I was reading  Gordon Synder’s blog the other week. Gordon is with the National Center for Telecommunications Technologies (NCTT), and his blog was based on The American Electronics Association (AeA) reported titled Cyperstates 2007: A Complete State-by-State Overview of the High-Technology Industry. With the first couple of TechSpectives blogs, we have looked at the problems facing the tech industry. I found what Gordon wrote to be very interesting because he brings up a problem that the educators and tech industry has not thought of: parents.

Gordon relates this story: “I recently had a conversation with the parent of a high school junior and mentioned the incredible opportunities available to graduates of engineering technology and engineering programs. The parent looked at me and told me these subjects were ‘boring.’”

What does the parent mean by “boring?” What is an exciting job to them? Is it being a Crime Scene Investigator? I picked Crime Scene Investigator because of the television shows: CSI, and CSI: Miami, and CSI: New York (the first show was so popular they had to give us two more – which are almost as popular as the original). When CSI started, there was a surge into the schools that trained CSIs that continues to this day. Why? Because the job was made to look exciting. Crimes were solved in an hour that covered a day of the life of an investigator. How disappointed some of the students were to learn that it can take weeks to run a DNA test, not an hour. And most crime scene investigators have to see the end of human depravity and collect blood, brains, and body parts. That does not seem glamorous to me. The TV never shows what a gruesome murder scene really looks like – maybe if they did people would not want to be a CSI.

I think though that the obstacle for us in the tech education fields is not Hollywood, but parents. I say this because one of Gordon’s bullet points from the press release of the AeA report stated:

  • The tech industry paid an annual average wage of $75,500 in 2005, 86 percent more than the average private sector wage of $40,500.

Is the “excitement” of being a Crime Scene Investigator worth having $35,000 less per year?

How can an industry be paying so much and not have enough students in the college programs? Because the parents have great influence over their soon to be graduated kids. While parents have little success in influencing who their kids date, they do have huge success in what their kids will study.

Hollywood does not need to create a TV show about technology gurus (though NBC will release the sitcom “The IT Crowd,” next season – note their clever use of I T as one word). What we need to do is better educate the parents. As Gordon said he will:

“Here’s how I’ll follow up (to the response that tech jobs are boring) and these are my quotes:

  • Let’s see, the average person works full time from 22 to 65 years of age…. that’s 43 years…. you have a calculator?
  • If someone starts in an average wage job today that’s $40,500/year * 43 years = $1,741,500 in lifetime income based on today’s wages.
  • Now if that same person starts in a tech industry job that’s $75,500/year * 43 years = $3,246,500 in lifetime income based on today’s wages.
  • What’s the difference? $3,246,500 - $1,741,500 = $1,505,000
  • What would you do with an extra $35,000 each year (in today’s dollars) for the rest of your life?
  • What do you think your child would do with the additional income?

This will now become a piece of my pitch!”

Will this be your pitch?

Mark Viquesney