MoMo's New Crop Unearths Local Talent
03/07/2012
On Monday 25th June soon-to-be graduates in Computer Studies were invited to take part in a “No Strings Attached” 3 minute pitch of their most recent mobile work at Mobile Monday, hosted in Belfast’s Farset Labs.
MobileMonday (MoMo) is an open networking organisation for grassroots professionals from the mobile industry which encourages cooperation and cross-border business development through various networking events where ideas, best practices and trends from global markets are shared. This was a fantastic opportunity for the graduates to showcase their skills and connect with potential employees, and to welcome the new crop of mobilists into the MoMo community.
Computer Studies students from UU, QUB and those from the Kainos AppCamp came down to showcase their mobile work in front of a room full of their peers, lecturers, potential employers and industry professionals. As a fitting venue for this next generation, Farset Labs, a new shared workspace and, increasingly popular networking venue, was chosen.
We saw a fantastic range of apps from all the students, each varied throughout the universities and AppCamp, such as:
Budgetwise: Keep track of where your money is going with this easy to use app. If you need to see where your money has went, or even where it will be going soon, all the information you need is available at the click of a button!
TrackMe: Track your mileage on your phone to help claim your expenses back.
No.Brainer: Takes your mind to the next level, a challenging number reaction game that will make you crave to get through that next round.
TideTimesNI – your local tide time table finder, over 60 locations for Northern Ireland.
Whilst some were creative and forward thinking, others were designed almost market ready…all showcased the fresh young talent that exists in Northern Ireland today!
Glenn Collins, Multimedia Design Graduate at University of Ulster “This was my first MoMo event, I must say there is a really great atmosphere here and it was a great experience for me to present my app. I will definitely be coming back to these events”
There was an impressive gathering from Kainos AppCamp all keen to showcase their apps. Kainos AppCamp, the largest and most dynamic event of its kind in Europe and highly regarded by the developer community, offers bright university students the chance to take away the latest Apple mobile devices and to receive the support, guidance and mentoring from Kainos to have their product (an iPhone/iPod Touch or iPad App) marketed through the Apple App Store.
Luke McNeice, Consultant at Kainos, stated "Monday's event was a great opportunity to showcase some of the talent that is coming out of our local universities and what these young developers can do with support from industry experts."
From speaking to the students, academics and professionals on the night it is evident that more initiatives like Kainos App Camp and the MoMo events are needed to prepare students for the working world. Everything in society is technology based from our cars, mobile phones and home appliances. All this is possible because of our software developers.
MoMo Belfast Co-Founder , Norbert Sagnard comments “Parents must have faith and be proud of their children to go into technology, it is a great commercial path as our modern society relies on software. They need to know that there is nothing to fear and it is much more fun than studying law!”.
What was particularly refreshing to hear throughout the evening was that although the universities are providing the students with support throughout their course, they are making the conscious decision to allow the students to express their creativity whilst learn transferable employable skills.
QUB Lecturer from the School of Computer Science Russell Kane “We give students ‘ownership’ to develop a system that they are passionate about so that they can look at how to create it, improve it and get it to the marketplace. We try to provide them with a skillset , and a thinking, that enables them to solve ‘real world’ problems”
Russell also disclosed that Queens School of Computing Science are looking to get more companies involved with their modules so that can they can establish module content that the companies find useful which can be fed back to the students to help them with their employability.
MoMo Belfast is one of several networking communities that have their part to play in connecting students with business. Colm Hayden , Co-founder MoMo Belfast comments “The lively discussion at tonight’s event proved that we have more to do in ensuring that students have not only the technical skills but the design, marketing & presentation skills to get their ideas across”. Indeed, this is a statement that echoed throughout the evening. Collaboration between the universities and the local companies will help ensure that the skills students are learning are transferable to the workplace.
So, what next? Are you a local business developing Apps or Mobile technologies? Why not get in touch with the universities and/or MoMo Belfast to see how you can get involved!
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