Business boom spurs manhunt for software engineers, programmers.

The growth of Los Angeles County's computer software industry has created employment opportunities at many companies, particularly for programmers and engineers.

But many software company owners and managers, as well as industry recruiters, said they are having problems finding qualified engineers and programmers. They said often the problem is Los Angeles itself in that programmers do not want to relocate to this area.

In addition, the Los Angeles area is not thought of as a center of software development, an incorrect assumption on the part of programmers, said the managers and recruiters.

"When they start to look at Los Angeles, with all the things that have happened here like the riots, the fires, the crime, the earthquake, and then they add in the cost of living, many just don't want to come here," said Chris Kitze, president of Aris Entertainment, a software company in Marina del Rey.

"We're two blocks from the beach and we've had problems finding people," he said, noting that it took four months to hire the company's newest programmer. Aris has 14 employees.

To be sure, not every software company in the county has openings for programmers. And not every company with openings has had problems filling the positions.

But all software companies, and industry headhunters, contacted last week said the local industry is growing, creating a lot of jobs for programmers.

There is no official count on how many Los Angeles County companies are involved in computer software programming. The numbers that are available range from about 400 to more than 1,000 in Los Angeles and Orange counties, with a good chunk of those being one- or two-person operations that often work out of someone's home or apartment.

According to the Southern California Software Council, a local trade group, revenues at Los Angeles County software companies increased 36 percent last year compared to 1992. Nationally, revenue at software companies grew 18.5 percent from $5.7 billion in 1992 to $6.8 billion in 1993, according to the Software Publishers Association, a national trade group based in Washington.

"I would say the number of local software companies is close to 1,000," said Melanie McCaffery, a partner and high tech industry analyst in the Newport Beach office of Coopers & Lybrand, the national accounting firm. "And I would say the number of companies has doubled in the past few years."

McCaffery, like others, called the local software industry, "one of the area's best-kept secrets."

"The perception out there in the rest of the country is that there aren't a lot of software companies here so there's no use in looking for a job," she said. "We don't have a lot of the big-name companies but we have 1,000 small ones."

Regions that are better known for software companies include San Jose, Calif. (otherwise known as the Silicon Valley), Austin, Texas, southern Utah, an area outside of Boston, Mass., and regions in Washington and Oregon.

Most of the local software companies have annual revenue well below $5 million and employ fewer than 30 people, including four or five engineers who design, or "write," the programs. There are perhaps fewer than six software companies in the county with revenues of more than $10 million.

Local software company owners and managers noted that the downsizing of the region's defense and aerospace industries has resulted in programmers looking for jobs.

However, a spokesman for one of the largest software companies in the county noted the match hasn't worked.

"The people that have come out of the big defense firms are not necessarily the kind that fit into a small software company," said the spokesman, who did not want to be named. "A lot of the companies have problems hiring defense workers because they come from a big, bureaucratic structure. Software companies want programmers that are flexible and creative."

Sheryl Rooker, president of an El Segundo-based recruitment company called People Ware Technical Resources, said programmers who come out of the defense/aerospace companies have had a hard time making the switch to small firms.

"One of the problems is that former defense workers don't want to put in the hours. Programmers at small software companies are working all the time," she said.

Because of the dearth of qualified programmers, whose starting salary can range from $40,000 to $100,000 a year, some local software companies have started recruiting overseas, said company owners and headhunters.

They also noted that a large percentage of college and graduate students in computer programming at American universities and colleges are foreign born.

"A lot of our kids just aren't interested in getting into this," said Chuck Beauregard, an executive recruiter who is president of Computer Professionals Ltd., in Huntington Beach.

Several industry representatives said one problem in finding qualified programmers is that most of the local software companies have specialized products that appeal to small markets. Most of the local software companies, they said, design programs for "niche" markets.

Dan Galorath, president of software maker Galorath Associates/Seer Technologies in Los Angeles, said the company has openings for five programming analysts who supervise engineers. The 30-employee company that makes business software has been looking to fill the positions for about four or five months.

"We're looking for the cream of the crop but I'm not sure they're out there. We're being very selective but we have to be," he said.