Stats entertainment: Loving IT
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It seems that playing computer games, hammering out text messages and shunning face-to-face conversation in favor of instant messaging throughout their formative years has had an effect on the youth of today
A recent study by BCS came up with the staggering finding that according to 49% of people aged between 16 and 30, IT is not boring. In fact, only one in five respondents agreed with the statement that ‘IT and computing is boring.’
In a report on the study, entitled “Why we need to learn to love IT”, BCS revealed that over half of the respondents to the survey (55%) said they believed that IT “is essential to all parts of modern life”. Just under half of respondents agreed with the sentiment that we should celebrate the benefits of IT more than we do (45%), and that IT could change the world for the better (49%).
These figures might come as a surprise to an older generation, which has traditionally seen IT as a rather dull and grey occupation. Judging by BCS’ report, young people are aware of this generational divide.
Almost half of all respondents (49%) feel that parents do not understand IT, and over half believe that parents “should give more support to young people wanting to study IT at school or university.”
“This may suggest parents still don’t recognise IT as a serious subject or career for their children,” the report’s authors wrote.
Fortunately for the IT industry, the younger generation does see it as an interesting field in which to work. Just under 60% said they saw IT as an industry that attracts innovative people and business, and 70% agreed that IT is a global industry offering global careers.
When asked whether IT was as important a profession as the law or medicine, 39% agreed.
That said, only 35% agreed that following a career in IT means that you are always well placed to find a job, even in a recession. And while 72% of those respondents with IT qualifications thought their training would help them get ‘better jobs or careers’, that figure was not much greater among non-IT qualified respondents (68%).
Nevertheless, BCS’s report found an enthusiasm for IT among young people that many working in the field might find pleasantly surprising.
