Employers link up with talent at Corvallis event

By Matt Neznanski
Gazette-Times reporter

Corvallis high-tech companies know Oregon State University is a prime location for ideas and people.

The Corvallis Chapter of Software Association of Oregon has hosted its High Tech After Hours event for the past five years. This year, 50 companies wanted to showcase their business and look for qualified employees, enough that the group had to move from a downstairs meeting room at the Corvallis Inn into Oregon State University’s CH2M Hill Alumni Center.

“Every year, we get more and more people,” said Brian Weldon, president of the Corvallis Chapter of the Software Association of Oregon, which hosts the event. About 40 companies attended last year’s event.

Weldon said companies with local ties are looking to grow and with a shortage of potential employees, they’re mining the local talent pool.

When it comes to finding bright minds to hire, Weldon said, business and technology are two distinct halves of the high-tech industry.

“It takes a certain breed of person to start the company and a certain type of person to come up with the ideas,” he said. “They’re not really the same people.”

So the After Hours event primarily attracts the technical folks who can speak the same language of those who come looking for work.

This year’s event featured Greg Merten, a former vice president and general manager for Hewlett-Packard who oversaw the company’s inkjet print products through explosive growth in the 1990s.

Weldon said Merton helped draw record crowds this year.

High Tech After Hours partners include the Corvallis Benton Chamber Coalition, The Business Enterprise Center and OSU’s Colleges of Business and Engineering.



Tech Pubs

Every second Thursday of the month, the Corvallis chapter of the Software Association of Oregon holds “Tech Pubs,” a chance for engineers and business people to network and learn from each other.

The meetings typically also feature a guest speaker or panel to discuss some aspect of the tech industry.

On Nov. 8, the group will host a panel of experts on using search engine optimization to draw attention to a business by understanding terms people use to search online.

The event will be held at Iovino’s, 136 S.W. Washington Ave., from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Tech in Town

Here’s a look at some of the companies represented at the High Tech After Hours event that you may not be familiar with:

ImTech

COMPANY: ImTech

CITY BASED IN: Corvallis

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 22

WHAT IT DOES: ImTech is expert in inkjet technology. Not surprisingly, a number of the company’s engineers came straight from Hewlett-Packard.

ImTech is one of just two companies licensed to fill cartridges destined for HP printers and has developed an ultraviolet light-cured ink that HP hopes will help it break into the $2 billion per year package-printing market.

Concept Systems

COMPANY: Concept Systems

CITY BASED IN: Albany.

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 43

WHAT IT DOES: Concept Systems is an automation company that helps build process systems for other companies’ product lines to increase productivity. Concept Systems has worked a lot with the forest products industry, but is not exclusive to those kinds of companies.

Big clients have included Boeing, Weyerhaeuser and Kettle Foods.

Marvell

COMPANY: Marvell semiconductor

CITY BASED IN: Santa Clara, Calif.

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 45 in Corvallis, 100 in company

WHAT IT DOES: In Corvallis, Marvell builds and designs chipsets for printers, scanners and copiers. The company’s technology is ready for installation in the machines.

Companywide, Marvell also builds wireless technology that is being used in the one-laptop-per-child initiative which is working to build a $100 laptop for the world’s poorest children. Its technology is also used in the iPhone.

Pro Works

COMPANY: Pro Works

CITY BASED IN: Corvallis

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: Eight

WHAT IT DOES: ProWorks is a software company that builds software solutions on contract. Its clients have so far primarily included government entities such as NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration and a host of cities and counties.

Now, the company is beginning to create its own products, starting with GetVitals, a personal search platform that uses Google search technology to build a database of contacts for salespeople and recruiters.

View Plus

COMPANY: View Plus

CITY BASED IN: Corvallis

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 25

WHAT IT DOES: View Plus designs and builds printers capable of producing documents in Braille. It has also developed a touch pad that can recognize scanned documents placed on its surface that, when touched, read what’s on the paper to the user.

The touch pad can be used to help visually impaired people learn to read Braille or orient themselves on maps and charts.