Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates said Monday that there is a shortage of qualified computer science engineers for hire in the U.S., a problem that is reflective of the decline of interest in this course of study in this country. Speaking at the Microsoft Research Faculty Summit on Microsoft"s campus in Redmond, Washington, Gates said that while his company finds many suitable engineering candidates for employment in India and China, it has a harder time recruiting qualified individuals in the U.S.
"We"re very short with what we"d like to get in the States," he said. "The competition for someone with the right background is very [limited]." Gates made his comments in a question-and-answer discussion with Maria Klawe, dean of engineering and computer science professor at Princeton University, at Microsoft"s annual conference for collaboration between commercial technology companies and researchers and educators in computer science.