Industry body forming to address IT graduate skills is an interview at Computerworld with OWEA co-chair John Allsopp.
The Open Web Education Alliance (OWEA), which is due to be launched early 2010, will be dedicated to promoting the best ways in which Web professionals and IT graduates can gear themselves up for the workforce.
OWEA co-chair John Allsopp, said there is concern among people in the industry around the world that educational institutions are not addressing all the relevant skills potential Web designers, Web developers and other Web professionals need.
“Even if they study things that are relevant to their role in the industry, what they’ve learnt is very little to do with the reality of the Web,” Allsopp said. “Most of the very experienced Web practitioners, no matter what their background, are largely self-taught because the industry is so rapidly evolving.”
The first issue of Scrunchup is out. Scrunchup is web magazine for young designers and developers. The founders are Anna Debenham and Paul Randall. Their purpose:
We made Scrunchup because we were fed up with the lack of decent advice out there for students wanting a career in web design or development. Most of the courses on offer are out of date, and don’t teach relevant skills, and many young people come out of courses without the required level of knowledge to get a good job.
Sure, there are lots of websites out there that give advice on writing really good code, but not many of them are aimed at young people who are just starting out. We also want to foster a community, and create a friendly atmosphere for young people to ask questions without feeling intimidated.
The initial issue of Scrunchup contains an interview with high school web design instructor Zac Gordon, an intro to web standards by Chris Mills, a piece on employment by Paul Boag and Marcus Lillington, and a story about the path to success by Anna Debenham.