2 TECH JOBS ®


www.siliconrepublic.com/careers-centrewww.siliconrepu CAREERS CENTRECARE TECH JOBS POTENTIAL Contents


3 Regions Galway is a happening spot for tech job recruitment – Lumension is hiring for six high-end roles


4 Gaming


With gaming now one of the hottest sectors in the economy, gaming companies are looking for talented people who stand out from the crowd


6 Social Media Declan Fitzgerald from LinkedIn details how you can create your own online identity to appeal to potential employers


8 Salaries


The IT sector is more buoyant than other industries at the moment for salaries and benefits


9 Talent Oracle has a remarkably strategic approach to attracting and retaining the right talent, explains Miguel Milano, senior vice-president at Oracle Direct


10 Job Creation


Some of the big announcements in recent weeks, including Quest Software hiring 150 people in Cork


11 Financial Services


Fidelity Investments has made technology a core part of its identity and is recruiting for 100 tech people in Ireland


TECHJOBS GET INTO THE GAME


Careers at the creative edge of technology


THE TALENT ACADEMY Oracle’s European vision


YOUR ONLINE BRAND Using social media to develop your career


SALARY SURVEY IT sector more buoyant than the rest


Ireland could be a future draw for analytical market leaders, creating thousands of jobs, but first we must address our skill gaps in the area, says the Analytics Institute


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HERE are at least 400 jobs available now in data man- agement and mining in Ireland among the mem- bership of the Analytics Institute, but the right can-


didates are not available to fill the roles due to a shortage of skills. To address this problem the institute


started a series of seminars on 9 May. “There’s potential for thousands of


jobs in Ireland if we can provide enough of the key ingredient – skills. Ireland needs to become a data-friendly location attracting the analytical market leaders to base here. Creating high-calibre, well- trained analytics graduates and a vibrant analytics community is instrumental in achieving this,” said Kevin Magee, CEO of the Analytics Institute, which was set up around a year ago and now has 10 organisational members. “Education has to take place on a


variety of fronts. But the problem is, third-level education is medium to long term so the immediate needs won’t be met for at least two years. We need to step in and take action and that is what we are doing by introducing the first in a series of seminars and workshops tack- ling the immediate refinement of exist- ing professional skills.”


The skills shortage is not unique to


Ireland but Magee said Ireland has an opportunity to harness analytics both within its business landscape and as a national agenda item. “Analytics is really about getting insights from data. As the surge of data threatens to overwhelm companies, it can help glean valuable information to make ‘evidence-based decision-making’ – this removes the ‘gut feeling’ about decisions, making the decision process clearer. “Whether you want to know the best


place to locate a hospital, how to make your organisation more sustainable, identify areas of high risk, reduce error or highlight fraud, analytics will help you do that.” Working with the universities to im-


prove the output from third level, the Analytics Institute last year introduced an intern programme between Univer- sity College Dublin and public and pri- vate sector organisations, which proved so valuable it was extended this year, according to Magee. “The students gain real experience on


real projects, and the organisations ben- efit from being able to later hire some- what more experienced graduates, fa- miliar with the tools and technologies.”


Kevin Magee, CEO, Analytics Institute


Later this year, the Analytics Insti-


tute will be introducing a continuing professional development and accredi- tation programme. It says this is impor- tant because it means that in an increas- ingly transient world where workers move, their skills will have international recognition. It also makes it easier for employers


to identify the right skills to fit their in- dustry and helps cement a defined ca- reer path for young professionals who are deciding what path to take, says the institute.


Analytics – a potential jobs growth driver


Seventy-five percent of ICT firms have job vacancies


than 20 jobs available in their firms, the chair of ICT Ireland and CEO of Fujitsu Ireland, Regina Moran, told an educa- tion forum in May. Speaking at the Intel Open Forum on


T


Education, Moran said that the future direction of education in Ireland will have a huge influence on the continu- ing growth of the ICT sector here. IT employment in Ireland is now up 6pc year-on-year at a time when high unem- ployment is of high concern. “The ICT industry in Ireland has


74,000 people employed with a further 200,000 supporting the sector, repre- senting huge value to the country,” she said.


“But 75pc have vacancies and more than 50pc have at least 20 vacancies.” Moran said it was a huge problem for


HREE-quarters of Irish ICT employers say they have vacan- cies in their companies. More than 50pc of these have more


the industry in that the skills shortage means firms are competing against one another for suitably qualified graduates. At the heart of the issue, she said, is


the quality of maths and science educa- tion in Irish schools. “A survey we conducted recently of teachers found that among maths edu- cators, 48pc of respondents don’t have a qualification in maths.” She said that supporting quality teach-


ing of maths in the secondary cycle is vital and emphasis needs to be placed on ensuring greater competence and quali- fications for the teaching of the subject in schools. Moran went on to point out that for-


eign languages is another issue the Irish education system needs to deal with. “Proficiency in foreign languages is


crucial for Irish companies and even more essential for multinationals. They need to deal with the globalised custom- ers they support.”


Regina Moran, CEO, Fujitsu Ireland and chair, ICT Ireland


Moran said that the subject of ICT


in the classroom needs to be addressed as does the growing concern over Ire- land’s performance in the OECD’s PISA [Programme for International Student Assessment] rankings in terms of maths, science and literacy.


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