What opportunities are there in Hawaii for a young, gifted technology major after graduation?

According to Zubin Menon, client executive at IBM, the news is good. The 36-year-old exec, who spoke recently before Chaminade University students participating in the Hogan Entrepreneurs Program, said that IBM partners with Hawaii companies that work both with government agencies and private industry in the Aloha State.

His position at IBM provides an ideal vantage point to monitor technology trends and job growth. He sees employment prospects for local grads in three main areas:

Cybersecurity ranks as one of the most promising sectors. Hawaii is as vulnerable as the mainland to sophisticated, state-sponsored actors, and a robust cybersecurity posture is crucial to defending our data, intellectual property and critical infrastructure. Bob Kalka, vice president of the IBM Security Business Unit, recently visited Hawaii and spent time with a variety of clients. He breaks down their profession in terms of ‘left of boom’ and ‘right of boom,” “boom” being a cyber breach. Left of boom includes identifying and validating potential threats and having the means to mitigate risk. Once a breach is detected (usually months after), the focus is on responding, remediating and anticipating the next attack. There is a massive skills shortage in the cybersecurity profession across the globe and in Hawaii, and job opportunities are growing in government agencies as well as in the commercial sector.

The health eare space is also ready to hire people with the right information technology skill sets. Both HMOs and insurance companies are moving to “value-based care” models, which require that we have data to measure improvements in patient health/outcomes.

“You need a clear base line of what ‘good health’ represents for patient populations in order to measure improvements,” Menon said. “We presently don’t have all the data and models that the industry needs, and it’s going to be up to a future generation to come up with answers.” Grads with both IT and data science will be invaluable for this endeavor.

The third area of vital need in Hawaii is the upgrading of government IT infrastructure. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser has covered this subject repeatedly, and the need is still there. In short, our state and country governments suffer from aging physical infrastructure and limited resiliency, which is especially problematic given our remote location. To make matters worse, as a state our IT investments are generally well below other state governments across the country.

Another factor to consider is the rising retirement rate across state and city agencies. Key folks in critical departments are reaching their 20- to 30-plus-year marks and are retiring. Who’s going to carry the torch for the next 20 or 30 years? These two factors present a great opportunity for the right Hawaii tech grads who are just getting started. They can develop their careers and do something meaningful in the state.

How does a student improve his or her chances to find these kinds of jobs?

Menon says many schools will help students find internships with leading-edge local companies.

Organizations such as University of Hawaii cyber programs and the Pacific Center for Advanced Technology Training (PCATT) are also available to help build local capacity. It’s not just grads who can benefit. Smaller companies or individual consultants can play a part.

Menon says Hawaii-based IT companies have a critical role to play not just because of their IT competencies, but because they’re trusted advisers to clients across the islands and reflect local values.

Says Menon, “We have some dynamite local IT companies who IBM partners with: Pacific Point, DataHouse and eWorldES. They help clients across the state modernize legacy applications and systems as well as build new ones.”

The bottom line: With the right chops, there’s opportunity right now both for Hawaii grads and local IT companies.

Mike Meyer is chief information officer for Honolulu Community College. Reach him at mmeyer@hawaii.edu.