Dumfries IT firm ETB Technologies has teamed up with a neighbouring high school to create a new programme designed to help address the tech skills gap in their local area.

Research by Equinix has revealed that 67% of IT decision-makers in the UK view a shortage of IT skills as one of the main threats to their business. 

One in ten job vacancies in Scotland are in tech jobs, and the skill shortage greatly jeaopardises advancements in digital technology, and creates vulnerabilities in cybersecurity and economic competition. 

To combat this, ETB, a company that sells refurbished servers, storage, and network equipment globally, is sending one of its engineers to Dalbeattie High School to deliver interactive sessions to S3 pupils. 

“In our experience,” ETB’s managing director Nick Stapleton said, “most school or college level computing courses only cover some networking basics and have very little focus on servers and storage solutions.”

The programme started this month with a session on the key components of a server, the differences between a PC and a server, and how to strip and rebuild a computer.

The course also offered pupils insight into the world of IT work, including the skills involved and pathways into the sector. 

Ross Kennedy, Physics and Computing Science Teacher at Dalbeattie High School said: “Increasing pupil awareness of the range of careers that are available to them on their doorstep is vital, and incorporating this into lessons is an excellent way of preparing pupils for learning, life and work.”

The students will also be able to visit ETB’s engineering labs and workshops to experience life working in the tech sector, and see how the skills they learn can be applied on the job. 

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“Relating learning to real life allows pupils to appreciate the purpose of what they’re doing,” Kennedy said. 

“They develop their understanding of the skills that employers are looking for so that they can better prepare themselves for the world of work after they leave school.”

The rural location of ETB made it more important for the company to invest in home-grown talent. 

Ewan Richardson, an S3 pupil at Dalbeattie High School said: “I didn’t know what ETB Technologies was and I didn’t know there was a computing company in Dalbeattie. I’m now thinking about a career in computing when I leave school.”

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