At the start of the year the Government launched the ICT Action Plan aimed at addressing the gap in high-level skills in the IT sector. It saw the introduction of full time conversion courses allowing people to reskill to gain ICT qualifications. The National College of Ireland are offering two courses under this initiative; a Higher Diploma in Computing in Software Development and a Higher Diploma in Web Technologies. The students are about to enter semester two of this exciting inaugural year. These courses are aimed at having students “Industry Ready” and as such a work placement is an integral part of the courses. We are looking for industry partners who are open to discussing taking a student on a work placement from the end of January of next year. Regardless of the size, structure or location of your company we are interested in hearing from you.
What is the benefit for you?
- Many of these students have been in the workforce already and so bring with them a breadth of work experience across a variety of disciplines
- The students are extremely motivated and eager – and as the students will have completed their academics by the time the work placement starts, there is an opportunity to extend the work placement beyond the minimum of 3 months. This potential is unlimited.
- Fantastic opportunity to trial a ‘potential’ recruit
- Placements can provide the ideal opportunity to foster links with the National College of Ireland
- Your team can benefit from skilled assistance for specific project work at lower cost
- Placements can also provide your staff with valuable people management and mentor experience
What are the backgrounds of the students?
The students are from a diverse range of backgrounds. There are recent graduates from Analytical Science and Music technology, experienced CAD Designers, Engineers, Maths Teachers, instructional designers together with those who have no technical experience keen to kick-start a career within IT.
Where might a student fit in within your organisation?
- IT development projects
- IT support
- Network administration
- Software development
- Software programming
- Testing
- Web design and development
- Database development
The placements start in January 2013 and I would be very happy to discuss how your company may get involved. E-mail me at kate.coughlan@ncirl.ie or phone me (Kate Coughlan) directly on 01-4498586.
Testimonials
Datalex
“At Datalex we are a world class provider of travel ecommerce. We bring those standards to our search for top talent.
We were delighted therefore to participate in the Student Work Placement Programme at the National College of Ireland. Our experience both of the student and the support from the college itself has been excellent. We would have no hesitation in recommending The National College of Ireland’s Work Placement Programme and look forward to partnering with them in the future”.
AMT Sybex
“The NCI Student Placement Programme has assisted AMT-SYBEX by allowing such activities as internal software development, research, testing, analysis and release preparation to be ably carried out by our NCI placement student. In general it opens companies up to fresh ideas, new perspectives and approaches to particular areas, increasing awareness in the relevant discipline, and also provides a fast track link for the employer to a future workforce.
The NCI Student Placement Programme establishes a good link back to third level to provide the student with exposure to the workplace, to various work related skills, allowing them to put academic theory to practice and assist with personal and professional growth.”
Enterprise Ireland recognises that market-led innovation is critical to any company’s future success.
Product Management is a key organisational function implemented by highly successful companies to maximise their profitability by managing their products from idea generation to end of life.
Following a product management process ensures that a company:
- Identifies the right market
- Identifies the right customer
- Builds the right product
- Clearly articulates the business value of this product to the target market
- Delivers the product to the market through the most effective channels and business models
Product Innovator Ltd provides training, tools and consultancy in Product Management. Irish and international clients include Government Agencies, Universities, Technology Incubation Centres, and both established and early stage companies.
Product Innovator’s next 2-day Product Management Training course in Dublin is 12th – 13th June at The Gibson Hotel, Point Village.
The Product Innovator approach is hands-on and practical. Practical exercises and discussions are based around the needs of the participants, backed up with templates and examples, so expect to return to your office armed with tools, skills and concepts that will have an immediate impact on your business.
To learn more and to register for the 2 day course, please use the following link:
http://www.productinnovator.com/training/product-management/dublin/
Product Management
Not many people are aware that their inventions, trade marks, logos, designs and business names be protected under Intellectual Property (IP) law. IP is, therefore, an extremely valuable asset that can not only prevent your competitors from copying your products but can provide a unique marketing and selling advantage.
In order to make companies more acutely aware of IP, a one-day training course on Intellectual Property and Licensing will be held in Dublin on April 26th. Organised by DeepWater Training, the course will be of interest to companies, researchers, legal and finance professionals, as well as to those that support the commercialisation of research in HEIs and state agencies.
 http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/02/42/83/2428322_72642cdb.jpg Delivered by Dr. John McManus – an IP expert with a career profile in research and product development, company start-ups, technology transfer and IP management techniques – the course will cover topics that focus on the constituent elements and importance of IP, the patent system, managing, evaluating and exploiting IP, and understanding licence terms.
The course will take place in Dublin’s Clarence Hotel, 9.15am-5pm. The fee is €450 (VAT exempt) with a special early bird registration fee of €395 for bookings received prior to March 30th. Places on this course can be booked via email here [akavanagh@deepwater.ie]
Animation, App, Casual Gaming, Games, Gaming, Media, Phil Campbell
As recognition grows that market risk typically outweighs technical risk, the role of the product manager is one of increasing significance for Irish-based software companies. Software Skillnet in conjunction with DIT’s Postgraduate Diploma in Product Management is privileged to invite you to this seminar addressing compelling questions around Agile Product management and how that aligns with product ownership.
Rich Mironov is the author of “The Art of Product Management” and since 2002 he has been writing “Product Bytes,” a blog on product strategy, technology and product management read by C-level product champions around the world. He writes and consults in the areas of agile product management, product ownership, and how to build commercially successful products with agile development teams.
Rich will host an open forum on agile product management and product ownership for those getting to grips with the challenge of working in an agile environment.
- What implications are there for day to day management?
- Do management roles need to change?
- Where now for product strategy?
- How do we derive market requirements?
Booking is Required as Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis. For more information and to book your place contact Susan Kelly at susan@isa-skillnet.com or call 086-8067200.
Most companies (such as car manufacturers) use pretty much the same inputs. Toyota, GM and Ford take the same raw materials and have similar levels of education in their workforce. Prices are similar for all the car companies; metal and rubber are are traded globally, manufacturers will relocate to regions where labour is cheaper. All car companies carry out substantial R&D to stay in the game. So, why has Toyota eclipsed GM as the No 1 manufacturer in the world?
A key part of the answer is the Toyota Production System, the process by which it builds vehicles and the way that it is continually improving this process. Toyota’s competitive advantage is not its cars, but the way in which it builds its cars.
Toyota use the TPS that everyone knows, but they also follow the Toyota Way, a way of thinking that gives them the real advantage. They drive their operational performance (TPS) guided by the Toyota Way, which is focused on respect for people, their employees and their customers and a Absolutely Focused and Relentless (AFR) drive to improve, to be better, to provide a better offering to their customers, always, every day. Instead of cars, it is information that flows down the modern company assembly line. Companies that manipulate this information better gain an edge over their competitors.
So why does this matter to your software company?
Building software used to be about a team writing code, and then (every so often) releasing it – either to customers, or to another part of the company that dealt with customers. In the world of Saas and Cloud this is no longer true;. Your company and product are available 24/7 on the web and every member of the team needs to be focussed on gaining and retaining customers.
Everything that your developers do have a direct and immediate impact on the customer experience. If you’re lucky, they will gain you money (The ‘Upgrade’ button is in just the right spot). If you’re unlucky they could leak your cash- either as a trickle without you noticing it (a minor update means the site runs slightly slower, and your conversion rate is down several points) or a flood (the website crashes in the middle of a big promotional campaign).
Enterprise Ireland is here to help
This move from ‘build and they will come’ to ‘everybody focussed on the customer experience’ is big and daunting. But it’s no bigger than what the car companies have done (remember how Toyota’s products were laughed at in the 60′s?). And it’s no bigger than the lean transformation that ‘traditional’ Irish companies have achieved to overcome their high cost base – a transformation that I’m glad EI has taken part in. The trick is continual, small improvements by everybody on the team.
Nobody knows what best way to run a Saas business – even the best, such as SalesForce.com and Google are still learning. We in EI would like to help you on that journey towards a leaner , more customer focussed team. We’ll be learning t0o, but with a range of training and supports to help you get there quicker and faster.
Lean, SaaS, Support, Toyota
Over the past ten years, a new ‘Software Economy’ has emerged. Driven by fresh business models such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and reinforced by a wide range of Internet-based technologies such as Cloud, Open Source and Web 2.0, this particular economy-based process is transforming the software industry, enabling Irish companies to reach global markets with a pay-per-use revenue model.
Enterprise Ireland provides a suite of programmes designed to help companies make the occasionally challenging transition to SaaS, internet marketing and product management, and to this end is assisting with a Product Management programme that brings together international and Irish expertise to take, initially, 20 Irish software companies on the product management journey.
Product Management is a key organisational function that oversees a product through all stages of its life-cycle, from start to finish, as well as spanning both product development and marketing functions. Adhering to a product management process ensures that companies are able to identify the right market and the right customer, build the right product, clearly articulate the business value of their product to their target market, deliver the product to the customer through the most effective channels and business models, and – crucially – know when to cease investment in a non-viable product or service.
From the programme, companies will learn how to connect their marketing and product development functions in a manner that will ensure their products always reflect precisely what the customer wants – and what the customer will pay for.The programme is aimed at software companies that, typically, have been trading for at least five years, have a strong record of R&D and exports, and whose revenues (again, typically) should be in excess of €2m.
The Product Management Programme will start in early November, and will be completed in April of next year. For further information or booking please contact Eilis McNulty by telephone (01-8794000) or by email [emcnulty@dolmen.ie]
Life Cycle, Marketing, Process, Product Management, SaaS, Training
This is a guest post from Conor Cahill who uses Drupal to make people friendly and search engine friendly websites.
What do the White House, Oxfam International and Bob Dylan have in common?
All have noteworthy websites built with Drupal – an open source content management platform which powers millions of websites and applications. It’s built, used, and supported by an active and diverse community of people around the world.
DrupalCamp Derry is geared to both beginners and those experienced in using and developing Drupal – with a view to learning about and sharing knowledge of Drupal.
Experienced developers will enjoy lightning talks on topics including responsive design and development best practice, as well as practical problem solving discussions. Beginners will enjoy a 3 hour training session in getting started with Drupal.
The conference is free.
Register your place at DrupalCamp Derry at www.drupalcampireland.org.
Community, Content, Derry, Developer, Drupal, DrupalCamp, Learning, LondonDerry, Management, Northern Ireland, Open source, Potential Exporters
Graduates for International Growth applications (for companies) close in less than one week, so get your application in now. Here’s a reminder of what G4IG is about for companies;
Graduates 4 International Growth assists companies with ambitious growth plans in key markets to acquire a graduate market research resource and possible future business development capability.
Companies create one or more entry level graduate market researcher position(s). Graduate market researchers will work overseas for 12 months to complete a project related to companies’ growth plans. Prior to the overseas placement, Graduates will spend 6 months in Ireland. During this initial induction period Graduates will attend 18 days of skills modules while working with companies.
This is the 3rd time we’ve opened G4IG up to companies, and there a two questions that I’m often asked;
- Graduates often have several years experience before , after and during their degree. I’m always impressed by the quality and volume of CV’s that we recieve. We help with screening, and will shortlist candidates (you choose how many, and skills required).
- As a company, the projects getting the best results are ones where you already have an intrastructure in the target market. This can be your own office, of using a partner to ‘host’ the graduate.
If you don’t believe the good things we’re saying about G4IG, check out what the companies and graduates say about G4IG in this video.
Information and Application Details for Companies
If you are a company interested in learning more about Graduates 4 International Growth, go to Graduates 4 International Growth (G4IG) Company Information.
Information and Application Details for Graduates
If you are a graduate interested in opportunities available through Graduates 4 International Growth, go to G4IG Information and Application Details for Graduates
export, G4IG, Graduate, Innovation Ireland, Training, Video
This is a guest post from Edel Creely, Managing Director of Trilogy Technology, and chair of the Irish Software Associations Product Managment Working Group. Product Management is one of the things that successful exporters do ‘right’, but is too often a gap in Irsh company skillsets.
What makes Apple products from the iPod to the iPhone to the iPad so successful? Great user experience, great attention to detail, great engineering? Certainly. But without great Product Mangement focussing the 49,000 people that work at Apple on ‘Who is going to buy / use this product?’, Apple would risk going the way of HP.
Traditionally, Irish Software and Technology companies haven’t been great at Product Management. Which is a problem, given that we’re depending on their export sales to bring the Irish Economy back to growth.
To try and solve this problem, the Irish Software Association Product Management Group, working with the Dublin Institute of Technology and the Software Skillnet, have put together the Postgraduate Diploma in Product Management – Software and Technology Sectors (pdf). Even better, because of the special grant from Skillnets (under the Future Skills Needs Programme), participants will receive 50% grant aid towards the course fees.
The Diploma launches at Dublin IBEC Offices, 84-86 Lower Baggot Street tomorrow (Thursday Sept 16) at 6pm. The seminar will focus on an overview of the programme contents, as well as the programme’s primary modules, how the diploma will lead to a Masters Degree, practical assignments and assessment, entry requirements and the application process.To book a place at the information seminar email Susan[at]softwareskillnet.com or phone Susan at 086-8067200.
Applications for the Diploma close Friday 23rd September; The number of grant-aided spaces are limited so best to get your application in as soon as possible. Applications and programme brochure are available on the Software Skillnet website.
ISA, Product Management, Skillnet
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