Latest news: Students unaware of IT careers

Students are missing out on career opportunities, especially in IT and technology due to a lack of information from schools and universities, says a new survey. 15/02/2012

IT trade association CompTIA surveyed more than 1,000 students to understand what motivates them, as part of a drive to address the huge skills gap in IT and technology careers.

The skills and interests listed by students were exactly those needed by the IT profession. In line with the general findings, the research highlights a lack of understanding of the routes into IT and technology careers and what they involve.

A significant proportion (36%) assume they need an IT or related degree. Whilst true of some areas such as programming, in most areas industry training and certifications have proven successful, low cost entry routes for thousands of school leavers and non-tech graduates.

Outdated perceptions are still held with 17% seeing IT careers as sitting in a backroom with little or no social contact. Concern about the role of school lessons in providing career insight is particularly high here, with only 5% saying IT lessons gave them an understanding of what an IT or related career involves.

Also, 18% of students are very interested in working in IT or technology. A further 23% said they might be interested if they knew more about it; and 44% say they aspire to a career working with the latest technology.

'There is plenty of potential interest, but the lack of information means a huge number of technology jobs remain unfilled and motivated graduates remain unemployed unnecessarily,' says John McGlinchey of CompTIA.

The sector is currently struggling to attract the 110,400 new entrants a year it needs to keep up with the industry's growth. The IT sector contributes £81billion towards the UK's economy and could contribute an additional £50billion over the next five to seven years if it can find the recruits.