Finding & Retaining Talent in Hawaii

Comment

Comment by Laurence A. Lee on January 2, 2009 at 1:18pm

John: For instance, I have a friend in this situation. Not only are his options very limited, his employer had him sign a non-compete (that he reluctantly signed because of the limited options). Now, he is essentially trapped by his employer.

Yikes, that sucks. In California, such non-compete contracts are void if it prevents someone from finding work. Considering the landscape of Hawaii, I'm surprised we don't have a similar law.

Comment by John on January 2, 2009 at 1:14pm

Laurence stated, "You could be the most skilled person on the short-list, but if the hiring manager doesn't think you'd be easy to work with, he'll go with the next person on the list."

Or the hiring manager could be technically incompetent and hires the person who sounds best. I do not know the specific situation obviously but it's fairly common for this problem to happen anywhere.

Comment by John on January 2, 2009 at 1:12pm

Hi Chris,

Your point about 'get interviews setup quickly or risk loosing the person' may be the key difference.

In Hawaii, most technical areas of specialization have only 5 to 10 companies able and willing to pay top salary for their speciality. As such, competition is limited.

For instance, I have a friend in this situation. Not only are his options very limited, his employer had him sign a non-compete (that he reluctantly signed because of the limited options). Now, he is essentially trapped by his employer.

I think such tactics not only harm the employee, but the employer and the tech sector by reducing motivation for employees to excel and restricting competition.

Comment by Laurence A. Lee on January 2, 2009 at 1:09pm

Minh Nguyen: Not sure what it is like now, but I have never been lucky enough to find a remote DBA job. And to be franked, I found that for most of the contracts I have been on, it would have been impossible to do the job remotely. At one company where we hired remote DBAs to help me with my load, I still have to do the daily tasks of interacting with users and developers. Now that you mentioned it, that Remote DBA company did want to hire me on a permanent basis, but they wanted me to work from their NY command center :( May be I should give them a call to see if they want to start offering services in Hawaii ???

The East Coast has a good saturation of work to solicit, and some data centers are getting better at permitting secure remote access. This is partially to enable outsourced help, and partially to meet the demands of their top-tier crew who need the 24/7 ability to pop into a system console from home and tune something up. When I was working out of Vegas, I was the OnCall guy every 4th week, and often had to do things from home at 2AM via Remote Console and a secure Tunnel. Windows Remote Desktop and TCP/IP-enabled KVMs are wonderful things to have in a data center. :-D

As others have pointed out, the higher-level positions aren't advertised, and aren't usually filled by passing out a Resume. As an independent contractor, it's vital to network amongst colleagues, and maybe publish technical articles on a blog. Marketing yourself and learning new skills should be the "full-time effort" when you're in a period of downtime.

The DBA who got the job above three other DBAs just did a better job of marketing himself, impressing the right people, and giving a "good-will vibe" that lets others think that he'd be someone easy to work with. You could be the most skilled person on the short-list, but if the hiring manager doesn't think you'd be easy to work with, he'll go with the next person on the list.

This is why networking and getting personal recommendations is as critical as having the skills themselves. Even if Tech Meetups have little to do with DBAs, it's still worth getting out there, making friends, and getting face-time with colleagues. They may know of opportunities that wouldn't otherwise be advertised. As John stated, it's more of a "who you know" issue.

Comment by Chris Hand on January 2, 2009 at 12:21pm

From my experiences in Hawaii, I find it easy to believe that people are hired within social circles. In the effort to attract talent to Hawaii that might be a point to consider.

In the Seattle area, there are skills that are always in demand. When a hiring manager gets a resume for a person with those skills - they know to get interviews setup quickly or risk loosing the person. A person who lives up to their resume will get multiple offers within a week, easily. Job searches stop being about money, and become more about challenges and personal growth.

Comment by John on January 2, 2009 at 11:26am

I think it's more of a "who you know" issue. For instance, applying or submitting a resume is a low probability tactic of getting a job (especially here). I think that goes across the board, regardless of skill.

On the other hand, it's been a few years since I worked locally so I could be totally wrong. I'd be happy to hear this is not the case.

Comment by Chris Hand on January 2, 2009 at 11:16am

If I were to land in Hawaii tomorrow with the expectation of finding a 100K+/year salaried position within one week, what technical skill(s) would be the most likely to get me that job? This includes accounting for the current economic conditions.

Comment by Laurence A. Lee on January 2, 2009 at 5:45am

Haken: I'm curious. What is the average age of people on the mainland who are getting married and having kids? Or decides to purchase a home?

I've no hard statistics to point to, as the US Census doesn't appear to collect the median age of first time mothers, or median age of first marriages. Though, with Hawaii's higher cost of living, it doesn't bode well for a young couple in Hawaii to take on debt to hold a huge wedding, and later pile on a mortgage and car loan. With such debt diminishing investment opportunities, and College expenses coming up in 18 years, how many Hawaii couples will *really* be able to afford to trek around the world while the kids are at college?

As for "when" to settle down, again, it's a personal choice. Me, I'd rather get all the "crazy urges" out of the way while I'm still not tied down. Got skydiving done, and I'm currently pumping my Life Savings into founding a Technology Startup. I'm a little disappointed the better half won't let me run in front of the Bulls in Spain, but oh well. At least we're travelling a bit before finally settling down and starting the family. For me, I love the freedom as a young professional couple without kids.

As for Computer Science and Engineering being socially unattractive, that's debatable. With the rise in social networks and adept kids tweaking up MySpace HTML pages, running/skinning their own PHP blogs and forums, and creating their own Flash Animations and video games, I don't see Computer Science as being just for Tech-Nerds as it used to be.

Yes, there is a lack of local high-tech talent that can be matched up to the local high-tech job market. I don't think Minh's case is ironic at all. Few companies need a High-End DBA to run the daily operations, so it makes sense to hire a contractor on an hourly basis just to handle the occasional "Tough Problems". It's not a matter of being multi-talented (though it does help), it's a matter of being able to apply (or market) a person's skillset to multiple domains.

In Minh's particular case, on top of the usual advice, I'd suggest offering DBA services to the Mainland via Telecommuting or negotiated as a series of 2-week on-site engagements. I'd also suggest seeking out people and businesses who are heavily engaged in OLAP-style work. A good DBA who can optimize extraction routines and indexes is extremely valuable in the OLAP space.

Minh, we definitely need to meet at a Tech Meetup sometime soon. It'd be a shame for Hawaii to permanently lose a high-end Oracle DBA.

Comment by John on January 1, 2009 at 4:22pm

Hi Minh, I can appreciate your challenges. Because Hawaii is fairly small, there are a limited number of opportunities plus those opportunities are generally filled by immediate connections/friends/etc.

I think DoD / DoD related positions can do very well. For instance, Booz Allen Hamilton, SAIC, BAE all have significant operations in Hawaii. The bigger the company and the more mainland/International the company, the better the money and the easier the demands are.

That being said, I do understand what you are seeing and I am sure it is frustrating.

Comment by Daniel Leuck on January 1, 2009 at 4:00pm

Minh Nguyen: Just 2 cents from a mainlander who has been here 2+ years, and thinking of moving back if I don't find anything long term within the next couple of months.I am an unattached person, and I would love to settle here. Unfortunately there is not enough demand here for somebody with my level of skill and experiences. I guess there are enough DBAs for this eco system :)

I might not give up just yet. How long have you been looking? Job searches in Hawaii take longer because the job boards are less useful for technical positions. Your best bet is to attend events like the job fairs, Manoa Geeks, etc. and network. Have you looked at companies like Referentia (I know they are hiring for numerous positions), OceanIt, CDS and eWorld?

Minh Nguyen: Also the perception that DOD are high pay and low stress is somewhat miss leading. I have worked for a military oriented company in Hawaii, and I was doing 80+hrs per week; so even with the high salary, the long hours would just whittle it down to minimum wage.

It really depends on the job or contract. I've found DoD contracts often pay very good hourly rates. I used to get a better rate from the Navy than I did from banks in Manhattan. It was a long term contract providing about 40 hours a week, but it did require travel to Japan. I was in my 20s so this was a bonus rather than a drawback.

Good luck in your search. I'll keep an eye open for people needing Oracle DBAs.

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