Seizing the Opportunities of the Digital Economy
Commencement Address, DeVry Institute of Technology
Chicago, Illinois
June 2000

It is a pleasure for me to be here tonight, to participate in a celebration of achievement and promise for the future. And, oh what a future lies before you.

You are poised to begin your careers at a remarkable time. America is enjoying the longest economic expansion in our history. We have the lowest unemployment rate in a generation, low inflation, rising real wages, and we’ve created 20 million new jobs since 1993, most of them paying above average wages.

We have never seen anything like the emergence of the digital economy. The Internet’s pace of adoption eclipses all other technologies that preceded it. For example, radio was in existence 38 years before 50 million people tuned in; TV took 13 years to reach that benchmark. Sixteen years after the first PC kit came out, 50 million people were using one. But, once it was opened to the general public, the Internet crossed that line in four years. It continues to grow at a meteoric pace. In 1994, only three million people used the Internet. Just last year, in March 1999, 171 million people had Internet access. By March of this year, 304 million people were logging on—an increase of 78 percent in just one year. Moreover, the amount of information available on-line has increased ten-fold over the last three years, to more than a billion pages. Three million new pages are being added every day.

	“Cheap computing power and data storage, an explosion in connectivity, and powerful new software are spurring massive investments in information technology (IT) and an explosive increase in innovation.”

Cheap computing power and data storage, an explosion in connectivity, and powerful new software are spurring massive investments in information technology (IT) and an explosive increase in innovation. New forms of business are emerging, such as electronic marketplaces that link buyers and sellers globally in ways that are impossible in the physical world. Consider e-bay, the Internet auction site. Its market efficiencies are mind-boggling. Just imagine the challenge of offering four million auction items a day in a brick and mortar auction house, with human auctioneers!

Supply networks and sales channels are moving on-line. Internal business processes are being networked to coordinate product design, to manage inventory, improve customer service, and to reduce transaction and managerial costs. But, hang on to your hat; this is only the beginning. Only one-third of American manufacturers conduct business electronically, so there are enormous gains to come.

Perhaps most important of all, IT causes firms to rethink the way they operate, creating organizational innovations. Firms are using these new technologies to develop and produce new goods and services, to sell themselves, producing more innovation. And as more and more people and organizations use IT, the demand for better and faster information processing gets stronger, creating incentives for more innovation. It is a virtuous cycle of innovation.

	“What does this all mean for you? Simply put: high wage job opportunities. And lots of them. More important, you have the opportunity to apply your creativity, talents, and energy in ways you may never have dreamed possible. And your only limit will be your own imagination.”

In short, digital technologies are producing new ways of working, new means and manners of communicating, new goods and services, and new forms of community. They have made information the most important basis for creating value in our economy today. Not to mention IT’s impact on education, heath care, government, entertainment and more. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has likened this era to a “second industrial revolution.”

What does this all mean for you? Simply put: high wage job opportunities. And lots of them. More important, you have the opportunity to apply your creativity, talents, and energy in ways you may never have dreamed possible. And your only limit will be your own imagination.

Between 1998 and 2008, more than two million new skilled IT workers—computer support specialists, data base administrators, computer scientists and engineers, systems analysts, and computer programmers—will be needed to fill newly created jobs and to replace IT workers leaving the field. These jobs are expected to be the fastest growing occupations in the economy during this period.

And these are some of best paying jobs in the country. For example, computer engineers are paid, on average, almost $60,000, compared to the average private sector wage of about $32,000. IT salaries are high and rising. Those with hot skills are seeing fast rising salaries, and some with hot skills can command a salary premium. Those with combinations of multiple hot skills, and relevant industry experience, are seeing especially fast rising compensation.

Where are opportunities going to be the greatest? Of course, the IT-producing industries have the strongest demand, especially the computer and data processing services industries. By 2008, half of that industry’s work force is going to be comprised of skilled IT workers. But there are exciting meaningful, well-paying IT jobs in other sectors in wholesale trade, finance and insurance, education, health care, and government.

I encourage you to think broadly about your roles, and the possibilities you bring to the country and yourselves. Many of you are poised to play pivotal roles in keeping our economy and business competitiveness strong by developing, applying, and managing technology. Some of you may pursue research, invent great things, and join the ranks of America’s great technologists and pioneers on the leading edge. Some of you may be the next generation of high-tech entrepreneurs, who turn struggling start-ups into multi-billion dollar corporate giants. And some of you may bring your technical knowledge and skills to non-traditional fields such as teaching, manufacturing, journalism, law, finance…and even politics—helping to integrate these fields with the technological revolution that is reshaping our world and every human endeavor. Whatever path you choose, I am confident that you have been well-prepared for a leadership role in the new century before us.

Now come the few obligatory words of advice; I’ll keep it short.

• Although you have reached an important milestone, your journey of lifelong learning is only beginning. Stay on top of the technology. Stay on the cutting edge. Employers want you to hit the ground running, and stay ahead of the curve. Encourage your employers to contribute to your development through further education and training that will enhance and extend your knowledge and experience.

• Recognize that employers want more than technical skills. They look for skills in project management, human resources, communications and interpersonal skills, leadership and team work, goal setting, time management, and organizational skills. Build these up and get experience. These skills will help you move-up the career ladder.

• Build and maintain your personal networks. In all professional disciplines, the network can sometimes make the difference in getting a job, getting venture capital, making the deal, or simply getting good advice and support.

• Keep an open mind. I know that the dot.com world looks very enticing, and it’s getting all the media attention these days. It is a hip, exciting place to be, and there are some big bucks to be made. However, it can also be high risk, long hours, nerve-racking, and fleeting of jobs. Some of you may thrive in this white-knuckle flying kind of environment. Some of you, however, may prefer not to work for days without sleep. Some of you may want to engage in RL (real life), and spend your free time somewhere other than cyberspace. For those of you who prefer a more stable environment, there are plenty of good, meaningful, well-paying IT jobs elsewhere. In fact, some of the best opportunities can be found in well-established companies as they reinvent themselves for the e-conomy.

• Remember who you are developing IT systems for. You are designing them for your mother and your grandmother. You are designing IT systems for people who shudder at the thought of Christmas Eve toy assembly. You are designing systems for people out there who can’t operate their computer because they’re using the mouse as a foot pedal; people who think the CD-ROM drive is a cup holder. Please work on behalf of the typical users. Don’t make those millions of Americans who don’t “get it” feel like idiots, and send us running out for a book called “Windows for Dummies.” Take a page from the quality movement, and focus on the customer.

	“We are in the midst of a global revolution, going somewhere fast we’ve never, ever been before.”

• Finally, don’t be afraid to let your imagination soar. Think creatively. We are in the midst of a global revolution, going somewhere fast we’ve never, ever been before. Often enough, the thinking and the principles that shaped our old economy, simply do not apply to this new emerging one. It’s time for thinking, and thinking about problems and opportunities in new ways.

In closing, this is a remarkable period in our history. We have entered an era of almost limitless possibility, the go-for-it century. The much-heralded Information Age is coming to full flower. And you have prepared yourselves for its boundless opportunities. You’ve got the right skills, for the right careers, the right industries, at the right time. I have every confidence that each of you can reach great personal achievements and make enormous contributions to the American economy and society. The sky’s the limit. Congratulations! Good luck.

Thank you.