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Find out why hiring for ‘Skills’ first rather than ‘degree’ first maybe beneficial to your business!

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Hire For Skills First

How do you identify young talent that will have the greatest impact?

For most companies, the standard practice is to target select, prestigious schools, universities or colleges, invest in a prime spot during seasonal career fairs, and collect as many CV’s as possible to build an entry-level talent pipeline. However if you are an SME or start up this isn’t always possible. Let’s find out why hiring for ‘Skills’ first rather than ‘degree’ first maybe beneficial to your business.

First off, in the age of digital transformation, the demand for developers won’t be able to keep up with degree focus recruiting. If everyone’s fighting for talent in the same pools of talent, hiring will be exponentially more difficult. Secondly, if your goal is to make strong hires, we need to look past ‘only’ grades, as they aren’t reflective of true ability.

It’s time to focus the conversation on skill. To dive deeper on understanding the state of student developer skills. 10,000 developers were surveyed by Hacker Rack across universities worldwide on how they’re learning, what they’re learning, and what they look for in a job. For instance, we learned that even though 76% of tech students are pursuing a degree in computer science, 65% of all student developers say they are at least partially self-taught. And nearly one third of all developers said they’re completely self-taught.Self-directed learning is the norm among developers; so when companies focus on hiring based on proven skill instead of prestigious degree a massive pool of overlooked talent opens up.

 

A degree is not enough to learn how to code

Although most computer science students are learning software development in universities, over half of all student developers say they’re partially self-taught. And nearly one third of all student developers say they’re completely self-taught.

 

This prevalence of self-taught knowledge means two things: First, computer science programs lag behind the pace at which technology evolves. For skills that are growing in the industry today, students have to rely on self-teaching to learn.

Second, self-teaching is ingrained in the developer DNA. Developers have an insatiable thirst for learning. On average, students are planning to learn 6 languages, while more senior developers are learning 4. Their thirst for learning makes it clear that Computer Science (CS) degrees shouldn’t be the primary measure of student developer skills. Instead, teams need to look beyond school performance—to personal projects, portfolio, skills assessments, and the like—to accurately evaluate their skills.

 

Students rely more on YouTube than professionals

Developers have traditionally flocked to Stack Overflow as a means of learning new skills or working through problems. But that could be changing with new generations.

University students today seem to be showing less interest in Stack Overflow compared to professional developers. Instead, YouTube is starting to become more favourable as a learning tool for the next generation of developers. We found that 73% of students use YouTube, compared to only 64% of professional developers (where the majority of professional developers were aged 25-34, and the majority of student developers were aged 18-24).

 

What platforms do Student and professional use to learn how to code?

Outside of the classroom, the face of education is shapeshifting quickly. The popularity of video-focused mediums may signal the beginning of a larger generational shift led by Generation Z (those born in the mid 90’s – early 00’s), who make up the majority of today’s college and university students.

 

This trend supports recent research by Pearson & Harris Poll, which found that Generation Z (ages 14-23) preferred YouTube and video to learn versus other applications of learning.

Check out some of the latest jobs that we are hiring for that will consider ‘skills’ first! 

 

Don’t wait until January to change jobs, start now!

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January and February are traditionally very busy times for job seekers, hiring managers and recruiters alike but why do so many people change jobs in January? There are of course many reasons why people change roles but there are several reasons why they do so en masse.

There is a myth that the job market stalls in November and December. This is more of a self-fulfilling prophecy than anything else. Yes, it can take longer for the interview process to progress to offer stage, but hiring managers are still looking to fill their vacancies and typically would like new starters to join the team in January.  The myth though can mean that people delay starting their search until the New Year.

A lot of companies shut down over the Christmas period which gives two more reasons for the spike in job seekers. Any long break from work increases the likelihood of people considering a job change. Time off can make people reassess their day to day lives and make them realise that they are dreading going back to work.  If that is the case, then it’s probably time to change. Job hunting can be a very time-consuming process, particularly in the early stages when you have to write a CV and find jobs to apply for and recruiters to work with. The long break means that people finally have time to do that. – Don’t wait, do it now, get ahead of the crowds, get the advice you need and let us help you get your CV ready, with our £250 free CV review. Yes, sometimes Christmas does come early.

So, to ensure you’re ready for the ‘New Year, New Me’… why don’t you focus on what you really want from a job and consider these 5 things now, so you can make 2019 a year to remember. Ask yourself these 5 simple questions:

  1. What have I achieved?

List everything you achieved over the last year that make you valuable to your current company and how that can be transferred. Being able to explain the value of your achievements can be a sound basis to begin discussing a raise in Salary.

 

  1. What do I want?

You need to be prepared to articulate what you want. You’ve sometimes got to be explicit. What stage are you at within your career, what type of organisation do you want to work within; large corporate, SME, Contractor etc. Mapping out the path you need to take to achieve your goals is something you have to do for yourself.

 

  1. What is the bigger picture?

January is theoretically when the job market starts moving, so it’s a good time to look for opportunities. But before you start applying for a new role, taking a step back and considering what you want from life generally as this will influence the next move you make in your career.

If you want to buy a house in the next couple of years, or if you are thinking of starting a family, these life goals will have a profound influence on the career decisions you will want to make.

 

  1. Who is my dream employer?

Make a list of the top 10 organisations you would love to work for, then research them, follow them on Twitter and like them on Facebook. Look beyond the obvious large corporations as we have many SMEs that are more agile, flexible, and somewhere your ideas can really make a difference.

Take a few hours researching the internet and checking out their company culture, environment, locations etc and then understanding does this align with what you are looking for.

 

  1. Who can I talk to?

Career experts agree that talking your options through with somebody is often helpful. Partnering with a specialist recruitment agency can often spark new ideas on jobs you might not know exist and give you some helpful advice on local companies that would be interested in someone with your skills.

 

We know changing jobs can be time consuming and frustrating, let us help reduce that or even take it away. Chat to us now, and we can give you some free impartial, relevant career advice. 

 

Top Tips On How To Become A Software Developer, With Francisco Gaytan – FullStack Developer

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Francisco is a FullStack Web Developer, below he is sharing some tips on how to become a Software Developer and how to get started.

Francisco: How do I get started as a developer? This is probably the question I get asked the most on social media. I run a page on Instagram called @thedevelife, with 47k followers at the time I’m writing this. That question comes up at least once a day. It is also a hard question to answer.

 

Sometimes people get glamoured by the pictures they see on Instagram of a dude attempting to be code at the beach on a sunny day. I’ve been a programmer for more than ten years, and I have not been able to code at the beach efficiently. I have attempted it a couple times, but it did not work out for me. At least in my experience that has been the case. What I’m trying to say is that sometimes people want to become programmers for the wrong reasons. Aspiring developers like the freedom being portrayed in social media, but sometimes that is all it is, just a portrayal. There is a lot of freedom that comes along with being able to work from any place with a WiFi connection, but there still some limitations. There are a lot of good things that come from being a programmer, the biggest, in my opinion, is knowing that someone out there is using an application you built in their everyday life. I became a programmer because I love to create cool stuff and then eventually the perks of being a programmer came along.

 

When I give advice to someone on how to get started, I lead with the following questions.

  • What do you see yourself doing as a developer?
  • Do you see yourself working on the front-end, back-end, maybe programming for mobile devices?

Depending on the answer to these questions, the steps anyone looking to become a developer should take might be slightly different. There isn’t an answer that fits all situations. Also, I cannot provide advice on areas I have not enough experience with like Big Data, AI or IOT. I am familiar with back-end development, mobile, and web development being my strength (my kung-fu is pretty strong when doing work for the web), so if you want to pursue any of those areas I have deficiencies on, I apologize (sad face), I can’t be of value there.

 

Let me start with bad news first. If you aren’t able to sit in front of the computer for long periods of time and work late nights, sorry to say this might not be for you. I say this because you will have to work long hours to develop an application worthwhile, once that application goes live you might be required to work even longer hours. If the app goes down for whatever reason, you will be expected to show up in the office (or get online at 3AM) to help resolve the issue. At the very least you will have to respond as soon as possible, even if you are working on another project. If you don’t like the sound of this, maybe being a developer might not be for you.

 

Something else you will need is to have is a mind of a problem solver. I have met programmers who struggle because they are not able to solve a problem or are not resourceful enough to look and find the information that will aid them to resolve the issue at hand. You will not be expected to have a swift solution to every problem that is thrown at you, but the expectation of you being able to solve issues will definitely be a factor in your success as a dev.

 

Now that we got all the negativity out of the way let’s get into something more constructive. Don’t try to take on too much too fast. I suggest you get proficient at one thing at a time before moving onto learning something else. Figuring out where you want to end up working will help with this. If you’re going to be a full-stack web developer, focus on either the front-end or the back-end until you learn it, then and only then move on to the other. Trying to learn both at the same time might overwhelm you. Let’s explore or this scenario a bit more. Let’s assume you will choose to learn the front-end first, then move on to the back-end and you know your way around a computer, but have not taken any computer science courses.

 

Front-End Web Development

HTML, CSS and Javascript. Those are the main things you will need to learn to be able to build a UI. JavaScript can be used on the back-end, but in this case, JavaScript will be used for the UI. HTML and CSS, go hand in hand, and without being familiar with those two, you won’t get far, so I advise you learn these first. Then you can get familiar with JavaScript, pure JS without jQuery or any other framework or library. I would only devote enough time to learn how to access DOM elements (by the way if you don’t know what some of the acronyms or terms mean, I will make a list at the bottom of the most common ones) and make simple manipulations to HTML elements. Once you feel comfortable moving around the DOM, I recommend choosing a JavaScript framework. I like ReactJS (technically, React is a library, but many refer to it as a framework), there is also Angular and VueJS which are very popular. All have their pros and cons, the reason why I chose React is that is the most versatile, and once you know ReactJS, the learning curve to learn React Native is small, this will be an advantage if you ever want start building mobile applications. Take some time to do some research and pick the one you think is the best.

 

Mobile Development

Like web development there a few flavours you can choose from. You can be a truly native developer and learn Java or Kotlin to develop for Android then learn Swift to code for iOS devices. Or, you can choose React Native for which you need to learn JavaScript and develop for both platforms, Android, and iOS at the same time. I personally chose this route because using React Native is just a hop away if you are already familiar with ReactJS. React or React Native will require you to have knowledge of JavaScript. Another advantage is that if you start with mobile development using React Native moving your skills to web development the learning curve will be minimal.

 

Back-End Development

Here is where you can choose from a plethora of frameworks, some of them are PHP, Python, Java, Ruby On Rails, NodeJs and many more. The best approach for planning out your back-end is to develop a RESTful API your web application or mobile application can access to be able to send and retrieve data securely. All the frameworks or languages mentioned above can help you achieve this. The frameworks I work with are .NET Framework and .NET Core with C# as the language of choice. Again, I was pragmatic with my approach I chose C# because I can build applications for many platforms and there is a ton of documentation on how to get started with Web APIs. The main thing to keep in mind is to make sure you can reuse your code and/or web API(s) as much as you can.

 

I don’t expect this to be a guide on how to become a developer. I would look at it more like a set of tips that I wish someone would have shared with me when I was starting out. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, you can find me at @thedevlife on Instagram.

 

For more career advice on how to get a job in software development or change jobs if you are already a Software Developer then please click here, we would love to help you. 

15.8 million working days lost to mental health every year – how to read the signs and support your employees.

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According to a research project QBE conducted in April this year, half of UK-based senior decision makers have received no formal mental health training. However, on average, a person suffering from work-related stress takes a staggering extra 23 days leave pro rata, so isn’t it about time we started paying attention to mental health in the workplace?

Risks

We understand that it’s a sensitive topic, but refusal to address mental health in the workplace poses a few daunting risks we’re sure you’ll want to avoid:

  • 37% of mental health sufferers are likely to get into conflict with an employee
  • 62% of mental health sufferers take longer to do tasks
  • Half of mental health suffers are potentially less patient with customers of clients
  • Mental health has the potential to cost UK companies upwards of £35bn
  • Mental health already claims a £70-100bn chunk of the UK economy each year

While one in five of the senior leaders that were surveyed said they would not want to hire someone with a declared mental illness, those living with mental health problems contribute £226bn to the economy each year, accounting for 12.1% of the UK’s total GDP. It’s not about dismissing those who are going through a rough patch, but creating an effective nurturing environment to support the wellbeing of your employees. Here are three easy steps to incorporate into your workplace mental health strategy:

Prevent

Consider the following proactive and practical tips to create an environment less prone to mental health problems:

  • Promote inclusivity and openness so employees feel comfortable sharing with you.
  • Maintain strong policies in equality, harassment and anti-bullying so employees feel confident and accepted.
  • Make use of mental health courses to provide relevant training to line managers. Equip and encourage them to be pro-active but sensitive around any issues that arise.
  • Make HR approachable so that employees feel they will be taken seriously if they speak up.
  • Encourage a healthy work-life balance.
  • Introduce a confidential employee helpline.
  • Set time aside to educate all staff about mental health issues so they know who to approach.

Identify

Be aware of the warning signs of an employee struggling to cope and ensure line managers are also alert to these. Indicators can include:

  • Changes in behaviour
  • Difficulty in concentrating
  • Tiredness
  • Lack of appetite
  • Chest and/or other musculoskeletal pains
  • Dizziness
  • Feeling restless
  • Nervous twitches
  • Irritability

Act

Once an issue has been identified, it is important to;

  • Arrange regular meetings to discuss concerns and support measures.
  • Consider adjustments such as flexible working arrangements (e.g. working from home), extended deadlines, making use of mental health organisations and services for training and stress management courses etc. Each individual’s needs and requirements have to be considered, for example an employee whose depression is founded on feelings of loneliness and isolation is not likely to benefit from flexible working.
  • Obtain, but do not rely solely on medical advice – employers should make their own assessment with input from the employee on their current and future capabilities.
  • Keep clear records of discussions from meetings, however be conscious of the sensitive nature of personal data and ensure it is dealt with confidentially.

A key point for employers to consider is the length of time that employees could ­find themselves away from work while they recover from mental health episodes. Workplace rehabilitation always benefits with early intervention, and mental health need not be treated any differently.

Find Out Why Joining The Tech Education Network Is ALWAYS A Good Idea…

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Hey everyone! The TEN summer newsletter is now making its way into inboxes. If you aren’t on the mailing list yet, you can read it here. Don’t forget to subscribe! – I’m sure you will agree it is full of rich content and useful information.

 

And we have lift off….

Our Mission

The Tech Education Network (TEN) exists to connect the tech community with our wider society, equipping children and adults with information, practical resources and training through its networks, knowledge sharing and programme delivery.

A Note from our Directors

We would like to thank everyone who came out to our launch this month – and all of you who have been faithful friends over this year!  We’re very excited to follow up with each of you over the summer.  If you have completed a contact form, or wish to volunteer, we’ll be in touch soon!

At the launch we introduced our aims and called out across the Tech Community for renewed commitments to work together, without trampling on project toes, and with our wider community’s best interests at heart – you did not disappoint!  Thank you all for that!

We are growing so we would love to expand our Committee.  We’re looking for volunteers who know the tech community and are keen to help in education and outreach, irrespective of age range or preferred group.  We know projects vary so what we really want are enthusiastic people who make things happen and can see projects through. Committee posts require a commitment of about 5 hours per month.  Please get in touch for more details.

Thanks!

Lisa Donaldson & Julie McGrath

 

If you missed our launch event, we’d love to hear from you – you can click here to subscribe to this newsletter and also to let us know how we can help!

 

Call Outs from the Community
 

Get Help Starting A CoderDojo

Are you involved with a youth group, library, school or work in a company looking to inspire kids to get creative with code?

The CoderDojo Foundation are looking to provide support for organisations to start up and hit the ground running with their own dojos. They’ll provide workshops and starters packs too!

If interested get in touch with TEN and we’ll coordinate with CoderDojo to get details firmed up. We just need to fill a room and find a date!
Calling all volunteers! BITC need volunteers for #TimeToCode next term.  Time to Code matches volunteers from the tech & digital industries with Primary schools for an hour weekly or fortnightly.

You don’t need experience in coding or mentoring as you will be trained before meeting the class, and facilitating with teachers and another mentor. Currently there are over 60 schools waiting for someone like you to help out!  Contact Ciara Mulgrew or click on the link to find out more!
 
The Paid Work Experience Programme
Sentinus are looking for organisations that can help place students aged 16 – 18 in companies across a spectrum of industries – but these include Tech, Media and Creative industries too.  Applications from students closes in spring each year and you can read more about the programme HERE.If you think you can offer a student a placement during August, please contact David here.
Share your digital skills and help someone get online.
With many Government and High Street transactions now moving online and technology developing at a rapid rate, it’s more important than ever that people possess the basic skills to make the most of the digital world. Digital Assist aims to deliver just that. You could be helping someone connect with family members via email, introducing them to social media, or even helping them save money through online shopping.  This is particularly helpful for older people who have no experience or understanding of technology.For further information, email Angela McCartney or call (028) 9046 0606.
 

 
Belfast Design Week happens each November.  They are now coordinating events and fringe events to make this years celebration bigger and better than ever!  If you are part of a group that would like to know more and how to get involved, check out the BDW website to keep up to date with what’s happening!

Courses & Opportunities

 
Generation Innovation Programme Manager
We believe young people are central to unlocking Northern Ireland’s future as a globally renowned knowledge economy. That’s why we put them at the heart of an inspirational network of experienced entrepreneurs, universities and employers.This is an amazing opportunity to work alongside the next generation of innovators who are curious, creative problem solvers, collaborators and excellent communicators, enabling them to achieve their potential in an ever changing world. Your role will be to help open the eyes of young people to aim higher, push boundaries and prepare for careers as innovators.  Job details via NI Jobfinder
Women’s Tec are based in North Belfast and run a range of courses that have been traditionally considered not for females.  They are constantly working to add to this list of employability courses.  This year they’re getting ready to set up PASS courses (Promote, Advance and Support for Success) which will begin in September and include digital classes.  PASS is open to those 18-24 years old, childcare is provided at the campus and is free.  To find out more follow this link.
 

 
Belfast City Council and the Urban Villages Initiative are supporting MakeMatic to enhance provision of digital and employability skills in schools and community organisations in Belfast and Derry-Londonderry.

Participating schools AND community groups will receive:

  • Access to over 12hrs of online professional development resources for staff. You can learn more about our courses here.
  • Free on-site and group professional development workshops and on-going support
  • A place at one of two gala showcase events in June 2018

Schools will receive

  • Industry engagement both at your school and through work placements
  • Opportunities for students to engage with employers in our key growth sectors, and undertake exciting digital media projects
  • Access to lesson plans and activities

There is no cost for eligible schools/groups to take part – simply check the eligibility requirements below and complete the expression of interest form here.
 

 
LearnTo iOS is an 8 week training course hosted by Charged, Secure Broadcast & NSBelfast that teaches the fundamentals to iOS app development. The aim of the course is to go from “0 to app” in 4 months.

This free Bootcamp is for students, postgrads or anyone with relevant experience who wishes to get into iOS development.The first course has just completed this month – huge congratulations to all involved! IF you’d like to know more and want to keep up to date with future courses follow this link!
 

 
Novosco has joined with Ulster University to offer IT engineers of the future the chance to develop their skills.

Free of charge and open to students between the ages of 16 and 17 (on 30th July 2018) at schools and colleges across Northern Ireland, it will provide hands-on IT infrastructure experience, as well as a fun learning environment.

Novosco Cloud Camp – an educational initiative by managed cloud provider Novosco – will run at Ulster University’s Jordanstown campus between 30th July and 3rd August 2018. Read more here!
 

 

Machine Intelligence Garage

Machine Intelligence Garage is designed to help startups with a well defined business idea and technical capability for whom access to computation power is a barrier to growth. Participating companies are getting access to computation power and relevant expertise, as well as a range of support activities.

Machine Intelligence Garage hosts workshops and experimentation-days to help companies of all sizes get to grips with systems for Machine Intelligence. Through our experimentation space companies and researchers can try out new hardware and supporting technology solutions.  You can find out more about the program here.
 

 
Bring IT On are now advertising for various Tech courses across the Belfast Met campuses.  These include Academies, Conversions, Apprenticeships, Higher National awards, Foundations and specialist courses.  You can find out more here.
 

 
Go ON NI events are free and take place in libraries, community centres and various venues across NI. These are informal technology awareness sessions to help you go online for the first time, improve your digital skills and show you more about using smartphone and tablet devices.  To find out when events take place near your or your family click here.
 

 
Belfast City Council offer a range of small and semi-formal IT courses throughout the year.  These are particularly good for those with no background in IT and focus more on computer literacy and Microsoft use.  You can keep up to date with them here.  While we have only highlighted the Belfast Council, please check with your own regional Council too as most will hold similar beginner courses.
 

 
Code First Girls offer free community programmes across the UK. For the past few years they have run a free 6 week programme for female students in Queens University on how to build websites.  To find out more about what they can offer you and up-coming courses you can visit their website here.
 

 
Find a Code Club near you
There are over 6,000 clubs across the UK and more than 300 in Northern Ireland.  While most are during a school day, you can find, run or volunteer to help a club near you too.  At Code Club, we think all children should have the opportunity to learn to code, no matter who they are or where they come from.This is why we support a nationwide network of volunteers and educators who run free coding clubs where young people aged 9-13 build and share their ideas, learning along the way.On a related note, Darren Bayliss, Code Club Coordinator for Ireland & NI is in Belfast for the next few days. Get in touch with him via twitter @CodeClubNI  We caught up with him to hear about Code Clubs plans for NI and how they’ve recently begun expanding their presence in the RoI too.  Partnered with Coderdojo under the Raspberry Pi Foundation.  He encourages anyone to get in touch to find out more.
 

 
Coderdojo exist across Northern Ireland and are typically independent of a school, set up by trained volunteers.  Parents are expected to stay with children under 13 during the session which means parents can pick up some nifty tricks of their own too!  The sky is the limit with these clubs and there is a wealth of learning resources to help facilitate children learning for themselves.  Mentors are on hand to help and encourage too so don’t be afraid if you are a beginner!  You can find a Dojo near you by following this link.
 

 
For the adults (mainly)! There are so many Tech Meetups in Northern Ireland – at our last count we had over 70 spanning all areas of Digital, Tech & Design!  Many of them run introduction evenings too.  Follow the link to find out more about what’s on offer in your own area, both physical and interest!  Our community is really friendly and collaborative.  Plus, you will never lack for pizza!  NI Tech meetups can be found here.
 

If you run an early-stage education venture that’s working to improve social mobility, apply for our Young Foundation accelerator programme. It’s free & you’ll get access to a wide range of support, so what have you got to lose? https://bit.ly/2vlKMLl   Many of the 52 ventures supported in the Young Academy’s first four years have gone on to achieve impressive scale, addressing inequalities in the education system and improving the life chances of thousands of young people.

Upcoming Events

All Women in Tech Summer Party!

You are cordially invited to a relaxed evening of drinks, nibbles, networking and socialising on Friday 31st August (venue to be confirmed).

The event brings together members of Women in Tech Belfast Lean In, Women Who Code Belfast, Women Tech Space, and Django Girls; and is kindly sponsored by Bazaarvoice. The event will include a brief overview of what each of the groups have coming up over the next few months and how you can get involved.

Regardless of your role or level, you are welcome to swing by any time and spend the evening networking and socialising with other women and allies in the local tech industry. We look forward to seeing you there!

Ticket link to Get Invited
A family friendly tech social at Farset Labs!

Kids of all ages are welcome. There will be some food and toys to entertain the little ones, and adults can socialise and have fun.

Tickets to this are free, but a small donation to Farset Labs would be appreciated since it’s a charity hackerspace run by volunteers.  For tickets to this Free event click HERE.

Microsoft OneNote – Built for teachers, by teachers!  Various dates across NI

Course details:
This is a one day course which is available in the locations below:
Where and When?
Our Lady and St Patricks College, Knock 16th August 9.30 am – 3.00 pm
120 Gilnahirk Road, Belfast, BT5 7DL
Slemish College 17th August 9.30 am – 3.00 pm
Larne Road, Ballymena, BT42 3HA
St Joseph’s Grammar School, Donaghmore 20th August 9.30 am – 3.00 pm
58 Castlecaufield Road, Dungannon, BT70 3HE

Register for the course by selecting the appropriate ticket HERE
Google Educator Level 2 Bootcamp by C2K
Fri 10 August 2018  09:00 – 15:30This course is open to teachers who have successfully completed Google Educator Level 1 Certification and are keen to continue to develop techniques for effective ed tech integration.  Find details here.

LOCATION

Education Authority Antrim Board Centre

C2k North Eastern Centre

17 Lough Road

Antrim

BT41 4DH
W5 are celebrating Augmented Dinosaurs!  Augmented Reality, or AR, is an amazing technology that superimposes computer-generated images onto our view of the real world. And this summer our AR exhibit is bringing dinosaurs roaring back into your world!

Prepare yourself for an encounter with some of the most realistic 3D animated dinosaurs you can get outside of a movie theatre.  Read more about this, what’s on at W5 and STEM Clubs here.
Cinemagic is looking for young film enthusiasts to take on the role of ‘film consultants’ this July in Belfast, to help programme a series of films for the annual Cinemagic Festival that takes place from 5th-28th October 2018.  Find out more about this ad other programmes here.

Skills Northern Ireland

07 Nov 18 – 08 Nov 18

Website: Click here
Tickets: Click here

Skills Northern Ireland is back at the Titanic Exhibition Centre from the 7th – 8th November 2018!

Interactive and inspiring, this free two day event is aimed at 14-19 year olds and the teachers, parents and influencers that help them decide how to achieve the career of their dreams.

A visit will ensure you get the best possible start to your career; you’ll be encouraged to make informed decisions based on impartial information and advice about your future, to enable you to visualise your career path.

News and Mentions

Congratulations ‘Poppin’ from Banbridge Academy, named Young Enterprise Company of the Year

‘Poppin’ Banbridge Academy took lead out of almost 100 companies involved in pitching, interview and facing a panel of some of Northern Ireland’s top business moguls. This group of enterprising students have immersed themselves in the programme, creating a product that sticks onto the back of a phone to prevent you from dropping it. They have secured orders already from Northern Ireland leading company Moy Park who are using their product as a branding tool.

Read more here..
TEN would like to congratulate Ryan Beckett, Clare McKeever and Kelly Moore for being shortlisted as the Young IT Professional of the Year by the BCS NI Branch.  Well done and keep rocking!  You can keep up to date with these awards (and give a shout out to them) here.
We’re also happy to congratulate Becca Hume who has been shortlisted for the Young Enrepreneur ofthe Year awards by Forward Ladies.  Becca’s company, TAP SOS provides non-verbal emergency services and has recently been the winner of quite a few awards for this life saving app!  Well Done Becca!  You can read more here.

News from the Wider Community

Seaview primary school in Belfast wins TES technology award

Seaview Primary in north Belfast received a prestigious TES award at a ceremony in London.
It was named the UK school with the most innovative use of technology in learning.
The judges said that attendance, behaviour and pupil outcomes had improved at the York Road school as a result.

Read more…

Queen’s University Belfast has opened a new £7.5m advanced manufacturing facility, which aims to help Northern Ireland companies improve productivity.

It will allow manufacturers to experiment with high-end equipment and get access to the latest research.
It will also provide Northern Ireland with a regional link to other manufacturing research networks.
The centre has been supported by the UK Department for Business, Innovate UK and the Aerospace Technology Institute.
It will have a particular focus on aerospace technologies, but is open to other sectors.

Read more…

Deloitte to bring in 70 apprentices during 2018

The five-year programme helps young people gain a BSc in Business Technology through Ulster University, as well as recognised professional qualifications and a job at Deloitte.
Now 70 apprentices are due to join in 2018, bringing the total who have completed the programme to 180.
Read more…

Ulster University Honour for Silicon Valley boss Sarah Friar

The Co Tyrone woman attended Strabane Grammar, where she developed a love of maths and science.  Sara is an ambassador for females in tech and was involved in launching the Ormeau Baths tech campus for entrepreneurs.  Since 2012 she has been chief financial officer for Square – a mobile payments company jointly run with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, which has become one of the world’s fastest growing financial technology companies.

Read more…

Nearly 800 children enter Northern Ireland justice system for first time in one year

Nearly 800 children and youths entered Northern Ireland’s justice system for the first time in the 2016/17 period, new figures have shown.  For 2016/17 a total of 29,031 offences were recorded across all categories, with 8,665 of these being first offences.

Read more..

Data hack at South Eastern Regional College could affect staff’s information

The BBC reports staff at the further education college have been told their data may be at risk.
It follows the hacking of an employee’s email account.
A representative from the SERC said it was working with the Information Commissioner’s Office and the PSNI to resolve the issue.  The SERC has a number of campuses across south-eastern Northern Ireland and has around 32,000 students.

Read more…

New STEM Education Centre in Omagh

A shared education campus in Omagh has received a £140m Government funding boost.
Strule will be the largest of its kind in Northern Ireland and will bring together more than 4,000 pupils from six schools and all backgrounds.
It will offer collaborative education opportunities to students across the Steam (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) area of the curriculum.

Read more..

Appointment of new members to the Education Authority Board

Mrs Sarah Kelly is from Derry and is the former Principal of St Joseph’s Boys School.  Mr Nelson McCausland is from Newtownabbey and is a member of the committee of the Ulster Scots Community Network.  He has declared that during the last five years he has undertaken political activity for the DUP, holding office both at local branch level and as a MLA (2003-2017).  He is a member of the Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund committee of NI Screen for which he receives no remuneration.

Read more…

Voluntary Youth Capital Scheme to receive £5.9 million investment across NI

continue into following years.
Permanent Secretary, Derek Baker said: “Good quality youth work can significantly and positively impact on the lives of young people and make a real difference to their future. The Voluntary Youth Capital Scheme gives youth organisations across Northern Ireland the opportunity to improve the facilities and services they offer to young people.

Read more…

Full Steam Ahead : Children Learn through Film Making

PRIMARY school pupils are being taught film analysis to help improve their literacy skills.
Full Steam Ahead is a two year project that uses filmmaking as an educational tool, enabling pupils to make their own films and learn skills such as stop motion animation, storyboarding and script writing.
The project, run by Into Film in partnership with the Nerve Centre in Derry and Nerve Belfast, instructed teachers how to use film in the classroom to develop and support learning.

Read more…

Gender gap in university applications widens

New Ucas statistics reveal almost 98,000 more women than men had applied by the end of last month to start degree courses this autumn.  Overall, 367,300 women, of all ages, had applied to university by June 30 – the last deadline for applications.  In comparison, there were 269,660 male applicants – a gap of 97,640 students.

Read more…

Calls for students’ backgrounds to be part of university entry alongside grades

Calls have been made to improve equality of opportunity for university entry by making it “about background, and not just exams”.
Chris Millward – the director of fair access and participation of the Office for Students watchdog – has stated that the current application system is flawed, arguing that A-level grades are only a “robust measure of potential if they are considered alongside the context in which they are achieved” and that in higher education “we are a long way from equality of opportunity”.

Read more…

Local school children inspired towards STEAM Careers

Aimed at exposing primary school children to careers in STEAM subjects (Science, Technology, Arts and Mathematics), Miniversity has engaged with two schools near the West Belfast Interface with assistance from the Housing Executive.
Black Mountain Shared Space Project received £10,000 in Housing Executive funding for a pilot project so that students from Harmony Primary in Glencairn and Bunscoil an tSleibhe Dhuibh in Ballymurphy could engage with the project.

Read more…

More than 60 NI schools lose funding to run breakfast clubs

Patrick Allen, principal of Foyle College in Londonderry, said he was notified just days before the new financial year that his school would lose £22,000 from its budget.
“This is about so much more than just the breakfast club,” he said.
“We used our funding last year to operate an accelerated reading programme to support pupil literacy, provided direct support for Key Stage 3 literacy and numeracy and we were also looking at the transfer from primary to secondary school.”
Mr Allen said the money also supported STEM, technology and homework clubs, peer tutoring initiatives and helped to finance additional bus services.

 Rea more…

Access NI Checks: NI first to go Digital

“AccessNI plays a vital role in protecting our communities by providing criminal record checks for those applying to work with children and vulnerable adults. Investing in this new technology will provide an end to end digital service which allows the fastest and most secure method of receiving certificates in the whole of the UK.”

Read more…

Unspent Integrated Education funding now to be rolled out

Unspent money totalling £91m for shared and integrated education from the Fresh Start agreement will be made available in future years.
That is according to the Treasury and the Department of Finance.
The confirmation came after BBC News NI revealed the Department of Education (DE) had only been able to spend £8m of the £100m allocated since 2016.

Read more…

A digital mental health hub for young people has launched in Northern Ireland

The Northern Area Mental Health Initiative is a project led by Cookstown and Western Shores Area Network, in partnership with Action Mental Health and Nexus NI.
The Initiative offers free mental health awareness and resilience training, internet safety, sexual abuse and exploitation education to children and young people aged from 8 to 25 in schools, youth clubs and through key contacts such as teachers, youth group leaders and parents groups.
Read more and access link to the Hub here..

About T.E.N

First and foremost, we want to connect the Tech community to our wider NI Community – so that any person out there can find out how they can be involved, or how they pursue their ambition to learn tech.  Secondly, we also believe if you can help someone learn about tech, you also deserve support in your pursuit of that too!

Sounds great..So how do we make this happen?

There are two ways we will grow this network: stay in touch and share your news with us. Or if you’d like to get involved, volunteer or want to learn something digital, contact us so we can help you individually.   For more information about our aims and how you can get involved in TEN contact us at: info@techednet.org
Copyright © 2018 Tech Education Network, All rights reserved.

 

 

Just Eat has announced it is recruiting to fill 150 Technology Jobs

by

Online food marketplace Just Eat has announced it is recruiting to fill 150 technology roles, 80 of which have been recently created

The new roles are spread between the two Just Eat technology centres in London and Bristol.  This is the firm’s biggest search for talent in the last three years.

Fernando Fanton, chief product and technology officer, said that the firm’s data and technology is absolutely vital to maintain its service to its 22.8 million customers and more than 87,500 restaurant partners.

Adding an additional 150 people to the team that creates the firm’s digital experiences, such as its mobile application, is Just Eat’s way of “turbo-charging” its existing efforts to develop its customer and application experiences, according to Fanton.

“We are constantly looking for ways to push technology boundaries, and we look forward to bringing even more highly skilled and talented individuals to our world-class team as we continue our mission to create the world’s greatest food community,” he said.

Just Eat has been on top of digital advancements over the past year and has been trialling and implementing many types of “food tech”, from launching an application that can be used for Amazon Alexa and Apple TV, to trialling the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) on its consumer side for browsing menus and also on the restaurant/partner side for data visualisation and insight.

The 150 vacancies are on all levels, from entry level to experience management, and include roles such as associate engineers, principal engineers and technology managers.

The additional team members will help Just Eat to provide an overall better customer experience, all-important in a digital world where customers are fickle with their choice of brands and services.

Just Eat has already hired more than 200 engineers, developers and data scientists in the past 18 months, amounting to 650 technology professionals across the UK once the new 150 roles have been filled.

The company benefits are also hugely desirable including a £1,000 training budget, as well as five extra paid holiday days for job-related training, their own choice of hardware and quarterly hackathons. The retention rate in the firm’s Bristol technology centre alone is 92 per cent.

If you are searching for a new tech job in your area, please get in touch with one of our Tech Consultants now. We have lots of great jobs available with a range of different businesses. You may not live close to London or Bristol but we can certainly ensure your are given the best possible options for your career goals and location.

 

 

 

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