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4 new opportunities to advance your sci-tech career

22 Mar 2023

An online pen-testing course, a life sciences apprenticeship in Cork, a bootcamp for women founders and a programme for young entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland.

There are always new courses, internships, bootcamps, development programmes – whatever you want to call them – popping up in Irish sci-tech circles.

You just need to know where to look. Spring is a time when lots of people think about doing something new to challenge themselves in their careers. Luckily, no matter what industry you’re in or what kind of career goals you’re hoping to achieve, chances are there is a great opportunity out there waiting to be seized.

With that in mind, SiliconRepublic.com has rounded up some of the programmes that are currently seeking participants.

Maybe one of them will suit you?

Life sciences apprenticeship

Life sciences multinational Thermo Fisher Scientific is taking applications for its 2023 apprenticeship programme. The four-year apprenticeship is salaried, ensuring participants earn while they learn.

If you want in, you’ll have to hurry; the deadline for applications is Friday 24 March.

The apprenticeship is delivered in partnership with national further education and training agency Solas.

The scheme is particularly suited to Munster-based people interested in either an electrical and instrumentation apprenticeship or a mechanical apprenticeship.

The apprentices’ time will be divided between Thermo Fisher’s Co Cork pharma manufacturing site where they will complete on-the-job training and at training centres and third level institutes where they will complete Solas curriculum modules.

Successful apprentices will be awarded an internationally recognised apprenticeship (Level 6 Advanced Certificate) at the end of the programme. They will be eligible for consideration for entry into related Level 7 and 8 degree programmes provided by any of the Irish technological universities.

Work experience for teens

Catalyst, the Northern Ireland-based group for innovators and entrepreneurs, is accepting applications for its free work experience programme aimed at 17 and 18 year-olds.

The Generation Innovation programme is designed to introduce young people to the working world and provide them with new skills in the process.

The programme will see up to 600 young people take part in a series of workshops over a four to five-day period this June. There are three locations young applicants can choose from: Derry, Belfast and Dungannon.

They will get to work in teams with well-known employers such as Allstate, Artemis Technologies and iManage to collaborate on a solution to a problem that companies face in the real world. The teams will pitch their idea to the partner company and their fellow participants at the end.

Applications for Generation Innovation close on 31 March.

Bootcamp for women tech founders

The TechFoundHer community for women start-up founders in Ireland is calling on women to apply to its first ever bootcamp taking place in Dublin’s Mansion House on 2 May.

TechFoundHer is led by well-known Irish women in tech Vicky Twomey-Lee and Máirin Murray. Their goal with the bootcamp event is to encourage women who may not necessarily have a tech background to gain exposure to tech and get comfortable with tech jargon.

Women with tech backgrounds are also welcome to apply. The event aims to be inclusive, interactive and supportive, featuring a mix of workshops, Q&A panels and speakers.

All of these will be designed to support non-tech female founders to become more tech product savvy and equip them with industry know-how to move forward with their tech product or service idea.

The bootcamp is supported by Dublin City Council, as well as people like Aine Kerr (formerly of Kinzen); Mary Mac Sweeney, deputy head of economic development and enterprise with Dublin City Council, and other veteran women tech founders.

Tickets for the bootcamp are available on TechFoundHer’s website.

Penetration testing course

Cybersecurity is an excellent career path to follow, and penetration testing – or pen-testing – is a subset of the sector.

This self-paced pen-testing with Kali Linux course by US provider OffSec claims to serve a broad cohort, from experienced cybersecurity professionals who want to gain certified knowledge in the area of pen-testing to network administrators and people interested in a pen-testing career in general.

The paid online course can be taken by individuals, but there is also an option to enrol entire teams.

After you complete the course and pass the final exam, you get an OffSec Certified Professional (OSCP) certification.

Modules include note taking and report writing for pen-testers, SQL injection, Windows privilege escalation and Linux privilege escalation, as well as challenge labs that present learners with pen-testing problems.

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Blathnaid O’Dea
By Blathnaid O’Dea

Blathnaid O’Dea worked as a Careers reporter until 2024, coming from a background in the Humanities. She likes people, pranking, pictures of puffins – and apparently alliteration.

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