It is estimated that 44,500 new information and communication (ICT) professionals will be needed in the Irish economy by 2018. At the current rate, the Irish education system will be able to fill just 20 per cent of these jobs.
The inaugural Tech Week Ireland is taking place all this week, aimed at encouraging students to interact with technology and open their minds to the possibility of a career in IT. It will giving students, parents and the public hands-on opportunities to learn about third level and career options in computing and other technology fields.
A range of high-tech events and activities are planned, such as digital media workshops, coding competitions, tech debates and talks.
On the subject of tech, e-commerce site eBay is expected to report its first quarter results after the markets close tomorrow, with analysts estimating earnings per share of $0.57 for the quarter. The reported EPS for the same quarter last year was $0.56.
eBay itself has forecast EPS in the range of $0.51 to $0.53, and first quarter revenues of between $4.15 and $4.25 billion, short of consensus expectations of $4.30 billion. In January, the company reported fourth quarter revenues of $4.5 billion, up 13 per cent on the same quarter in 2012.
The company has lately been fighting a push from activist investor Carl Icahn to spin off PayPal, eBay’s mobile payment business, with stock falling as a result.
In a letter to shareholders earlier this month, the company said Icahn had backed away from his proposal to spin off PayPal into a separately traded public company and announced a new idea – a carve-out IPO of PayPal.
