity to markets that keep jobs in the
United States. Indeed, it is an irony that as the economy globalizes and
information travels in real time around the globe, locally based
knowledge continues to play an important role in job growth and the
success of firms.
This continued relevance of place forms the basis for the first
question addressed by this paper: To what extent are IT jobs in danger
of leaving the United States? To answer this, the paper analyzes
empirical data available on occupations and job growth in the United
States and argues that many jobs within knowledge-intensive
occupations such as computer programming that are both the most
crucial to the new economy and allegedly the most at risk of leaving,
are strongly tied to specific locations. While this may not prevent
some programming jobs from leaving, it is a far cry from the footloose
marketplace often described.
The second challenge that accompanies the growing importance
of knowledge manipulation in the economy is the emerging bifurcated
occupational structure. Theories about bifurcation argue that as high-
level and menial service jobs concentrate in central cities and tradi-
tional blue-collar jobs move to suburban or foreign locations, resi-
dents without knowledge-manipulation skills face a “skills mis-
match” that offers them only dead-end service and sales jobs. The rise
in the use of information technologies in the workplace, in particular,
has increasingly been analyzed as a potential factor in the polarization
of jobs in the economy. Yet while many jobs in the IT sector are among
the mostly highly skilled, IT occupations are not uniformly inacces-
sible to workers with low skill levels. There are entry-level jobs
through which disadvantaged or displaced workers may enter the IT
workforce. One of the best examples of this is a relatively new
occupation, the computer support specialist, which has experienced
enormous growth over the past 15 years and is projected by the Bureau
of Labor Statistics to increase by almost half a million jobs by 2008.
The example of the computer support specialist position leads to
the second question asked in this paper: How can adults from
disadvantaged backgrounds participate in this new information-
intensive economy? To address the second question, the paper
presents the results of in-depth interviews with over 200 key infor-
mants, many involved in 26 IT training programs found in six high-
technology regions: San Francisco/Silicon Valley, New York, Austin,
Boston, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. Although these programs are
Mollenkopf and Castells
Kasarda
Burris
Hughes and Lowe
Szafran

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Why Some IT Jobs S tay: The Rise of Job Training in Information Technology 59
very new, they have enormous potential for increasing the number of
people who can participate in the new knowledge-based economy.
By answering these two questions, this paper demonstrates that
while there is certainly the potential for some jobs to disperse and
bifurcate, there are in fact many indicators of continued concentration
and opportunities for people who find themselves on the wrong side
of the digital divide. The current recession within the United States
will likely make all jobs (including IT jobs) more difficult to find, but
this short-term rise in unemployment does not negate the larger trends
we highlight in this article. Although low-skilled workers face
considerable challenges during the restructuring and downturn of the
economy, there are also new pathways developing through which
people can access the emerging jobs.
Bucking the Conventional Wisdom
The post-information age will remove the limitations of geog-
raphy. Digital living will include less and less dependenc e
upon being in a specific place at a specific time, and the
transmission of place itself will start to become possible (165).
Although it is easy to dismiss Negroponte’s statement as merely the
rhetoric of a technophile, many similar ideas have permeated the
national discussion of employment, workforce training, and urban
development. The idea of communities without propinquity has
circulated for more than thirty years, but the new technologies of the
Internet have made it increasingly in vogue.
However, even as some non-U.S. regions emerge as IT workforce
centers, a concurrent trend within the United States forcibly demon-
strates the continued role of place for the IT workforce, i.e., the yearly
effort to raise the quota for H-1B visas. These visas allow foreign
professionals to work in the United States and have been used
extensively by IT companies to obtain computer programmers.
Given the difficulty that companies have in finding qualified IT
workers and the relative expense of employing people in the United States
compared to other locations, it would be in the interest of companies to
hire workers outside the United States. The fact that they are not doing so
and are, in fact, importing labor demonstrates the importance of proximity
even within knowledge-manipulation occupations.
There are a number of reasons for the continued importance of
proximity for IT jobs in the United States such as external economies,
tacit knowledge, the availability of factor endowments, and regional
Negroponte
Webber

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Journal of Urban Technology/April 2002
60
institutions. However, the relevant issue for this paper is simply that
it is occurring. While cost considerations are always important, the
location of the highest value activities (e.g., management, research
and development, and computer programming) is not based on cost
but other factors such as access to tacit information, control, and
timeliness that work to concentrate rather than disperse informational
activities. Although these arguments are generally made in regards to
high-skilled jobs, they are relevant for lower skilled occupations as well.
Conventional wisdom argues that in an era of knowledge-based
work, those who lack the requisite skills to compete in this new labor
market have no recourse other than to take low-wage service jobs.
However, niches are emerging for lower skilled workers as well.
Some of these are new occupations based upon the appearance of new
technology; e.g., there was little demand for Web page developer s
before the Internet became widely adopted. But others have emerged
as appropriate for entry-level personnel because of the evolution of
job requirements over time. For example, computer support special-
ists, one of the best-paying occupations for people with limited
education and training, were initially filled by people with bachelor’s
degrees. Over time, the training for these positions has evolved from
computer science degrees at four-year colleges to short-term training
often done at community colleges.
Although estimates vary, by any account computer technician
jobs account for at least one quarter of all computer-related jobs, and
are one of the fastest growing IT occupations.* There is a great deal
of demand for people trained to do this type of job, and a number of
relatively new programs are emerging to help people from disadvan-
taged backgrounds enter this field. The success of these programs, as
measured by the demand for their graduates, forcibly argues against
the idea that there is no place in the IT workforce for people with
limited education and experience. Rather, it reveals a hopeful new
dynamic through which graduates of IT training programs can indeed
make the transition to the new economy. We hypothesize that the
success of these programs is due to three key factors:
on the demand-side, (1) the continued need for IT labor that is
based in the region and (2) the new accessibility of entry-level
IT occupations as they mature and downskill
on the supply-side, (3) the level of capacity and expertise
available in existing community-based training institutions.
After outlining our methodology and data sources, we begin
with a brief examination of the evidence pointing to how most jobs,
Bureau of Labor Statistics 1997
*The Bureau of Labor Statistics
projects that these j obs will grow
by almost half a million by 2008,
while a controversial study by the
Information Technology
Association of America suggests
that there were 300,000 of these
jobs left unfilled in 2001 alone.
(Information Technology
Association of America; Bureau of
Labor Statistics 1999)

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Why Some IT Jobs S tay: The Rise of Job Training in Information Technology 61
including IT occupations, will continue to locate within the United
States. Next, we show how IT occupations are maturing and thus
creating more opportunities for IT employment at home. The last
section describes how local institutions are responding to demand by
training disadvantaged residents for the IT workforce.
Methodology and Data
Using a combination of both secondary and primary data sources we
demonstrate the demand for entry-level IT workers and the response
of job training institutions.
Demand for Workers in IT Occupations
To examine the occupational structure of the U.S. labor force, we rely
on Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data on existing and projected
employment in a number of job classifications. Specifically, the BLS
1998-2008 occupational employment projections series is used to
determine which workers are likely to stay, as well as the projected
numbers of entry-level IT workers. In addition, the 1998-2008 BLS
industry-occupation matrix was used to determine the distribution of
computer support specialist workers among different industry sectors.
Since the likelihood of these jobs remaining in the Unite States
can only be inferred from this data, we then turn to qualitative data
from interviews with employers to examine the nature of demand
more carefully. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted
in 1999 and 2000 with 29 firms in the San Francisco Bay Area: seven
new media firms, eleven IT-related firms (such as ISPs, e-commerce,
digital prepress, and new media placement firms), and eleven firms
in traditional sectors with a concentration of IT occupations (such as
financial services, telecommunications, and cultural institutions).
Interviews focused on the nature of entry-level employment in IT,
including issues of labor demand, job ladders, technical and soft
skills, training, and workplace culture.
Rise of IT Workforce Development Institutions
Case studies were conducted at 26 nonprofit advanced computer
training programs for adults in six regions: San Francisco/Silicon
Valley, New York, Austin, Boston, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
These regions were selected because they host concentrations of both
high-tech employment and training programs. In each region, re-
searchers developed a comprehensive list of nonprofit training
programs based upon contact with regional key informants, including

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Journal of Urban Technology/April 2002
62
new media and IT professional associations, job training oversight
agencies, and academics. The study included all of the programs
reporting training and placement activities in entry-level IT occupations.
The research methodology for fieldwork consisted of five inter-
related activities: site visits of the program, classroom observation,
review of curriculum, review of written materials provided by the
organization being profiled (e.g., files of program participants, PR
materials, annual reports, business plans, etc.), and key informant
interviews. At each of the study sites, interviews were conducted with
whatever personnel and key informants the program made available.
At the smallest programs, usually at community technology centers,
we generally interviewed only the executive director and a trainer. At
the largest programs, the interviewees typically included the execu-
tive or program director, a trainer, a job developer, an institutional
partner, a key funder, and/or a trainee. Interviews were based on a
standard interview schedule, but were semi-structured: in other
words, rather than a rigid order of questions, the interviews were
conducted as conversations in which all the salient points were
discussed. Altogether, the research effort included preliminary con-
tact with 70 key informants and over 100 interviews at the 26
programs during 1999 and 2000.
The Location-Dependent Demand for Entry-Level IT Workers
A common perception about the relationship between information
technologies and jobs is that IT will make it easier for jobs to leave the
United States, in a context of globalization and liberalization of the
world economy. High-skill (engineering, scientific, design, computer
programming) and low-skill (data entry, clerical, support service,
phone service) jobs in IT are thought to be candidates for dispersal
since they are both information intensive and would theoretically be
most susceptible to relocation by information-transmitting technolo-
gies. Although cost can certainly be a factor in job creation, we argue
that this perception overstates the incentives for IT or information-
based jobs to flow to the lowest cost location. Not only are IT-related
jobs a small proportion of jobs overall (about 20 percent of the total),
but many are concentrated within sectors that are geographically tied,
including education, government, and other services, as well as the IT
sector itself, which continues to agglomerate within U.S. regions.
Although occupations such as systems analysts, computer support
specialists, and computer programmers are reputed to be the most at
risk to “off-shoring ” via information technologies, they only account
for 2.2 percent of all projected job growth to 2008. Bureau of Labor Statistics 1999

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Why Some IT Jobs S tay: The Rise of Job Training in Information Technology 63
Many IT jobs demand significant educational and work experi-
ence but one occupation, the computer support specialist (CSS),
provides a potential entrée for those with fewer skills. The CSS
category is a relatively new occupation that has emerged as the use of
the personal computer has diffused throughout the business world.*
The occupation is defined as follows:
Computer support specialists provide technical assistance, sup-
port, and advice to customers and users. This group includes
technical support specialists, help-desk technicians, and cus-
tomer service representatives. These troubleshooters interpret
problems and provide technical support for hardware, soft-
ware, and systems. They answer phone calls, use automated
diagnostic programs, and resolve recurrent problems. (Online)
The CSS occupation is one of a number of high-skill, computer-
related jobs that are projected to increase in the total number of jobs,
but it is the only one that does not require at least a bachelor’s degree.
This relatively low threshold has made this occupation an important
entry point into the IT workforce for disadvantaged adults in the
United States.
At the same time, the low educational requirement has made this
occupational class a good candidate for relocation to lower wage
regions or countries. Although some off-shoring may occur, there are
several indications that these jobs are more likely to stay. First, the
CSS occupation is concentrated in many sectors that are grounded in
the United States. (See Figure 1.) For instance, retail stores, educa-
tional services, and telephone communications require computer
support specialists to perform hands-on repair work, often on older
computer equipment, such as the wiring systems in hospitals and
schools. Sectors like local government lack the flexibility to outsource
tasks such as network administration. To the extent that technician
jobs can be routinized, jobs within some of the other sectors, for
instance finance, manufacturing, and other services, may move. But
still, offices will need assistance with computer installation, and the
manufacturing that remains here needs computer repairers.
The CSS occupation will continue to concentrate in the com-
puter and data processing services sector (SIC 737). However, as the
phenomenon of the continual expansion of H-1B visas suggests, it
does not appear that these companies are interested in removing jobs
from the United States. In fact, the advantages that come from
working in close proximity is causing the opposite to occur in some
cases. Rather than employing information workers where they are and
Bureau of Labor Statistics 2000
*The other entry-level position
identified in this paper, Web
developers, is so new that it has yet
to become a BLS category.

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Journal of Urban Technology/April 2002
64
where salaries are lower, companies are bringing foreign workers into
some of the highest cost environments in the world.
Why do jobs in the IT sector stay? Although neoclassical
economic theory is based upon optimizing price performance under
conditions of perfect information and competition, this does not
reflect the reality of the economy, particularly in our era of knowledge-
based development. To assume that cost-minimization is the only
driving force behind firm and employment location ignores the need
for firms to learn about and adapt to new technologies and techniques,
and to react quickly to changes in the marketplace. IT labor stays in
the United States because of increasing productivit y, the process of
agglomeration, and tacit knowledge.
After decades of the “productivity paradox” of concurrent
investment in IT and decline in productivity, evidence indicates that
the production and diffusion of IT is raising productivity and thus
keeping jobs here. Some low-skilled customer service and back-
office jobs continue to move offshore, but this is the decades-old story
of capital mobility facilitated by technology, rather than a technology-
driven phenomenon .
In short, rather than indiscriminately driving work offshore to
places like India, Ireland, and Poland, IT is accelerating the process
of selective urban agglomeration both within the United States and
globally. For example, dot-com domain name registrations, one of the
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
FIGURE 1
Projected Sectoral Distribution of Computer Support Specialist Occupation, 2008
Bushnell and Mills
Jorgenson and Stiroh
U.S. Department of Commerce

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Why Some IT Jobs S tay: The Rise of Job Training in Information Technology 65
best indicators of the new economy, are primarily concentrated in
New York, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Even as
firms in the “new economy” shift to horizontal and networked
organizational structures to allow for greater flexibility and special-
ization in volatile global markets, their networks and tacit knowledge
are grounded in place and reinforced by regional context. Although
this is most often described as a benefit accruing to high-skilled jobs,
it also applies to some entry-level positions, providing opportunities
for adults with low human capital to enter the new economy. In
particular, agglomeration helps to concentrate a skilled labor pool,
providing IT firms with flexibility and the ability for quick response
to market demand.
Finally, spatial proximity still plays a very important role in
disseminating tacit knowledge between developers and support per-
sonnel. Although the Internet has made certain types of easily codified
knowledge, e.g., stock prices or technical manuals, more accessible
world wide, it is much harder to do this with other types of knowledge.
Tacit knowledge is built upon personal experience in the midst of
uncertainty and ambiguity, is highly specialized, often context-spe-
cific, changes rapidly, and is difficult to pass on to others. One of the
best ways to distribute it is through networks of associations and
personal contacts. While these networks need not be spatially concen-
trated, it is well established that the transfer of tacit knowledge is
facilitated by spatial proximity and face-to-face contact. Regions and
countries not at the center of technological change will always be at
a disadvantage in absorbing this type of knowledge.
As discussed in the next two sections, the nature of the CSS
occupation is changing over time, while local demand is demonstra-
bly high. Because of the high level of interaction with customers,
issues such as language, accent, and culture play a much larger role
in determining the location of CSS jobs than other types of jobs, e.g.,
clothing manufacturing, that also face wage pressure. This leads to a
new focus on soft skills, a job characteristic that is very difficult to
shape in a globalized workforce. Additionally, the ability to find
people familiar with new software services and the need to fill jobs
quickly keeps many computer support specialist jobs in the very
regions where cutting-edge technology is being developed .
The Life Cycle of IT Occupations: Reasons Some IT Jobs Stay
Although the computer support specialist occupation has emerged
only recently and is still evolving as companies adopt new infor-
mation technologies, demand for CSS workers is high. This occurs
Zook
Harrison
Saxenian
Storper
Feldman and Audretsch
Von Hippel

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Journal of Urban Technology/April 2002
66
in part because the occupation has reached a point in its life cycle
where it has matured and downskilled, thereby opening up new
entry-level opportunities.
Occupational Life Cycles
The uncertainty about j ob prospects and skill requirements is re-
flected in what scholars refer to as a “skill-training life cycle.” At first,
skill training occurs on the job or in special training sessions provided
by the producer (e.g., training in networking by Novell). In this initial
phase, skill needs are met by “job enlarging,” or increasing the job
duties of relatively high-level employees. Over time, as more firms
adopt the technology, these new skills evolve from firm-specific to
general, and are more readily transferable to other companies. Em-
ployee turnover increases as a marketplace for the skills emerges. At
this stage, employers can find qualified employees by recruiting from
other firms. Firms increasingly expect training to be provided by
specialized external programs, funded by government or by the
employees themselves. The case of data processing, which emerged
in the 1960s and 1970s, is illustrative. Employers initially hired four-
year college graduates with some computer training. As training
programs in the field developed, they turned to community colleges
and proprietary vocational schools to fill the gap.
External training programs based in colleges and training schools
tend to be slow to provide the necessary changes in curriculum. This
occurs in part because of logistical difficulties: the fast pace of
technological change quickly renders equipment and facilities obso-
lete, and the greater financial reward of working in the industry
discourages qualified instructors from working in education. The
uncertainty associated with the rapid evolution of technological
products and processes also makes educators resist teaching specific
skills; when they do, industries often complain that the courses are
inappropriate or too late. As a result, the history of the skill-training
life cycle shows that training programs typically appear late in the
occupational cycle and require active involvement with local employ-
ers to avoid training in obsolete skills.
With new computer technologies such as networking and Web-
based applications becoming ubiquitous across economic sectors, IT
occupations are now reaching a mature point in the skill-training life
cycle. Thus, we might expect employers to begin to turn to commu-
nity colleges and other labor market intermediaries to meet the critical
need for IT workers.
Flynn
Useem

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Why Some IT Jobs S tay: The Rise of Job Training in Information Technology 67
The Maturing of the Computer Support Specialist and Web
Developer Occupations
As computers began to become commonplace throughout all eco-
nomic sectors, the computer support specialist occupation emerged to
provide technical assistance for users of hardware, software, and
systems. At first, the new support tasks were incorporated into
existing computer programming jobs, but gradually the technical
support duties shifted to others, such as clerical workers seeking a
promotion who could be trained easily on-the-job, or to four-year
college graduates with some computer training. Once technical
support skills became ubiquitous and readily transferable, f irms lost
interest in internal training for these positions; the return to investing
in training fell as a new market grew for support specialists and
employee turnover increased. At the same time, community colleges
and proprietary trade schools began producing large numbers of
graduates trained in information technology, and short-term nonprofit
training programs also began to find a new niche.
Much more recently, new Internet and networking technologies
have led to the emergence of the Web developer and network
administrator occupations. As with the computer support specialist
occupation, these occupations have now matured and simplified to the
point where firms no longer invest in training and instead expect
workers to be prepared by external training providers. Thus, two
indicators of this occupational life cycle are the downskilling of an
occupation as it matures and the rise of entry-level work as experi-
enced workers quickly move up the job ladder. A key characteristic
of this maturation process has been the emergence of a new emphasis on
soft skills, which leads employers to prefer to fill these positions locally.
Interviews with 29 firms about their entry-level IT occupations
offers considerable evidence of new occupational maturity. These
firms, from either the IT sector or traditional sectors with concentra-
tions of IT activity, are gradually reducing skill levels required in
entry-level IT occupations in Web development and technical sup-
port, shifting to external training providers, and substituting soft skill
requirements for technical skills.
In general, companies no longer require a college degree for
entry-level positions in IT or new media. As the human resources
director of an investment banking house (where 98 percent of
employees have college degrees) noted:
We don’t care about a college degree for IT positions. With these
positions, we are looking for a very specific set of skills. With

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Journal of Urban Technology/April 2002
68
the information technology-related positions we relax many
of our historical requirements. We are looking for skills sets,
not education.
Instead of academic credentials, companies use portfolios and
demonstrable skills to judge the appropriateness of an applicant. As
the marketing director of an international Web development house
stated, “A college degree is not a requirement. If you are creative, have
worked with the necessary tools and have a portfolio, you’ve demon-
strated initiative in getting where you are without a college degree.”
Although firms continue to rely on in-house or on-the-job
training for specialized skills, as they grow they tend to make use of
external training programs for generic technical skills. Most of the
firms that offer in-house training gear the training towards proprietary
technologies or unique company needs that employees could not
cover in external training programs. As the manager of a Web-based
news company relying on on-the-job training suggested, “Since what
we do is cutting edge and hasn’t been commodified yet, there isn’t
much training out there. Classes that are offered are too general. We
teach each other and learn together.” But increasingly, larger firms
find it worthwhile to send their employees out for training in skills that
are increasingly standard: for instance, skills in Oracle, Novell,
Microsoft NT, Microsoft Office software, and Sun Microsystems
Java are all commonly obtained through external training providers.
Thus, employers define the core competencies for these occupa-
tions in terms of motivation, flexibility, and interaction skills rather
than just technical proficiency. These skills become increasingly
important as IT occupations mature in part because technological
advances make technical skills more routinized, and in part because
the pace of change in technology means that software-specific skills
rapidly become obsolete. In the first instance, skills such as the ability
to communicate effectively become an increasing focus of the job, yet
remain closely related to technical skills. For instance, a large new
media software development company stressed the need for strong
written and verbal communication skills because many of their
customer service questions get posted on the Web. Because Web
developer positions in particular require dealing with customers,
firms as disparate as a large banking institution, a new media arts
center, an ISP, a digital prepress firm, and a temporary placement
agency for Web professionals look for entry-level IT workers who are
comfortable dealing with the public in person or on the phone.
The increased emphasis on soft skills means that employers also
look for skills that suggest the ability to learn quickly—for instance,

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Why Some IT Jobs S tay: The Rise of Job Training in Information Technology 69
many specify the desire for employees who are intellectually curious
“self-starters” with a passion for technology. With technologies
continually in transition, the one constant becomes the new organiza-
tion of work. Thus, employers place a new emphasis on flexible
employees who can handle multi-task assignments; as the director of
a Web temporary placement agency said, “You need an unbelievable
ability to go with the flow, to change at a moment’s notice.” Work is
increasingly organized around projects and in teams, leading to a new
emphasis on teamwork skills: as another head of a new media
temporary placement agency said, “People placed in design teams
have to interface with engineers, designers, and account managers
and understand everyone’s role in the project, so communication
becomes critical.”
Finally, employers increasingly emphasize soft skills because of
the continued importance of face-to-face interaction in IT-related
work, as well as the new organization of production around a proj ect-
based teamwork model. Because of this emphasis, firms are often
unable to look offshore to fulfill their need for entry-level IT workers.
The Rise of Entry-Level Work and New Job Ladders
Another indication that the computer support specialist and Web
developer occupations are maturing is the growth of entry-level work
in larger firms, along with the emergence of very specialized posi-
tions. Several companies suggested that as their company’s growth
trajectory stabilizes, they are in a better position to hire entry-level
workers. As someone from a large clothing company with online
operations stated,
Entry-level positions in Web development come when you grow
bigger. You need to have more stability, more maturity before
the Web development team will have time for the coaching and
mentoring that’s necessary to train entry-level employees. You
can’t afford to have too much entry-level work if the function of
the job is to always stay ahead in the business, keep up with all
the changes.
Increasingly, firms are experiencing significant turnover in
entry-level positions within the organization. For example, a large
Web software development company has a good deal of turnover in
the quality assurance department. Turnover in this department is not
due to employees leaving the company; rather, it results from move-
ment up in the company—the quality assurance department is often
the stepping stone to employment in the software or sales divisions of

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Journal of Urban Technology/April 2002
70
the company. Moving entry-level Web developers and computer
support specialists into more specialized positions occurs in part
because these advanced jobs are in the beginning of their own
occupational cycle, when external training is hard to find and firms
instead invest in on-the-job training. As the director of operations at
an e-commerce systems integrator company stated, “It is difficult to
find the right people at times; we want people who have e-commerce
experience. But that is sometimes hard because what we are doing is
so new. As the industry becomes more standardized, we will probably
have an easier time of it.”
That entry-level employees move so quickly up the job ladder
indicates not only that these entry-level IT occupations are maturing,
but also that demand is particularly high for emerging mid-level
occupations that require more specialized skills or experience. In
fact, some of the companies interviewed felt that there were too many
unqualified or inappropriately skilled individuals seeking employ-
ment, forcing them to “raise the bar” for experienced workers and
screen entry-level workers carefully. Flooded with resumes from
Web postings, employers overwhelmingly hire their entry-level workers
through word-of-mouth. Again, this indicates the value employers
place on soft skills, because of the face-to-face interaction required in
IT-related work. It also suggests an opportunity for workforce devel-
opment programs, which have developed both the relationships with
industry and the expertise in soft skill training necessary to access
these jobs.
The Rise of IT Workforce Development Programs
The Context for IT Training
As a result of the new bipolarization in occupational structure, it has
become increasingly important for workforce development institu-
tions to identify entry-level occupations that pay well, offer opportunities
for advancement, and require only short-term training. In the past,
entry-level employment typically offered skill development on the
job, allowing for incremental career advancement. The employment
structure was standardized to a considerable degree, and, even more
importantly, was transparent. But recent economic restructuring and
the introduction of new technologies have in effect destandardized
labor markets and increased ambiguity about how one finds employ-
ment, what skills are necessary, and what career trajectories are
possible. These changes have meant a new role for local institutions
in workforce development.

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Why Some IT Jobs S tay: The Rise of Job Training in Information Technology 71
Workforce Development: The Fall and Rise of Local Institutions
Historically, public-funded job training programs focusing on devel-
oping specific technical skills (e.g., word processing or janitorial
skills) have failed to produce significantly positive results, whether
measured in terms of job placement, job retention, or earnings. In
general, economists have found that short-term, stand-alone hard-
skills job training has a small or insignificant effect on earnings, while
such programs cost twice as much as simple job search programs.
These failures have led to the reshaping of workforce development
policy in the form of the 1998 Workforce Investment Act (WIA),
which replaced the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) with block
grants to states, providing flexibility in the provision of training
services and incentives in the form of standards enforceable by sanctions.
Community colleges have also been criticized for not being
responsive to local labor market conditions, such as changes in
occupational composition and the unemployment rate. Yet commu-
nity colleges dominate the landscape of vocational training, enrolling
nearly 85 percent of the full-time students who receive post-second-
ary education in specific vocations.
More recently, there is evidence that labor market intermediaries
are evolving to address the needs of workers in the new economy. A
variety of new institutions has emerged to broker relationships
between employers and employees, including organizations rooted in
the for-profit sector (e.g., temporary agencies, for-profit training
providers, contractor brokers, professional employer organizations ,
job search Web sites), membership-based institutions (e.g., union-
based initiatives and membership-based employee associations), and
public sector intermediaries (e.g., traditional workforce developmen t
organizations, education-based initiatives, and nonprofit efforts). Of
the intermediaries involved in training, many have adopted the
employer-based training model, which has been shown to provide
significant increases in both earnings and employment. The em-
ployer-based approach emphasizes specific vocational skills training,
and may take place either on the job or off-site in training programs.
These models have reshaped the approach of both community-based
organizations and community colleges toward workforce develop-
ment, yet their success depends largely on whether they select
occupations at the right stage in the occupational life cycle.
Workforce development programs specializing in advanced
computer training have appeared across the country in the past few
years. In each region selected for this study, four to six programs have
emerged at local community technology centers (CTCs), community-
based organizations (CBOs) and community colleges. (See Table 1.)
Barnow
Grubb 1995
U.S. Department of Labor 1995
Grubb 1988
JBL Associates
Benner
Brown
Grubb 1988
Lynch
U.S. Department of Labor 1996

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Journal of Urban Technology/April 2002
72
The programs studied vary widely in size, depending on their institu-
tional orientation, their capacity, and when they began classes. The
community college enrollments dwarf those at the other institutions,
while at the other end of the spectrum are many of the technology-
centered CTCs that have not formally begun training and have only
placed a few graduates. In the middle range are community-base d
organizations like Per Scholas and Training, Inc., as well as the Bay
Area Video Coalition (BAVC), a media arts center, each with several
hundred graduates after several years in operation. Another group of
programs seeks to scale up to this level, but has only just begun classes
within the last year or so. Altogether, these programs have graduated
almost 5,000 students, over 70 percent at the community colleges.*
There is tremendous variation among the programs in this study
in terms of target population and curriculum. (See Table 1.) Both of
these basic dimensions of the programs are determined largely by the
availability of funding. Based on funding largely from the Department
of Labor (DOL), a large number of programs target dislocated
workers (JTPA Title III) or disabled or older adults. Although a
substantial amount of funding is available for more economically
disadvantaged adults (JTPA Title IIa), as well as the welfare-to-work
population, programs have experienced a fair degree of difficulty in
applying this funding stream to IT training. This has resulted in a
smaller number of programs that target economically disadvantaged
adults, although the majority of programs actually mix these different
population groups. Depending on their student population, as well as
their institutional orientations, programs choose different curricula.
Some believe the key is foot-in-the-door help desk positions, and gear
their programs towards hardware support. Others see opportunity in
Web page design or even programming. However, almost all of the
graduates are moving into entry-level computer support specialist or
Web developer positions.
These programs of community-based institutions have grown
so quickly because they respond quickly to changes in the IT labor
market, they meet the demand for their services from both employers
and students, and they succeed in placing their students in jobs.
The Move into IT Training
Not all of the institutions that become involved in IT training have their
roots in technology: many have focused historically on workforc e
development for traditional occupations, such as clerical work or
nursing. Familiarity with IT ranges from these technology-newcome r
programs at the traditional CBOs to the technology-centered pro-
grams at the CTCs. Whether because of their experience in workforce
*This estimate, which covers the
period 1995 through the fall of
2000, excludes community college
graduates in computer science and
programming.

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Why Some IT Jobs S tay: The Rise of Job Training in Information Technology 73
TABLE 1
Programs in the Study Sample
O rg a ni za ti on T arg e t P o p ula ti on C u r r ic u lu m A p p r ox im a te
A g e o f
P ro g r a m in
2 0 00 ( yr s )
A p p r ox im a te #
G ra d ua te s
P la c ed , 1 9 9 5 -
2 0 0 0
C it y
A u s t in F r e e n e t ( C T C ) N e i g h b o r h o o d f o c u s
w i t h s p e c i a l e m p h a s i s
o n l o w - i n c o m e
in t r o d u c t o r y c la s s e s ; W e b
d e s ig n
3 5 A u s t i n
C o m m u n i t y T e c h n o l o g y
a n d T r a i n i n g C e n t e r s
( C T C )
G e n e r a l in t r o d u c t o r y c la s s e s ; W e b
d e s i g n , s e l f - p a c e d
a d v a n c e d p r o g r a m s
6 1 0 A u s t i n
G r e e n T h u m b L o w - i n c o m e o l d e r
a d u lt s
P C r e p a i r & s u p p o r t ;
n e t w o r k i n g . ; W e b d e s ig n
2 3 0 A u s t i n
P a s s I t O n / C o m m u n i ty
O p t i o n s
D i s a b l e d a d u lt s W e b d e s i g n 1 1 0 A u s t i n
A u s t in C o m m u n i t y
C o lle g e
G e n e r a l n e t w o r k a d m i n i s t r a t io n ;
W e b d e s i g n
3 5 0 0 A u s t i n
S o u t h E n d T e c h n o lo g y
C e n t e r a t T e n t C i ty
( C T C )
N e i g h b o r h o o d f o c u s P C r e p a ir a n d s u p p o r t ;
n e t w o r k a d m i n i s t r a t io n ;
W e b d e s i g n
1 1 0 B o s t o n
J e w i s h V o c a t i o n a l
S e r v ic e s
D i s a b l e d a d u lt s W e b d e s i g n 1 1 0 B o s t o n
E c o n o m i c D e v ’t &
In d u s t r ia l C o r p . /J o b s &
C o m m u n i ty S e r v i c e s
D is l o c a t e d w o r k e r s P C r e p a i r a n d s u p p o r t 1 5 0 B o s t o n / R o u t e 1 2 8
A q u e n t P a r t n e r s L o w - i n c o m e a d u l t s P C r e p a i r a n d s u p p o r t 0 . 5 5 B o s t o n
P l a y i n g 2 W i n ( C T C ) N e i g h b o r h o o d f o c u s m u l t i m e d i a , W e b d e s i g n 1 1 0 N e w Y o r k C i ty
B o r o u g h o f M a n h a t t a n
C o m m u n i ty C o l le g e
G e n e r a l m u l ti m e d i a , W e b d e s ig n ;
n e t w o r k in g
1 5 0 0 N e w Y o r k C i ty
( M a n h a t t a n )
A s s o c i a t i o n o f G r a p h ic
C o m m u n i c a t io n s / V E S I D
D i s a b l e d a d u lt s W e b d e s i g n 2 1 0 N e w Y o r k C i ty
( M a n h a t t a n )
P e r S c h o l a s L o w - i n c o m e P C r e p a i r a n d s u p p o r t 3 3 0 0 N e w Y o r k C i ty
( T h e B r o n x )
N e w C o m m u n i t y C o r p . D is l o c a t e d w o r k e r s N e t w o r k a d m i n i s t r a t i o n 0 . 5 2 0 N e w a r k
T r a i n i n g , I n c . / E s s e x
C o u n t y C o l l e g e
L o w - i n c o m e a d u l t s P C r e p a i r a n d s u p p o r t 4 3 0 0 N e w a r k
B a y A r e a V i d e o C o a l i t i o n
( B A V C )
L o w - i n c o m e , u n d e r -
r e p r e s e n t e d , o r
d i s l o c a t e d w o r k e r s
m u l t im e d i a , W e b d e s i g n 2 2 0 0 S a n F r a n c i s c o
C e n t r a l C o u n t y
O c c u p a t io n a l C e n t e r
G e n e r a l m u l t im e d i a , W e b d e s i g n 3 3 0 0 S a n J o s e
D e A n z a C o m m u n i t y
C o lle g e
G e n e r a l m u l t im e d i a , W e b d e s i g n 1 0 5 0 0 S i li c o n V a l l e y
M a r ti n L u t h e r K i n g
L e a r n i n g C e n t e r (C T C )
N e i g h b o r h o o d f o c u s P C r e p a ir a n d s u p p o r t ;
W e b d e s i g n
3 5 S e a t t l e
9 1 1 M e d ia A r t s G e n e r a l W e b d e s ig n 7 5 S e a t t l e
R a i n ie r V i s t a J o b
R e s o u r c e C e n t e r
N e i g h b o r h o o d f o c u s in t r o d u c t o r y c l a s s e s ; W e b
d e s ig n
3 5 S e a t t l e
W o r k e r R e t r a i n i n g
P r o g r a m , B e ll e v u e
C o m m u n i ty C o l le g e
D is l o c a t e d w o r k e r s P C r e p a i r a n d s u p p o r t ;
n e t w o r k a d m i n i s t r a t i o n
2 3 0 0 S e a t t l e
B y t e B a c k ( C T C ) L o w - in c o m e a d u lt s n e t w o r k a d m i n i s t r a t io n ;
W e b d e s i g n ; d a t a b a s e
2 1 5 W a s h i n g t o n , D C
A l e x a n d r i a W o r k f o r c e
D e v ’ t C e n t e r , N o r t h e r n
V i r g in i a C o m m u n i ty
C o lle g e
G e n e r a l P C r e p a i r a n d s u p p o r t ;
n e t w o r k a d m i n i s t r a t i o n
1 1 6 0 0 A le x a n d r ia , V A
C a t a l y s t A s s o c i a t e s L o w - i n c o m e a d u l t s W e b d e s i g n 0 . 5 1 0 B a l t im o r e
D C L in k & L e a r n L o w - in c o m e a d u l t s ,
d i s l o c a t e d w o r k e r s
P C r e p a i r a n d s u p p o r t ;
n e t w o r k a d m i n i s t r a t i o n
0 . 5 3 0 W a s h i n g t o n , D C

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Journal of Urban Technology/April 2002
74
development, their work in a technology-related realm, or their
willingness to partner with others, a variety of community-based
institutions have the capacity to move into IT training. The following
looks first at the institutional orientations of the programs and then at
the evolution of their complementary approaches into a workforc e
development system.
Institutional Capacity. The traditional CBOs in the sample, such as
the New Community Corporation, Jewish Vocational Services, and
Training, Inc., have offered j ob training in IT-related occupations
such as clerical work for twenty years or more, but lack experience in
advanced computer training. Because of perceived demand or new
funding sources, these institutions are beginning to train workers for
positions as PC troubleshooters, Web page designers, and network
administrators. To get started, some programs simply adopt existing
training infrastructure, such as the Cisco curriculum. Others rely on
the assistance of trainers familiar with industry or develop IT-training
capacity through partnering with private vendors (as in the case of
EDIC/JCS and Green Thumb). One way to develop sufficient capac-
ity for a new program is to partner with a more mature institution. For
example Training, Inc. is hosted at Essex County Community Col-
lege, which provides financial security during difficult periods, supplies
some instructors, and also offers college credit for several of the
Training, Inc. classes.
Other institutions develop an IT training program based upon an
existing expertise in a related medium. The origins of these institu-
tions may lie in fields such as graphic design, printing, or video
production. Most of these institutions have been working in these
areas for a long time, on average, almost 30 years, and have made a
natural shift into IT training. For instance, the media arts centers that
had a traditional mission of providing access to equipment and
technical assistance to nonprofits found a need first to train users on
the equipment, and then to shift from video production to digital media
as technology changed. One way these technology-related institutions
have built capacity for IT training is by partnering with traditiona l
community-based organizations to provide soft skills training. For
example, many CBOs come to Per Scholas in order to leverage their
experience on job searching and other soft skills with Per Scholas’
technical training.
Almost half of the programs studied are located in technology-
centered institutions such as CTCs or the computer science depart-
ments at community colleges, which have technology expertise and
equipment but lack experience in job training.

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Why Some IT Jobs S tay: The Rise of Job Training in Information Technology 75
CTCs are generally located in low-income neighborhoods and
offer computer access free of charge or for a low yearly membership
fee. Realizing over time that, as one CTC director said, “The real
digital divide is computer literacy, not access to computers,” many
CTCs have begun to provide basic training to their users; some offer
advanced training as well. Their greatest obstacles to moving into IT
training tend to be the lack of space and organizational capacity. Thus,
several of the CTCs in the study (for instance, the Community
Technology and Training Centers and Byte Back) share space with
local high schools or, in the case of Playing 2 Win, partner with both
a large youth organization for operations support and the Institute for
Learning Technologies at Columbia University Teachers College for
curricular assistance.
The programs at the community colleges have generally devel-
oped within well-established computer science and programmin g
departments, with thirty years or more experience in IT education.
They often partner with other organizations that either have more
experience in workforce development or more familiarity with a
particular subdiscipline within the computer industry. For example,
when the Alexandria Workforce Development Center at Northern
Virginia Community College began, the directors realized that they
simply could not afford instructors under college hiring guidelines. In
the end, they decided to partner with a private vendor that was
experienced in conducting training for other local colleges and was able
to provide the training at a lower cost. In this case, a reliance on a private
vendor also provided them with the greater flexibility to add classes as
necessary since they were not constrained by the semester system.
Evolution of a Workforce Development System. About half of the
programs studied, generally the technology-newcomer and technol-
ogy-related programs, started through some external stimulus, often
a governmental grant from the DOL. Other programs, particularly at
technology-centered institutions like CTCs and community colleges,
evolved more slowly as the organizations began to incorporate formal
training into existing educational programs.
Although the community colleges dominate the landscape of IT
training, the other institutional types have their own niches. As the
workforce development director at New Community Corporation
explained, their role is to provide support services along with training,
in order to help the at-risk populations. A funder to Per Scholas
explains that the CBO programs are not at all competitive with the
community colleges; the role of the CBO is “getting the hard-to-
employ back on track.” The CEO of Per Scholas explained, “Of our

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Journal of Urban Technology/April 2002
76
102 graduates in 1998, maybe two would have been able to graduat e
from community college. Only a couple would have been able to even
walk through the doors and stay in class.” Although critics sometimes
charge that the community-based training programs deter students
from getting a degree, the CBO and CTC directors see their mission
differently. If they can provide the best training possible in the shortest
period of time, they can get disadvantaged community residents in the
door at technical jobs. Once they get some work experience, they
might return for more certifications or a degree. Mel King, director of
Tent City, suggests that these organizations may actually increase the
number of people who try going to college; as he says, community-
based training programs “help them get a seat on the bus.” With
CTCs, CBOs, and community colleges each specializing in different
levels of IT training, they begin to comprise an entire workforc e
development system.
Demand
Most of the programs studied are experiencing very high levels of
demand, which they are unable to accommodate due to funding and
space constraints. Most of the CTCs do little outreach for their
classes, but still fill up within a couple hours of opening up enrollment.
One CTC director estimated that they could serve four times as many
people as they do if they were able to accommodate all the demand.
Another CTC has a six-month waiting list f or training classes. It is
relatively more common for the CBOs to do formal recruitment
through job fairs, advertising, and attendance at events in disadvan-
taged communities. However, their recruitment efforts are not due to
a lack of qualified applicants, but because of a desire to select the best
from a large applicant pool.
Demand is also extremely high at the community colleges, due
to low cost, open enrollment, and curricular choices not offered at the
smaller programs. As one professor joked, “The trick is deterring
students from coming.” Another community college had to turn away
1,000 students last year alone because of lack of space.
The high demand provides some evidence of the shortage of
entry-level workers in IT. In fact, many firms stay in close touch with
programs in order to recruit their graduates, particularly if they tend
to have time-sensitive labor requirements. One telling example
comes from a Route 128 firm that serves on the advisory board of a
local training program. Because of its sudden need for help desk
support workers, the CEO contacted the program and began recruit-
ing trainees before training had ended. Another indication of a
shortage is the rapid ascent of training program graduates up a job

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Why Some IT Jobs S tay: The Rise of Job Training in Information Technology 77
ladder. As the demand for IT workers with experience accelerates the
promotion process, more entry-level positions open up.
Placement
Few programs have experienced substantial difficulties with place-
ment because unemployment rates have been low until recently. Most
programs placed 70 to 80 percent of their graduates into IT jobs,
several were placing over 90 percent of their graduates, and the
graduates who did not work in IT jobs tended to be continuing their
education or working freelance or part-time.* Two key reasons for the
success in placement are the programs’ close relationships with
industry and their focus on soft skills.
Relationships With Industry. Apart from the booming economy of the
1990s, probably the most important reason for the high placement
rates was the development of strong relationships with advisory
boards and/or local firms. For instance, BAVC has built up relation-
ships with local industry for over 20 years as a media production
facility and has been able to leverage these relationships into place-
ments. Relationships with non-high-technology f irms are also very
useful, because the vast majority of IT jobs are located at large firms
and more traditional industries rather than at IT companies. In fact,
these jobs are in many ways more appropriate for trainees, since they
are often more structured with specific tasks, as opposed to the
constantly changing and fast-paced world of high-technology start-
ups. For example, Training, Inc. gets many of its placements for its
students at Blue Cross and Rutgers University, and one of the most
important sources of jobs for Green Thumb graduates is Sears.
In addition to formal ties with industry partners, many programs
benefit from the informal ties that come about through the work of
their instructors in the industry. For example, the Central County
Occupational Center (CCOC) has many key personnel who have
worked previously in the industry. This type of exposure to the
emerging trends in the private sector allows CCOC to keep a good
handle on the direction of the industry. The multimedia design
program at the CCOC also has a strong, 70-person industry advisory
board that is divided between representatives from firms such as Intel,
IBM, and National Semiconductor and local high schools and col-
leges. The companies provide in-kind contributions and discounts on
their products, as well as opportunities for internships for high school
students. In addition, the Advisory Board helps shape curriculum,
builds industry relationships, and keeps the CCOC abreast of chang-
ing industry needs.
*Programs at community colleges
generally do not track placement as
formally as the CBOs and other
organizations that are accountable
to their public and private funders.
Yet despite this gap, community
colleges reported that their
graduates found jobs very easily
when the economy was expanding
rapidly.

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Journal of Urban Technology/April 2002
78
Soft Skills. The other major reason for success in placement is soft
skills training. Such training ranges from integrating traditional soft
skills such as communication and teamwork with the technical skills
curriculum, to special industry-related preparation, to job readiness
training and internships, and typically comprises one-quarter to one-
third of the class hours.
Several of the programs studied have developed soft skills
curricula during their 20 or 30 years of effort in workforce develop-
ment, which they then integrate into their new advanced computer
training programs. The best example of this is Training, Inc., which
was already considered a model “contextual learning program”
because of its unique office simulation module. The simulation
involves having students start a small business from scratch and learn
all the different components of a corporate office, from devising the
letterhead and corporate logos, to creating the corporate structure (in
which each trainee plays a different role), setting up the computer
system, and so forth.
Many programs offer soft skills training specifically related to
the IT occupation for which students are being trained. The best
example of PC technician-related soft skills training is Per Scholas,
which integrates work-related, problem-solving exercises in its cur-
riculum in order to build participants’ confidence. For instance,
during the software training, the instructor will delete or hide a key
program file and then lay out a scenario in which the boss needs an
Excel spreadsheet in a half-hour. Completing this task allows students
to troubleshoot under time pressure. This builds problem-solvin g
skills and creates confidence and allows students to learn from the
experience what sorts of problems users will present and how users
might describe those problems.
BAVC takes a similar approach by having trainees work with a
real-life client to design a Web site. After meeting with the client to
discuss site content, structure, and design, the class then develops a
project schedule, assigns roles to different trainees, and develops the
site. Within three weeks, the site is beta tested and presented to the
client for feedback.
Typically, programs incorporate job readiness skills training
throughout the length of the program. Most begin in the first few
weeks of class to develop the resumés of students and acquaint them
with the types of jobs for which they might apply. By the middle of
the program, students begin practice interviews with each other or
through a computer simulation. In the last couple of weeks of the
program, participants are ready for a mock interview, which is often
videotaped. At this time, they begin intensive sessions with a job

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Why Some IT Jobs S tay: The Rise of Job Training in Information Technology 79
counselor to get the job search started. Programs commonly empha-
size networking as a way to conduct the job search, and may facilitate
networking by providing a forum in which trainees can meet em-
ployed program graduates or industry representatives.
Many programs emphasize internships as the key to gaining
exposure to industry. As the director of Training, Inc. explains,
internships improve trainee motivation, starting wages, and job
retention once placed. PassItOn has begun to design its internships
around a mentoring model: mentors help disabled students by
meeting with them during training and by supervising them on the
job as interns.
Thus, these programs have moved quickly into IT training,
experiencing considerable demand and success. The rise of workforce
development programs specializing in advanced computer training is
due to the capabilities of institutions already doing related work in
workforce development, technology access, and computer science.
Institutions have been able to shift into IT training for disadvantaged
adults not only because of regional demand but also because of their
willingness to partner, their relationships with industry, and their
expertise in developing soft skills.
Conclusion
In an information-based economy, where an increasing number of
occupations involve the manipulation of information, labor in theory
may become more footloose. IT jobs may depart the United States for
offshore locations that have developed expertise in technologica l
applications, while businesses may substitute temporary, high-skilled
workers imported from other countries for local labor.
There is considerable demand for the rapidly maturing occupa-
tion of computer support specialist because it is dispersed across
industry sectors rather than concentrated in high-tech firms vulner-
able to recession. Yet, much of the debate about the globalization of
the IT workforce is irrelevant for this occupation. It is highly concen-
trated in sectors that are dependent on specific places. As the nature
of technician work requires face-to-face interaction, over time it is
requiring lower skill levels and more soft skills, making it more
accessible for local, less-educated workers prepared by short-term
training programs. Most importantly, as one of the few occupations
that pays a living wage and offers a job ladder, it presents a rare
opportunity for those with limited education and experience to enter
the workforce and transcend the digital divide.

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Journal of Urban Technology/April 2002
80
Clearly, this research is but a first step toward identifying the
nature of the demand for local labor. In particular, further study is
needed to clarify employers’ attitudes toward hiring locally educated,
native labor. The undercurrent of the heated rhetoric of the H-1B visa
debate is that those in the local labor force, often minority or older
workers, are unprepared for jobs in IT. The new focus on soft skills
means new potential for discrimination, as employers seek “team
players” who can “fit into the workplace culture” and are concerned
with their image as their workers increasingly interact with the public.
Moreover, the current economic downturn may mean layoffs for
graduates of workforce development programs, who may be the most
recently hired computer support specialists. Thus, whether or not this
truly constitutes a new opportunity for labor market intermediaries,
such as these nonprofit, workforce development institutions who
know how to get “foot-in-the-door ” positions for their graduates,
remains for further research to demonstrate .
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Radhika Kunamneni and Scott Falcone for
their research assistance and Annalee Saxenian and Steve Weber for
their help in designing this research and for feedback on our findings.

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Why Some IT Jobs S tay: The Rise of Job Training in Information Technology 81
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