IT needs to improve ?boring? image

Only 12 per cent of the UK’s teenage population has considered a career in IT, according to a survey by Logicalis.

The UK Realtime Generation Survey 2008, conducted on over 1,000 13 to 17 year-olds, found that a further 35 per cent would consider a career in IT if they could find something in the sector that interested them.

The research also found that while many teenagers use technology such as social networking, very few see the benefits of learning how it works. The report urges business to utilise these ‘web 2.0’ resources and show teenagers how they’re used in the business world.

“We must provide this generation with the tools to help them bring their natural ability to communicate, collaborate and express themselves in to education and the workplace or risk losing this talent to our economic competitors,” reads the report.

The survey also showed that while only 11 per cent of those surveyed intended to pursue a computer based course at university, 31 per cent planned to attend a media course and 23 per cent would be studying a sport course.

Chris Gabriel, marketing and solutions director at Logicalis, cites the 35 per cent of teenagers who would pursue IT – if they saw the benefits – as a good thing.

“This indicates that you can close the skills gap because these teenagers are very good at using IT,” he said. “If we could show how businesses use technologies such as mobile and social networking more teenagers would relate to it.”

Links: Computer World, Logicalis Report