In-Depth
Compaq's Employee Investment
Like your job? Here's your chance to compare your company with eight of the best—at least in how they treat their Microsoft Certified Professionals.
- By Michael Domingo
- September 01, 2000
As a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider, and a company
with its own highly regarded hardware certification program,
the Compaq ASE, it’s evident that Compaq Computer Corp.
has a vested interest in hiring and retaining well-trained,
highly qualified professionals.
This
Year’s Best Companies! |
Compaq
Computer Corp. One of the
largest sellers of PC desktops
and servers
Nominated:
Colorado Springs OMC Facility;
50 employees Colorado Springs,
Colorado www.compaq.com |
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Compaq, one of the largest sellers of PC desktops and
servers, two years ago acquired Digital Equipment Corp.,
at one time a heavyweight in the midrange market (remember
the DEC VAX computers or the DEC Alpha chip?). In the
acquisition, Compaq interviewed and eventually retained
a large number of DEC’s technically trained staff: help
desk technicians, network administrators, and systems
engineers. And a good number of DEC employees who were
hired through the acquisition, like server administrator
Derrick Bourgeois, had already obtained an MCSE. Following
company acquisitions or mergers, you might hear anecdotal
tales of employee unhappiness with the new company culture
and a slow exodus. Not true here: Bourgeois’ path, like
many of his fellow former DEC employees, took a turn for
the better.
Three years ago, DEC hired Bourgeois to be a field engineer
in its New Orleans, Louisiana office. With the acquisition,
his future was up in the air, but because of his expertise—like
many DEC employees with MCSEs—Compaq offered Bourgeois
a transitional position, moving him unilaterally into
a field engineer role at the company’s Houston, Texas
facility.
Bourgeois stayed there another year and then was offered
a promotion to server administrator at the Colorado Springs
OMF facility. He works with a team of about 30 technicians
who provide IT services for a large Compaq client in the
area.
Bourgeois is actually one of 50 technicians in the Colorado
Springs facility, 25 of whom hold MCSEs. A few other team
members have Citrix and Cisco certifications, and senior-level
managers typically hold Compaq ASE certification. Although
senior manager Damien Kay admits that “there are no direct
plans to support Windows 2000,” Kay says there is a push
to get the staff trained in preparation for a migration
if the current client asks, or if the team takes on a
new client who demands it. For now, Kay says that they’re
sending administrators to training “in groups of two or
three.”
Bourgeois doesn’t hesitate to call Compaq “the best place
to work.” It helps that he lives in what he considers
the best place on earth, with a spectacular view at the
foot of the Rocky Mountains, and within walking distance
from home to office. Also, the company has been generous
in offering him and others incentives for sharpening their
expertise, and has publicly lauded employee achievement
of a career milestone through email. Plus, MCSEs at the
company can wear their accomplishments, since Compaq provides
a leather jacket emblazoned with the Compaq and MCSE logos
for those who complete certification.
Looking back over the last three years, Bourgeois couldn’t
come up with one legitimate complaint about the company
except—if anyone’s listening—he wouldn’t mind “a leather
chair in a big corner office.”
About the Author
Michael Domingo has held several positions at 1105 Media, and is currently the editor in chief of Visual Studio Magazine.