Irish education system needs a technology overhaul

Ireland as a country was decimated with the deepest depression in the nations short history 7-8 years ago, which subsequently caused mass emigration, job losses, a property market collapse and as a net result - more poverty. However there is no doubt that Ireland is on the road to recovery with more foreign direct investment, more people back to work and central to this is a booming technology sector.

But when you look into this "booming technology sector", not all stacks up. It is true that big multi-national corporations have moved their base here but what really contrasts against this is the shortage of skilled technology workers currently in the industry. How have the wheels not already fallen off the "booming technology sector" bandwagon? - the truth is that many skilled workers have been recruited from foreign shores and they have somewhat plugged the gap. However tech companies are struggling more and more to get experienced skill workers. This is a serious threat for the industry as a whole in Ireland and in my view our education system is where things really fall down, and where the nub of this issue can be addressed.

Primary education - My 9 year old son is currently in his 5th year of primary school education, yet he has never had "technology" focused learning. Yet, most of his day outside school involves direct interaction with technology - Why does a focused technology subject not exist in primary education?, Kids need to be educated about the usage/dangers of social media and introduced to technology concepts such as programming from an early age. We are failing here!

Secondary education - Why is computer programming/technology not a mandatory full blown junior and leaving certificate subject?, Yet Irish is a mandatory subject - are we not very outdated here? Regardless of the career a secondary student wants to pursue, all professions now have a real requirement to be very well versed in technology. Failing here too!

Third level education - Why are the diversity of third level technology courses so poor?, Why is there a huge gender imbalance (90% male)?, and more importantly why are the subjects that they do teach in many of the technology courses so out of date? For example in the software domain, many third level institutes still concentrate on object oriented programming and relational databases. Functional programming - nowhere to be seen, NoSQL databases, nowhere to be seen. Containerization - nowhere to be seen. Countless other relevant concepts - nowhere to be seen. The software industry moves so fast yet our third level education system is not keeping up with the pace. Yes you have guessed it - failed again here!

In synopsis, in my view this country has huge potential in technology industries such as social media, software et al. We have a government who advocate that our recovery is going to be driven via a "knowledge economy" theme, yet it seems that we are really not backing this up with our education system!

Something eventually has to give, you cannot have a booming technology sector in a country if the underlying education system does not back it up!