IT professionals should get volunteering

13:30 13th November 2008

The new head of the IT industry's professional body, the British Computer Society (BCS), Alan Pollard, is calling upon members to take up IT volunteering projects.

He encouraged members to join the BCS in the Community Initiative which enables members to utilise their professional areas of expertise within their local community.

The scheme already sponsors the Scout Association IT Activity Badge which 140,000 scouts have gone on to achieve so far and is working with the volunteering branch of Information Technologists' Livery Company to seek out additional volunteering opportunities.

Mr Pollard explained: "I think it is admirable that so many of our members are already extremely active on the volunteering front. However, I want to take this further and am urging every BCS branch, group and member to join in with this initiative."

He added that volunteering would help BCS members reach out to others in order to raise awareness of the benefits of IT training as well as increase the profile of the organisation.

Information Technologists' Company (ITC) is a charitable organisation made up of IT professionals of considerable experience working to encourage dialogue between the IT sector and the community for the benefit of all.