Employment Options Are Many for Students Armed with a High-Tech Degree

Employment Options Are Many for Students Armed with a High-Tech DegreeSome Still Take Chances With DotComs

TROY, N.Y. -- Even with a slumping economy, students graduating with a high-tech degree can continue to expect to have the upper hand in the hiring process, says Tom Tarantelli, director of the Career Development Center (CDC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.

"It's still going to be a robust job market. But instead of dotcoms competing with the large, conventional corporations, the big companies are now competing among themselves," Tarantelli says. "For those graduates finding jobs in high-tech research fields, salaries are up 5 percent on average from last year."

Michael Straus, armed with a bachelor's in computer science, received several lucrative offers before the Verona, N.J., native decided to take a job offer for $72,000 plus bonuses from Oracle as a software developer.

But dotcoms and smaller companies are not altogether dead, and students are still taking some chances on those still offering some lucrative opportunities.

Cara Jones, 22, receiving her bachelor's in computer engineering this year, recently accepted a $70,000 Connecticut job with FactSet, a company that offers online investment tools to the investment management and banking industries.

She turned away job opportunities from major corporations, including one from Goldman Sachs, a leading global investment banking and securities firm that's one of the largest and oldest of its kind.

For Jones, identifying a corporate culture, how she'll fit in, and what part of the decision-making process she'll be involved in all come before the dollar sign.

"Goldman Sachs is a great company, but smaller and newer companies have a different culture--a younger culture that I can relate to."

Jones says she isn't worried about the risk she could be taking in becoming an employee for a smaller company or a dotcom at a time when such companies are acquiring a bad reputation in today's economy.

"When you have a computer degree, you're set--you can get a job almost anywhere," says Jones. "So, why not take a chance?"