Computer science students celebrated at industry conference

The achievements of ten computer science students were celebrated recently at the UK IBM i User Group, i-UG conference at the Mount Hotel in Wolverhampton.

This annual conference brings together employers, vendors and IBM staff to explore innovation in the tech space linked to IBM developments.

The students celebrated are part of the latest cohort, of twenty five, being supported to complete the UK IBM i User Group, i-UG i-UG Open Source Education for IBM I programme. This innovative program is designed to bring new talent to the IBM i platform by leveraging the Open Source capabilities of the platform. Students are given training in a variety of tools which enhance their ability to start producing useful applications that can be applied directly to real businesses. Along the way, the education focuses their understanding of the Internet of Things (IoT), the use of databases, the decision-making process, the realisation of connectivity between people, data and things, as well as having an enjoyable journey through the Open Source world and conversing with an AI.

This industry standard training is delivered by Mike Ryan and the UK IBM i User Group, i-UG and this is the third cohort of students who have benefited from this opportunity to work on industry hardware and software to build large scale applications. Students are also supported along the way by computer science staff Dr. Andrew Gascoyne, Jordan Brennan, Emily Rodden, Abigail Parkes & Dr. Liam Naughton.

Dr Liam Naughton, Senior Lecturer in Mathematics, comments: “The support that Mike Ryan is giving to our students is phenomenal. This includes free industry standard training, user accounts on an IBM machine in Manchester, access to connected devices and software, exposure to employers and even graduate jobs. This is precisely what the gold standard in embedding employability in the curriculum looks like and this is all down to the enormous effort of Mike and his team. We are humbled by hIs dedication to our students.”

Pictured below are students and staff accompanied by Mike Ryan, Steve Bradshaw and Steve Cast from the UK IBM i User Group, i-UG.