Returning to Work, She Finds She’s in Demand

Beate Speer thought her days in high technology were over in 1988 when she left her job as a software developer and systems analyst at TRW Inc. to care for her two young children. When she decided to return to work this year, Speer was surprised to learn that her skills were still in demand, thanks to an industrywide shortage of computer programmers.

Her experience may soon be more common--TRW, eager to find experienced programmers, has begun searching for women who have left the field to start families and might now be willing to return.

Speer developed her expertise during a now-bygone era in her field. With a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, Speer found work in 1980 at TRW in Redondo Beach. Two years later she earned a master’s in computer science and for the next eight years worked as a systems analyst and software developer. One high point was serving as a systems administrator for a space telescope project.

Speer’s first child, Bret, was born in 1986. She left her job two years later after the birth of daughter Melanie.

By 1996, both children were old enough to spend a full day at school, and Speer decided to return to work. At about that time, her 16-year marriage ended.

Speer was nervous about her career prospects because many techniques in demand didn’t exist when she last worked. She studied for six months and received training from TRW.

Now Speer works full time as a software developer and computer programmer. This month she started a new position as a systems administrator in a Unix-based system at TRW. “I’m challenged all over again,” Speer says.

Experienced pros like Speer are the targets of TRW’s High-Tech Moms Program. In the project that began this summer, women who were trained in IBM mainframes or a business computer language known as COBOL before leaving the business to start families get retrained in Unix-based operating systems and in computer languages that are in high demand. Senior programmers at TRW earn $40,000 to $80,000 a year.

“The critical shortage of skilled computer science people is well-known,” says Vicki Frederickson, a staff manager who founded and coordinates High-Tech Moms. The pool of experienced women who left the work force “is truly an untapped resource,” she says.

Speer says the example she projects to her children as a working mom is especially important to her.

“The kids are proud of me,” Speer says. “They respect their mom even more because she has a good profession.”