Despite Opportunity, Women Still Under-represented in Engineering

story first appeared in usatoday.com

Back in the mid-1980s, Jeanine Swatton was in an all-girl band in Boston, belting out top-40 hits -- just like the then-popular band The Go-Gos.

The all-female band from the 1980s was iconic for making noise in the predominately male music industry. Years later, Swatton is trying to do the same with an all-female engineering team at her software start-up.

Her narrative is one of a supremely talented engineer and app writer who grew restless as the only woman engineer at previous employers.

It all makes perfect sense for Swatton, 40. Yet in an age of more early-stage tech companies led by women, and against a backdrop of demand for technical talent, female engineers remain a rarity.

Despite an influx of females among Silicon Valley's entrepreneurial ranks, the computer-science field remains dominated by men. According to the National Science Foundation, women have plummeted from 28% of the graduates in computer sciences at U.S. schools in 2000 to 17% in 2010, the most recent year for which data are available.

Rani Borkar says there should be more female engineers. She is a  general manager for Intel's Architecture Development Group who came to the U.S. from India in 1985 and has seen steady, if slow, progress.

The field's stunted growth, especially for women, is rooted in education. There just aren't enough kids weaned on the topic in high school and, before that, elementary school, says Gary May, dean of the College of Engineering at Georgia Tech.

Deborah Hillman, and IT Technician for a resort company offering discount vacation deals like Captiva Island Vacation Rentals since 2000, says she was lucky to get into the field when she did. Internet related work was lesser known at the turn of the century, which allowed more women to beat their male counterparts to those jobs.

Computer science is taught in a fraction of U.S. high schools. Only 2,100 of 42,000 were certified to teach advanced-placement computer science courses in 2011,and just 21,139 students took the AP exam.

Overall, some 120,000 engineering students graduate annually from U.S.colleges and universities each year -- a fraction of the nearly 1 million from China and India annually.

The urgency highlights the race in innovation for global economic supremacy. Engineers are considered among the most vital foot soldiers as companies vie for the business of consumers and businesses. Yet, for years, it's been a male-driven race.

According to Elizabeth Stark, a lecturer on Internet issues at Stanfor Law School, many boys start programming at a young age, and for a variety of reasons, girls do not.

In his acceptance speech after being re-elected, President Obama stressed the need for more college-educated engineers in the U.S., both men and women -- a major meme of his administration the past few years.

The administration has made it clear it intends to reform immigration for 11 million people who are here illegally, but offered no guidance on whether it intends to increase the cap on H1-B visas so more foreign workers can bring their engineering skills to the U.S. "The U.S. is still the cradle of innovation," says Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who wants to boost the annual U.S.graduate total by 10,000.

Several programs are filling the void. The CodeEd.org program teaches computer science to middle-school girls in low-income areas. Another, CodeHS.com, is about to launch a crowd-funding campaign to get computer science in every high school. Smith, the nation's first women's college to have an engineering school, graduated its first such tech class in 2004.

Catering to women, companies such as IBM have for decades targeted career development and work-life programs.

While one in seven engineers is female, according to a 2011 report by the Department of Commerce, Intuit is attempting to buck the trend. Of the 121 software engineers it hired upon college graduation since June, 47 were female -- or more than one in three, says Intuit CTO Tayloe Stansbury.

And for the first time in its more than 30-year history, Microsoft's Windows unit is led by two women -- Julie Larson-Green and Tami Reller -- who served under Steven Sinofsky, who is leaving the company.

Underscoring the push, Jack Dorsey's Square plans to host Code Camp, an interactive experience for female engineers at the company's San Francisco headquarters Jan. 9-12.The conference includes mentorship sessions with Square leaders, developer workshops and networking opportunities.

The grassroots programs have paid dividends, slowly ushering in a new wave of women.

There are others who have arrived by a different path. She doesn't have a formal degree in engineering, but Caitlin Johanson is one of Core Security's white-hat hackers (her official title is technical support and training manager).

As a child, instead of playing with building blocks, she tinkered with an IBM PS/2 personal computer.  Johanson says. From high school, she jumped into freelance coding.

Self-described "bad ass" Vivian Kam is an extreme biker, motorcyclist and hockey-playing software engineer at Complete Genomics.

An uphill climb

Twenty years ago, there was a lot of energy around computer sciences , according to Erin Cech, assistant professor of sociology at Rice University.

But the current computer climate has excluded females, for the most part.

From 2000 to 2011, there was a 79% decline in the number of first-year undergraduate women interested in majoring in computer science, according to data supplied by the National Center for Women & Information Technology.

Tracy Chou, a 25-year-old software engineer at Pinterest, couldn't shake feelings of "imposters' syndrome" at Stanford University, where she didn't feel up to par with the computing skills of male students with more technical expertise.

Of course, building an ecosystem takes time -- often, years. Only 20% of the chief information officers at Fortune 250 companies are women.

Dorothy Nicholls, vice president of Kindle for Amazon.com, says we need to rethink how we teach math to girls. She taught her 3-year-old daughter how to add by counting pieces of Skittles and chocolate.

Yahoo sent ripples throughout the business world, however, with the hiring this year of new CEO Marissa Mayer, a trained engineer who oversaw several major projects at Google, including Maps and the search engine homepage. "Marissa changed the game," says Sally Salas, principal group program manager for Microsoft's Bing Experiences team.

What's more, there are ample growth areas within tech for women -- project managers, business analysts and Web developers -- that do not require computer science degrees, says Matthew Caruso, recruiting director for Atrium Technology, a national staffing firm.

Lisa Pavey, 49, vice president of engineering at Vyatta left the UK because she believed there were no more opportunities for upward mobility. She moved from her native country in 1996 to head up Sun Microsystems' networking group.

Discrimination exists in the Silicon Valley workplace, she acknowledges, which forced her to leave one tech employer. But she says the threat is more in attitude than in physical harassment.

Home-grown engineers

The most direct path to a career in engineering may actually start at home, say several women.

Sophia Chung, 31, a software engineer at Facebook, says her exposure to the field at an early age through her father, a math professor at Johns Hopkins, and two older sisters, both of whom majored in the field and now work in tech enabled her to pursue engineering as a young adult.

The MIT graduate's affinity for tech took her to Hewlett-Packard, Electronic Arts and Google, and she is now heavily involved in events such as a recent hackathon sponsored by ESPN to get more women to participate in technology.

SugarCRM's Tretikov immigrated to New York from Moscow at 16 after the Soviet Union collapsed in the mid-1990s. She learned English as a waitress, and was accepted at the University of California at Berkeley, where she earned majors in computer science and art. Her father is a mathematician, her mom, a filmmaker.

For some, the career path can be circuitous.

Duana Stanley, 30, a back-end engineer at SoundCloud, studied psychology and neuroscience at the University of Melbourne before artificial intelligence "sucked" her into computing. As a kid, medicine and law were her first two career choices.

Dina Hilal, vice president of product at ad-tech company BlueKai, says a computer-science degree is not a prerequisite to jobs in technology.  She majored in international studies and journalism.

Increasingly, Swatton and others are redefining normative boundaries.

Kimber Lockhart co-founded a company, Increo Solutions, to call the shots and circumvent the gender gap. It was acquired by cloud-storage services company Box in 2009 for an undisclosed amount.

While braggadocio may have worked in college, the real world calls for exceptional coding and collaborative skills.

Sometimes, it just takes self-motivation and thick skin, says Tamar Yehoshua, 47, director of product management for search at Google.

That's what piqued the interest of Yehoshua's two children, both of whom have the engineering bug. Yehoshua's daughter, Shir, 21, just got job in engineering at Google. Her son Ron, 17, plans to major in computer science in college

HP Axes Jobs

Story first appeared in USA Today.

Embattled tech giant Hewlett-Packard said Wednesday it would slash 27,000 jobs, 8% of its worldwide workforce, by 2014 in hopes of saving billions of dollars and reversing a financial funk amid brutal competition.

The multiyear restructuring plan, which aims to save $3 billion to $3.5 billion, is the biggest in HP's 73-year history and absolutely critical for the long-term success of the company.

HP is paring thousands of jobs because its revenue and profits are fading. The Palo Alto, Calif., company reported earnings of $1.6 billion, or 80 cents a share, for its second fiscal quarter, which ended April 30, down 30% from a year earlier. Revenue was $30.7 billion, down 3% from the same period a year ago. A consensus of Wall Street analysts forecast revenue of $29.92 billion and a profit of 91 cents a share. Investors liked what they heard. HP shares rose 9% in after-hours trading.

The workforce bloodletting is believed to be the third-largest in tech history. IBM shed 60,000 jobs in mid-1993, and AT&T laid off 40,000 in early 1996, according to analyst Phil Fersht of HfS Research. HP chopped 25,000 jobs in 2008. This is the start of a long process, and is likely not going to be the last workforce correction that will happen this year.

The cutbacks are the latest in a long, painful sequence for HP. The venerable PC giant jettisoned 50,000 jobs over five years under the former CEO. The cuts are especially vexing for the current CEO, who ran on a jobs-creation platform during her unsuccessful bid to become California governor in 2010. The layoffs are equivalent to the population of Eureka, Calif.

HP's revenue is being squeezed by a phalanx of competition from Dell, Apple, IBM and others on multiple product fronts. The projected slackening demand for PCs this summer won't help matters, nor will HP's lack of a tablet strategy.

Another former CEO had proposed jettisoning the PC business and emphasizing more profitable businesses, including commercial software and cloud computing. The new CEO nixed that idea, but she has said HP will continue to expand its software and services businesses.

HP expects to use the cost savings, which would include voluntary retirement, to increase investments in cloud computing, big data and analytics, and security.

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Nokia Swings to Profit, Plans Job Cuts

The Wall Street Journal

 

Nokia Corp.'s new chief executive unveiled plans to cut 1,800 jobs and speed delivery of new products, part of his strategy to turn around the company's struggling smartphone business.

Chief Executive Stephen Elop, in his first address to investors since replacing Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo last month, said the Finnish company would have to undergo difficult changes to catch up again to rivals such as iPhone maker Apple Inc. and smartphones based on Google Inc.'s Android software.

"Nokia has been characterized as an organization where it is too hard to get things done," Mr. Elop said in a conference call following the report. "More than anything else, the changing market dynamics demand that we must improve our ability to aggressively lead through changes in our environment." He added that Nokia's board of directors has given him a clear mandate for change.

The company said it plans to streamline its smartphone operations and cut 1,800 jobs, about 2.8% of Nokia's global work force excluding Nokia Siemens Networks, its telecom-equipment joint venture with Siemens AG.

Nokia executives said the moves would be part of an effort to get new products to market faster, a key failing in recent years. The company also said it would streamline its services organization.

In the quarter ended Sept. 30, Nokia swung to a quarterly profit of €529 million ($740 million) from a year-earlier loss of €559 million when the result was hit by heavy impairment charges. Third-quarter revenue rose 4.7% to €10.27 billion.

Nokia said mobile-device shipments in the third quarter increased 2% from a year earlier to 110.4 million units, though its market share fell to 30%. The average selling price increased to €65 from €64—the first such increase in years.

Nokia's American depositary shares were up 4.2% to $11.28 on the New York Stock Exchange in 4 p.m. composite trading Thursday.

The smartphone market is booming. Research firm Strategy Analytics reported Thursday smartphone shipments jumped 78% in the third quarter from a year ago to 77 million units. But Nokia's share of the market fell to 34.4% from 37.8% a year earlier, Strategy Analytics said.

Nokia has struggled to compete at the high end of the market with the iPhone and the growing number of devices based on Google's Android. In September Nokia replaced Mr. Kallasvuo with Mr. Elop, formerly of Microsoft Corp., to help stem the slide and rebuild Nokia's market value, which fell by 70% , or $90 billion, over the last three years of Mr. Kallasvuo's tenure.

Mr. Elop, a Canadian who is Nokia's first non-Finnish CEO, has a strong background in software and services, which are becoming increasingly important to sales in the mobile world, and has experience working in North America, a market where Nokia has struggled.

During the conference call, Mr. Elop reiterated the company's support for its Symbian operating system even as rival manufacturers switch to other operating systems such as Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.

Last month Nokia introduced its new line-up of smartphones based on its upgraded Symbian software, though the results of those efforts won't show up until the fourth quarter or later.

Nokia also expects to ship the first devices based on the MeeGo operating system, intended for Nokia's next generation of devices, in 2011, Mr. Elop said.

Nokia forecast fourth-quarter sales of its devices and services unit would be between €8.2 billion and €8.7 billion. The company also raised its full-year operating margin guidance at its devices and services segment to 10%-12% from 10%-11% previously.

Nokia Siemens Networks reported a 7% year-on-year sales increase to €2.9 billion, but still posted an operating loss of €282 million as gross margins fell.

Jobs Essential To Future Housing Market

Every Thursday the chief economist of the National Association of Realtors' reviews data he deems critical to the future housing and real state markets.

His focus is not about home prices or interest rates. What the economist finds highly important is a report reflecting new jobless claims. He views the country's employment situation as an essential factor to stabilizing the U.S. housing and real estate sectors.

"We need jobs; jobs (are) the key thing," said Lawerance Yun, the chief economist of nation's realty market. He lectured to the Economic Club of Traverse City on Friday as a guest speaker of the Traverse Area Association of Realtors.

Yun warned that an array of issues are influencing the current housing market. The challenges range from high foreclosure rates to strick lending and credit risk management practices to an over-abundance of unsold properties.

In a positive light, he also noted the country's housing market as well as overall economy is capable of a quick rebound if the job market improves. In addition, as more corporations start to invest in large sums of cash they have earned over the recession, the economic conditions can grow even stronger.

"We still have a very long way to get to full employment," said Yun, who projected up to five years before the country's jobless rates taper to pre-recession levels.

In his speech, Yun targeted the significant fall-off in the country's real estate sales in July but claimed it was not an unexpected turn of events. As the tax credit for federal homebuyers reached its expiration, interested investors flocked to their local home buyers agency to finalize purchases by late June. It wasn't unusual to see home sales drop the following month, he said.

"It's not a 'sky-is-falling' scenario," Yun said.

He projects a "pause" in sales that will continue into September but mentioned real estate sales in the fourth-quarter will be the underlying predictor of the future housing industry. If fourth-quarter real estate sales are consistent with the number in previous years, he expects the overall market for homes will continue to stabilize.

One Raleigh real estate agent, Ann Davis, who works exclusively for a buyer's only agency, has already seen improvements in sales as an emerging influx of families and individuals migrate to North Carolina for career opportunities.

"It is culmination of being in a location that is higher in demand as well as providing niche home buying services that your typical Raleigh real estate agency does not offer," Davis said. She is hopeful that sales will continue to thrive.

Yen warned listeners during his speech in Traverse City that if sales figures are measurably lower in the upcoming months, the country's economy may be headed for a "double-dip" recession.

"If the fourth quarter matches up with the prior fourth quarters, I think the worst is over," he said.

Yun pinpointed other areas of the country's economy in his talk. He touched on the spectrum of opinions regarding where the economy is headed, with some economists foreseeing risks of inflation as others are more worried about prices growing stagnant.

Positive signs do however exist in the housing market. Default rates on recent real estate and home sales have improved, and precise loan origination software has enabled lending practices to minimizing the instances in which interested buyers are purchasing homes that are far more expensive than they can afford. Such tools have also improved credit risk analysis efforts which also contribute to the financial mix of the housing market.

"I think we have to return to the old-fashioned American way ... stay within your budget," Yun said.

As for Ms. Davis and her Raleigh home buyers agency, her future sales figures will a solid source for nationwide projections. She is going to be the one to watch, for Ann is already at the forefront of the emerging real estate market trends.

Cisco Falls After Sales Forecast Misses Analysts' Estimates

Bloomberg

 

Cisco Systems Inc., the world’s largest maker of networking equipment, fell as much as 12 percent in Nasdaq trading after forecasting sales that missed analysts’ estimates and saying the recovery may be slowing.

The stock had its biggest intraday drop in more than three months, falling $2.73 to $21 at 9:30 a.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Revenue in the current quarter will be between $10.64 billion and $10.83 billion, the San Jose, California-based company said on a conference call. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had estimated $10.95 billion.

Spending by global companies on information technology equipment will slow to 4 percent next year as the economy weakens, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. While Cisco is expanding into more than 30 new markets, the company said concerns about the European economy and job growth in the U.S. caused it to be conservative in its forecast for growth in the fiscal first quarter.

“There are obviously headwinds,” said Catharine Trebnick, an analyst at Avian Securities Inc. in Boston, who has a “positive” rating on the shares. “The growth to get back to a normal economy is slower than anticipated.”

Juniper Networks Inc., the second-biggest networking-gear maker, fell as much as 9.7 percent on the New York Stock Exchange. JDS Uniphase Corp., the maker of fiber-optic equipment, slid as much as 9.7 percent on the Nasdaq and storage-computer maker NetApp Inc. lost as much as 10 percent.

Unlikely Double Dip

Chief Executive Officer John Chambers, 60, said the company was seeing “unusual uncertainty” and getting “mixed signals” about the health of the economy. While many of its customers were planning on 2 percent growth in the second half of the calendar year, the pace of the recovery in the U.S. and Europe was less clear, Chambers said. That doesn’t mean the company expects the economy to worsen, he said.

“We’re not making a call on the economy going down,” Chambers said yesterday on a conference call. “I think the probabilities on a double dip, or whatever you want to call it, are relatively low.”

Fourth-quarter sales climbed 27 percent to $10.8 billion, the company said in a statement. Analysts had predicted $10.9 billion in the period ended July 31. Net income jumped 79 percent to $1.94 billion, or 33 cents a share, from $1.08 billion, or 19 cents, a year earlier.

Excluding some costs, fourth-quarter profit was 43 cents a share, above the 42-cent average estimate.

“There is some growing evidence that the economy is starting to have an impact,” said Erik Suppiger, an analyst at Signal Hill Capital Group in San Francisco. He has a “buy” rating on the shares and doesn’t own them.

Billions for Acquisitions

Investors look to Cisco as an indication of the health of the technology industry because the company dominates the market for routers and switches, products that direct the flow of Internet traffic. Large companies account for most sales of switches, while phone and Internet-service providers typically buy the more expensive routers.

Cisco took advantage of the economic slump by making acquisitions. It paid more than $4.5 billion to buy seven companies since the start of 2009 as businesses delayed spending on infrastructure during the recession.

The acquisitions of Tandberg ASA, which sells lower-cost videoconferencing products, and Pure Digital Technologies Inc., which makes the Flip video camera, were aimed to position Cisco for faster growth as the economy recovers.

By promoting video cameras and videoconferencing gear, the company aims to generate even more Internet traffic, increasing demand for its routers and switches. Global data traffic probably will more than double every year through 2013, according to Cisco.

Hiring Workers

Cisco said it hired 2,000 workers last quarter and would add an additional 3,000 to help its burgeoning businesses grow globally. That signals confidence in a recovery, said Simon Leopold, an analyst at Morgan Keegan & Co. in New York.

“There’s an element of good news in this forecast,” said Leopold, who rates the shares “outperform” and doesn’t own them. “This is a company that’s hiring, not firing.”