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Time to focus on ICT
IT skills are imperative for graduates
While technical skills are useful, and an awareness of current and emerging
technologies is important, it is not, in our opinion, where the emphasis should
be.
Graduates need a good grounding in one or two technologies, but there is no
guarantee they would actually work with these. WebLogic and Oracle are high on
Prudential's technical priorities right now, but who knows what the future will
hold?
The dynamic nature of an IT environment means that the ability to change from
one technology or platform to another is more important than possession one or
more technical skills.
Another essential element to a graduates toolkit should be an understanding of
both the development life cycle and the project life cycle.
As well as developing the UK's skills base in science and technology, the
government should also have a desire to actually prepare graduates for the
workplace.
There should be a far better partnership between universities and businesses to
help achieve this.
Work placement should not be used for menial tasks such as photocopying and
tidying up stationary cupboards to keep the student busy.
Students should be able to plan, develop, present and deliver a usable product
to the business. They should be able to feel the pressure of working to quality
and deadline constraints. It should be all about practice, not theory.
-- John Worth, Chief Information Officer of Financial Services Specialist
Prudential
While technical skills are useful, and an awareness of current and emerging
technologies is important, it is not, in our opinion, where the emphasis should
be.
Graduates need a good grounding in one or two technologies, but there is no
guarantee they would actually work with these. WebLogic and Oracle are high on
Prudential's technical priorities right now, but who knows what the future will
hold?
The dynamic nature of an IT environment means that the ability to change from
one technology or platform to another is more important than possession one or
more technical skills.
Another essential element to a graduates toolkit should be an understanding of
both the development life cycle and the project life cycle.
As well as developing the UK's skills base in science and technology, the
government should also have a desire to actually prepare graduates for the
workplace.
There should be a far better partnership between universities and businesses to
help achieve this.
Work placement should not be used for menial tasks such as photocopying and
tidying up stationary cupboards to keep the student busy.
Students should be able to plan, develop, present and deliver a usable product
to the business. They should be able to feel the pressure of working to quality
and deadline constraints. It should be all about practice, not theory.
-- John Worth, Chief Information Officer of Financial Services Specialist
Prudential