Hey Ray, I'm interested in seeing what the future of STEM education on Maui looks like.
With a week's notice, I should be able to make just about any date and time...
Best Regards,
Jim
ll have to do a formal oral presentation. We are looking for an industry professional to be part of the review panel.
Panelist will need to be available from 9am to 1pm. The presentations will be at the Manoa Innovation Center on May 29th, 2009.
If you are interested in participating and sharing your knowledge and feedback to some aspiring software developers, please contact Jeff Bloom at bloomj@hawaii.edu
Thanks for your support.
Jeff Bloom
STEM Workforce Development Program Coordinator
Office of Technology Transfer and Economic Development
University of Hawaii
Mobile: 808.371.6600
bloomj@hawaii.edu
STEM = Skills That Excite Empower Employ Me…
ill be paid, I'm sure they will be happy. For West Hawaii, perhaps this is something that we can do coupled with STEM education with the local students here at the Gateway Center?…
S, especially Hawaii. But, when I hear corporations complain that they cannot find the workers they need, there is one factor that they often fail to mention. These champions of the free market must realize that if they offered better jobs, they could find more workers. It is not just a matter of compensation, but stability and training.
Workforce development sounds like a resource from the perspective of the corporation. But, these workers have to be intelligent, so we need to consider this from their perspective too. Outsourcing and treating workers as fungible commodities, to be employed on demand as a best fit of esoteric skills or requirements, may be good for the corporation, but it is bad for the workers. A couple of my coworkers have quit our industry because of this very situation, going back to school and getting graduate degrees for industries that are more stable.…
of the same corporations engaging in exploitative visa pratices). For Hawaii I think we need to focus on supporting smaller enterprises and start ups. Unfortunately, the career stability issue is compounded with start ups - there is no guarantee they will succeed so there is no reasonable expectation of stability in that milieu.
I don't want to sound overly pessimistic about our economic future, but I think we may have seen the end of the "30 years and a retire with a gold watch" days. The tech sector is quintessentially a disruptive force in the economy, for better and for worse. The "creative destruction" mode of innovation means job stability will be harder and harder to come by.
I do not think that is the end of the discussion but, like you, I think we need to figure out how to reward people who commit to careers in the tech sector over the long run. J. David Beutel said:
I am in favor of more public investment in STEM education, of course, and I cannot object very much to STEM visas after going to Japan on a work visa myself. I too want a vibrant tech sector in the US, especially Hawaii. But, when I hear corporations complain that they cannot find the workers they need, there is one factor that they often fail to mention. These champions of the free market must realize that if they offered better jobs, they could find more workers. It is not just a matter of compensation, but stability and training.
Workforce development sounds like a resource from the perspective of the corporation. But, these workers have to be intelligent, so we need to consider this from their perspective too. Outsourcing and treating workers as fungible commodities, to be employed on demand as a best fit of esoteric skills or requirements, may be good for the corporation, but it is bad for the workers. A couple of my coworkers have quit our industry because of this very situation, going back to school and getting graduate degrees for industries that are more stable.
…