In the late 1990s, the dot-com bubble burst and there was a glut of information-technology professionals on the job market. Today things have changed dramatically. In fact, we are facing a shortage of IT professionals by 2012.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, IT careers are five of the top 20 fastest-growing jobs in the United States through 2012.

Here in Los Angeles County, IT careers are nine of the top 20 fastest-growing jobs. They include: (1) computer support specialist, (2) network & computer systems administrators, (3) computer system software engineers, (4) computer application software engineers, (5) desktop publishers, (6) network systems & data communication analysts, (10) database administrators, (14) computer and information systems managers, and (18) computer systems analysts.

An IT career also pays very well. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, starting salaries for graduates with a bachelor's degree in information systems range from $47,000 to $95,000 a year.

Why is there a shortage of IT professionals? When the dot-com bubble burst, the profession got a lot of bad press. Information systems and computer science programs saw the number of

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students drop by about half. So the number of new people in the IT job pool has been reduced.

There is also a misperception that all IT jobs have been outsourced overseas. Although this is true in a few cases, the vast majority of careers require the professional at the location (with the end-users).

Another factor is that a great number of IT professionals are baby boomers and will be retiring over the next few years. So this leaves us with a shortage of IT professionals by 2012.

In a recent survey of 1,400 chief information officers, roughly one in four said recruiting skilled IT professionals was their biggest hiring hurdle. Since IT professionals go to work at all types of organizations, this shortage has the potential to impact many Los Angeles area businesses, as well as companies nationwide.

So what can be done? In the short term, businesses should focus on retention of current IT professionals.

In the longer term, we need to grow the IT professional employee pool. We need to overcome our previous "bad press" and get the word out that a bachelor's degree in information systems or computer science will pay off with a great job. And yes, IT professionals are in hot demand!

Paul Lazarony is associate chairman of the Accounting and Information Systems Department at California State University, Northridge. He earned his bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees at Ohio State University.