Farage

That's it to say they were lying at all Petra but the people he was training etc were French or Belgium nationals
With all those people coming through it would be amazing really if a couple didn't sneak through. What is also surprising is that not more have tried crossing the Channel in small boats - unless of course they have just not been caught.

Tegan The truth is, it's a very blurred and frightening line.

He was just trying to blur the lines between immigrants/refugees/terrorists wasn't he?

Ok then. The German security people are lying.
I don't care what Farage said, that's what he meant.

But...but...that poster had the title 'Breaking Point'. Farage defended it by saying he was making the point that the UK has too many people. He denied it was to scare people about terrorists.

Most of those terrorists were born in France or Belgium - or do the French press and TV said

Back to Farage. A lot of people were very offended by the poster on the leave bus.
I've just been reading an article in an Israeli newspaper. It states that the Germans are holding a member of Isis. They have found out that this terrorist advised the terrorists who planted the bombs in Paris on how to get into Europe by the Balkan route.
That photo was taken on the Balkan route.

I didn't claim it was to do with BREXIT, just that IBM doesn't seem to be doing quite so well as you claim. Not only that, but a later article warns (aren't they all?) that it is now considering winding down its business in the UK.

I can't even remember how we got here on a thread titled 'Farage'.

I think it was to do with jobs and I think what I was saying was that location of IT jobs is flexible. Many of the big earners, such as ARM, don't employ that many people and don't have many physical assets, so could go abroad or relocate at very little notice.

G&T yes, they've stopped offering 'final salary' pensions.

Just read your article DD and noted that was dated in February too

IBM lays off workers every year as part of their rationalisation programme. It's nothing new.

That last round of cuts was in February/March so nothing to do with Brexit!!!

Business management is a huge part of IBM now. I nearly worked for their business management team, had the interview, got offered a job, then the division I was working for, and were transferring it's IT management to IBM, got sold. Luckily for me, as I'm sure I was better off where I was. IBM's pension package was crap.

I believe IBM also offers business solutions, etc. It's already decided to cut jobs in the UK.

www.channelregister.co.uk/2016/02/22/ibm_cuts_185_jobs_global_technology_services_layoffs/

The real money being made for individuals as well as the country is in start-ups and development.

We are probably talking at cross-purposes DD

i think you will find that IBM are far more than hardware Jess

International Business Machines Corporation (commonly referred to as IBM) is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation, with corporate headquarters in Armonk, New York. IBM manufactures and markets computer hardware, middleware and software and offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology.[

No prior knowledge of programming is required for the Computer Science degree at Cambridge, although A levels A*A*A, including maths are.

I think you'd find that the median salary for programmers in Cambridge is more like £50k. Experienced software developers can easily command six figure salaries.

However, getting back on topic...

The trouble with places like North West Wales (or Cornwall, etc) is that there's poor infrastructure and I think people would be up in arms if it were proposed to build a factory in the middle of Snowdonia.

You're paying the price of beautiful scenery, lowish house prices and a quiet way of life with low salaries and high unemployment. Cities have a considerable pull factor and it's only in recent years that people have begun to move back to more rural areas.

DJ, the stress should be on Maths and logic, these are at the core of all computer related systems.
Which langue ? This depends on what they are teaching.
Networking
Web pages
processors
Financial
Business
Engineering
Robotics
Mathmatics
2gl
3gl
4gl
5gl
Etc Etc
They are all different, and being added to very frequently.

Which one would you choose ?

My step daughter is a software tester. She was made redundant by RBS when they moved these jobs abroad. She walked into a job in London at £50,000 + a year.
I have to say that I knew how good she is at this job, but didn't know how much they are in demand.

Well yes - computer programmers that have the skills needed for the job are what is in short supply. Computer languages and skills are very varied and specific. I agree absolutely with the blogger.
I was under the impression that the "hotspots" remark was referring to the lack of jobs in general. Not to the shortage of skills in the computer industry.
Isn't IBM a hardware producer not a software industry? The West Midlands might well have thriving businesses but if you talk to the many software start-ups and SMEs you will find that they struggle to find the skills they need at the level they need, despite the help the industry gets from immigrants. The salaries asked by applicants can also be high. I remember one young UK graduate that was working outside London, with only a year's experience, who was looking for £35k, which was more than the employer could afford.

You would find that top developer companies in Cambridge disagree with you. This is from the introduction to a FutureLearn course from 2014. The situation hasn't changed much since then:

"There is a myth that there is a shortage of programmers. However, in my experience when employers advertise for programmers they are often swamped by applications. What there is a shortage of is good programmers.

Over the years I have worked on various Knowledge Transfer Projects and have often had to recruit programmers. On paper there are many qualified applicants whose CVs claim expertise in the required programming language, but when this is put to the test many of the applicants lack the skills they have claimed.

All too often the applicant has written some programs but these are at a basic level, such as a program to convert measurements from metric to Imperial. Usually these applicants haven’t written anything substantial on their own and are unable to spot mistakes in someone else’s code.
Why is there a shortage of good programmers?

Because learning to program is challenging, and becoming a good programmer takes a lot of time and practice. Some people think that they are going to be proficient after a few hours of study, not realising that becoming a programmer is a long process. Then there are students who study strategically, learning only the bare minimum needed to pass a course, without worrying that this does not mean they are good programmers.

What needs to be understood is that learning to program is like learning a foreign language – we can all pick up a few key words but it takes years to become fluent in reading and writing. There are subtleties of syntax and semantics that need to be understood.

Learning one foreign language will almost certainly help in learning others, but while some natural languages share common roots and have many similarities, there are others that are very distinct in character. The same is true with programming languages; while many modern programming languages share common roots, there are different families."

about.futurelearn.com/blog/shortage-of-programmers/

Until recently, almost nothing was taught about programming in schools.

I can't answer for Jess's other 'hot spots' but I can assure her that the Midlands has a a thriving computer industry and IBM has no plans to cut back its U.K. bases throughout the UK.

Nor, does it have difficulty in recruiting suitably qualified programmers. What is taught in schools and 6th form colleges appears to be a more than an adequate base from which to build on at university level. From then on in it is in-service training in a fast moving world.

Actually her husband is G4S, isn't he?
Both having problems with the Yarls Wood contract.

I wonder what will happen to Serco if May becomes PM. Conflict of interest there, I would think.

You said the problem was which language to choose. You did not say they should not teach any language.

We are getting funding for a science park Daphnedil - guess where the money is coming from..
The problem with an economy that demands a mobile workforce is that is not always logistically possible when 2 partners have a job and children are settled in schools. Variations in house prices across the country don't help.
Over the last 20 years we have moved from a situation where most workers had full time employment contracts to a situation where huge numbers are on short term contracts, or work on long term temp for outsourcing companies like Serco or Reed. Then there are people who are juggling a couple of part time jobs (a few hours in Tesco and a job cleaning and office for instance). And young graduates who are working for little or nothing to get something useful on their CVs. Along side them sit those on zero hours contracts and at the very bottom of the pile the victims of our present government. They have been bullied into becoming "self employed" by various agencies that are getting paid to get people off jobseekers allowance. They have no contract, they pay their own NI, they have to pay their own tax. They may well be paid less than the minimum wage because they are paid by invoice. They are not really self employed - they are being exploited.

Glad to hear your GD is designing apps DG. We'll be OK for computer programmers in about 15 years time, when her generation is up and running. The curriculum in the English school system has recently changed from no programming at all to programming for all. Not sure how teachers are coping.