Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Service representative Darla Hale goes over data in her office at Illuminet.

Work on the cutting edge

High-technology jobs without Seattle costs

Orginally published August 15, 2001

It's early afternoon at Illuminet, Thurston County's largest high-tech company, and the loudest thing within the hallways is the green and purple paint on the walls.

Everyone is going about their jobs quietly. The building's tight security -- not surprising at a high-tech site -- makes the atmosphere even more subdued.

Visitors must be escorted beyond the lobby. Identification badges must be worn. Interviews with employees are monitored.

But the company's 260 employees don't mind. They like their jobs.

"You always hear the buzz about telecommunications -- people who work at a common goal -- that's what drew me here," says Mike Duggins, Illuminet sales representative.

Illuminet provides an array of services to telecom carriers, helping them put through calls as efficiently as possible. It also links carriers to data banks and equipment needed for toll-free calls, caller ID, wireless roaming and phone number portability.

With the purchase of a Texas company last year, Illuminet began offering prepaid wireless services, which allow customers to pay for single calls or limited accounts using a credit card.

Duggins splits Illuminet's national sales territory with Thane Bryenton, another sales representative.

Bryenton says he was happy to land a job at the company after an "unfulfilling career" making sales at a local car dealership.

"It's a great deal more enriching," Bryenton says. "A lot more rewarding. More fun to come to work."

Illuminet offers plenty of room to grow, Bryenton says. In the first year, he was promoted to associate manager.

Bryenton says he is happy to have found such a well-paying job in Lacey, just four miles from his house.

Duggins, who lives next to Illuminet, couldn't ask for anything closer.

"It's been a nice commute -- one minute!" he chimes.

Carl Harris, who helps oversee tech support for Illuminet's internal computer system, doesn't mind driving every day from his home in Chehalis.

He's been employed at Illuminet since January after working for more than a decade doing tech support for the state Department of Natural Resources.

He left DNR because the state's overall wage and benefit packages began to erode, as did the public's opinion of state workers, he says.

"It just wasn't rewarding anymore," he says.

At Illuminet, he is paid better and appreciated more, he says. And unlike his job with the state, he is now judged by results and rewarded accordingly.

"I feel like there's a little more accountability in what I'm doing," Harris says.

Malcolm Galindo, 27, helps support the services that Illuminet provides. Galindo steps from a room that is half-encased in glass and filled with electronic equipment.

A five-year Illuminet employee, Galindo was hired while he was still in college. He's glad he didn't have to move to the Seattle area to find high-tech work, he says.

"I like the standard of living in Thurston County," Galindo says. "The pace fits me."

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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