Junaid Pirzada

We strongly promote developing professional skills to all our students to prepare for the work environment. This theme runs throughout the courses - from the first week onwards. In their first year, students have the opportunity to enter a competition sponsored by The British Computer Society (BCS) on Aspects of professionalism: the issues it faces and the impacts on society. The competition is to write a two page newspaper article on an issue of relevance to professionals that could be published in IT Now. We have been running this competition for over a decade now with a variety of sponsors. Dr Ian Allison, module tutor, stated that “by helping our students to reflect on the ethical and professional issues they may face when beginning their exciting careers in IT, they are much better prepared for dealing with issues they face when they begin their first job.” Over 200 students from across the undergraduate computing courses enter the competition as part of their first year module on professional issues and personal development. It follows a series of classes and discussions on professional, ethical and social issues, including a visit by the BCS to talk about membership of the Society. This years’ winner, Junaid Pirzada, produced an outstanding article about the current issues surrounding software patents. In his article he questioned the potential move towards greater use of patents in our field and encouraged the need for an open debate on the subject before it is too late. Junaid says that “I studied this topic because I realised that it was a very controversial issue which had been fiercely debated and that many of the major IT companies had opposing views.” The runners up, Robert Slater and Scott McNicol, discussed the hybrid nature of IT professionals and the issues of cyber crime respectively. To find out more about the British Computer Society Prize click here.

We strongly promote developing professional skills to all our students to prepare for the work environment. This theme runs throughout the courses - from the first week onwards. In their first year, students have the opportunity to enter a competition sponsored by The British Computer Society (BCS) on Aspects of professionalism: the issues it faces and the impacts on society. The competition is to write a two page newspaper article on an issue of relevance to professionals that could be published in IT Now. We have been running this competition for over a decade now with a variety of sponsors. Dr Ian Allison, module tutor, stated that “by helping our students to reflect on the ethical and professional issues they may face when beginning their exciting careers in IT, they are much better prepared for dealing with issues they face when they begin their first job.” Over 200 students from across the undergraduate computing courses enter the competition as part of their first year module on professional issues and personal development. It follows a series of classes and discussions on professional, ethical and social issues, including a visit by the BCS to talk about membership of the Society. This years’ winner, Junaid Pirzada, produced an outstanding article about the current issues surrounding software patents. In his article he questioned the potential move towards greater use of patents in our field and encouraged the need for an open debate on the subject before it is too late. Junaid says that “I studied this topic because I realised that it was a very controversial issue which had been fiercely debated and that many of the major IT companies had opposing views.” The runners up, Robert Slater and Scott McNicol, discussed the hybrid nature of IT professionals and the issues of cyber crime respectively. To find out more about the British Computer Society Prize click here.