Intelligent Tech Channels Issue 27 | Page 15

Mark Bowen is Lynchpin Media’s Managing Editor, and Editor of Intelligent CIO Middle East and Intelligent Tech Channels. He has more than 10 years’ experience of editing newspapers and magazines in the UK. EDITOR’S COMMENT W elcome to the latest edition of Intelligent Tech Channels. This edition’s Editor’s Comment looks at the critical importance of attracting top young talent into the IT industry. As our industry moves at an incredible pace, entry into it can be daunting for young people about to embark on a career that could last five decades. Let’s face it, there aren’t too many areas of work that are more challenging than Information Technology. It’s a difficult subject to initially grasp and the challenge of keeping up with it is equally as testing. However, for people with the right attributes, it is a wonderful career which offers its own rewards – financial and otherwise. The industry, as a whole, seems to have good retention rates. Once people join it, by and large, they tend to stay in it. However, the biggest problem is initially attracting young talent into the industry in the first place. That’s why doing so is the subject of this edition’s Editor’s Comment. We let two experts (seen on the following pages) give their take on the issue. INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS Issue 27 We hope you enjoy reading their opinions and hopefully they will provoke some thoughts of your own. From my own point of view, I think that people recruiting new talent into the industry really need to stress the benefits of the sector as well as appreciating the skills the targets themselves offer. Very few people possess the skills demanded for a successful career in Information Technology, and many people that work in the sector are modest about their own talents. Perhaps it’s time to recognise these skills as a rare gift that if you are lucky enough to possess you really need to put to good use in the Information Technology sector where the potential to do good, and help millions of people, is incredible. As usual we have all your favourite features and news from around the regions. Don’t forget to check our website for daily updates. Mark Bowen Managing Editor 15