When Michael Branco, enterprise architect at Bermuda Internet startup Promisant, asked final-year CedarBridge students to guess his salary, lively banter filled the Ruth Seaton James Auditorium.

"$100,000,'' one student called out from the middle of the auditorium.

"Not quite that high,'' Mr. Branco replied. "Who said $75,000?'' "I earn $82,000 a year,'' the 24-year-old said matter-of-factly.

While Branco may have lacked discretion at yesterday's presentation of information technology careers, he certainly piqued the students' interest.

The auditorium was abuzz as students responded with amazement.

"And I drive a brand-new BMW and have just made a down-payment on a half-million-dollar house,'' he said.

The students' excitement heightened, and the panelists behind Mr. Branco couldn't help but chuckle. All of his success came despite failing his first year at the University of Western Ontario and being forced to pay for the remainder of his education.

One of six panelists who spoke to the students about a career in IT, the khaki-clad Branco appeared about as different from the CedarBridge students as he could get.

But the event, organised by the Ewan Sampson Scholarship Trust and the XL/Bermuda Education Initiative, presented him as a possible role-model for the students, who could soon be earning impressive with the right training.

"If I can make it, you certainly can,'' said Mr. Branco, who develops the systems behind Promisant's credit card authorisation services.

"If you want to make a serious stab at information technology, go for an IT degree,'' he continued.

Panel leader Mansfield Brock, who is also chairman of the Ewan Sampson scholarship selection committee, emphasised the abundance of opportunities in the field. He said that while he was an executive vice president at the Bank of Butterfield, staff members referred to the IT department as "The Canadian Embassy''.

"We are desperate for people in this country to fill these good, high-paying (IT) jobs,'' he said. "But you've got to be qualified.'' Mr. Brock also said there were opportunities for students in the United States, where last year 800,000 job opportunities were available, of which 550,000 were filled by immigrants because suitable Americans could not be found. Approximately 250,000 of the vacancies remain unfilled.

Del-Keesha Hanley, the first recipient of the Ewan Sampson Scholarship, told students she received two job offers before graduating from Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia with an information technology degree. She now works as a junior developer for XL Re.

Michael Ross, a junior majoring in Computer Science at Stanford, expressed enthusiasm for his course of study and showed students that there was more to IT than money.

"I love cell phones, laptops, PDAs (personal digital assistants),'' he said.

"They are like toys and by going to the school with the best computer science department in the world gives me the opportunity to play with the biggest, baddest toys in the world,'' he said.

Mr. Ross noted that the students amazing opportunities available to them and there to help them were people "giving away money'' to help them realise their goals.

"Imagine someone stopping you in the street and saying: `Dude, do you want $12,000 dollars?','' he said. Students burst out with laughter.

John Wineinger, Chief Information Officer of Renaissance Reinsurance, Kathy-Ann Donawa of Bermuda Microsystems, and Dwyer Williams, CEO of Certified Systems, also spoke to the students.

The ESST hopes that in addition to generating interest in the information technology field, the presentation will yield applicants for their IT scholarship, which was not awarded last year because no qualified students applied.

In previous years, seminars were held at the Chamber of Commerce, the Bank of Butterfield and at the Bermuda College.

"This year we are going a step further by going to the schools,'' Mr. Brock said.

Although final-year students from all schools were invited to yesterday's presentation, most of those in attendance came from CedarBridge. Next year, the committee is considering visiting all secondary schools.

Students appeared impressed with the presentation, and Gevon Richardson and Ryan Brimmer said they were surprised at the amount of money available. Gevon said that the seminar had definitely helped him make up his mind: he will be entering a career in IT.