Clearwire cross-breeding engineers

While other wireless operators are migrating to next-generation networks, Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) is starting day one with a WiMax flat IP network. It has no legacy 2G or 3G network to support and no voice switches to maintain. Every transaction starts as a packet and remains as a packet as it traverses the Clearwire network.

Consequently Clearwire has taken a completely different approach to its hiring as it expands its staff to meet the needs of its nationwide 4G rollout. Based in Seattle, the operator is drawing from the big IT shops of the West Coast, recruiting engineers and technicians from firms such as Boeing. As it expands into new markets, it taps into the IT expertise of the locale. In Las Vegas, one of its planned summer expansion markets, it recruits from the casinos, all of which have huge, complex IT and security networks. In other areas, it is drawing from the ranks of former US military personnel, many of whom have been trained with both advanced IT and communications skill sets.

But according to John Storch, vice president of network development, Clearwire isn’t neglecting the traditional telecom worker—far from it. Clearwire is pairing every IT expert it hires with a technician or engineer that has a wireless or telecom background. While IT skills are crucial to deal with the demands of the new network architecture, they can’t replace the public network experience of someone who has worked for the telcos.

“We want to make sure we don’t have only traditional telecom engineers, but there are benefits to them,” Storch said. “They have a depth of knowledge in operating large public networks. What we find is that there are not many folks out there that know IP and have that large public networks operational capability. They’re used to walled gardens. Boeing is a very large private network -- its network is probably larger than some countries. But it doesn’t have public aspects. It doesn’t have the millions of subscribers that show up randomly whenever they want.”

Ultimately, Clearwire has to put a premium on the skills that only come from managing and maintaining a wireless cellular network, Storch said. “In the end mobility is important -- it’s a key differentiator,” Storch said. “Otherwise we become another broadband access point.”

Clearwire is drawing from both IT and telecom worlds for now, but eventually it wants to merge those skill sets into one, creating a hybrid wireless-IP engineer. Essentially, Clearwire is looking for a 4G expert, which doesn’t exist today, Storch said.

“There’s no individual out there that you directly recruit with those combined skills,” Storch said. “You recruit two different types of people, bringing them together as a team. By teaming together, we get the right mix, the right skill set. It’s a composite skill set that allows them to accomplish the work, but we also cross-train them so they can become the 4G generalists we need.”