As the deadline for the first round of CAO applications looms, the director of the Discover Science and Engineering (DSE) Programme has talked up the demand for IT jobs in the coming years.
Peter Brabazon, director of the DSE, said people with a technology or engineering qualification would be in great demand in the future and these graduates would not just be limited to a career in the IT sector.
Qualifications in the area of technology will be a passport to a wealth of career options for today’s Leaving Certificate students, said Brabazon.
This demand appears to be supported by a recent report by Engineering Ireland which found that the number of engineering posts to be filled will rise from 40,000 in 2001-2002 to 110,000 by 2020. Over the same period, there will be a similar upward curve in IT occupations, from 42,000 to 115,000.
Brabazon commented: “While traditionally computer science, electronic engineering and other technology courses have been associated by many people as leading exclusively to a career in the IT sector, in reality that is only part of the picture.” Potential career prospects include anything from game design, medicine, animation or music, he added.
“The growing demand for graduates in computer science, electronic engineering and other courses with a strong technology component is also driving up salaries,” Brabazon claimed. “IT skills are in demand worldwide, so a technology qualification is an excellent way to build a base of portable, highly valued skills.”
DSE is the national integrated awareness programme and is managed by Forfás on behalf of the Office of Science and Technology. Its remit includes increasing the numbers of students studying the physical sciences and promoting careers in the science, engineering and technology disciplines.
By Gordon Smith
