Irish students on their way to San Jose for an extra edge

For many tech-wannabes work experience means two weeks in the local computer factory or software facility, but for 40 Ballymun and Belfast students it means a summer in San Jose, California.

Today, the students - 20 from east Belfast and 20 from Ballymun - will take Aer Lingus's first direct flight from Dublin to Los Angeles and spend eight weeks working for companies in Silicon Valley.

The students are part of an International Fund for Ireland programme.

The 40 students have successfully completed teleservices and computer maintenance courses which were financed and run by in the Republic by FAS, the International Fund for Ireland and the Ballymun job centre.

"Our course is not just designed to teach the technical skills but also focuses on personal development to give the students a fair chance in the workplace," said Mr Peter Davitt, manager of the Ballymun Job Centre, which pioneered the courses.

"Many of these people have an innate ability for technology but, have not had the opportunity to work in Ireland's booming economy because they lacked suitable qualifications.

In the past, says Mr Davitt, the Leaving Certificate (or equivalent) was the minimum qualification needed to get a skilled job in the high-tech industry.

However, Ireland's technology labour shortage together with new courses offered by organisations such as FAS have conspired to bring the long-term unemployed into the workforce.

The computer maintenance and call-centre services courses are just two of the many technology-based training projects being run by Ballymun job centre at the moment.

Perhaps the most effective is the job centre's Tramlines project. Every year, 25 people, many of whom have never used a computer before, graduate from the programme, as certified Microsoft engineers. Last year all got jobs.

"Computer companies don't care what your background is once you can do the job," said Mr Donnacadh Hurley, Tramlines project manager.

Working alongside the courses is a wider coalition between community-based organisations such as the Ballymun job centre, FAS and computer companies such as Microsoft, Corell, and CBT. It is called the Fast Track to IT.

The aim of the initiative is to bring 3,500 long-term unemployed into the high-tech work force in the next three years, according to Mr Davitt.

However, it is important not to get carried away with Ireland's low unemployment figures, says Mr Davitt. "There are still more than 100,000 long-term unemployed and ironically there is also a skills shortage."

Meanwhile, back in San Jose, the scheme is been organised by the Dublin-San Jose twin-city committee which has worked with San Jose City Council to place the students and will organise social events for the students.

"One of our goals is not just to provide the students with the basic work-experience, but to help them develop a sense of self confidence," said Mr Lesley Murdock, an Irish financial management consultant and member of the Dublin-San Jose Twin City Committee.

"In the US, people have a very well-developed sense of self-confidence, a quality we often lack in Ireland."

Meanwhile, the students will stay at San Jose State University and work for companies such as TCI, Amdahl and Nexus. They will also take some courses in ethnic studies at the university.

East Belfast and west Dublin were chosen by the International Fund for Ireland because they represent opposite sides of the religious divide and had high unemployment rates.

East Belfast, a predominantly Protestant district, is an industrial area that has suffered from factory closures in the last three decades.

Likewise, more than half of Ballymun's eligible workforce is unemployed, because of factory closures.

In the past, International Fund for Ireland programmes have given participants the opportunity to broaden their horizons and work in a completely different environment.

"We have had great success with similar programmes in Canada and the US," said Davitt. In fact, some of the programmes were so successful that participating students from opposite sides of the religious divide married each other, he added.