While defense contractors are expected to lay off thousands of workers if federal spending is cut by $1.2 trillion over ten years under sequestration guidelines in 2013, some defense contracting agencies are scrambling to find the right workers.

Numerous defense contractors can’t find enough IT professionals to fill numerous tech positions, which remain open for months at a time. Modus Operandi, a defense software company based in Florida that writes big data software for civilian and military intelligence agencies, primarily needs Java programmers for intelligence-related products and services.

“I have three recruiters working for me pretty heavily” to fill eight openings for Java programmers, said Richard McNeight, president of Modus Operandi. “We also pay bounties to employees for referring someone … and still haven’t been able to fill those jobs.”

Intelligent Software Solutions, a defense-related software company based in Colorado Springs, is also struggling to find enough tech workers. The company employs 450 software engineers and needs more, but has struggled to find the right workers.

“We’ve had 25 to 30 job openings pretty much constantly over the last two years,” said Jay Jesse, co-founder and president of Intelligent Software Solutions, in National Defense Magazine. “But for us, it’s been difficult to find the right people.” Over the past three years, hiring at ISS has doubled, with almost all new hires software engineers, he said.

The shortage of software engineers in the defense field is due in part to the U.S. citizenship requirements associated with any intelligence contract, said McNeight. There wouldn’t be a shortage if foreign nationals were allowed to work on defense-related contracts he said. Also, U.S. born engineers often prefer the higher pay of contract work over full-time positions, which can be problematic for security clearance purposes. There will continue to be a demand for IT pros well versed in cloud computing, user experience Web-based interactive applications, data analytics and mobile apps development, Jesse said.

Government agencies will continue to look for technologies to manage the vast amount of data they collect, as well as technologies that merge data, voice and video from different sources, said Gary Bloom, CEO of MarkLogic. Maj. Gen. Genaro Dellarocco, who heads the Army Test and Evaluation Command, agrees. At a recent evaluations of a new tactical communications network, he said, “We didn’t collect megabytes, we didn’t collect gigabytes, we collected four terabytes. … That’s new territory for us.”

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Chandler Harris is a freelance business and technology writer located in Silicon Valley. He has written for numerous publications including Entrepreneur, InformationWeek, San Jose Magazine, Government Technology, Public CIO, AllBusiness.com, U.S. Banker, Digital Communities Magazine, Converge Magazine, Surfer's Journal, Adventure Sports Magazine, ClearanceJobs.com, and the San Jose Business Journal. Chandler is also engaged in helping companies further their content marketing needs through content strategy, optimization and creation, as well as blogging and social media platforms. When he's not writing, Chandler enjoys his beach haunt of Santa Cruz where he rides roller coasters with his son, surfs and bikes across mountain ranges.