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Wednesday 13 Aug 2014

Schoolgirls raise the roof with IT competition work experience prize

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Six secondary school students have been getting a roof-raising experience by visiting the £44m redevelopment at Manchester Victoria station. The tour was part of their prize of two weeks paid work experience, after winning Network Rail's Could IT Be You? competition to encourage more young women into technology careers.

The competition was launched in October 2013 after Susan Cooklin, Network Rail's chief information officer, raised concerns about the rapid slide in the number of women entering the UK's IT sector. The latest figures from e-skills UK shows the proportion of women working in technology roles in the UK has more than halved since the 1980s despite technology becoming an increasingly integral part of our everyday lives.

During the two weeks, the girls shadowed Network Rail's IT managers, attended meetings and saw how technology helps run Britain's railway, which carries more than 4m people and hundreds of tonnes of freight a day. They also visited signalling centres, stations and the National Records Centre, which holds over five million historical records including original architectural drawings by Brunel, which are still used today by 21^st century engineers.

 
Hannah Blair, aged 18, from West Wickham in south London and runner up in the competition, spoke about her time with Network Rail: “The highlight of my week was the visit to Wembley signalling centre. To see the live operation of trains being run from Euston to Watford Junction was amazing. It was interesting to see the different types of technologies working together and it really helped to open my eyes to what a complex operation Network Rail undertakes daily.”

Dani Ball, aged 17, from Nottingham, also a runner up, said: “The thing that surprised me the most was the variety of roles available. One of my favourite experiences was seeing how the biggest crane currently being used in the country is helping transform Manchester Victoria station.”

Zoe Moore, aged 17 from Towcester in Northants, was the overall winner of the 2013 competition and will have her first year’s university fees paid for by Network Rail. She said: "One of the most unusual things we got to see was all the historical railway records at the National Records Centre in York, the oldest of which was from 1509. One particularly special document contains Florence Nightingale's signature from a land deed. Where else do you get to see that?”

Network Rail CIO, Susan Cooklin, said: "Popular culture has helped create a perception amongst young women that a career in IT is all about writing code in basement offices – the reality couldn't be further from the truth. All these girls have shown a creative mind for solving problems and good communication, and these are the skills that business leaders are after. Everyone in my team is thrilled to be able to showcase how much technology there is on the railway and hopefully inspire them to become technology gurus of the future."

 

Could IT Be You? 2014 will be launched in September, with the same top prize of the first year of university fees paid for by Network Rail. The winner and runners up will also receive paid work experience as a prize. A new website will accompany the launch but those interested can keep up to date on what's happening by following the team @couldITbu14

A survey for Network Rail of 16-24 year old women in Britain revealed:

- 64% of women have not considered a career in IT.
- 28% had but were not currently working in the industry.
- Negative stereotypes put 10% off pursuing a career with 43% saying it was a lack of technical skill. A further 41% said it was inadequate career advice or little insight into the industry.
- 58% believe that a high level of technical expertise in computer programming or code is the most important skill for a successful career in IT. 23% thought a degree or college qualification in a technology subject was most important.
- Only 4% thought good project management skills were the most important with only 7% citing good communication skills as the most valuable.

From 2008-12, the percentage of women in IT roles at Network Rail has grown from 26% to 28%, but only 20% of those applying for the company’s information management graduate scheme were female.