We asked Brodie McHugh and Shannon Johnson, both of whom are apprentices in Northumberland County Council’s Information Technology (IT) team, to tell us what it’s like to work in IT. In the video below, Shannon and Brodie tell us what they are studying as part of their NVQs, what they love about their roles and technology, their aspirations for building a career in IT and for any advice they may have for young women thinking about starting a career in IT.
“If a young girl approached me asking about an NVQ in IT, I’d definitely tell her to go forward and do it. I’ve gained a lot of experience from it and developed from that. Technology is very up and coming and before long technology will be everywhere. I would encourage women who have an interest in IT to follow that career path – it’s a very flexible job, it’s very varied and it’s also working a lot with people.” Brodie
“I enjoy being able to have a variety of different types of jobs to do, so I like working at my desk and being able to work through the computer using the different technologies and then being able to go out and speak to the public and help them with their problems and letting them know there’s someone there to help if they’re stuck.” Shannon
Filmed using a smartphone and lapel microphone with extension cable on location at County Hall in Morpeth, Northumberland. Edited using the Kinemaster app. The background music is a free download from YouTube’s copyright free audio library – we used ‘Plastic or Paper’ by Wes Hutchinson. We deliberately set out to use free, or very reasonably priced (the lapel mic) equipment and software to make this film, to demonstrate what is possible with a smartphone and free apps.