IT undesirable? :: Wessex Scene Online

IT undesirable?

7th December 2007
Pete Bryant

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Over three quarters of graduates believe that a career in Information Technology is the ‘geekiest’, according to a recent survey.

In what may come as a surprise to many students, the results suggest that IT does not allow opportunities to work with other people and is considered an undesirable job option.

In a survey of 150 students conducted by JustIT, the subject was voted most ‘geeky’ with 78% of the vote and came second to Actuarial Sciences as the least desirable career. It was however, seen as "well paid", behind Engineering, Accountancy and Banking.

Sunil Duggal of JustIT was surprised that the industry was seen as a "technical and boring" career: "This perception is all wrong for the majority of IT jobs out there. More than ever before, IT teams and consultants are working closely with business executives and playing key roles in the success of an organisation." He added that the financial rewards were not being appreciated by graduates, presenting a challenge for HR departments across the industry to increase understanding of the opportunities IT offers.

However, students and tutors alike have hit back at these claims. One Chemistry student commented: "My course often gets shelved in the ‘geek’ box - and I suppose to an extent it is - but when you’re specialising in a topic in the way that we do here, its almost inevitable that any course can be labelled ‘geeky’.

Dr Paul Garratt, Admissions Tutor in Computer Science, was also keen to defend the industry: "Our students are eagerly saught by IBM, Google and Microsoft and can earn salaries of Ł28,000 to Ł35,000."

"Exciting technology like iPods, mobile phones, digital cameras and even Youtube and Wikipedia are all built by computer scientists. Job prospects have never been better and careers are creative, sociable and very lucrative."

Far from struggling to find students, ECS has seen a 20% rise in admissions this year with the state-of-the art facilities in the new Mountbatten Building seen as a factor for this. Southampton also received the highest rating in the UK from its students this year, adding to its already strong reputation.

I’d like to take this opportunity to apologise for the nature of the article, ‘Students Neglected?’ in the last issue. The views represented were of a minority and were not in any way intended to harm the reputation of the ECS department.