InformationWeek.com

Welcome Guest. | Log In| Register | Membership Benefits

September 28, 1998

Next-Level Web

Businesses are raising the skills levels of their Web-site staffs

By Noah Shachtman

t wasn't too long ago that corporate Web staffs consisted of a couple of English majors in T-shirts and nose rings. No more. Now that core business operations are coming online, Internet and intranet teams demand the skills of experts, especially database specialists, legacy information authorities, and project-management and business-process veterans.

Bringing together the proficient in a new industry with a tight labor market is, to put it mildly, a challenge. Businesses, from Web startups to large corporations, are taking different approaches to building next-generation Web teams. Some companies, like Web startup CyberStudios Inc., look for seasoned business professionals, and, as a result, have more gray hair than tattoos on staff. For companies such as information provider NewsEdge, attitude is central--specific skills are taught later. Still others, including high-tech giant 3Com Corp., want only those with demonstrated technical prowess. Whatever the Web staffing approach, there's one common denominator: Businesses are incorporating some degree of technical training.

"This industry is marked by lack of adult supervision," grumbles Steven Koltai, a former Hollywood studio executive who helped found the Warner Brothers Studio Stores, the WB Television Network, and Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment before starting CyberStudios in Los Angeles. "There's a big difference between, say, knowing how to program and being a professional programmer. "But in this business, there's this attitude of, 'We'll figure out your job later, you're cool.'"

Lawrence Howorth (left) and Steven Kotai

Koltai is bucking this trend. He's establishing a veteran staff for his newborn firm, which designs individually themed electronic-commerce Web sites. Significant business experience matters most, even if that experience isn't directly Web-related. CyberStudios' editorial chief Susan Gordon, for example, is a 48-year-old former managing editor at Buzz magazine. Lawrence Howorth, CyberStudios' 49-year-old chief operating officer, comes from the executive offices of Softbank. "As a startup, we don't have the levels of checking that larger companies do," Koltai says. "The kind of individual we look for has to be senior enough to be on their own."

The search for accountability runs throughout CyberStudios' hiring practice, even in relatively junior programming positions. One prospective coder, for example, knew the software languages needed for the post, but was quickly rejected because he lacked the pattern of responsibility needed to work in Howorth's shop. In contrast, Chad Collingwood, the coder hired for the post, had experience developing applications on his own and administering a large network operating center.

Need To Inform
Highly skilled staffers won't sit still for merely following orders, so Howorth must constantly communicate CyberStudios' business goals. "You have to convince the thoroughbreds that the company's vision is proper," Howorth says. "They'll pick apart a weak business model. If you don't convince them your model works, they're pretty impossible to manage."

Other IT managers agree, although reasons for concise communication vary. "We make a focused effort to make sure everyone understands the business, including the status of deals, the number of page views, technology partnerships, and new hires," says Brad Singer, director of market development and product strategy at NewsEdge, the Burlington, Mass., operator of newspage.com. This is important, Singer says, because of the speed of change. "Everyone needs to be on the same page. If not, your tactical decisions don't add up to anything."

With such an emphasis on business goals--and with Web staffs typically required to work hours most would consider insane--it's not surprising that some organizations, including NewsEdge, look first for people with enthusiasm and energy for the project, even if it means sacrificing some technical expertise. "We're more inclined to hire, then train," Singer says. "Attitude and outlook are critical here."

For example, John Kelly, NewsEdge's new product manager, has a background mostly in quality assurance and sales. But in less than a month, "purely on attitude and energy," Kelly was able to simply and quickly prioritize the business demands of the technical team, Singer says. Other applicants for the position were more technically experienced, but "the only way they could operate was from a 10-page spec sheet," he says.

High Energy
Internet managers at 3Com have a similar outlook on management. "Web teams need help with prioritization and focus on the end goal, but they don't need as much motivation as other groups because they like the work," says Dave Asprey, an Internet application architect at 3Com.

But while enthusiasm and energy are important, Web candidates at nearly every level at 3Com must demonstrate both technical ability and a willingness to adapt to change. Asprey's litmus test for ascertaining skills and flexibility is experience in more than one technology. Case in point: Gu Qiong's work in C++ and Java proved both that Qiong wasn't tied to a single software language, and that he understood the principles of programming. It was enough to land Qiong a job building custom back-end-to-Web applications for 3Com's computing and network services division.

Technical background has become increasingly important as corporate sites move into the E-commerce arena. Today, a sophisticated Web site requires a staff that understands the legacy databases upon which the site relies. Even an entry-level Web designer needs to know relational database concepts, such as how Open Database Connectivity works, says Klaus Schulz, 3Com's global strategic Webmaster. Schulz, involved with the Web since the early experiments at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, has put together more than his fair share of Web teams.

U.S. Interactive, a Web design and strategy company in Los Angeles, looks for people who can build Web interfaces to product information, inventory, and warehouse legacy systems. "The HTML coder is kind of an afterthought--like an administrative assistant," says Keith Skelton, an executive VP at the company.

The Training Factor
To fill in any gaps in technical know-how, 3Com and other businesses rely heavily on training, both internal and external. 3Community, 3Com's corporate intranet, features online classes and downloadable computer-based courses such as "Internetworking Essentials" and "Frame Relay: Protocols & Implementation." Schulz, Asprey, and other 3Com staffers also worked with the University of California at Santa Cruz to develop a certification program in Web/IP engineering. The program has about 4,000 students enrolled in five locations around Silicon Valley.

The Santa Cruz effort is hardly the only push to certify Web professionals. US Web Learning, a spin-off of Internet service bureau US Web Corp., has begun a series of certification programs designed to ensure a base level of skills for wired workers. Offerings range from Certified Web Design Specialist, which requires classes in networking and security administration, to Certified Internet Architect, which is achieved only after passing exams on reengineering applications for the Internet and designing and deploying E-business sites.

But IT knowledge alone isn't enough to turn electronic commerce and other lofty goals of next-generation Web efforts into reality. "Companies aren't just looking for a technical skill set to maintain a site," says Tony Scott, a managing director at A.J. Kearney Executive Search. "People who understand content and business processes are in the most demand."

Tom Wilson Jr., a VP at systems integrator Osprey Systems Inc. in Charlotte, N.C., and manager of its Web team, says business expertise is critical to the successful implementation of a Web presence that mimics an organization's business processes. A Web team should help determine, for example, how a warehouse will receive order information and which department will fulfill orders and process returns.

The more ambitious the site, the harder it is to get it up and running on time and within budget. That's why many experts, including Kent Mahan, an assignment manager for Internet personnel agency WebStaff, say the project manager is the most important person on a high-level Web team. "There are many functions, all happening simultaneously, so there's no way for everyone to know what's going on," Mahan says. "One person has to be in charge of the process."

This brings us back to the seasoned professionals at CyberStudios. By looking for business expertise first, CEO Koltai says he's put his organization in the right hands: people who know how to set up systems that can help the company grow without experiencing the convulsions so many Internet startups suffer. Says Koltai, "Customer service, pricing, relationship management--these are learned experiences that your average SQL programmer just doesn't have."

Illustration by Campbell Laird/SIS
Photo by Ed Carreon

Read sidebar story, "Players On A Next-Generation Web Team."