In today’s technology driven society, finding qualified personnel that are a good fit for any company’s Management Information Systems (MIS) department is a never ending challenge. For a career field where the sky is the limit, that’s also the case for the Oneida Nation who faces the additional challenges of obtaining and retaining home-grown talent to meet the needs of its own technological endeavors.
One possible solution to helping develop future talent is to spark kid’s interest in the I.T. (Information Technology) field at the middle school and even grade school levels. “Students should realize that they can have a really nice career, make some good money and have a family while working in the computer science field. I’m not sure that we get our younger students engaged soon enough but the opportunities are certainly there,” Dave Cluckey, MIS Manager for the Oneida Nation, said.
“The regional and national unemployment rates for other disciplines are probably around five percent,” Cluckey said. “For I.T. that rate is probably less than two percent. So individuals that have that background and experience in I.T. are already gainfully employed. So luring them from other employers or identifying individuals who are currently unemployed in this fantastic career field is a challenge.”
Since the Oneida Human Resources Department (HRD) doesn’t currently have an active recruitment program to fill areas of need, individual departments within the tribal organization rely solely on responding applicants to job postings or they must seek out qualified applicants from various social media sites and institutions of higher learning.
“We take advantage of some of the posting boards on sites like Monster and LinkedIn that various I.T. folks visit who are looking to advance or change their employment status,” Cluckey said. “Fortunately we also have a pretty tight relationship with Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) and other educational institutions. We participate in the student internship program which HRD implemented which is designed to help tribal students gain experience because one of their requirements for graduation is that they had to have a certain number of hours of on-the-job experience.
“Our MIS Department jumped on board because we understand how difficult it is for tribal members to get that experience in our field and satisfy that requirement for their graduation,” Cluckey said. “Finding qualified talent, and not just tribal members, is challenging because the I.T. industry is so dynamic and it’s changing all the time. One of our biggest needs right now is Application Development and Security and I don’t see that changing any time soon.”
Due to the ever-evolving world of I.T., educational institutions sometimes find themselves facing challenges in developing skill sets that will remain viable for students down the road. Stepping up to meet those challenges is NWTC’s Associate Dean Julie Ebben-Matzke. “Probably the biggest challenge facing the I.T. field in the past few years is the shortage of qualified workers,” Ebben-Matzke said. “People in the field are aging and retiring so it’s a matter of figuring out how we are going to fix this. We also struggle to find instructors in I.T. because now, in this field, you can pretty much name your price. So it’s a struggle on both ends, and we have students who are ‘jobbing out’ which means they are getting picked up by employers before they even graduate.”
Ebben-Matzke says that one of the areas in high demand within the I.T. field is software development. “We started our software development program at NWTC two years ago,” Ebben-Matzke said, “and we just graduated our first class in May. All of them were employed before they graduated. With our two- year Associate Degree programs we are even having to look at the possibility of creating one-year technical diplomas because so many students are jobbing out on us.
“However, one of the challenges in this field is it’s not for everybody,” Ebben-Matzke said. “Typically you either have it or you don’t. People sometimes think that because they are gamers or do messaging they can do I.T. That’s the furthest thing from the truth. It’s a very logical thinking and problem solving field and a lot of times students wash out of the program. Students need to understand why I.T. is such a wide open field.”
One of the programs in I.T. that doesn’t have a high wash out rate is computer support. Many times a student will start out in the network program at NWTC which involves security and wiring, but in time they realize they are a better fit in computer support or help desk.
Ebben-Matzke agrees with Clucky that sparking a child’s interest in the I.T. field should start at the high school level or sooner. One of the angles being considered right now in conjunction with the Oneida Nation is starting an I.T. academy that would give Oneida students a taste of the field beginning their freshman year and carrying through their high school years. Yet another avenue being closely looked at is increasing the number of I.T. students from NWTC being offered internships with the tribe.
“We are currently running something called Tech Camp in the summer months that are geared towards middle-schoolers,” Ebben-Matzke said. “We’ve done everything from how to build a personal computer to how to write a web site and the kids absolutely love it. Unfortunately we’ve struggled with getting I.T. into the Green Bay School District and that’s why I’m thrilled that Oneida is coming to terms with the fact that we have to partner on this issue because it’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
Fortunately opportunities do exist for Oneida Nation citizens looking to return to the tribe for employment within the I.T. field. Forrest Pelky, Web Developer for Oneida’s MIS Department, received his associate’s degree in software engineering with the aid of the Oneida Nation Higher Education Grant. “Right now I do web development and application,” Pelky said. “I also help people create content for our website and get their communication pieces out there for the public. I studied application development within my software engineering degree and the Higher Education grant is what got me through school. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here. And the wage compensation has done well for my family.”
During the 2015-2016 academic year 47 out of 876 total tribal members who received the Oneida Nation Higher Education Grant were enrolled in computer-related programs at various colleges and universities, according to Oneida Higher Education Department Assistant Manager Mitch Metoxen. “It’s important for students to know that they don’t need a four-year degree to be successful,” Metoxen said. “There are plenty of excellent career opportunities here in Oneida that don’t require a bachelor’s degree but still pay very well. Various computer programs are among them. We also assist students with funding for associates degrees as well as certificate programs.”
