Monthly Archives: October 2013

STEMNET

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STEMNET is a fantastic organisation to help young people get an insight in to the enormous number of possible careers that can come from the STEM subjects.

About STEMNET

They can explain it better than me so I’m quoting from their own website –

STEMNET (the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Network) creates opportunities to inspire young people in STEM.

We do this by working with thousands of schools, colleges and STEM employers, to enable young people of all backgrounds and abilities to meet inspiring role models, understand real world applications of STEM subjects and experience hands-on STEM activities that motivate, inspire and bring learning and career opportunities to life.

All the events they organise are free of charge.

Ambassadors

One of the key parts of STEMNET is getting people who work in STEM industries to sign up as ambassadors to volunteer and take part in different events to try and help kids understand what their job entails. The types of events vary greatly, it can be anything from giving a careers talk, putting on a demonstration, doing mock interviews or “speed networking” where ambassadors sit at a table and have groups of young people ask them any questions about their job for a few minutes before moving to the next table.

My Experiences

I am a registered ambassador and have taken part in a few events. All the ones with pupils have been scary beforehand! They can be exhausting and several times my throat has hurt at the end of it, but they’ve all been fantastic experiences. There are some kids who are totally uninterested and it’s a challenge to get them talking, but I’ve found asking them to think of jobs that don’t use some form of IT can be a good start as they always want to catch you out. When you get someone in to it and interested you can see it switch on their faces and it’s a great feeling, they’ll then start to ask proper questions as they want to know what path to follow to get in to the industry.

I’ve also done two events with teachers that were interesting, they were pretty much helping them understand what information and advice they should be passing on, it’s a very different thing but still good to do as you are effectively reaching more people.

Links

STEMNET Home
Register as an Ambassador – a Criminal Records Bureau check is carried out as part of the registration process
STEMNET on Twitter
Northern Ireland’s branch of STEMNET (based in W5)
STEMNET @ W5 on Twitter

Why I’m Getting Involved

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After my last post you’re completely convinced about why we should be getting kids in to IT, but why should a lowly, humble software engineer (me!) be taking an active role in doing it? Isn’t that what schools are for?!

Providing a Real World View

I didn’t want to work in IT. Computer Science was my backup choice at university, messing up my A Levels meant I couldn’t get in to my first choice and I cried on the phone to my sister before starting because I didn’t want to do computing.

Computing in school meant working with Excel and creating PowerPoint presentations or answering exam questions on why it’s a bad idea to keep a floppy disk in your back pocket [true story], and I didn’t want to do more of that. I started the course anyway [while taking an A Level in my first choice] and discovered how fantastically wrong I’d been.

I found out that it was actually a course where I was learning to do creative things that gave me control over the computer rather than just using it via the programs that were presented to me. Several modules involved group projects that meant much more teamwork that corrected my cliched view of a lonely developer who never interacted with other humans.

I loved it. It was fun, creative, modern, social and I quickly gave up the night course in my original choice because I was finding it boring. To this day I maintain that messing up my A Levels is one of the best things that ever happened to me.

The point of this is that I so nearly didn’t end up here. I didn’t know what this career meant and as a result I didn’t want to pursue it. That’s why I think it’s important that those of us that are here go out and explain it, because how else does a kid actually know what it involves and whether or not it’s for them otherwise. [I think this is true of most STEM subjects]. There is the converse that explaining what it means might put off some kids who were previously interested, but that’s OK too. Knowledge is power, anything we can do to help kids filter through the hundreds of choices they have is a good thing.

Teachers Can’t Do It

Teachers don’t have the time or knowledge to be able to explain these things. They haven’t worked as software developers so how can they explain to their students what it means? I certainly couldn’t explain all the elements of teaching; I only know the bits I experienced from sitting in a classroom.

Kids are also constantly getting information from their teachers and can reach the point where eyes are rolled when advice is being given. Having a new person, a fresh face from the “real world” will have more impact, especially if you can set up a demonstration to show them what you do rather than just telling them.

Stereotypes

There aren’t a lot of diverse representations of IT people out there, stereotypes persist and we need to let younger generations see that they’re wrong.

It’s hard to find examples of cool geeks. It’s even harder to find examples of cool female geeks. I’m a woman, and I’m a geek, and I’m just plain awesome. I think I need to go out there and show that.

New Skills

Breaking down what software development is and the main components of it to a group of 11 year olds is not easy, but it’s a good challenge to have to take a completely different approach to things.

It is also a great way to build confidence; spend a morning answering questions from teenagers and you’ll feel everything else is easy.

Fun!

Above everything, it’s so much fun. There are some events I’ve come out of completely exhausted or hoarse but I’ve also grinned and laughed my way through them.

Kids are great fun and when you can see you’re really getting them thinking about IT in a different way and they start asking proper questions to learn more about it and how they get in to it as a career it’s like all your tests finally going green. Similarly seeing 11 year olds playing with the games you’ve just helped them make and having them experiment with different elements to see how they can change it up is downright heart warming.