Training that dovetails with business needs

Thanks to the presence of multinationals, Ireland has built a solid reputation as a European technology leader, with Dublin as its hub. At the same time, businesses, both native and in the foreign-direct investment (FDI) sectors, are finding it tougher and tougher to recruit staff.

Responding to this, Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education and Training Board (DDLETB) has accelerated its provision of training, hoping to assist businesses that need to upskill and reskill their staff.

This is an important spoke of the country’s further education and training strategy, according to Leon Harding, enterprise engagement manager at DDLETB.

“Upskilling is vital,” he said, adding that it was essential that employers keep staff up to date in a fast-changing tech landscape.

“The Irish labour market is at its tightest since 2006 and, in that context, it’s vital to have access to upskilling and reskilling. It really helps with staff retention, something that is more vital than ever.”

One vital area for skills development is in cybersecurity. Today, as all businesses are, at least in some sense, technology businesses, keeping IT systems secure from intruders and fraudsters has become essential.

At the same time, however, the skills shortage is dire, with vacancies in the region of 3.5 million worldwide.

Kenneth Jones, a cybersecurity consultant with Cyberman Security and tutor for DDLETB, said that even skilled cybersecurity professionals had a need for continuous professional development in order to keep abreast of changes in both technology and the threat landscape.

“The technology is always moving on, so you need to stay up to date with it. You should be upskilling all the time; everyone should be,” he said. “There is a skills gap and it’s getting worse and worse, but particularly so at times of conflict.”

DDLETB’s security training programmes include not only working with particular systems, but also penetration testing and cybersecurity labs.

This, Harding said, was in response to the needs businesses had expressed in consultations with DDLETB.

“One of the things we try to do is to liaise with companies in order to listen to them and discover what their needs are.

“It’s not just cybersecurity, all of technology is fast-moving. For example, artificial intelligence is such a rapidly-changing area and the regulation is not keeping up.

“But we are speaking to industry to develop courses that are responsive to their needs.

“We’re planning to expand the courses we are currently running in Baldoyle, with things like Azure AI and Azure administration rolling-out.”

As DDLETB’s IT training is accredited and supported it comes at no cost to either employers or employers. In addition, Harding said, it was designed to fit around people’s working lives.

These courses are funded, they are flexible. Staffcan access them outside of their working time and we try to tailor them in a way that works for both the employer and employee,” he said.