St Ronan's students join '˜IT crowd' as roadshow arrives at school

The Department for the Economy funded ‘Bring IT On’ programme is being rolled out in schools across the country by Sentinus in association with Belfast Met.

The initiative which involves school visits shines the spotlight on the importance of IT skills for the future of our economy and job market and aims to inspire young people to consider a career in the industry. It outlines the qualifications required to obtain an IT job and the benefits of working in the sector.

Belfast Met Director of Curriculum, Dr Jonathan Heggarty, who attended the launch at the college’s Titanic Quarter Campus, said: “The IT industry in Northern Ireland is continuing to grow and develop at pace in a range of areas including software engineering, computing infrastructure, data analytics and this is set to continue.

“The IT sector is of vital importance to our economy and as a college we are continuously adapting and advancing our curriculum in response to this demand.

“The ‘Bring IT On’ initiative is vital for getting pupils thinking about IT as an extremely exciting and rewarding career option. There are amazing opportunities in Northern Ireland for those with IT skills including a wide range of job roles and the encouraging fact that the salary for a person working in IT is on average 61 per cent higher than other industries.”

Bill Connor, Chief Executive of Sentinus, said: “The significant growth which the IT sector in NI has seen in recent years is predicted to continue, making the industry a vital part of the regional economy.”