D14 – Inspiring Digital Business at Glasgow’s SECC

If you are involved in Scotland’s thriving Digital sector then I am sure you will have heard of the D14 Summit on the 29^th and 30^th May. If not then listen up, as this is an event at Glasgow’s SECC you won’t want to miss!

This is the 4^th year of the event which inspires digital businesses and connects them with the opportunities for innovation and expansion. I caught up with Alisdair Gunn, Project Director at Interactive Scotland. Alisdair has been an integral part of organising these fantastic events since day one and told me a little more about the day.

How has the event grown?

This year’s event has grown to include 9 main session speakers and
over 20 studio session speakers & panel members, quite a vast growth from the first year.

Alisdair has seen a significant growth and engagement coming through from the digital sector in Scotland since the event first began and now incorporates 4 different key markets of Retailing, Digital Health and Care, Education & Financial Services. These key markets will shape the day in keynote presentations, studio sessions, networking and an interactive showcase.

What is the focus for this year?

This year the key aspect is the growth in the sectors. Digital media and the tech industry are transforming our marketplaces. This year’s focus will debate the issues impacting digital businesses and offering fresh perspectives on identifying opportunities for business in this rapidly evolving sector.

The two key objectives for D14 are:

1. Debate and address the strategic issues impacting businesses as well as identifying the opportunities for companies designing, innovating and adopting the opportunities for – and from – the digital sector; and
2. Open channels to the world’s digital pioneers, creating new connections and business opportunities for our community.

The D14 summit is an ongoing journey for those involved and a lot has been done in preparation for the event. It brings together the 4 pre summit sessions held in order to link together the heads of digital with the buyers of digital, identify and discuss key issues in the market, assimilate common points from the industry and shape the thought leadership in preparation for the main event. The D14 summit is a collaborative effort to bring all of this together.

How does the event help businesses and facilitate growth and opportunity?

The event is about linking the digital businesses in the sector to facilitate growth and to recognise and develop opportunities for expansion on national and international levels.

Alisdair says there are 4 key questions we want everyone to think about:

1. What does the future (5yrs) look like for the Digital Sector and how will this impact the 4 key markets: Retailing, Digital Health and Care, Education & Financial Services
2. What will that mean for digital ‘suppliers’?
3. How will it affect their business and resourcing models?
4. What will the interactions between digital adopters and digital ‘suppliers’ need to be like?

The event is an opportunity to learn more about what digital can offer you as a business. If you work within the digital sector or are interested in knowing what’s going on, the event will give you the chance to learn from internationally known key players in the digital sector and share your views and ideas with like minded people.

From recruiting for the most innovative and exciting digital agencies in Scotland to annual sponsorship of the Herald Scotland Digital Business Awards, digital is such a big part of what we do at Enigma People Solutions. This event in particular will prove to be exciting and informative and one I would urge anybody wanting to know more and creative and digital industries to come along!

For tickets and more information on the event visit www.d14.org.uk.

For the latest vacancies, news and industry updates follow Enigma People Solutions on LinkedIn and Twitter @enigmapeople

The Enigma Weekly Roundup | 14th February 2014

We bring you the best IT, Technology and Recruitment news from the past 7 days:

• Love is in the Air! Are you searching for “The One“? Our Valentines blog can help…
• Sony’s Latest MP3 Player Comes Inside a Bottle of Water
• The Technology Behind the Sochi 2014 Winter Games
• ARM launches New Processor to Bring High-End Features to Cheap Smartphones
• How Will the Internet of Things Change Digital Marketing as We Know It?
• This is why Interns are Banned at Netflix
• Goldman Sachs Handed Out Cosmetic Mirrors and Nail Files at Women’s Coding Event
• JavaScript is everywhere. So are we all OK with that?
• Child-Friendly Web Backed by Scottish Government
• Wanted: Technology Apprentices for UK Business Growth
• 63% of Recruiters Plan on Increasing Fees in 2014

For the latest news, updates and vacancies please follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @Enigmapeople

A Farewell Post

 

by Christina Riley, Marketing Executive

It is with a heavy heart that I announce my departure from Enigma People Solutions. One year ago, almost to the day, Ben Hanley and David Mains gave a young photography graduate her first step into a career in Marketing, and it has been an incredible year. It’s now time to take my next step, but not before a sincere thank you to Enigma People for giving me this tremendous opportunity.

I have learned so much in my time here – from core marketing skills to event organisation and involvement in awards ceremonies. I have had the opportunity to attend conferences and talks by inspiring people in the industry and of course, I have learned about the industry itself. The immense talent within Scotland’s digital industry is something I had no previous knowledge of and now I see it everywhere, changing the way we live and work for the better.

New people with new ideas

I have had the opportunity to speak with and interview fascinating people such as Managing Director of Velocity Digital, Mike McGrail, who spoke to us about the use of social media in recruitment. I also had the opportunity to speak to Nick Ramsay from Junction-18 and learned about e-Learning and how it can help education both in schools and in the workplace.

This subject of education and training something that I have spoken about before as a step towards ending the shortage of IT skills, bridging the gap between education and work. I was first introduced to this topic last autumn at Social Media Week during a talk by James Jefferson, Creative Director at Equator. James recently returned to this subject in an article for the Guardian, focusing on the use of social media as a means to bridging the divide.

Technology still needs more women

Something I have become passionate about in my time here is the topic of women in the technology industry. Back in November I wrote ‘Technology needs more women; drop the old stereotypes’ as my first post addressing what I had encountered of the issue to that point. I still agree with what I said then – that names such as ‘Little Miss Geek’, as good as the intentions of the organisation may be, are counterproductive in levelling the playing field for men and women. The issue needs to be addressed at an early age – stop projecting traditional stereotypes onto young girls (cleaning, care taking and being pretty – the important stuff) and at the same time, stop it with the stereotype that IT is full of dull, overweight, allergic-to-daylight men. This is helping nobody.

In conjunction with my article I interviewed Ally Watson, Developer at Screenmedia, who recently pointed me in the direction of a fantastic article on the subject of women in technology. ‘Women In Tech’ by Lea Verou covers anything else that I would say on the subject. Lea points out that while most Women In Technology initiatives mean well, they actually end up doing more harm than good. Female-only events segregate women and cultivate the idea that women are intimidated by mixed gender events and require a female-only environment to feel safe.

“Furthermore, if women are segregated in their own little “girl geek” bubbles, how does this help diversity in mixed gender conferences? To eventually eliminate sexism, it’s immensely important that we actually interact, compete and socialize with our male colleagues. It’s important to show that regardless of gender, we’re all geeks and we have much more in common than what separates us. To show that women in tech can be very technical, and that not every woman at a tech conference is a marketer, a booth babe or someone’s girlfriend. How exactly do female exclusive events help in that? Yeah, I don’t see it either.” – Lea Verou

Sexism doesn’t just exist in IT, it’s (still) everywhere, and it’s a subject that I won’t be leaving behind.

And so the road goes on

I have learned an awful lot about marketing, technology and recruitment this year. Something that has been consistent across all three is that what you think you know today will very likely be wrong tomorrow.

Everything changes so fast in technology, and therefore in technology recruitment. The constant changes in social media and digital trends make keeping up with it all incredibly exciting. This in turn has made my leap into marketing a thrilling and unpredictable one, which has only made me love it more each day.

I’m incredibly grateful for this past year and to everyone who I’ve met and spoken with throughout this journey. I look forward to continuing an exciting and rewarding career in marketing and wish Enigma People Solutions all the best for the future.

The Enigma Weekly Roundup | 19/7/13

All the best technology, recruitment and business stories from the past 7 days.

• ‘Marked rise’ in Scottish salaries, survey finds
• Frontier float values video game firm at £39.4m
• Contracting: The Excitement and the Dark Cloud Above It
• Microsoft and Blackberry cut prices in a bid to boost sales
• Candidates Say The Funniest Things
• Scottish universities win funding for robotics research
• STV invests in software firm Game Analytics
• Why You Need To Know Code (And How You Can Learn In A Month)
• Scottish unemployment rises for the first time this year
• Technology firms say the UK has a ‘digital skills gap’
• 11 Resume Myths Busted
• Engineering boost for Scottish university
• Web Development Pick ‘n’ Mix with Phil Leggeter
• Google and Microsoft profits miss forecasts
• Meet Laura, the newest member of the Enigma Team

Looking for a new opportunity? Take a look at our latest vacancies!
Latest Vacancies from Enigma People Solutions

Check back next Friday for more news, and don’t forget to check out our weekly blog posts every Monday!
Latest Post: Contracting: The Excitement and the Dark Cloud Above It

Follow us on Twitter @enigmapeople for news and chitchat in 140 character chunks!

Kids Should Begin Coding At Age 5

Photo by K W Barrett

I recently attended Digital Connections 2013 where I had the opportunity to listen to a host of captivating (though, worryingly, all male – as rightfully pointed out by many on the feedback board) speakers.

One of the key notes was delivered by Tom Hall from Pearson, a global education company. He gave an insightful presentation on the future of education and rethinking the role of technology within it. Immediately he got our attention with the following statement,

65% of today’s secondary school students will have jobs that don’t exist today.

It’s not so unbelievable when you think about it. I’m pretty certain that my role didn’t exist when I was at school, so how could my teachers have prepared me for something that they had never heard of? It’s a big ask, and a problem that Tom attempts to solve in his key note. He discussed the fact that we need to evolve school curriculums, with the use of technology, to make them more relevant for the future rather than rehashing the same textbooks and wondering why they’ve stopped working. This led to his opinion that we should begin teaching kids how to code as early as age 5.

As shocking as this initially sounds, it does make sense. As technology evolves we need more and more people who know how to code, yet we’re not teaching them until they’re in their late teens, and we expect them to be ready for work within a few years (if not sooner). This is a significant demand and would be much more realistic if coding was something that young people identified with from a young age, to the point where it’s something they see as a career option as early as they’re aware of law and medicine.

It’s definitely something that would take a lot of consideration and has as many flaws as it does strengths. While it could prepare young people for becoming skilled programmers, it runs the risk of putting them off the subject before they’ve really had a chance to understand it. And while it can evolve the way we teach children, starting at such a young age could take away from the simpler pasttimes that are supposed to be enjoyed during childhood. Do they really need to be concerned about coding when they could be playing?

Ben Hanley, Director of Enigma People Solutions doesn’t quite agree that kids as young as 5 should be coding. “It isn’t until primary 2 that they’re even taught basic arithmetic or how to tell time. I do think however that coding and technology needs to be more prominent in schools; but much of this could come from increased selection from secondary school pupils to keep going with Maths and Physics. A better use of technology in the classroom is no doubt necessary to give students a better grasp on these subjects and encourage more to pursue them into further education.”

Opinions are varied but one thing is certain – something significant needs to change within our schools. We’d love to know what you think – should kids really be learning ‘code’ before they can spell it?

Comment below, email us at hello@enigmapeople.com or you can tweet us @enigmapeople!

Enigma People Weekly Roundup | 25/1/13

All the best technology, recruitment and business news and articles from the past 7 days.

• Scottish jobs market reported a strong ‘growth period’.
• New Institute of Design Innovation aims to help Glasgow companies ramp up their creativity.
• Enigma People Solutions gave you ‘10 Valuable Career Lessons Learned From Movies’.
• Dunfermline software firm Planys Cloud helps Glasgow’s Open Ear gave café customers a say on music.
• Experian signed deal with Edinburgh’s Skyscanner.
• ‘3 Essentials To Landing Your Dream Job On Social Media’
• ‘How to kill Java dead, dead, dead.’
• Scottish unemployment continues to fall.
• ‘50 Things Replaced By Modern Technology’
• First Firefox phones were revealed by Mozilla and Geeksphone.
• Edinburgh software firm Craneware expect healthy profits.
• Union official are to meet with Aberdeen Journals over printing jobs threat.
• Glasgow won a £24m government grant to become one of the UK’s first ‘smart cities’.
• ‘8 great technologies‘ benefit from £600m in government funding.

Looking for a new opportunity? Take a look at our latest vacancies!
Latest Vacancies from Enigma People Solutions

Check back next Friday for more news, and don’t forget to check out our weekly blog posts every Monday!
Latest Post: 10 Valuable Career Lessons Learned From Movies

Technology needs more women; drop the old stereotypes.

Amber Case (www.caseorganic.com) by rocketcandy on Flickr

IT no longer means a career in a dark, stuffy room slumped at your computer, occasionally stepping outside to fix somebody else’s. This is 2012 – technology is everywhere. The day the iPhone 5 was released that was the only thing anyone was writing or reading about.

It was all anybody cared about.

The news was not gender specific.

So why do men still account for 84% of the UK’s IT professionals?

IT isn’t what you think it is

It has been said that women are scientifically proven to use the right side of their brain – the creative side. Well that’s what technology is now and it needs to be recognised. Key qualities of a good technologist at the moment are “creativity, idea generation, multitasking, problem solving and a general keenness to find new ways of doing things”. Of course these are traits that any gender can possess, but it’s perhaps traits that some women don’t realise are as imperative to technology as they are.

FACT: Since 2001, the number of female IT graduates entering the profession has fallen by almost half.

Geeks are cool and technology is girly

Lady Geek’s “Little Miss Geek” campaign is striving to change the perception of the technology industry. However, even the name ‘Little Miss Geek’ gives the impression of cutesy little girls and doesn’t particularly bode well for being taken seriously. I appreciate the hard work going into this campaign and I fully support it, but I feel like nobody has quite decided on the correct message that we need to send.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that I know what message we should be sending; but I do think that confusing, contradicting messages won’t help matters. There’s no use telling girls that IT is something that it technically isn’t just to get them in the door – they’re smart, they’ll soon realise that they’ve been lied to.

They do need to be told the truth, and the truth is that if they want a career in IT that doesn’t mean they’ll have to code all day and learn the rules of World of Warcraft to join in on the conversations at lunch.

A new Art Department

The general consensus that I’ve gathered from talking to women in the industry is that we need to engage with the girls at school.

Their first impression girls should have of IT isn’t the dark, dated classroom in the Bermuda Triangle of the school that you always get lost trying to find (maybe because you don’t actually want to find it).

This needs to change. It should be another Art Department; somewhere creative where they can get away from any problems they might be having and just spend some time designing, developing and problem solving in their own world.

What can we do?

It’s all well and fine telling each other the way things should be, but how do we make it so?

• Find a way to get into the schools, present the reality of the industry to the younger generation and show them the vast opportunities that are available to them in the technology industry.

• Revamp the IT departments of schools. They need to be as exciting and up to date as the industry is.

• Encourage exciting and creative IT work experience placements. Gone should be the days of being sent to an office for 5 days of learning how to make a smashing cup of coffee.

Whether you’re a woman currently making a mark in the technology industry, know one who deserves some recognition or are a student who’s looking to make her way into the industry in the near future, we’d love to hear from you.

E-mail christina@enigmapeople.com to get involved.

If you’re interested in opportunities in the technology industry please send your CV to ramassa@enigmapeople.com

Interesting Links

Wwwonder Women: Top 30 Women In Digital Under 30
Lady Geek
Geek Goddesses – The Guardian
Why don’t girls want to be geeks? – BBC
A primer on sexism in the tech industry – by an actual girl
More women needed in technology – BBC

Tea, cupcakes and a whole bunch of geeks

As a self confessed social media geek I have been pretty excited about Glasgow being one of the host cities for Social Media Week.

If you’re on Twitter you’ve no doubt seen the #SWMGla hashtag, giving all of the updates including photos, videos and live streams from the events taking place across the city.
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I attended some talks by digital agency Equator.

As I entered CitizenM I couldn’t help but be amused by the room holding the event. Typewriters, film reels and telephones that can’t take pictures adorned the walls of a room filled with creative, forward thinking minds trying to figure out the next step to making the future brighter.

Google Plus – Social Animal or SEO Henchman?

I saw a good tweet the other day by Jillian Ney,

“Google+ is like a gym membership – we all have one, but we never use it!”

As much as I like to see myself as a social media whizz, Google+ is something that I just haven’t been able to crack. This talk by Equator’s Marketing Director Martin Jordan covered Google’s past (Wave, Buzz… remember those?) and how they’re trying to shape their future.

It confirmed what I was already thinking (but desperately wanted confirmation of) – Google+ is just not worth it yet. There as aspects of it that are incredibly useful to a business being found online, but as a social tool there are too many better options. It’s a clever tool, that’s for sure, but clever isn’t fun.

Can social media make education and business friends again?

Don’t let the empty seat in the front fool you, this talk was packed! I think it was just karma for having the tallest man in the world in front of me during the Google+ talk.

The lack of graduates getting jobs in the digital industry is a problem that we’re well aware of and want to fix, so I was very interested to hear what James had to say.

This talk was fantastic and you could tell that the widening gap between students and businesses is something that James feels very strongly about fixing. He began the talk informing us that only 9.3% of creative graduates found a job in their chosen career.

That is a depressing figure.

The problem being that what students are learning simply isn’t relevant to the industry they want to move into. The digital industry is so fast paced that educators are failing to keep up with it and people aren’t being taught the right skills.

“If I learn CS5 now, I’ll be unemployable in two years.”

Sad, but true. Employers need to be talking to educators as often as possible so make sure that when their students graduate and apply for a job, they can do the job. We need to start today to ensure that the degrees students are going into are relevant to their career prospects  and therefore helping businesses to find the talent that they need.

Did you attend Social Media Week? What did you think? 
Comment below or tweet us @enigmapeople