Mission: Broaden the concept of IT and make it more inspiring

On Tuesday, May 4, the first meeting of the IT&Telecom companies' newly launched IT Skills Council was held, with the aim of securing the long-term need for IT skills.

One issue that came up at both meetings, and which almost always comes up when it comes to raising the profile of the IT professions, concerns the very concept of IT. Most people would agree that to the uninitiated (including the young people we are trying to attract) "IT" can seem dull, technical, geeky, etc. The Council meeting said that we should talk about ICT instead, so that we also include (telecommunications) in the concept. At the subsequent youth meeting, however, the answer was no: ICT doesn't say anything. Nor does ICT, which is being used more and more abroad, mean anything to young people. No, it is IT that counts. Our task is to ensure that it takes on a different, broader and more inspiring meaning.

One "action" from the youth meeting was therefore to come up with a good message, a slogan simply, which in a short and pithy way highlights that IT is creative, that it involves a wide range of professional roles (not just the "programmer in the basement") and that it involves exciting cooperation between the roles. If all of the estimated 250,000 people who work in IT in various forms can agree to get this message across in all contexts, then we can make sure that the geek stigma is washed away.

The challenge is therefore to readers: come up with a good slogan! The one I can think of right now is "IT is creative, IT is fun!" I'm sure you can do better.