Wireless technology is taking on the Gold Rush feel that the Web had in the late 1990s. Nearly every major company, it seems, is planning a wireless product or service, Web-enabled gadgets are staples of the evening news, and there are mutual funds that specialize in wireless vendors. The rush to be in on the Next Big Thing is swelling the demand for technologists who can help build the first successful wireless portal or the cellular phone that makes the wireless Web truly indispensable.
IT workers, especially programmers, are reportedly in hot demand. "There's just not a lot of people out there who have the experience," says Charles Moore, president of Active Wireless Executive Search Group Inc. Based in South Daytona, Fla., Active Wireless is one of a tiny group of headhunters that focus on the wireless industry. Moore's company also runs one of the first wireless-focused job boards, wirelessresumes.com.
Wild about wireless
As a new industry with standards finalized just in the past two years, wireless hasn't had time to train enough workers with specialized skills in the way, for example, that HTML, Java, and C++ know-how has been developed in the Internet industry. Besides making ample use of these existing Web technologies, wireless brings with it a new set of languages and standards, most importantly the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and HTML variants such as the Handheld Device Markup Language (HDML) and the newer Wireless Markup Language (WML).
Hardware platforms and operating systems proliferate, led by the PalmOS from Palm Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.), PocketPC from Microsoft Corp. (Redmond, Wash.) and EPOC from Symbian (London, England). And like the early Web, wireless has several competing browsers, including the UP.Browser from Openwave Systems Inc. (Redwood City, Calif.; formerly Phone.com and Unwired Planet). Programmers may struggle to write code that fits in the small memory capacities of the handheld platforms, though the systems themselves are relatively uncomplicated and easy to learn, according to observers.
Wireless product development takes two main tracks: radio frequency (RF) technologies related to wireless transmitters, and the information infrastructure needed to tie wireless networks to existing corporate networks or create, manage, and reformat corporate data and Web content for wireless platforms. Because such RF jobs are often filled from the ranks of telecommunications companies, most of the opportunities for programmers are in the network and server infrastructure and the application development side, according to vendors and industry observers. The IT action is by no means limited to programming: If the online job boards are indicative, perhaps a third of the open positions require strong network-engineering skills, often including familiarity with cellular standards such as CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and GSM (Global System for Mobile communication).
The wide gap between the burgeoning demand and the slower-growing talent pool, Moore says, is resulting in IT salaries that are roughly 25 to 50 percent higher than those in other fields. The biggest demand is for programmers familiar with WAP, a standard protocol for displaying the Web on different devices. On one recent day, IT job board Dice.com showed numerous listings for senior-level jobs paying $100K or more to programmers with six years of experience. Some hiring companies ask for WAP and WML skills, but most require more generic network-related and Web-development skills, such as Java, C++, Perl, SGML, or XML, familiarity with TCP/IP, and experience developing for Windows NT and Unix servers. College graduates with some courses in wireless-related technologies are also at a premium. "These guys are rolling out at 65 to 75K a year," Moore says.
Wireless vendors are sweetening benefits to attract talent. "We're seeing a big growth in stock options and relocation packages that we didn't see three to four years ago," says Moore, whose company typically places candidates at the director level or above. "Just about every candidate we have placed gets a sign-on bonus in the thousands."
Much of the talent in wireless resides overseas. Europe has long been years ahead of the United States in wireless adoption, especially the Scandinavian countries, where cell-phone penetration exceeds 90 percent and local vendors like Nokia and Ericsson are worldwide leaders. The imbalance suggests that North American recruiters should look to Europe or the Far East, another region where wireless is popular, for programming talent. "We're bringing people in from overseas," Moore says, "especially Sweden, Finland, the UK, Belgium, a bit from Germany, and a lot from Korea and China. I mean a ton." Moore adds that many wireless vendors contract programming work out to developers in China and India, where labor costs are lower.
The purported skills shortage could be somewhat artificial because recruiters in human resource departments tend to filter out résumés based on the presence of buzzwords, rather than looking for real evidence of programming talent and experience, says John Miano, chairman of the Programmer's Guild, an advocacy group based in Summit, N.J. Even the most knowledgeable recruiters in IT departments may filter out qualified candidates by insisting on wireless-specific experience, such as WML programming, that didn't even exist three years ago. "Look for roles that would suggest to you that a person has worked with a variety of different skills and is easily adaptable," Miano advises.
Programmer's paradise?
How should programmers prepare themselves for the opportunities in wireless? With companies often settling for generic Web-development skills, the answer may be: not much, if they already have Java, XML, or Perl experience, or are comfortable developing system software for Windows NT or Unix servers. And while Miano says it can be helpful to acquire, say, WML skills through self-education or by taking on extra work, programmers with solid Web skills are better positioned than they would be if they specialized too much in wireless. "The thing that still is dwarfing it is the Web stuff right now," Miano says. "I'm not seeing anything in the market that says that people should be flocking to wireless."
Kathy Simpson, Openwave's director of developer marketing, agrees that people with Web-related programming skills are already sitting pretty in the wireless world, and she's not so sure the alleged skills shortage is anything more than a normal learning curve, though she is sure that interest in wireless development has skyrocketed. The number of companies and programmers signing up for Openwave's developer program has grown so fast from the 4,900 tallied in June 1995 that she stopped counting when the number topped 200,000 last month.
Web-development skills are so highly valued in the wireless industry because many of the biggest players are existing Web heavyweights like Amazon.com that are reformatting their content for transmission on wireless devices, according to Simpson. In addition, programmers skilled in developing high-availability, fault-tolerant servers in, for instance, healthcare or finance, will also find a home at wireless infrastructure companies like Openwave, which makes and sells software platforms for corporations and network service providers. Preparing for the wireless opportunity is more a matter of adding a few new skills rather than dumping older ones, she says, a relatively simple task since most experienced programmers will find WML, a tagging language like HTML, easy to pick up. "As programmers, they will need to expand their skill sets," Simpson cautions, but most will find WML and WAP training to be sufficient, since the two standards remove much of the complexity of developing software for the various handheld platforms and browsers.
One good way to start learning, says Simpson, is to download the free software development kits (SDKs) and getting-started guides at her company's Web site, www.openwave.com. Books and online courses, such as the Java, WAP, PDA, and cellular technology tutorials at the Wireless Developers Network (see link below) are springing up. In addition, perhaps 30 US colleges and universities have wireless concentrations, according to Moore. "If you live in a major city you're going to find a university that will teach you wireless skills," he says.
A career move into wireless isn't all upside, though. With many companies rushing to release new products and establish de facto standards, development cycles will be short and work hours will likely be long. And as a new industry, wireless will have its ups and downs, and not all companies will survive. Even the largest vendors are vulnerable: On Feb. 9, for example, Motorola announced it was laying off 4,000 workers in its Texas-based semiconductor division, which includes a business unit that makes chips for several wireless platforms.
Still, the long-term prospects appear rosy for skilled programmers, according to Moore, who admittedly has an interest in boosting the wireless industry. Says Moore: "Today if you get laid off at nine in the morning, you can go to a site like wirelessresumes.com and put your resume up there, and you'll get three or four calls by the end of the day."
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