Teenagers told IT is a "dream job"

Teenagers are being told that IT is a "dream job" with the promise of working for "inspirational companies".

The BigAmbition initiative launched by e-skills UK is aimed at getting 14- to 19-year-olds excited about a career in technology.

The site hopes to improve teenagers' perception of the IT industry on the site by testimonials from project managers, designers and engineers living the dream at sites such as MySpace and creative design agency Milo.

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Businesses such as Facebook, Google, BT, MySpace and Transport for London are held up as "inspirational companies" to work for in the tech industry, while interactive games allow prospective employees to explore a "Dream job finder" and "Did you know quiz?".

Karen Price, CEO of e-skills UK, said in a statement: "The next generation of IT professionals has a huge role to play in terms of UK competitiveness. The sector is large and growing - we need 141,000 new IT professionals every year.

"Young people really enjoy using technology in their everyday lives and BigAmbition is full of information about how they can build on that interest with a variety of exciting, well paid careers in the IT sector."

The site also splits the multitude of degree courses on offer into four 'families' to help students better understand the options available to them.

Earlier this year a leading computing academic warned that a "boring" school IT curriculum was turning young people off careers in technology.