A successful summer internship pilot programme to encourage people to take up IT as a full-time career is about to be launched nationwide by the New Zealand Computer Society.
Society chief executive Paul Matthews said in an interview the "Summer of Tech" programme had been running successfully in Wellington for six years.
Each year student numbers attending the programme had increased and the trend had been for companies to go through the programme multiple times, showing they were pleased with the results, he said.
The programme aimed to bridge the gap between tertiary institutions and industry for students interested in becoming part of a vibrant industry, which was now the country's third-highest export earner.
"We are very excited by the success of the programme."
The students in the internship attend boot camps and workshops, learning "soft skills" such as how to write a CV and dress for an interview - things that are not taught in a tertiary classroom, he said.
They also worked as interns with IT companies in Wellington.
The society would seek to affiliate with a successful Dunedin City Council programme that offered similar internships, Mr Matthews, formerly of Dunedin, said.
The key objective was to address the gaps between tertiary institutions and industry and encourage professionalism in the IT industry.
"When you talk about professional and accountants, people know what you mean. But when you talk about professional and IT, some people treat it like a swear word."
All professionalism meant was education, experience and ethics - the core of any profession, he said.
Society president Ray Delany said the society had undergone a revitalisation in recent years, mainly because of the efforts of Mr Matthews.
However, there was a gap in membership and the society was intent on making contact with the younger members of the IT community.
"We have some very smart kids coming out of university with quite different ways of thinking than previous generations."
It was inevitable there would be "a bit of grey hair" around any professional organisation. The society was considering ways to get younger members interested in joining and contributing their ideas, he said.
A professional qualification overseen by the society had been well received in the industry and new a IT curriculum at secondary schools had been introduced this year after work involving the society and the Ministry of Education.
Enrolments of IT students at tertiary institutions had also increased, Mr Delany said.
Mr Matthews said tertiary institutions had recognised that the number of IT students was too low and had encouraged IT departments to try to attract as many students as they could at the same time as other departments had caps on numbers.
"We all recognise there is a massive shortage of IT professionals."
One of the problems had been people not recognising what IT meant, with many thinking it was word processing or preparing a spread sheet, he said.
The IT Connect pilot programme had helped address that gap in knowledge.
The next step was to try to expand the "community on campus" programme, where IT students were encouraged to meet IT entrepreneurs in their areas.
Both Messrs Delany and Matthews praised The Distiller incubator at the University of Otago for its work in mentoring IT entrepreneurs.
