Local companies urge female students to consider future in ICT

Over 70 female students and local teachers from the North West attended a special seminar in the Catalyst Inc Innovation Centre, Derry to learn about the growing career opportunities in ICT.
Sinead Dillon, Principal Consultant at Fujitsu, pictured with Dr Michaela Black from Ulster University, Susan McCambridge from Bring IT On, and local students at the ‘Changing IT: Careers for the Future’ event.Sinead Dillon, Principal Consultant at Fujitsu, pictured with Dr Michaela Black from Ulster University, Susan McCambridge from Bring IT On, and local students at the ‘Changing IT: Careers for the Future’ event.
Sinead Dillon, Principal Consultant at Fujitsu, pictured with Dr Michaela Black from Ulster University, Susan McCambridge from Bring IT On, and local students at the ‘Changing IT: Careers for the Future’ event.

The ‘Changing IT: Careers for the Future’ event was organised by a collective of leading technology companies including Fujitsu, working with Bring it On NI and Women in Business NI.

Held in both Derry and Belfast, the special seminar was designed to educate and inform Year 11 and 12 pupils about career paths and the learning and career development opportunities in an evolving IT sector.

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Attendees took part in a series of interactive workshops and demonstrations looking at the skills needed for a future job in the industry.

Principal Consultant at Fujitsu Sinead Dillon said; “Given the under representation of women in IT, we felt it was important as a sector to come together and help young female students locally understand the scale of opportunity presented by ICT.

“Focused on the future of work, together with Bring it On and experts across the industry, we shone a light on the transferable and core skills needed to thrive in the industry and key growth areas including artificial intelligence, cyber security and connected technologies,” she added.

Students got to meet with and hear from leading local company representatives from Allstate, Seagate, Aveva, Ulster University and Seagate.

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IT ambassadors and professionals from each organisation participated in breakout sessions and were on hand to speak to teachers about developments and range of career opportunities now open to students in the IT sector.

Sinead Dillon added: “As a business, we continually emphasise the importance of co-creation with our customers, so it is only nature we collaborate with our peers in the industry to attract new talent.

“Young people today are increasingly tech-savvy and innovative, and we were thrilled with the focus and enthusiasm from local pupils throughout the day.”