Victor Godinez
Novenber 19, 2003
What do Madrid, Milan, Munich and Dallas have in common, besides good lunch menus?
They are the sites of a new training program for wireless software programmers from cell phone company Nokia.
The program is for existing third-party Nokia software developers, as well as those from outside the wireless world who are looking for new opportunities.
"There is, right now, a shortage of competent developers," said Hamad Rashid, the Irving, Texas-based manager of global developer training for Nokia.
"It's been quoted before that the PC is becoming a briefcase and the mobile phone is becoming a wallet," he said. "If the mobile phone is the wallet, then a large number of applications are needed for that."
Rashid and others say that the demand is surging for everything from games to business applications on cell phones, PDAs and other handheld devices.
For example, Silicon Valley start-up firm Tapwave Inc. was preparing its Zodiac PDA for release in October. The Zodiac is being marketed as a full-fledged handheld gaming device built around the business-friendly Palm operating system.
Byron Connell, co-founder and senior vice president of marketing for Tapwave, said the demand for mobile and wireless game developers is taking off.
"We went out to most of the major publishing companies like Electronic Arts, and we consistently heard that they thought there was a big gap in the marketplace," he said. "The Game Boy basically appeals to young kids."
Tapwave, like most of the industry, generally contracts with third-party developers to create games. But the company recently landed additional investor funding and is planning to do internal hiring in the next few months.
Philip Marshall, director of wireless technologies for research firm Yankee Group, said most developers work in small, independent firms and pitch their programs to potential publishers once the software is complete, hoping for a sale.
Games usually sell for only a few dollars apiece, and publishers often take a sizable cut. Without a major hit to pay the bills, development studios can easily go under.
As a result, job security has been an issue for developers.
"If I were a developer and I had the opportunity to go after this type of market, I would think very carefully about specific markets and industry verticals that I would address," Marshall said, noting a demand for wireless programs in the financial services, health care and sales-force automation industries.
Jeff Duntemann, a freelance wireless analyst for Evans Data Corp., said that little information is available on hiring trends for wireless software developers but that demand does exist.
"You go to a nerd party, and all the geeks are showing off their new smart phones - and this wasn't the case a year ago," he said. "The leading adopters are a good leading indicator because eventually they influence others."
Once the demand expands, companies will look for skilled wireless developers, he said.
He said wireless developers can make $50,000 to $70,000, but pay varies.
The pilot site for the Nokia program in Dallas is New Horizons Computer Learning Center.
New Horizons president Chris Jones said his company will offer two intermediate programming courses this year and hopes to offer more classes in 2004.
The programs, which will run no more than a few days each, will cover a broad range of technologies such as Java 2 Micro Edition, xHTML, multimedia messaging services and C++.
Workers proficient in those technologies have been among the few tech professionals commanding interest from employers.
Online job board Dice.com says Java and C programming languages are the most sought-after technology skills on its site, although it doesn't break the data down to measure demand specifically for wireless programmers.
Donna Regenbaum, director of the Americas developer group at Nokia, said wireless programmers have the chance to influence a young technology.
"This is a new market, and it's a pretty rapidly emerging market," she said. "And so, naturally, there is a lot of growth there and lots of opportunities for good developers to get in and have an impact on the market."
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(c) 2003, The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
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