Ladies: Why Studying IT Could Be the Smartest Career Move You Ever Make September 15, 2015Featured, My CareerOff

The IT industry is undoubtedly central to the smooth running of modern businesses, therefore it’s no surprise that employment is set to grow at an astonishing rate over the next ten years.

Somewhat conversely, a recent report by the House of Lords revealed the steady decline of education with regard to IT skills in schools and universities. This deterioration has been taking place slowly but surely over the past 10-15 years, hence discouraging worldwide students to study courses leading to careers in computer science, and leaving companies no choice but to recruit from overseas; foreign students are simply more qualified.

With ICT based professions largely losing women to other sectors, could it be that they represent an unutilized faculty?

Growing demand for IT professionals means there are huge amounts of positions waiting to be filled, and no graduates competent enough to meet the job requirements; women could be just what this sector is looking for.

Mark Holt, CTO at TheTrainline.com recently described the dire state of affairs companies are facing: “We have a big website and we process an enormous amount of transactions. But, there is a shortage of ‘really talented’ developers. We have vacancies for as many developers as we can recruit and are receiving many applications for these roles. But while we have been recruiting one or two developers a month for full-time jobs, we are eager to recruit even more – but haven’t been able to because of a dearth of talent.”

This widening skills gap is set to extend further if the current curriculum status isn’t altered, and businesses will take the brunt.

Suggested solutions to the growing problem include placing coding into the curriculum as early as primary school; the idea is to introduce children to technical IT from a young age, hopefully sparking their interest and leading to a generation of IT professionals. A good idea – in theory – but the reality of a ‘quick fix’ like this is that teachers won’t themselves be qualified to teach such a niche topic to their students. Furthermore – due to the fast moving nature of the computer science world – any skills gained at this age are likely to be outdated by the time the students reach working age.

With regard to women, their IT fear begins as early as primary school and is reflected in their A level choices; females make up less than 8 percent of students taking tech based subjects teaching code, Java script and computer functioning. This severely dents their chances of a computing career later in life.

It has become clear that the disengagement between our education system and the needs of our businesses will not be sorted out any time in the near future. Therefore, businesses have been forced to look elsewhere for employees; although a short term solution to the problem, recruiting overseas or offshore doesn’t come without an element of risk. The professionals being recruited and the source of their skills need to be examined closely – not only does this cost extra time and money for businesses, but it is taking away from and in turn weakening our recovering economy.

Executive Chairman and Former CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt says: “The country that invented the computer is throwing away its great computer heritage by failing to teach programming in schools. I was flabbergasted to learn that today computer science isn’t even taught as standard in schools. Your IT curriculum focuses on teaching how to use software, but gives no insight into how it’s made.”

And he’s not wrong.

The US, supposed front runner in the industries of IT and computing, have skills worlds apart from Belarus. In an international competition entitled Google Code Jam, run by Google every year, competitors may use any programming language and range of development to obtain solutions to algorithmic problems under timed conditions.

The competition first started in 2003, and was put in place in order to seek out the most talented individuals as potential employees of Google. Entrants from Belarus (both male) have won the competition in both 2013 and 2014, indicating they are leaps and bounds ahead, IT wise. According to recent figures, 54 universities in Belarus produce 16,000 graduates with ICT and related skills each and every year. It’s no wonder then, that an increasing amount of work is being outsourced there, to graduates possessing the high level of technical skill needed to do these jobs, and do them well.

At this time of economic uncertainty, and with graduate jobs being few and far between, it would seem a stable line of work is deeply desirable for the next generation. Graduates would do well to undertake IT courses to widen their knowledge and consequently solidify their future.

Women who missed the computer science boat at undergraduate age, can in fact make their way into this flourishing industry through post graduate courses or even undergoing classes whilst working, and they’d do well to do so.

After all, what could be more appealing in times of austerity than complete job security?

By Leila Glen
Photo by Goodluz | Shutterstock

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