The communications job market is alive and kicking as cellular technology evolves and opportunities for engineers with the right skills open up. Maybe it’s time you put your surfboard on this particular wave
In its various guises communications is driving the modern electronics industry, so it could be a good field in which to look for gainful employment.
Cellular technology continues to evolve, alongside new rollouts of lower-cost 2G infrastructure and handsets in developing regions, and new versions of standards like 802.11 and 802.16. Add in technologies such as UWB, and communications companies need competent development engineers, marketing people and project managers to keep pace.
At Brighton-based technology recruitment agency ICP Search, a recent increase in business has come from Sweden, Norway and Finland.
“We’ve seen a big upturn – lots of hiring in the Nordic regions across the board [both wireless and wireline],” says John Monroe, executive consultant at ICP. “We’ve seen in particular more uptake since late summer. This has been generated by European and US semiconductor firms putting resource into covering those [Nordic] accounts.”
The positions being handled by ICP are not just in engineering - global account managers and marketing personnel are being recruited to provide existing clients with a better service. For example, Monroe says big telecoms manufacturers like Nokia are demanding more specific attention from their direct suppliers, rather than working through distributors.
Companies are also hiring to cover expansion into new geographic regions, a trend being supported by the availability of low-cost, high-performance equipment produced in high volume for Africa and parts of Asia.
A different perspective on the same market is offered by Cambridge Consultants (CCL). The company works on a wide variety of technology development projects, and has seen an increase in business in general over the last 12 months
“We’re seeing a general uptake both in the amount of work we’re being asked to quote for and the amount of work we’re doing,” says Tim Fowler, business development manager in the firm’s wireless unit. “We have seen the whole technology market pick itself up after three, four or five years of hard work. Wireless is riding the top of the wave.”
Hanging ten on that wireless surfboard are projects using Bluetooth and DECT, but also WiMAX (802.16), UWB, 802.11n and 802.11p. That is driving engineer recruitment - CCL expects to increase headcount in its wireless division by 15 per cent next year - but engineers with the requisite skills are “like the proverbial hen’s teeth”.
When CCL finds them, it tries hard to hang on to them, even through market downturns, by moving them through departments, offering retraining and giving them freedom to choose their own career paths. “Good engineers are hugely valued, they will always be a commodity that’s in demand,” says Fowler.
At Nortel it is a different message. The firm retains only limited R&D and engineering in the UK, and outsources manufacturing to Flextronics, so it is its enterprise division that is seeing most recruitment activity, in the shape of salespeople to help drive the business.
Ben Roome, a spokesman for Nortel, says that UK and European SMEs and business customers are a productive target for its enterprise equipment. Accounts with the major telecoms operators are mature and handled by well-established teams.