Sir, – In recent years there has been a notable effort to encourage students to enrol in IT courses. John Cradden ("IT conversion courses: not all employers are converts", November 11th) observes that many graduates of such courses are unlikely to find good jobs without additional experience and effort.
Clearly there is a gap between what employers are looking for and what the colleges are delivering. As someone who regularly interviews and make hiring decisions in the IT sector, I concur. The very large number of people who have “fallen” into successful IT careers having started out in finance, marketing, design, etc, is evidence that third-level qualifications are not essential.
IT courses tend to be diverse, touching relatively lightly on a broad range of topics, while most IT companies are specialists in particular technologies and business domains. Even IT courses that focus on particular industry sectors still tend to hedge their bets. While some larger companies may have the resources to turn generalists into specialists, most operate on lean margins and need new starters to hit the ground running. Much IT work is “service” based, in which IT companies provide technical expertise to other companies, and new starters who don’t know the ropes are very exposed in these circumstances. Someone who knows a particular product or area very well is much more valuable than one with a broad general knowledge. Early specialisation is vital in IT career development, and students should try to achieve professional certifications in specific technologies before finishing their academic courses.
Project work and placements are also key in developing a raw graduate into someone approaching a professional. The best graduates I have interviewed are those who have been involved in delivering a real project for a real customer, in many cases small projects for local charities, businesses or sporting organisations with which they have an association. Experience of the process of engaging with a customer, assessing requirements, and planning a solution that suits the available budget, skills and resources is just as important as being able to implement the technical solution. Colleges should develop partnerships with local organisations to allow students experience of delivering real projects. This could also give a boost to organisations that could not otherwise afford to develop IT systems. Ryanair’s first website was developed by students.
There has been much discussion in recent years of the need for higher-level maths in IT. Leaving Cert maths is a good “canary” subject, providing evidence that students have the ability to understand complex abstract principles and the dedication required to crack difficult problems. However, while most programming work requires excellent logical skills, outside of certain niches areas it requires very little maths. A lot of time can be wasted at third level in developing advanced mathematical skills that typically remain unused in the real world.
The emphasis on “hard IT” (maths and technical expertise) puts a lot of people off, supposedly women in particular. In fact, there are a very large number of people working in IT who will likely never write a line of code, instead using “soft” skills such as project planning and management. Pre-project engagements to elicit and document requirements, and to negotiate project scope and commercial details, are also very important, as are the skills to market and present. Courses that develop a mix of light technical, project management, business analysis and commercial sales and management skills, with involvement in real projects along the way, would attract a different type of candidate into the industry to fill these “soft IT” roles. – Yours, etc,
JOHN THOMPSON,
Phibsboro,
Dublin 7.