Students put off careers in the IT industry by boring image

Students are being deterred from considering a career in the IT industry because they consider it to be boring, although most also believe it offers good job prospects, new research has suggested.

A survey by CRAC: The Career Development Organisation polled 2,000 undergraduates and found that 60 per cent of non-computing students would not look for work in the sector for this reason.

The survey results also showed a difference in male and female attitudes towards the industry, with men notably more likely to consider a career in IT than women.

However, less than ten per cent of respondents of both sexes believed the benefits of a degree in computing had been effectively communicated to them at school.

A representative from BCS Learned Society told CRAC: We need to encourage more students to study computer science and computer related studies at universities in order to ensure that the IT industry can meet the demand for workers in the future.

This point was also recently made by Carrie Hartnell, the programme manager of Intellect, who told Computing.co.uk that there is an IT skills deficit in the UK that must be addressed.

What's missing is the passion, says ClickAJob chief executive, Yngve Traberg - who strongly advocates that youngsters' fascination for computer games should not be wasted.

Harness that compulsion and IT comes alive, he points out. So why do we kill it with boring lessons in school?

Super-geeks are already legend in business, he continues. Highly-paid, in fancy offices, there's nothing boring about their careers - or the high-powered lifestyles that go with them.

We just need dedicated IT instructors to push all the right buttons.