Columnist Niamh Campbell, Sync NI
Techie Talk Time More jobs, more investment and more upskilling opportunities for those interested in getting involved with Northern Ireland’s tech scene
FDIs continue to thrive alongside homegrown tech firms – It was revealed in July of last year that over 2,300 jobs had been created through foreign direct investment (FDI) into Northern Ireland between 2019 and 2020. Despite a COVID-19 crisis, the uncertainties of Brexit and prolonged periods of unrest and upheaval in NI over the last few months, international interest in the region still doesn’t seem to be slowing down, particularly within the tech world. Texas-headquartered workforce management firm, Xuan Yong, CEO and Workrise, announced it is to establish a software co-founder of Workrise. engineering centre in Belfast, with plans to 153 new technology roles over four years. US fintech giant Citi group intends to hire 400 more Belfast-based staff in the next two years, and top global professional services firm Deloitte wants to double its 1,000-person headcount in NI’s capital by 2025, in areas including data analytics, cloud, robotics and cybersecurity. A lot also has to be said for our local tech businesses, who are continuing to show great resilience, ambition and the substance to back their aspirations up amidst the backdrop of the lingering pandemic. Homegrown software company, Obbi Solutions, recently secured £300k of funding from Innovate UK to expand with more tech, sales and customer support jobs in the coming months. Portstewart-based marketing automation software company, Zymplify is investing £1.5m in its business, with plans to onboard 26 new employees, and FinTrU is doubling its NI staff force to 1,600 in the next five years, spread between Belfast and Derry. But for these roles to be fulfilled there must be a strong pipeline of graduates, upskilled workers and enthusiastic future employees coming through.
Tech degrees, apprenticeships and upskilling programmes galore
– thankfully, there are lots of opportunities in Northern Ireland’s academic ecosystem for this as well. This summer, Ulster University offered 50 new fully-funded Master’s Degree studentships for 2021/22, across key sectors including IT and artificial intelligence. There are also plenty of tech-related Assured Skills Academies offering graduates with a 2:2 or above in any discipline the chance to retrain in various areas. Deloitte alone has recently launched three Academies, across digital enterprise services and cloud engineering, with successful participants guaranteed a job interview within the firm’s technology teams upon completion of the courses. Women in Business NI’s female returners’ programme, Press Refresh, has aided 18 women returners in securing new jobs across Northern Ireland, by providing them with the new skills necessary to build their careers within our expanding IT sector. There furthermore seems to be an increased move towards higher degree level apprenticeships, in which students can both earn and learn more about the industry of work they want to enter. Ulster University Business School has called on employers in all sectors across NI to join its Degree Apprenticeship in Customer Operations Management, which Danske Bank has already signed up for.
Hybrid working is here to stay, while live tech events are due for debut – one way of encouraging
a new, or indeed current workforce, is sustaining that workplace flexibility that became so familiar during lockdowns. Remote working can feel like a topic that’s been talked to death about, but a survey by NUI Galway this year found that 95% of working people across Ireland want to continue with some form of remote employment once the pandemic ends. The tech sector is again embracing this transformation. One of Belfast’s largest tech firms, Liberty IT has announced that its staff will never have to come back to the office if they don’t want to, but are free in the future to choose a pattern of working which can incorporate both working from home and/or working in a the office over the course of the week. FinTrU has also adopted this working style. One aspect the tech and business community seem to collectively be looking forward to also, is the return of live conferences. To kick things off, eComm Live 2021 – Northern Ireland’s only dedicated ecommerce event – is to take place virtually and in-person at Belfast’s Assembly Buildings on 22 – 23 September. Philip Macartney, CCO of IRP Commerce, the conference’s lead sponsor, said having a return to in-house audiences and face-to-face networking will bring “massive value” back to NI’s tech and business populations. You can find out more tech resources, news and updates on NI cybersecurity, start-ups and more on syncni.com
The three-to-four year scheme offers employers an opportunity “to develop talented and knowledgeable customer operations professionals with an in-depth understanding of three critical areas; business processes, technology and customer experience,” while the students obtain a BSc Hons degree. The way the post-pandemic working world seems to be going, it’s advisable for businesses to consider joining forces with academic institutions on initiatives such as these, and to think about innovative ways in which they can entice new starts to join their organisations, invite those out of work to return and retrain, or upskill current employees.
18 women helped into NI tech jobs through Women’s Returner programme.
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