Ten student teams from across Scotland will once again compete in the Digital Skills Partnership’s National Student Software Development Competition.
This ground-breaking competition, managed this year by Edinburgh College, gives students experience of real-world challenges in the software development process by bringing together learners with different levels of experience and expertise in small teams to respond to an industry brief, using industry tools.
Teams of up to six students, from colleges and universities, have been working together and remotely to develop a secure and dynamic data management system. The ten student teams, which have been mentored throughout by representatives from CGI and CAS Ltd, will be asked to present a delivery plan, commercialisation strategy and project deliverables to industry judges and their peers at an event held on the 10th March 2020.
Through last year’s pilot we found the main benefit of the competition to the students was that it offered an insight into what goes on beyond the classroom.
Lesley Broadwood, Project Development Manager at Digital Skills Partnership said:
“The competition is aimed specifically at making sure our tech graduates are as well-equipped as possible to hit the ground running when they join the workforce and this mixed experience level project will help prepare them in a more realistic way for the software development process in industry. It helps contextualise the learning and illustrate how their tertiary education will translate into the workplace. And I would also like to thank Royal London for sponsoring this year’s event.”
Of the competition creating a more authentic experience of the software development process and giving students valuable ‘real-world’ experience, Jon Buglass, Vice Principal, Innovation Planning and Performance at Edinburgh College said:
“This project addresses an important component in education and training; an opportunity for students to gain practical and technical experience while increasing their self-confidence. This is achieved by helping students develop key employability skills such as problem-solving, teamwork, communication and time management.”
John Wordsworth Goodram, CGI Director Consulting – Delivery and Transformation agreed:
“As a major recruiter of graduates and modern apprentices within Scotland, CGI has seen that the digital skills gap presents a significant challenge to the growth of our business. Following the success of last year’s competition we are delighted to continue supporting the Digital Skills Partnership’s National Student Software Development Competition so that we can help to close this gap.”