Enticing computer science and engineering graduates into broadcast

A career in TV might not be front-of-mind for the average computer science or engineering undergraduate, but it should be.

There is huge competition these days for the brightest minds in technology and engineering, and with the worlds of TV and the internet colliding, there has never been a more exciting time to join the media.

Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, even Demis Hassabis from DeepMind Technologies, are all investing heavily in television and long form content to shape the future of their businesses.

But it’s the TV and media companies – the ones who create, broadcast and distribute the content in the first place – who are now embracing the most exciting challenges, from streaming and video-on-demand to app development, UX design and the future of transmission and playout.

Encouraging talent 

The aim of the RTS technology bursary scheme is therefore a simple one – to encourage the most talented engineering and computer science students to consider a career in television.

Steve Holebrook, Managing Director, terrestrial broadcast, Arqiva, and member of the RTS expert technology panel set out the task: “The challenge for the sector lays in reaching audiences who are consuming services over varied and diverse networks and technologies as well as over more traditional platforms.

“The availability of engineering skills is critical to the sectors success to enable it to continue to provide outstanding services to all viewers and listeners and to innovate using new technology – the skills requirements is broadening and now includes not just the traditional RF and broadcast skills but also now needs to include IP, IT, UI and app development skills.”

Fellow member of the expert technology panel and head of broadcast and media services at Ericsson Thorsten Sauer added: “Our industry is transforming rapidly to IP based, cloud enabled platforms. In this transformation we need to attract engineering talent with a passion for television and the qualification in those new engineering areas.”

Individually, companies like Ericsson, BT and Arqiva have their own internship schemes, but computer science and engineering graduates have many career options, and demand far outstrips supply.

The challenge is therefore to raise the profile of careers in the broadcast industries and give students a taste of what it’s like to work in this dynamic fast-paced environment.

That’s exactly what the RTS scheme sets out to do.

Alongside financial support through university, students are given direct and unrivalled access to a range of media companies, including a Summer tour of the industry, where the students spend a fortnight in London visiting participating companies Arqiva, BBC, BT, Channel 4, Ericsson, ITV, Sky, YouView and the Institute of Engineering Technology to hear about their technology strategies, ask questions and learn about career opportunities.

Students are then encouraged to apply for longer internships from their second year onwards, while staying in touch with the Royal Television Society through membership and industry events.

From the first intake of five bursary students, four will take-up internships with member companies this Summer. The fifth is intending to apply for an internship next year.

Channel 4 Director of Strategy and Technology Keith Underwood, who also sits on the RTS expert technology panel, said: “As technology capabilities become more and more important to the competitiveness and sustainability of media companies, we must ensure the industry acts proactively to continue to attract graduates with the necessary skills from the widest of backgrounds.

“By pooling resources from several industry leaders, the RTS technology bursary scheme has been able to partner with major universities to establish an engaging internship programme and – more generally – showcase technology-based career opportunities in the media industry that may have otherwise been overlooked.”

It is early days for this initiative, but all of us at the RTS have been incredibly impressed with the standard of the applicants so far (reading their CVs has made us feel both proud and inadequate in equal measure!) and we can’t wait to welcome the next intake.

We are currently recruiting our third cohort of bursary students and preparing to run the Summer Tour for the second time.