Write a commentStudents from Newry have taken part in a Novosco Cloud Camp which provided hands-on IT infrastructure experience and invaluable learning opportunities to students from across the province.
The camp organised by Novosco and supported by Almac, took place at Belfast Metropolitan College’s Titanic Quarter Campus over the summer months and was open to year 11–13 students.
Professional IT engineers and Belfast Met lecturers facilitated the camp, which also included a tour of Novosco’s headquarters in Belfast to allow students to see a world-class managed cloud company in action.
In addition to free registration, all participants were provided with a free Raspberry Pi computer to keep.
Areas covered at Novosco Cloud Camp included: networking, Python programming, basic HTML programming, and creating virtual servers.
Economy Minister Simon Hamilton MLA, who visited the camp commented: “Summer camps like these are a great way to get our young people engaged in Information Communication Technology in a fun and interactive way.
“The anticipated growth in the ICT sector means that we will need more skilled people in the future to meet the demands of employers. Gaining this hands on experience and having the opportunity to work with two locally based companies will hopefully inspire these young people to go on to consider a career in ICT in Northern Ireland.”
Novosco Managing Director, Patrick McAliskey, said: “We have had very strong interest in the camp, which gives us real encouragement about the increasing enthusiasm there is to begin a career in IT infrastructure. There is already incredible demand for the kinds of skills that these students will be developing, and that is only going to grow in the future. We are very pleased to be working with Almac and Belfast Met to play our role in ensuring the skills pipeline that our business and the industry as a whole requires.”
Andrew Hillis, Group Head of Information Services at Almac commented, “As a global company providing unique services, demand from clients all over the world continues to grow. IT plays an incredibly important role in delivering our global operations and as such we offer a vast range of career opportunities within Almac to people with these skills. The Cloud Camp is an excellent way of stimulating interest in IT infrastructure amongst young people and we look forward to working with Novosco to encourage potential future employees.”
Belfast Met’s Director of Development, Damian Duffy, said: “This Cloud Camp is the latest in a series of fantastic events which are helping to maintain the College’s position as the leading facilitator of education and skills solutions in the ICT sector. Belfast Met is delighted to be delivering this Novosco initiative at our state of the art Titanic Quarter campus. We are also thrilled to be partnering with Almac, another leading firm, in engaging the digital technologists of the future.”
Novosco employs 140 people and works for leading organisations across Ireland and the UK, including UK health trusts, councils and other organisations. It has been ranked one of the top companies to work for in the UK by The Sunday Times for the last four years.
