Ariana Cha's article on university computer science students
(Page 1A, Aug 10) states that there is a shortage of computer 
science professors.  On the contrary, it is very much an 
employers' market.  Each year the computer science department 
at the University of California-Davis receives more than 400 
applications for faculty openings.

Cha also claims that while computer science enrollment has
increased in certain areas of the country in recent years, 
nationwide enrollment continues to decline.  Yet the Computer 
Research Association reports that national enrollment was up 
40 percent last year.

Most importantly, the article is incorrect in asserting that 
there is national shortage of computer programmers.  Microsoft 
has stated that it only hires 2 percent of its applicants for 
software positions, hardly indicative of a shortage.  While 
it is true that there are many unfilled positions in the 
industry, this is due not to a shortage of programmers but 
rather to employer's over-specification of job requirements.  
For instance though new graduates who know the Java programming 
language are in high demand, most employers would not even 
interview a mid-career programmer without Java experience, even 
though the language can be learned quickly.

Industry officials have admitted a tendency to shun mid-career 
people in favor of hiring new graduates.  Given this, what incentive 
is there for a young university student interested in long-term 
career prospects to major in engineering or computer science?

-- Norman Matloff
Professor of Computer Science 
UC Davis.
(letter to editor, San Jose Mercury News, 17 August 1997)