In past editions of this Blog, we’ve written about the LRS internship program and even heard from a former summer intern who’s now a permanent LRS employee. There’s a good reason for the rush to develop new IT talent: the industry is booming and there never seem to be enough programmers and technicians to replace those of us who see retirement just over the horizon.

College interns are important, but how do those universities attract the best and brightest to their computer science and other technical programs in the first place? Youth computing programs are a big part of the solution.

Recently, LRS sponsored the ITEC Cares Awards in Germany, and our own Leo Kaltenhauser was on hand to help with the judging and to present the awards.

Left to right: LRS’s Leo Kaltenhauser with Hannah Rautenberg, Wolfgang Pohl, and Milena Gralfs

A great example is the program “girls@BWINF”, a computing camp for girls that introduces and encourages problem solving through computer programming and other IT activities. In his acceptance speech at the ITEC Cares Awards, BWINF Managing Director Wolfgang Pohl explained: “It’s important that the girls in the camps are encouraged to follow their interest in IT. Through what they learn [in the program], and the relationships they build there, it’s important that they learn they are not alone and not the only girls interested in computing. That’s why in addition to the learning and competitions, we build a sense of community. Community and camps, camps and community, that’s the goal of BWINF.”

Among the other youth-oriented IT programs receiving awards were:

• A mobile technology lab that brings 3-D printing, robotics, hacking/programming instruction, and other activities to various schools in the form of a double-decker tour bus.
• The IT4Kids program, which gives young children opportunities to learn coding techniques starting at the elementary school level.
• An innovative program that teaches girls between 10 and 18 years of age how to design and code mobile apps to address social and ecological challenges, then gives them opportunities to practice pitching these solutions to a wider audience.

And many, many more. As a member of the IT Executive Club of Hamburg, LRS is proud to do our part in encouraging the next generation of technology innovators. We’ve seen the future, and the good news is that with promising technical minds like these, we’re in very good hands.